This episode, while still handled well, wasn't as good as the first episode. Sure, it was nice to see Ash progress on his journey and still show character development, and we did get to see more of Misty and her personality, but it's almost as if the journey had to halt so Pikachu could recover. Makes sense, but it's a bit jarring when transitioning from first episode to the next. But while I have no real qualms toward this episode, that was just me.
In the meantime, I totally forgot just how much of a character Viridian City Officer Jenny was. She was just really excited about interacting with a Pokémon trainer, and talked to Ash for a good couple of minutes before she took him to the Pokémon Center and rode up to the front desk. Meanwhile, Nurse Joy is all, "We have a door, you know," which suggests that she's used to Officer Jenny acting like this. They also appear to be friendly with one another, which you don't get to see very often with the other Jennies and Joys. I'm really surprised how they weren't that memorable to me as a kid, but oh well. Now that I'm older, I can pick up on these more easily.
Misty shines much more here than she did in the first episode, even though her introduction was great. She really has it out for Ash in this episode for ruining her bike, yet she has a soft spot for Pikachu and genuinely worries about it (meanwhile chastising Ash for being careless). I don't understand why it was she was holding herself back from fighting against Team Rocket like that, she should've been really embarrassed for sending out Goldeen, and yet she remained calm and collected. Rather unusual, to be honest. You'd think she'd have shown off her skills as a trainer especially in front of Ash, but I guess they wanted to keep her identity a secret? Odd choice.
Awkwardness of the voices aside, Jessie, James and Meowth are rather villainous in this episode than they are in later episodes (for obvious reasons). They really do have that mysteriousness about them, and a dark side. However, I couldn't help but giggle over how James was a bit narcissistic about the wanted picture. He really wanted his "good" side taken xD. Meowth I swear sounds like Kraang. It wasn't him, but it's probably because they tried to make sure he had a verbal tic like he does in the original. Personally, I'm glad they got rid of that verbal tic later on, it got rather annoying pretty quickly. Back to Team Rocket, they can get violent if they wanted, they really destroyed the Pokémon Center before Ash and Pikachu blew it up (though technically it was because of Koffing). However, I think they put on more of a show of being threatening than they did in acting upon it. They're not comedic villains at this point, they are just doing their job, but they mostly stood there proclaiming "we'll steal the Pokémon" and making insults. And even then, I think they just let Ekans and Koffing go wild, they hardly gave them orders. Which is not a bad thing. At the end when they're talking about how strong that Pikachu was for its evolution, it's a bit odd how they didn't seem to care for the other Pikachu that were there. And the power was because Ash was powering up the blinker on Misty's charred bike, so that was where the power was coming from. Anything to make them obsessed with Pikachu, I guess.
Ash in the meantime is worried about Pikachu nearly the entire episode, and to give Veronica Taylor credit, he sounds rather exhausted once he's at the Center. Him talking to his mother supports this, and we get the only mention of his father, in which he doesn't sound very proud of himself for it. Too bad this is never brought up again, so in the long-run that mention was meaningless. But at the time we didn't know, so... *shrugs* Anyway, the most egregious part of this episode was him pointing out one of the Legendary Birds he saw even though the picture was clearly an Articuno--again, we didn't know that, so you can kinda forgive the show for that, but in hindsight it's just all the more awkward. But to Professor Oak's credit, he lampshades this fact by saying (pretty much), "Naw, you couldn't have seen this Pokémon, trainers spend their entire lives hoping for a glimpse of one." Speaking of Oak, he's silly, and maybe a bit senile. I'm really looking forward to more scenes with him talking to Ash, or even by himself. He was more calm and collective in the first episode, but he let himself go in this one.
After the climatic explosion of a Pokémon Center and no other surrounding damage, the transition to Viridian Forest felt a bit awkward to me. Nurse Joy talks about it, and then we cut to the forest and Ash and Misty are already inside. And when we see them in the forest, Misty's screaming over a Caterpie. It would've been better to have seen them walk inside and run into the Caterpie, but time was becoming a bit constrained by then, so... cliffhanger! Cue end credits.
So overall, slightly a step-down from the previous episode, but I personally do like it when shows like this (especially a children's show) takes its time to give the illusion of a big world and bigger plot. It was also a nice way to introduce the recurring characters of Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny, and as a way for us to be introduced to our villains. So while it's not as memorable as the first episode, Jessie, James and Meowth were the highlights of the episode, as was Misty joining the cast. The journey's only begun.
9.5/10
