This was an entertaining and pretty cute episode.
It was a nice way to debut both Morelull and Shiinotic. I like the contrast between the two Pokémon. As a Morelull, it drains energy/life; but once it evolves into Shiinotic, it can replenish energy/life. The scene with all the Morelull evolving into Shiinotic and then making the tree bloom was pretty, and prettily animated.
So, the reason Lillie was unaffected by Morelull's energy drain was because of her Repel; Morelull couldn't touch her, and thus couldn't drain her energy. (If this is indeed the first time Repel has been used in the anime, then this was a nice way to show how it's used, and this was the perfect use for it.)
I was hoping Lillie would be the one to save the day, since she was the only one unaffected by Morelull, but I really like how Ash helped Morelull gather energy by letting it suck his energy, while continuously replenishing his energy with food, until Morelull had absorbed all the energy it needed. It was a very Ash-like thing to do, and it shows just how much he loves helping Pokémon, even if it means putting himself in harm's way (so to speak). (The way Lillie was so amazed by Ash's strategy was kind of cute. Meanwhile, Mallow was just...unimpressed.
)
We did learn a little bit more about Lillie: She has never been camping before (hence she overpacked); and, if I understood her correctly, she can't sleep without her Clefairy doll. (Also, Nebby's bag!!
)
The facial expressions in this episode were great, too. The prize goes to Lana, though.
Pocket Monster XY Series Director Yajima Tetsuo made a visual cameo in this episode. The animation supervisor was Oohashi Aito, the animation supervisor for
XY & Z Episode #35.
Is that who that random dude was based off of? That's pretty cool, actually.