Pokemon (2019) Episode 110 Discussion

ShadowUnown said:
Surprisingly great episode.

+ Finally it actually shows the competitors of Project Mew and Goh directly facing them. New potentially recurring rivals appear, and even a few more random competitors prove to be sufficiently threatening having at least knowledge of type weaknesses and taking full advantage of it.

+ Finally it shows a very interesting dynamic between rivals and competitors that has always been sorely missed even in Ash's campaign.

+ Finally shows the Project Mew Ranking.

+ Finally it explicitly shows Goh putting into practice what he learned from the mistakes he made in the previous trial.

+ With all the aspects mentioned above, it finally shows that Project Mew doesn't revolve around Goh, and that it's not just because he's the protagonist that he'll be the best next to the other main characters, at least for now. Many competitors are ahead of him and time is running out. Of course we know that Goh will make it in time, but it's good to see the writers trying to deconstruct Goh's "mary sue" status.

+ No Ash (so he doesn't have to be "nerfed" in these episodes like he normally is in them)

Unfortunately though:
- Giving points to Goh for coming in second takes the emotional weight off his decision in the end. It didn't look like he lost that much, after all, it was just 1 token less. He should have walked out of there without any reward except Asahi's sympathy for his moral stance at the end of the trial which could later influence his admission to the Project or something, or maybe nothing at all.

- The most dangerous research mission of all and only little kids compete to join it. I know this has to do with the show's target audience, but still...

- I'm afraid it's too late for all this. This is the penultimate mission and they are only now exploring Project Mew participants properly. Furthermore, as I (iirc) explained in the Articuno Raid episode, Goh's "development" in the later PM missions makes him an even more inconsistent character in my point of view, as he has always been cooperative and skilled from the start. All of this should have come there at the beginning of the season IMO.

Now I'm worried about the Regis episode, I hope Regigigas will show up and force a raid with Asahi and Tsurugi as Opening suggests so we can avoid the Legendary being caught, in a way that doesn't detract from Gary and Goh of course, although I know a lot of people would hate to see Goh getting a hand again, so this is just a totally personal and subjective expectation.

As someone who cares a lot about world-building and a solid writing this episode was quite entertaining nonetheless.

Ngel55 said:
You know, it's amusingly ironic how if Goh hadn't convinced Tokio to desist he wouldn't have lose the Battle Royale.

But hey, He knows how important his friend's dream is :)...