Not an essay time:
Up until this episode, it was my headcanon that Ash was on probation for cheating against Volkner (see: Z-move KO'ing Electivire) because he had done naff all since, but he was made useful with Pikachu powering the lift, but even then Go has electric pokemon so he could've sorted it (again Ash wasn't really needed). Not gonna lie, when the Ferrothorn was attacking the hunter, I had completely forgot that Rose used one in the SwSh arc, because the last time I remembered (at time of watching) it appearing was under the ownership of the idiot who thought you need 5 pokemon for a full battle, though I guess it proves how forgettable the rest of Rose's roster is. Asahi having an Azumarill I think fits her character, much like how I think Weavile fits Tsurugi's character. I thought it was sneaky that they showed a regular Larvesta in the preview from last week only for us to find out that said Larvesta was actually shiny, we knew that a shiny Volcarona would show up, I didn't think it'd be a Larvesta initially. I thought that the Hunter moonlighting as a researcher for his own benefit was a tad scummy, though I will say I'm not sure that the PM people have the authority to release other people's pokemon, sure they're pokemon owned by hunters, but they're still their pokemon, but I guess it's to disincentivise them from hunting in the future. Of course we can't have a Go episode without him catching pokemon, at least he battled them rather than just chuck balls at them.