Well I never did see the Japanese version of this episode since I was on a hiatus from the Pokemon anime at the time of it's Japanese premiere, but I've decided to give the English dubbed version a chance since the episode looked good judging from the pictures I did look at a while back (and even TPCI can't mess this up too badly). It seemed like the generic Filler episode but maybe that isn't technically a bad thing. Well, here it is, yet another review/essay from me. I'll try to keep the complaints to a minimum. Anyway, apparently, the episode starts off with Ash and friends being attacked by Team Rocket, while on their way from the Grand Festival to Sunyshore City. Team Rocket had their Seviper out and Ash had his Torterra out during their fight at the time. Jessie ordered her Seviper to use it's Poison Tail against Torterra, despite the fact that the move does only neutral damage to Torterra due to Torterra's type combination (Grass/Ground). I have to wonder what Jessie was smoking at the time of her attack haha. Anime logic is weird though.
Ash's Torterra managed to dodge the Poison Tail despite it's large size, and Ash then ordered it to use Rock Climb which, as usual, caused all of the earth in the area to pile up and form a sort of hill of rocks on which Torterra ran on to charge at Seviper. Eh. Torterra tackled Seviper, sending it to Team Rocket, which caused them to "blast off again", though the animation sure sucked; I guess the animation staff is on a tight budget? Anyway, Team Rocket landed in a forest, and they noticed that Meowth was missing! In another area of the forest, a little girl and her Glameow encountered Meowth behind a rock; he looked pretty beat up too. I have to stop and say that Glameow's voice just sounded so Japanese; it didn't fit and it never has. That complain aside, the little girl helped heal Meowth by putting a cloth on it's forehead; freaking genius, we have a future doctor on our hands! Meowth eventually woke up and the first thing he saw was Glameow's "lovely" face. Meowth seemed pretty happy to see it, which was cute to see.
The little girl then tells Meowth that they saved him from the mountains and Meowth seemed thankful, though I do wonder why the girl didn't seem more surprised to see a talking Meowth; she only mildly reacted to it haha. The little girl, Meowth, and Glameow then had lunch and Meowth began to really like Glameow to the point where he blushed a lot. Then, Team Rocket came to ruin things by finding him. Team Rocket actually thanked the little girl, and they dragged Meowth with them, but that was sort of cruel. I felt sorry for Meowth since he seemed to want to stay with Glameow. Meowth then decided that he wanted Team Rocket to "capture" that Glameow and proceeded to come up with a BS explanation that made little sense (via Boss Fantasy). Team Rocket then decided to go with Meowth's plan anyway. We then met up with Ash and friends again as they ran across the girl with the Glameow, themselves. She decided to walk with the gang and she revealed that she was on a journey to collect Gym Badges, but hadn't gotten anyway so far; but isn't it a bit late to be collecting badges? Seems a bit odd since Ash is about to challenge the final Gym for his last badge.
Moving on, while crossing a bridge, it sort of collapsed and Ash and friends fell into a cage that was underneath, placed by none other than Team Rocket. They arrived and took Glameow from the little girl, but thankfully, she used her Poke Ball to return it to safety which angered Meowth haha. James then helped out with his Carnivine, but Ash sent out his Buizel and had it use Aqua Jet against Carnivine's Bullet Seed. That ended in a draw and Team Rocket took the opportunity to snatch Glameow's Poke Ball from the foolish little girl. Team Rocket then took off but Jessie released the cage and Ash and friends fell into the river below, defeated. How often does Team Rocket succeed? Not too often so good for them! Team Rocket decided to send the Glameow to Giovanni, but Meowth talked them into keeping it a little longer. Meanwhile, Ash and the others were still trying to track down Team Rocket via Staraptor and Togekiss but it didn't work. Lol, fail. They decided to rest, even though Glameow's life could have been in serious danger. At night, Meowth stole Glameow's Poke Ball and released it so that they could talk apparently. Meowth talked about how it was really trying to save Glameow, and Glameow actually bothered to listen?
Meowth told Glameow all sorts of stuff like how together, they wouldn't ever have to battle again, despite Glameow apparently liking to battle. Apparently, Glameow decided to join Meowth and together, they boarded a small boat. I laughed when Meowth called Glameow it's "mate" though; isn't that a bit mature? The next morning, Ash and friends resumed the search for Team Rocket with Staraptor and Togekiss. The Glameow's owner seemed worried about her Pokemon, but thankfully, Dawn and Brock were there to explain to her that there was nothing to worry about. I don't know if I'd believe them, since they had already lost to Team Rocket once before. Back at Team Rocket's side of the forest, they woke up to find Glameow's Poke Ball missing and then they noticed that Meowth was also missing. Jessie got suspicious but James noticed a note posted on her back that was a letter from Meowth. Apparently, Meowth can write too? Even though it doesn't have thumbs. Hmm. Anyway, the note was a letter of resignation since Meowth wanted to start a "new life" with Glameow. Sort of surreal but Team Rocket wasn't going to have any of that! They were clearly upset about being used by Meowth and decided to do something about it.
Team Rocket decided to do an aerial search for Meowth on their balloon and they even used binoculars which they've rarely used before from what I recall. Just as they were searching, they spotted Staraptor and Togekiss who had both closed in on them and then it was revealed that Ash and friends were on the ground underneath the balloon. Ash had Starpator use Brave Bird and Dawn had Togekiss use Aura Sphere and they both destroyed the balloon. I wonder why it was so easy to do that this time around, and so difficult at other times. Jessie and James fell to the ground below, but were unscathed for the most part. Ash and friends appeared to ask for the Poke Ball back, but something funny occured; Ash asked for the Poke Ball, and then a few seconds later, the little girl did too. I mean really? Why ask twice? Anyway, Team Rocket explained about how Meowth had ran away with Glameow's Poke Ball and Brock figures that it was Meowth's trick. Team Rocket then went to search for them, and Ash and friends followed as well, since Team Rocket made it perfectly clear that they were still trying to steal Glameow from the little girl to give to Giovanni.
Back on the boat of love, Meowth peeled an apple for Glameow, which she enjoyed. I thought it was a pretty cute moment, despite the fact that Meowth was stealing her away from her trainer. I noticed something there though; we got about 10 seconds of silence in the background, which is super rare in the dub. Just as Meowth was admiring Glameow, Jessie's Yanmega, Ash's Staraptor, and Dawn's Togekiss appeared in the air near the boat. Meowth tried to get the boat away from there, but Ash and friend, plus Team Rocket, appeared near the riverbank to stop Meowth! Dawn had Piplup use Whirlpool, which knocked both Meowth and Glameow out of the boat. Team Rocket and Ash and friends had Meowth and Glameow cornered at that point, but Meowth vowed to protect Glameow from them, despite only Team Rocket meaning it any harm. Jessie sent out her Seviper and Ash sent out his Infernape and the two made their way towards Meowth for a battle. Meowth used it's "Fury Swipes of Love" against Seviper and it actually injured it! Haha. Meowth then used the same attack on Infernape, and it worked again. As Seviper and Infernape teamed up against Meowth, he used his "Double Fury Swipes of Love" to crush them. If only Meowth could be this good in every other battle; it would be awesome!
Jessie, Ash, and Dawn then had Yanmega, Staraptor, and Togekiss attack Meowth but it used it's third attack, "Multi Point Fury Swipes of Love" to defeat those three easily. Wow, even Jessie and James were mighty impressed with that attack and who can blame them? It was amazing to see Meowth actually fight for the first time in forever! Meowth then started ranting about how the source of his power was his love for Glameow, and I loved that scene where we got to see "buff Meowth" haha. Meowth even went as far as to compare it's power to that of Dialga and Palkia, which Jessie thought was going a little too far. Meowth proceeded to attack with a barrage of it's Fury Swipes, which once again, proved very effective against Seviper and Infernape. James then used his Carnivine's Bullet Seed, which actually managed to damage Meowth this time. However, Bullet Seed also hit Glameow, and it would appear that the attack triggered a reaction in Glameow that made it instantly evolve into a Purugly! I thought that was pretty sudden, considering that it didn't seem that well trained to me at the start. Dawn scanned Purugly in her PokeDex and then Jessie proceeded to remove Purugly's tail from around it's mid-section which was hilarious and random lol.
Just as Meowth got up from the ground, he noticed that Purugly was where Glameow once stood and it sort of insulted Purugly it seems. Purugly then crushed Meowth with it's weight, which was unexpected since I thought it liked Meowth. Apparently, Purugly wanted Meowth to keep it's word, and then Meowth finally realized that Purugly was Glameow and that it evolved as he was unconscious on the ground, due to Carnivine‘s Bullet Seed. He didn't seem pleased with that for some reason haha. Seviper and Infernape attacked Meowth, and Purugly seemed to tire and decided to just go back to it's trainer which was really cold but yeah. Meowth decided to "break-up" with Purugly, but it's trainer had it use Hyper Beam on Meowth and Team Rocket, causing them to blast off once more, as usual. Kind of sad. Well Ash and the little girl said goodbye to each other as they went their separate ways, and the episode ended like that. Hmm, it certainly left much to be desired. I was expecting a lot more considering how fun things were getting during that battle near the end, but it was an average episode in the end. Too bad. I'd give it a 8/10 since it wasn't all that great, but left me laughing during some parts. I hope the next one is better.
