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Team Shocker! (529)

Willow's Tara

The Bewitched
Wow I totally forgot Dawn lost this one as well and didn't get into the first round, as I said before it kinda makes Dawn's contests more unqiue then May's mostly because May always got in the second round but Dawn didn't.

It's interesting Jessie won her first ribbon as well, shows they can sometimes won, pity she got rid of Dustox considering it's the reason she got it
 

Platinum fan.

RetiredPokemonMaster
This episode was awesome and very shocking. Jessie finally won her first ribbon. I felt sorry for Dawn, but I knew she'd recover. I also liked how the main girl didn't win just for being the main girl.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I liked that Kenny, Dawn and Jessie competed in this contest. Usually we don't get so many rivals in one episode.

Kinda disappointed that Dawn lost and didn't get a ribbon for the second time in a row. It was hard to watch. On the other hand, glad Jessie won her first ribbon. Never thought I'd see that.

Good way to end Solaceon, with so many new things. 7/10
 

KGB13

Man of Mystery
I like that Jessie competes in contest and actually does good enough to win, it makes her a little more than comic relief and I like that. I also like Kenny and think he's a great rival. I felt bad for Dawn but I know she gets better. Good episode.
 

wind21

Well-Known Member
Skipping one review, the set up episode with Kenny and Aipom's evolution to Ampibom.

Well, this is it, the last of the 3 (maybe 3-still not sure about the Tag Battle arc) really influential episodes in Sinnoh. You know, since the tag battle arc and James's release of Cacnea, the episodes have been sort of routine; nothing's happened that you wouldn't have really expected. Also, a few of those episodes were filler; to me, it seemed like things were now going to go the normal route since the foundation was laid for everything. Ash and Paul had their rivalry pretty much set, and Dawn had her rivals. So all there was to really look forward to now was Ash winning his gym badges and Dawn getting her ribbons, and then so on. Normal stuff. Then this episode came. Unbelievable. I think this is where I really started to believe anything can happen in Sinnoh.

Unlike last time, Dawn does play a huge role in her failure to get out of the first round. Her appeal is fine to begin with, but its success sort of gets to her. She's so happy that in a rush of confidence, she ends up overdoing it. And yet...You feel for her. The main reason why she is so happy and excited during the appeal is because of her result at the last contest (and remember, she didn't do anything too wrong then); so unfortunately, one disaster led to another. But this time, Dawn handles the loss better. She does not leave the contest hall after the first round results are announced, even when Jessie taunts her and begins pushing her towards the door. Dawn understands this time that losing is a part of things, as long as she and Ampibom gave their best. But that doesn't mean she's not upset; she's just trying to hide it and act responsible. I'm sure, at some point or another, we've all been (or will be) in a situation like this, and it's not easy. It's just a part of life. Brock (!) and Jessie are surprised by Dawn's decision to stay, but Ash catches on to how Dawn is really feeling, and looks down, with his hat covering his eyes (another example of not knowing what Sinnoh Ash is thinking). Like I said back at the Pachirisu episode, Dawn is an introverted character, and Ash and Zoey are the ones who recognize this the most and do something about it.

However, Dawn's loss this time is much more serious than last time. Dawn really does not know what to do, and that's quite frightening. It's one thing to work harder, but when you are already working as hard as you can, where do you go from here? The ugly answer may just be that you're not good enough to do this. No one says this, but considering the looks on Zoey's and Nando's faces at the last contest, and the look on Kenny's face at this contest-the manner of those looks-, it's on their minds. Even Dawn's mother is really worried, her concern contrasting to the knowing smile she had when watching the last contest; I would bet she never went through something like this.

Well, if all of this was not shocking enough, Jessie wins the contest! Absolutely unreal. 2 contests in a row where Jessie has outperformed Dawn.

I think Kenny's departure once the contest is over is something I've been guilty of many times, especially when I was in high school. Coming into this contest, Kenny had gotten 2 ribbons, and also made a final where he lost to Zoey. Things are looking really good for him, and he has to be feeling very confident. When life is going that well for you, sometimes it's easy to be a little dismissive of your friend's troubles. It really looks like, right now, that Dawn has little chance of becoming a great coordinator. She can't even get out of the first round. It's hard to know what to say to that, especially when you're doing so well yourself. To him, contests are probably so easy right now. I think this scene is quite ironic because of what happens at the Grand Festival and specifically in dp 180. I really think, if in this episode Kenny had stayed and told Dawn what she did wrong during the contest, the storyline would have been much different. However...

Zoey is the one who comes to the rescue (Zoey did not participate in this contest). Late next morning, she comes to the pokemon center, is told by Ash and Brock that Dawn is still in the bedroom, barges in there, and proceeds to tell Dawn what she did wrong. This is a MUCH better reaction from Zoey compared to the last contest, and I'm trying to think about why the difference. I really think she's taken some lessons from Ash on the optimism mentality, especially considering that at the end of the episode she tells Ash to do well at his next gym battle to cheer Dawn up. I think it's the way Dawn reacts to watching Ash vs watching Zoey. Ash works hard and connects with his pokemon, which is something that Dawn can be inspired by for her own training. When Dawn has watched so Zoey so far, she tends to think...that Zoey is brilliant, which is not the idea she needs right now considering how low her confidence is. Zoey has told Dawn what to focus on in her training, and that's really all Zoey can do for her until Dawn becomes more confident.
 
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Lance The Champ

The Aura Guardian
Finally Jessie gets a ribbon....but what a shock for Dawn not getting through the first round again....she just doesn't do her basics right.Hope she recovers from this loss
 

G50

No longer posting
This episode was cool. It was interesting to see that Jessie wins her 1st ever Contest Ribbon. Dawn really overdid the Appeal Round. She really didn't show off Ambipom in the right way, the Swift attack was being way overused and was hiding Ambipom most of the time. Unfortunately she lost during the Appeal round for the 2nd time already.

70/100
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I was glad to see Ash and Turtwig get a little Energy Ball training done here, and Jessie's floating appeal with Dustox was the best that she had done up to this point imho. In fact, I got a savage pleasure watching Jessie's Dustox slay Kenny's Prinplup in the Contest battle as well. It was just nice seeing Kenny flop while Jessie become triumphant for once.
 
I had a feeling Dawn messed this one up when it showed how the three judges were looking at her performance.
 

Musashi~

Fiery Destroyer! <3
I was head over heels with joy when I saw the episode pictures for this episode, and learned that Jessie FINALLY won a contest. It was terrific when I finally got to see the episode too. At last, the writers FINALLY decided to break with tradition and let Jessie win something. That SO starts to make up for episodes where Team Rocket gets shafted, like "Princess vs. Princess" and "That's Just Swellow". James and Meowth's "old" jokes were pretty funny too.

Awesome, awesome episode.

I was over the moon to see Jessie win,something that was completely unexpected.Really shocking but well deserved! :)
9.5/10.
 

JudySpell

Banned
I didn't expect to see Jessie win a Contest ribbon legitimately in Solaceon. I thought Dawn or Kenny would win but the twist was actually amazing. 8/10
 

DatsRight

Well-Known Member
This episode was awesome and very shocking. Jessie finally won her first ribbon. I felt sorry for Dawn, but I knew she'd recover. I also liked how the main girl didn't win just for being the main girl.

I kinda feel this was partway the reason, and the other because they likely wanted to mess around with Team Rocket 'winning' at something for a shock twist (they had kinda driven their punching bags role to the ground in Hoenn, sometimes even when they didn't really deserve it). Let's face it, we know Dawn would do better in the contests than Jessie ultimately, just like the heroes nearly always outshine the trio. It's difficult to root for the twerps at times because Team Rocket are their blatant underdogs (especially since some of their wins scream of plot armour). They can at least try and make it interesting for a change and show one of them has to scrape and suffer to get out on top for a change.

And I agree with the above comment, having Jessie be a legitimate competitor makes her role more versatile than comic relief, just like other episodes in DP which developed on one of the trio actually being good at something. It made the team feel more fully developed instead of just standard bumbling villains and also greatly compliments their original concept as promising guys who took the wrong profession. I'm glad later eras like XY kept note of it.

It was a nice bow out for Dustox as well, a whole era of failures and she at least gets to end getting Jessie her first ribbon.
 
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Mrs. Oreo

Banned
Wow Jessie's floating appeal with Dustox was amazing, but poor Dawn. I didn't think she'd lose in the appeal round again, but Jessie winning a ribbon was cool and I was happy to see Zoey again ha ha. :D
 
I didn't think Jessie would win over Kenny, but I'm glad Dawn lost. It showed that she needed to do something different for appeals.
 

Wednesdayz

Meowth fanatic
When I saw this episode, I was kind of hoping Dawn would win/do well this time around. Why can't she be somewhat like Ash and be like "I lost, but I'm going to try harder again." I am getting pretty annoyed by Dawn and her depression side of losing.
 

Alloutℯ

Banned
I thought it was funny when Jessie was flying around. I was really surprised when they finished the battle so quickly, I thought it might have gone on for longer. But I don't know, I wasn't paying much attention. Other than Jessie winning, I thought this was a run of the mill Contest episode.
 

Mrs. Oreo

Banned
I didn't think Jessie would win over Kenny, but I'm glad Dawn lost. It showed that she needed to do something different for appeals.

Dawn losing in the Hearthome Contest's appeal round was enough of a lesson for her from my perspective. Her loss here simply made her lose more of her confidence and to me it seemed harsh. :[
 
Solaceon's Contest was so dull: even Ash's training with Turtwig seemed more fun to watch. Sorry, but Dawn losing again in the Appeal round was too much like deja vu and I hate repetitive plots, especially when they involve character angst.
 
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