The Magikarp usually is so full of life, but now the magic's disappeared. *flop* “Brilliant deduction!”
In my household, my brothers and I are the bigger Pokémon fans, we've all been fans at some point or another—or still are. Like I'm sure most parents did, my mother sometimes sat down to watch the show with us. This was one of those rare episodes where I remember her chuckling out loud because of the end. This is the debut episode of Psyduck, and Misty's reaction at the end of the episode would become a staple of her character's running gag. My mom laughed when it was announced it suffers from constant headaches similar to how she was prone to migraines. Psyduck has since then become her favorite Pokémon, even though she's not fond of Pokémon much anymore.
This episode felt a little weird pacing-wise, and doesn't have much of a “plot”. I don't believe it's a filler since Misty “catches” Psyduck, but it's almost like the writers rushed through this episode. And it's a dull episode, nothing of real interest happens except at the end. There were very few laughs and more snores. (And I can't fall asleep in a classroom, so it was a bit of a chore to watch for a twenty-minute episode.) The only conflict was the missing children whose whereabouts baffle me. Now the hypnosis on Misty was a little funny, but it's not funny with the other kids. The fact they were in the middle of the park and no one noticed is what made me imitate the Jackie Chan meme face. You'd think the parents would go to the park to check, don't they know it exists in the town?
Also, the Pokémon Lovers Club is full of nutjobs. Not that they're nutjobs for using Hypno as a way to help them overcome their insomnia, but maybe it's because they used it too much. I don't think that's good for the brain and/or the memory center to rely on being hypnotized into a deep sleep. If one can get addicted to sleeping pills, then one could get addicted to sleep waves. But they're a bunch of rich folk, they're a little crazy like that. Also, 4KIDS' edit with the psywaves is odd, because the screen just freezes and it looks very awkward, and when there's movement, it's glitchy-looking. I don't know what the original footage looked like, but maybe they were afraid it'd cause seizures?
It's been 26 episodes since their debut, and it's just now that Team Rocket's plan is odd and the most boring. They're going to accost their boss with sleep so they could take a vacation? Um... well, at least their entrance on the roof was a bit goofy. Gliders, really? Okay, then. Reason they're doing all of this is so they can fill in a half-hour. The Hypno is probably in on it, too, for being stupid enough to get itself hypnotized. Wait, if it's in on it, then it wouldn't be stupid... but it's still stupid for agreeing to it...
Anyway, basically the best part is the end of the episode. I just love how Psyduck taps the ball with its bill and it gets captured without a struggle. Silly Psyduck, you may become a running gag, but we still love you. A shame you only showed up in two-three scenes this whole episode, you would've made it more tolerable to watch this snore-fest. “Beauty and the Beast” at least kept me awake even if it was rather forgettable.
At least next episode is more fashionable in its performance.