Gladion & Lillie! Chasing a Father's Phantom!! (1070)

[Serebii]

Gladion & Lillie! Chasing a Father's Phantom!!

The group has gone to Lillie's house for training with their Z-Moves ahead of the Alola Pokémon League when Lillie shows the group the Magearna her father found for her. In addition to that, Gladion is on Melemele Island looking for something with hisUmbreon. Will he find what he's looking for and will Lillie finally master her Z-Move?

Visit The Episode Guide

Discuss

 

[Doppelgänger]

Champion Ash confirmed by the opening.

 

[Deleted member 384931]

Champion Ash confirmed by the opening.

How do you mean?

 

[Doppelgänger]

How do you mean?

The winner of the Alolan Pokemon League - the Champion - has an exhibition match against Masked Royal as a reward for winning.

Ash battles Masked Royal during Kukui's fantasy in the opening.

Soooo...if Ash loses this one, it'll be a magnitudes-worse fake out than "Kalos League Victory".

 

[Deleted member 384931]

The winner of the Alolan Pokemon League - the Champion - has an exhibition match against Masked Royal as a reward for winning.

Ash battles Masked Royal in Kukui's fantasy in the opening.

Soooo...if Ash loses, this is a magnitudes-worse fake out than "Kalos League Victory".

Oh lol yeah did anything interesting happen in this episode?

 

[Doppelgänger]

Brief event summary:

-Lillie introduces Magearna to her friends, learns about the Soul Heart
-Lillie masters Subzero Slammer
-Mallow fails to use Bloom Doom
-Gladion recruits Mohn's Zoroark to find his father

It was a great episode even without the opening spoiler.

 

[TheScentedApple]

This was a lot in one episode my god, but it seemingly confirmed Ash will win the league? Unless I understood it wrong, Masked Royal is the like event winner's prize for winning the league and well, Ash vs Kukui was a given. Also Mallow not being able to do the Z-Move hopefully gives the writers some excuse to show some development with her, Tsareena didn't look ready or something was what I got from it

 

[Doppelgänger]

Yes, the two biggest events fans predicted before the league - Magearna waking up, and Mallow mastering Bloom Doom - have yet to come to pass.

This leads me to think that Magearna and Shaymin will not be participating in the league, and Lillie/Mallow will not get very far. That is a shame, but there are many strong competitors from the roster Dephender posted..and I still don't think everyone's accounted for.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

Mallow fails to use Bloom Doom

...how the bloody flippin' 'eck does that work when she was the one to teach it to Ash in the first place?!

 

[xinfernapex]

Quite a bit happened in this episode

-Gladion defeats Hapu in a Grand Trial, doesn’t seem to get a new Z-Crystal though
-Sophocles Vikavolt knows Zap Cannon now
-Lana’s Primarina uses Sparkling Aria for the first time
-Royal Mask will battle the winner of the league I guess?
-Lillie and Vulpix perfect SS
-Mallow hasn’t perfected her Z-Move yet, guess she’ll do that next episode maybe?
-Gladion finds Zoroark

I’m don’t really get what happened with Magearna though. Did it wake up for just a moment?

 

[Zoruagible]

So basically Mallow got a guaranteed pass from the elimination rounds, hopefully at least...

Strange how Mohn ain't back, but I guess that means Lillie really will stay in Alola to remain with her family. Be completely strange to have her go "Hey dad, I know we just got you back in the last episode but... I'm gonna go now, kay? Bye! "

 

[Doppelgänger]

One final thing before I struggle my way back to sleep:

It isn't clear if Ash and Pikachu recognized Magearna. They didn't express surprise or familiarity.

But Ash did break character. Right after Lillie introduced her, there was an awkward silence, then Ash walked up and introduced himself to Magearna. The rest of the class followed his lead.

I've said before that I think SM Ash's personality comes across as an adult pretending to be a 10 year old kid, and only doing a okay job at it. His act is the same as Samson Oak with his puns. Sometimes, Ash's adult maturity breaks through the veneer, like during the Torracat/Stoutland interactions. This felt like one such instance.

 

[Twilight-Kun]

But Ash did break character. Right after Lillie introduced her, there was an awkward silence, then Ash walked up and introduced himself to Magearna. The rest of the class followed his lead.

Ash introducing himself to new people and pokémon isn't breaking character

It's called being polite and breaking the ice

 

[Doppelgänger]

Magearna wasn't awake or conscious. It is similar to introducing yourself to a dead body.

That awkward silence showed that the other children were at a loss for how to transition out of Lillie's presentation. Ash took charge in that moment.

You could call it an act of leadership, but it's not the first time he's acted or not acted in a wise manner.

Being a 10 year old isn't simply acting like the world is one's oyster, it's also about making mistakes in social situations you're not accustom to. I've yet to see a situation where SM Ash was wrong, unlike in OS. He seems to know what buttons to push to resolve a tense situation while opening up hearts - think Litten, Lycanroc, and Zeraora. He has mentored characters who should be his peers, Kukui and even Gladion.

There's nothing huge, but a lot of little things add up.

 

[Dephender]

Strange how Mohn ain't back,

The episode ended with Gladio telling Zoroark he wanted it to help him search for Mohn, so the Mohn search is practically guaranteed to be a post-league arc.

 

[Lord Starfish]

I fully expected both the Mohn thread and the Magearna thread to be resolved here. I'm actually glad that they aren't. Including those here would have made the episode far too overstuffed.

 

[Dragalge]

It’s really sad when Zoroark gets better treated in a different saga compared to the region it originally appeared in. Zoroark was robbed in the Unova League by Lucario.

 

[p96822]

They are just ripping off the last don George tournament. The winner face off the champion (Alder and Kuiwe)

 

[lolipiece]

I don't usually talk about (or pay attention to) music, but the tune that that played when Lillie and Snowy used Subzero Slammer was really good. It felt...chilling.

I'm honestly, truly surprised Magearna wasn't awakened. I expected the Z-Move and Zoroark (is it joining just to look for Mohn? Or will he use it in the League as well?), but we're gonna keep up the suspense with this I guess. I'm intrigued to see how the Mohn story will continue from here on out.

 

[wellwellwells]

Just when you think this series can not get worse they go ahead and make Lillie go into the league with only Shiron, Mallow not being able to use the Z Move SHE taught Ash about, and Gladio with a Pokémon that’s not even his.