Am I the only one who didn't like this episode much? The only thing that really stood out to me was the beginning, with Ash blasting them off.
#11:
Noodles: Roamin' Off!
Ash and his friends are walking, and...moronic Team Rocket? Already?
Fortunately, Ash decides to blast them off, having no time for their shenanigans. Awesome! Though it only highlights how bad TR really is, Ash deciding to dispatch them early was great. Sadly, it goes down the drain from here...
They land in the sea, then come out covered in seaweed. We get a lot of melodrama in the form of Jessie and Meowth wanting to give up (they wait until DP117 of all episodes to decide this?), and boy is it laid on thick. James is more adamant, however...they go to a noodle shop, eat without paying, try and escape, Ash and company just happen to show up, they're found and sent to the owner.
The next thing they do is...ask for forgiveness.
I'm serious.
Not just asking, but pleading...Team Rocket,
everyone.
It turns out Christopher (the owner) knew them from when he used to be in TR. Long story short, they went to a ramen shop, where Jessie and James told him there's life outside of TR. He appreciated their kindness and was so impressed by their cooking that he opened a noodle shop and named it after them, and now it's famous all around Sinnoh. Well I'm glad someone's impressed, because I'm not.
Also, none of this makes any sense. If the Jessie and James noodle shop is so famous, how come this is the first time the main characters have either seen one or even heard about it?
Anyway, Christopher repays them by letting them eat free, some clumsy person drops a dough ball, Meowth slices it into perfect noodles. Impressed, Chris offers him a position, but his teammates are against the idea, and they leave. Well, good to know they won't be breaking up for a stupid reason, right?
Meanwhile, with OUR THREE HEROES, they're walking, when they're confronted with...a noodle robot? Really? They're not even trying anymore...after TR says a lame noodle variation of the motto, Ash, just like last time, blasts them off (it wasn't electricproof), but this time, instead of being funny, it's just pitiful. After stock footage of them splashing and coming out in seaweed, Jessie and James blame Meowth. Uhh, no, you're all equally at fault. You three should know by now to
electric proof your devices! The writers decide to pile on even more melodrama, and have Meowth leave his friends and go back to Christopher. Uh, wow, this is proving to be the worst breakup episode yet. James tries to go after him, but Jessie stops him...then, proving once and for all she cares nothing for anyone but herself, they give her the following exchanges with James:
Jessie: Quitting Team Rocket will be good for me too.
James: What?
Jessie: Time to give Top Coordinator Jessalina the fulltime shot she truly deserves!
...You wouldn't be where you were without Team Rocket! (Which makes it even more stupid that she stopped James from trying to bring back Meowth). Oh, but it doesn't stop there:
Jessie: James, you should give this some thought. You do come from a filthy rich family. And what about that fiancée in waiting?
...Do I even need to EXPLAIN what's wrong with this line?!
Moving on, James vows to get on top of the TR ladder, but later that night, he can't stop thinking about them. Then Ash, Brock and Dawn arrive at the scene, talking about Metagross mountain, which is said to house an oddly colored Metagross. Is it sad for me to be glad for this distraction in order to forget Jessie's *****iness? Now, James decides to go there to catch it for TR, not hearing about how dangerous it is.
Ash, Dawn and Brock didn't even need to be in this scene, James could have found out from another source. Some hikers see James climb, but don't even try and warn him. Meanwhile, Jessie overhears two people talking about a naive trainer with an R on his shirt who climbed the mountain. She knew who it was, so she went back to the noodle shop to tell Meowth. After an unfunny scene involving Christopher and "Jessalina", we get even more melodrama, as well as this line:
Meowth: Dig it! The Meowth you used to know is gone!
Jessie: Meowth, gone?
Meowth: Since I started working in this noodle joint, I'm blooming bigger than a dozen roses! And now I finally found somebody who appreciates my talent a lot more than you and James ever did!
Oh, the irony of that first line (minus "Dig it!"). First off, who talks like this? Second, that last line only highlights that they seem to be together for superficial reasons (for example, Meowth makes mechas), and not because they're a trio of friends.
Jessie then explains to him that she just came here to congratulate him. I thought she came to warn him about James? Way to prove once more you only care about yourself. Meanwhile, James encounters the oddly colored Metagross, and boy, is it disappointing. It poses absolutely NO threat (except when it's required for the plot). Mime Jr and Carnivine try and beat it, but a few bad color puns later, Metagross uses Psychic to wrap them in its vines. Jessie has to come to the rescue with Yanmega's Steel Wing and Seviper's...Poison tail.
You see what I mean by it not putting up a fight? SW shouldn't even affect it that much, and Poison tail shouldn't evendo damage. Yet, it's enough to send it down a cliff. After Jessie makes fun of it, it comes back, but Wobbuffet uses Counter to deflect the rocks back at it, talking it down. Then Jessie, guess what she does...mocks it again. Metagross has it in a psychic hold and gets ready to use Hyper Beam, when Meowth comes in with a machine gun. Instead of trying to capture it for the boss (probably because it's too weak ), they try and run away, but a Gyro Ball sends them....blasting off again. That was pretty lame, James went up the mountain for nothing.
Meanwhile, Dawn sees a shooting star and wishes upon it, and then we get the funniest line in the episode:
Ash: You know, maybe that was Team Rocket getting zapped by that Metagross and then flying off while screaming "We're blasting off again!".
Brock: Yeah, or maybe not.
Dawn suggests for Ash to wish upon a star, and he says this:
Ash: No need, cause we're gonna be okey-dokey!
Lame...and the episode ends there. Too much melodrama, bad dialogue, and general stupidity ruined what could have been a decent episode. Also, their reason for breaking up was one of the worst yet.
Also, minor nitpick, but you'd think Ash would want to battle (or catch) that Shiny Metagross.