Enjoyed the episode. I love treasure-hunting, it's entertaining to see what treasure each character of the six main characters find in this episode (sort of an exception for Lillie).
The scene that has Stoutland pulling down Ash's pants and Mallow, Steenee, and Pikachu (cute with the Alola Cap) was kept, because, well, they kept the same scenes where Ash has just his boxers in SM20, so if they didn't remove it in SM20, why would they remove it here, even though Mallow is there? Mallow is trying to get Ash's attention as she thought Ash was daydreaming. Still, it's cool that Ash didn't bring out Litten, and thought about Stoutland and Litten by a flashback to SM21.
Ash: So he finds four shards, red, green, blue, and yellow, all referencing the original colors for Pokémon in Gen I. Cool as it is, they were pretty worthless. Too bad for Ash for losing (20 points). Oh, it's probably even more humiliating that he failed to catch an Alolan Geodude. Ouch, Thunder-Punching the Poké Ball right back at Ash's face/nose. That's going to hurt.
Mallow: It's all about ingredients for Mallow. I could not consider ingredients as treasure, they really aren't worth any value as you can consume and/or cook them. It's fair that Mallow found unusual sizes of such ingredients, however. Even if they were of any value, she was only able to beat Ash (95 points).
Sophocles: Well, Sophocles wasted time in the first half of the class, thus missing the opportunity to earn any points. He did better in the second half, but still. Him finding the Star Piece (or Comet Shard) got himself a decent amount of points, but still not enough to win, only beating Ash and Mallow (150 points). And there you go, Sophocles, breaking the fourth wall by pushing Lana away just to get the whole screen for himself. No way to treat Lana like that after she took you out to the ocean for a Wailord sighting in SM26!
Lillie: Lillie seemingly didn't participate at all. Zero points! Okay, but seriously, Lillie's treasure was trying to overcome her fear of touching Pokémon, and after Pikachu, comes Stoutland. Glad to see Lillie overcome her fear. Hopefully Lillie will take on Kiawe's offer of riding Charizard. Professor Kukui did good by encouraging Lillie by reminding her about the times she had with Snowy and Pikachu.
Kiawe: We didn't see much for Kiawe, but he did good here by concentrating. Two fossils was enough for him to win the competition (300 points), but he didn't expect Lana overtaking him in one shot. Wonder if Kiawe actually kept the fossils? Probably not, since we haven't heard anything about the fossils now. During Kiawe's search, the walls had an odd but neat design. Liked the walls behind Kiawe.
Lana: Lana got the most action in this episode, next to Ash. It struck me a bit odd that Lana chose the Stoutland that happens to be untamed and stubborn, according to Olivia. Lana's got determination. Stoutland refusing to let Lana on for the first time was worrying, but at least she remains determined. The first half, it was a failure for Lana because Stoutland just refuses to cooperate with Lana and Popplio. But in the second half, that's when things start to turn around. Liked the fact she remains determined to find treasure after being fed up with Stoutland's stubbornness, but Garbodor shows up after knocking Popplio away. Stoutland's refusal and Garbodor attacking Lana has me really worried for Lana overall in this episode, especially when it was first shown in the Japanese previews back in June 2017. However, Lana's determination went as far as to protect Popplio and Stoutland, was a good moment. Glad that Stoutland finally decided to cooperate with Lana as thanks for protecting itself from Garbodor. Seems that Stoutland knows where to find the treasure for Lana prior to this episode. I was worried for a bit that Lana would have to return empty-handed, but at least Stoutland and Lana had the slight extra time to search the cave...and find the object she needed to win the treasure hunt. That being said, I'm happy for Lana winning the competition by getting a Z-Ring Ore (or Sparkling Stone). Lana deserved it as she was determined the whole episode. It only gets better for Lana next week! 500 points!
Lana's voice? Lana is a young girl, so she's meant to sound young.
And Team Rocket not appearing? It's fine, they had no purpose here and they didn't take away any screen time. Some of you act like this episode should have been changed during the dubbing to have Team Rocket featured.
All in all, I again enjoyed the treasure-hunting episode, and happy for Lana getting through her determination and obtaining a Z-Ring. Good character development for both Lana and Lillie here.