My opinions on the battle.
Torterra being the dead weight pokemon is understandable when the following are taken into consideration.
Looking at Ash's sinnoh team (Including Gilscor and Gible), Torterra, along with Staraptor and Infernape, are the only ones that have yet to play that role in any relevant battle (vs gym leaders and significant recuring characters). Not only that, pikachu, who played dead weight against Fantina, fought in just as few gyms as torterra.
Unlike swellow, staraptor does not have the ability to sponge electric attacks. The writers have no need to empazise a "flying vs electric = poor matchup" point so that rules it out.
Infernape was shown to activate blaze. It would be conpletely anticlimatic if it were KO'ed in that state as that would complicate the blaze plot even further that it already is.
Each pokemon getting a KO (no dead weight pokes) would make this battle a generic KO fest, which in turn would have undermined the gym reputation as the toughest gym in sinnoh. In addition, the writers given time constraints were too small to allow for a substitution fest (ie. Ash vs Paul @ Lake Acuity), so someone had to be KO'ed. And Torterra was their only option.
Other than that:
Music played (GSC rival theme and RBY champion theme are always epic, as was the Cerulean city theme. The OP theme, which was the first time it was played outside of previews and the OP itself, complimented its scene perfectly.)
Pikachu KO'ing Electivire is a huge plus, not only for the fact that it's his first win against a member of the electabuzz family, but also for that fact that he won by brute force, a rare sight for pikachu, who is usually portrayed as a hit and run pokemon.
Eh, given the time constraints of the battle, the writers couldn't have done much with jolteon. At least they emphasized the power of its thunderbolt (so the ape wouldn't leave the battle unscathed).
Luxray's voice actor did an excellent job of portraying its ferocity, specifically when executing thunder fang.
Blaze plot was epic for reasons already stated, as was its aftermath. I suspect that the reason the writers closed the blaze plot now, rather than vs Paul in the league, is that in the latter (vs Paul in the league), they could have Infernape learn a new move then, though the only move I can see it learning is flare blitz.
The only correctable problem with this episode is the excess TR screentime, but this has been an ongoing problem for years, so ranting about it would be pointless.
I'll finish with this note: PUSA better not screw up the blaze scene, specifically when Infernape approaches Ash.
9/10
