Review SM022: Beware of Shovels!!!

[Playerking]

SM022 - Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia

Discuss the episode here.

 

[ii kanji]

Of note, poor Maamane's date with Lillie got killed by Satoshi's stupidity.

 

[radek.tadajewski.7]

Ash is so stupid he took out Pallosand's shovel and then it ate him along with Litten. Besides, Pallosand ate Ash and Kukui at the end of the episode with "To be continued...". What will happen next?

 

[Playerking]

Ash is so stupid he took out Pallosand's shovel and then it ate him along with Litten. Besides, Pallosand ate Ash and Kukui at the end of the episode with "To be continued...". What will happen next?

It always ends with To be continued, so it's probably just a gag to the end the episode with and doesn't mean anything.

 

[Pkmndub]

Ash is so stupid he took out Pallosand's shovel and then it ate him along with Litten. Besides, Pallosand ate Ash and Kukui at the end of the episode with "To be continued...". What will happen next?

Wait you mean we get a Cartoon ending where the character gets hurt and comes back fine? That's new...

 

[Playerking]

Wait you mean we get a Cartoon ending where the character gets hurt and comes back fine? That's new...

Actually, not quite. The Poke Problem shows Ash, Pikachu, Ash's Rockruff and Professor Kukui cleaning up the sand from the house and then Ash, Pikachu and Rockruff jump in horror as they discover the shovel.

 

[Pkmndub]

Actually, not quite. The Poke Problem shows Ash, Pikachu, Ash's Rockruff and Professor Kukui cleaning up the sand from the house and then Ash, Pikachu and Rockruff jump in horror as they discover the shovel.

I guess for the dub it'll be a cartoon ending then, sense they don't have the Pokeproblems. But that sounds pretty funny.
Anyway, I wish Kukui subs were still around for quick subs...but for now I wait!

 

[KrspaceT]

Interesting how Lillie was much bolder in attack than usual.

 

[Kirby4ever]

This is the first serious episode of Sun and Moon, and there will be many more in the future. Those that quit watching the Sun and Moon anime are missing out.

Poor Shiron, she became exhausted after freezing Pilossand.

 

[Alola]

Tfw Satoshi reaches a new level in being an idiot.

 

[Gard81]

Speaking of Shiron, when she attacked Pallosand with Powder Snow and the others fanned it to reach him, wouldn't it have produced the same result if Shiron, IDK, simply got closer to it, or am I missing something? Also, the stuff with the shovel and substituting Rotom for it, that was dumb even by Satoshi's standards, probably BW dumb.

On the other hand, I did appreciate the method to resolve this episode's problem of the day, in this case, Litten's mastery over Fire Fang. I like that it wasn't resolved the usual way, with TR capturing a Pokemon and then Litten learning to control Fire Fang better by battling them. It was a refreshing take.

 

[Johtohfiller]

Horror movie ending

 

[SammyW27]

It's official: SM really IS trying to be Kanto 2.0 (or is it 3.0?)!

This wasn't so bad. We had Litten training and mastering Fire Fang, some Kiwae development, and ALL of the classmates & their Pokemon pitching in.

All & all, a decent episode. Not especially memorable or deep, but at least enjoyable

 

[dman_dustin]

Are we really going to call Ash an idiot JUST because he was trying to help Sandygast by putting Rotom on its head, and completely ignore that it was primarily Rockruff's fault. Or is it Ash's fault for not training Rockruff properly.

 

[SamurottMan]

The weird thing is what was Ash expecting to happen?

Since there are no subs yet, was he trying to temporarily replace the shovel until they find it or did he had the heroic feeling to sacrifice RotomDex.

I really liked Rowlet's animation this episode. He was blinking which is a big step for this series to have a Pokemon blink casually. The quick blinks gave it a sweet goofy feeling. Also, it was approaching Litten and they we see Rowlet going back to where it was before. Sun Moon has been paying attention to small details like that and they really make the show for you when noticed. Litten's actions were also fun to watch during the first half and then it perfecting Fire Fang. Stoutland is proud (also r.i.p.)

One thing that bugs me is the fact that the Pokemon use only 1 or 2 moves. Turtonator has Flamethrower, Popplio has Bubble Beam, Mallow's Steenee only had Sweet Scent before evolving, now it has 2 new moves, which I'm assuming will be the only moves it will be shown using for a long time, Togedemaru's Zing Zap, Shiron's Icy Wind.
It is kinda getting stale. Seeing them use the same exact move every time they appear. It follows that from XY.

 

[Sakuraa]

Hm, I enjoyed this episode more than I expected to.

Continuing Litten's Fire Fang training was nice to see, though I thought he'd already gotten the hang of it in the last episode. Also, maybe it's just me, but I feel like they've already made Litten much softer than he's been before his capture. He went from taking a beating from Persian and trying to walk it off like it ain't no thing, and attacking TR to save Popplio and Rowlet completely on his own...to tearing up after tripping over a can. Idk, that just seems like too quick of a change to me. Usually it takes a minute for Ash's serious Pokemon to lighten up, but, I digress. Anyway, why on earth would Ash try to use Rotom to replace Sandygast's shovel after the dog knocked it out? Was he planning on leaving him there forever, or maybe he thought Sandygast would decide it had enough of Rotom and let him go? It was just idiotic all around. I lol'd when Litten kicked the dog in the face, though.

I didn't all too much care for the way the rest of the classmates just randomly showing up like they did. It felt way too forced, especially since they were in their own separate duos. It was nice to see them hanging out together out of class in small groups, but coming together like that was just dull. I also didn't like how Pikachu went in to get the shovel. They should have made Rockruff do it since losing the thing was his fault in the first place.

But I loved that little Shiron got to play a major role in saving Ash and Litten. She's so adorable. I also liked that Togedemaru, Steenee and their trainers helped Shiron out. That entire part was just cute. But I found it totally weird that Popplio and Pikachu where trying to send the shovel up in a bubble. Seriously, couldn't Popplio have just grabbed it with his mouth or something? They took so much time with their blunders that it seemed like it would have been more efficient to just grab it.

The end was weird. Why did Pallosand slam into Kukui's house like that? Whatever. But overall, this episode managed to be very entertaining. 7.5/10.

 

[SonansuMan]

That was.. a pretty good episode.

I was anticipating a army of Sandygast along with Pallosand attacking Ash and the classmates, but hey, this plot worked just as well.

GOOD PARTS OF THE EPISODE:
1. Kiawe's Charizard actually does something other then flying around!

2. Shiron gets to play a major role in the episode.

3. Pikachu and Popplio attempting to get the shovel, only to get blocked by a water Pokemon.

4. Rotom's constant voice changes.

5. Litten masters Fire Fang! I look forward to Firium Z in the future.

6. The ending.

BAD PARTS OF THE EPISODE:
1. Eh, can't think of any.

10/10 (Just because)

On a side note, does anyone else think the ending scene would've felt a lot funnier/better if the Poke Problem didn't show what happened afterwards?

 

[KrspaceT]

Hm, I enjoyed this episode more than I expected to.

Continuing Litten's Fire Fang training was nice to see, though I thought he'd already gotten the hang of it in the last episode. Also, maybe it's just me, but I feel like they've already made Litten much softer than he's been before his capture. He went from taking a beating from Persian and trying to walk it off like it ain't no thing, and attacking TR to save Popplio and Rowlet completely on his own...to tearing up after tripping over a can. Idk, that just seems like too quick of a change to me. Usually it takes a minute for Ash's serious Pokemon to lighten up, but, I digress. Anyway, why on earth would Ash try to use Rotom to replace Sandygast's shovel after the dog knocked it out? Was he planning on leaving him there forever, or maybe he thought Sandygast would decide it had enough of Rotom and let him go? It was just idiotic all around. I lol'd when Litten kicked the dog in the face, though.

I didn't all too much care for the way the rest of the classmates just randomly showing up like they did. It felt way too forced, especially since they were in their own separate duos. It was nice to see them hanging out together out of class in small groups, but coming together like that was just dull. I also didn't like how Pikachu went in to get the shovel. They should have made Rockruff do it since losing the thing was his fault in the first place.

But I loved that little Shiron got to play a major role in saving Ash and Litten. She's so adorable. I also liked that Togedemaru, Steenee and their trainers helped Shiron out. That entire part was just cute. But I found it totally weird that Popplio and Pikachu where trying to send the shovel up in a bubble. Seriously, couldn't Popplio have just grabbed it with his mouth or something? They took so much time with their blunders that it seemed like it would have been more efficient to just grab it.

The end was weird. Why did Pallosand slam into Kukui's house like that? Whatever. But overall, this episode managed to be very entertaining. 7.5/10.

Litten's father figure died last episode. I'd be more worried if it was completely back to normal

 

[Playerking]

Are we really going to call Ash an idiot JUST because he was trying to help Sandygast by putting Rotom on its head, and completely ignore that it was primarily Rockruff's fault. Or is it Ash's fault for not training Rockruff properly.

I agree and I'll add on to that, that how was Rockruff to know that its rocks would knock the shovel off of Sandygast's head and that Sandygast would get so angry that it would evolve into a Palossand and swallow Ash and Litten? So, no, Ash didn't do anything stupid.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy that most of the good ideas in this episode came from the female protagonists.

Lana: Decided to use her Popplio to use go with Pikachu underwater and use a balloon to grab the shovel.

Lillie: Decided to use her Shiron's Powder Snow to freeze the Palossand.

Mallow: Decided to use the big leaves nearby to either help spread the Powder Snow attack and/or make it hit Palossand faster.

Kiawe just made a distraction for Lillie and the others to help freeze the Palossand.

 

[marshiyanmisuta]

Some highlight from the episode:

Spoiler

I know Mamane is supposed to be short, but this is ridiculous.

Lilie is 80s anime.

Alolan Satoshi!

"GeekChicShipping"

R.I.P.

Are we really going to call Ash an idiot JUST because he was trying to help Sandygast by putting Rotom on its head, and completely ignore that it was primarily Rockruff's fault. Or is it Ash's fault for not training Rockruff properly.

I agree and I'll add on to that, that how was Rockruff to know that its rocks would knock the shovel off of Sandygast's head and that Sandygast would get so angry that it would evolve into a Palossand and swallow Ash and Litten?

How is that Iwanko's fault? Satoshi ordered it to use Rock Throw.

So, no, Ash didn't do anything stupid.

No. It was extremely stupid and everyone knows it.