Not going to lie, but I was quite disappointed by this episode on multiple fronts. The battle with Mudbray was just to set-up the plot, but I expected to see just a tad more - perhaps even see Stamina kick in, but alas.
I think that after the (boring) foodrelated/science slapschtick-parts of Ash visiting Sophocles' house the point was that there might be set-up for Ash's Electrium Z to upgrade to Pikashunium Z. During the spinning wheel scene, I liked that Rockruff noticed that Rowlet was fumbling and got it out of there. For a moment I thought I saw the normal Electrium Z-icon morph into what looked more like a Pikachu's tail than anything else (even though Pikachunium Z has the externalized Pikachu-tail feature).
#mightymorphingpowerchrystals
The battle battle with Tapu Koko was okay, but would've been better with a higher pace. I liked that we didn't see Ash hesitate to jump after Pikachu. I honestly didn't see that coming. I saw the blow out, then Pikachu crashed through the gate.. While that moment registered and before anything else had come to mind, Ash had already jumped after him.
What I really didn't like though was the implication of Ash still not being ready to move forward. There's literally nothing left for him to do on Melemele anymore, aside from Litten and the "school"
which is a dead-end since there's no actual plot involved there. I would've wanted him to get a more proper acknowledgement from Tapu Koko. I mean I don't expect Ash to beat Tapu Koko now, but it was hardly fazed by what Pikachu threw at him. Yes, more then in their initial skirmish, but this just still felt like Ash was being schooled. There was no acceptance in the sense of "you did well so far, you can go on your own from here"-vibe after the battle.
Or you know, Pikachu is just too incredible when it is at his best, like when it's Peakachu. Latios was stronger than Darkrai. Darkrai took hard hits from Heracross and Gible while Latios destroyed Sceptile and Swellow without taking any damage.
Was it though? Why would somebody as obsessed with strength lead with Darkrai if he had something that could achieve his goals quicker? You note that Darkrai took hard super-effective hits, while Latios took nearly nothing from Sceptile and Swellow, which was mostly because Sceptile was worn down by Darkrai and Swellow just didn't stack up. So you're actually arguing that Darkrai is the beefier of the two, while saying the exact opposite.