This episode was actually funnier than I thought it would be. It had a few hilarious fanboy/fangirl moments that made me laugh:
- Professor Burnet fangirling over the Masked Royal throughout the entire episode was kind of adorable, as well as the fact that she got so nervous about meeting him and shaking his hand that her heart kept racing. There's something oddly charming about seeing a grown woman, especially one who is normally so professional, go completely gaga like a lovestruck teenager.
- Faba and James's initially unpleasant meeting turning into their bonding over their mutual love of the Masked Royal was actually rather entertaining. (Though I do want to know when James had the time to learn so much detail about the Masked Royal's new mask—right down to the length of the horns and the elasticity of the mask.)
I thought Professor Kukui would actually end up revealing himself as the Masked Royal, but Molayne stepped in at the last second and saved him. I'm not disappointed that the public didn't find out that Professor Kukui is the Masked Royal, but I am a
little disappointed that Professor Burnet didn't learn the truth. You would think after all that fangirling she did, Professor Kukui would
want to tell her that her idol is also her husband. However, my little bit of disappointment at that was not enough to spoil my enjoyment of this episode overall.
Faba's disguising himself as the Masked Royal felt a little forced, but the reactions it got were worth it—especially Incineroar's reaction. At least nobody was fooled.
I was actually a little worried people would fall for that disguise, because that would be rather typical of Pokémon.
I actually don't find it all that weird that Incineroar didn't battle so well under Faba's command. One major theme of the Pokémon anime has always been the importance of the bond between a Pokémon and its Trainer, and this just goes to show how important that bond is and how much it can affect a Pokémon's performance, even when the Pokémon in question is incredibly powerful. Incineroar has no bond at all with Faba; the two of them are not at all in sync with each other.