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Review S17 EP41: Foggy Pokémon Orienteering!

For Me, this was the MIST DISAPPOINTING Episode in all of XY! I was really Excited for this Episode but I was really disappointed.

The firth 7 Minutes or so I was onboard and I Liked the Orienteering Part but then after that, this Episode lost itself after both Team's Froakie and Squirrel got past all the Checkpoints and when Bonnie got lost. Then I got lost and then this Episode becomes a "Search and Rescue" Episode but I Personally think it didn't work IMO. There were TOO MANY Clichés I thought and Bonnie was a but annoying when she was Lost.

She made the Beedrill Cliche Gag happen (Let's Hope it doesn't happen with a Mega Beedrill) and then Bonnie upsetting an Amoongus like that, I just wasn't Fond of. Funny with bonnie Fell Off the Cliff but some Random Drifblim are here LOL! Her crashing was somewhat Funny, either U would wake up from that or U would Fall into a Coma.

I Like how Ash and Everyone was trying to find Bonnie and it was Good. I Liked how effectively both Trevor and Charmander were used, they kinda had nothing of relevance IMO in the last 2 Episodes IMO.

The whole Sequence of when Ash hopping over the Drifblim and Tiny Drifloon in the background was Cute but I do Wish it had been Clemont instead, I get that why Ash said he was Better but I Wish Clemont had done it.

Then the Reason why Bonnie got Lost was because of Xerneas and Xerneas was probably among the Best part in the Episode IMO.

Overall, was SERIOUSLY DISAPPOINTED with the Episode, aside from a few small parts and the first 8 Minutes, this Episode is Forgettable, 6.1/10
 
This was an okay episode. I'm glad Bonnie got to have some focus to herself in the midst of this arc. That said, I feel this episode was pretty hit and miss in several areas, so let’s begin.

Well to be honest, I've never really cared much for PokeEnteering/Orienteering (don’t even know what to call it). I mean it can be interesting depending on what the trainers have to go through. But overall I find it kind of boring, so part of me is actually glad it got interrupted for the Xerneas plot. But with that said, I did enjoy what we did see. Ash and Tierno climbing with their Pokemon was cool. Tierno and Squirtle's dance moves and climbing teamwork was especially awesome. Serena freaking out over the bridge while Shauna handled it easily was pretty funny. And overall, I'm really glad that Clemont chose Bunnelby as his partner over Chespin.

I liked how Pikachu heard Bonnie and actually went back to look for her. Though, I do wonder why he didn't alert Ash or anyone about hearing Bonnie and just took off on his own. As expected, Tierno's group joins Ash's gang to help find Bonnie and Pikachu. And finally Trevor and Charmander take the spotlight in leading the group through the fog. Oh, and I'm also glad Ash called out Fletchinder to help look for Bonnie.

Damn, Bonnie is lucky that she fell on that Drifblim, cuz if she had been just a little off she'd have fallen into that canyon and died. Also, how the hell does she fall a few feet off that Drifblim, land on her head, and still not wake up? Ok, I know I said I was glad Bunnelby was Clemont's partner, and I am, but I wish he would have done more to help with the actual plot instead of just following the group for the most part. Was Chespin really needed for that Water Pulse thing? Couldn't Bunnelby have done something to burst it open or something? The only thing that didn’t make me as upset about this is that it was Ash's suggestion rather than Clemont's own choice.

And once again, Trevor comes to the rescue, this time with his camera. I found it totally hilarious how everyone was just fine with using the Drifblim as stepping stones to get to Bonnie. But this brings yet another problem; Ash stealing Clemont’s moment to shine to save his own sister. Like he said, it’s his sister, he should have been the one to save her. And I hate how they used the “Clemont is unathletic, Ash is a superhuman” excuse to do it. Which annoys me even more since Ash had an injury in the last episode. If anything, I wish Ash was still a bit sore from his fall, he volunteers to go save Bonnie, someone tells him not to due to his injury and then Clemont take over. And why the hell couldn't Bunnelby help wake the Drifblim? Everyone else got to attack. None of his moves even had a risk of hurting them. Sigh, sorry for the rant. Anyway, Bonnie is saved and everyone gets to see Xerneas. Nice...I guess.

Ok, overall this episode was pretty entertaining. As I said, I liked Bonnie having a small bit of focus and revealing Xerneas' presence to the group. However, I would have preferred that the episode focused more Bonnie actually looking for Xerneas. After it ran away, it pretty just turned into her and Pikachu getting into trouble with random wild Pokemon. They really could have just kept the PokeEnteering competition as the main focus. And as I already said, I wish Bunnelby would have done more with the plot. And no, this isn’t just because I like Bunnelby and don’t like Chespin. It just bugs me that the Pokémon Clemont didn’t choose as his partner did more in this episode than the one that he did. Especially in an episode that started off being about Pokemon Orienteering (a competition where you work with your PARTNER Pokemon. And I’ll end off this semi-rant saying I was pleasantly surprised with how much Trevor ended up contributing, so that's nice. 6.5/10 for this one.
 
A bit of a return to form after last week's insipid episode. They kind of missed a trick, disappointingly - this episode had Clemont and Bonnie written all over it, but not much of the sibling dynamic going on here. I'd have liked to see more of Clemont's worry at Bonnie being missing, which is far more concerning than Pikachu being missing. Ash stealing the spotlight is to be expected I suppose, though this episode really pushed it's luck. I mean, all this ninja leap rubbish just doesn't make sense in a world where humans are supposed to be ordinary.

That being said, there was a good balance between a lot of characters and pokémon overall, and that is quite impressive.
 
Trevor comes to the rescue, this time with his camera. I found it totally hilarious how everyone was just fine with using the Drifblim as stepping stones to get to Bonnie. But this brings yet another problem; Ash stealing Clemont’s moment to shine to save his own sister. Like he said, it’s his sister, he should have been the one to save her. And I hate how they used the “Clemont is unathletic, Ash is a superhuman” excuse to do it. Which annoys me even more since Ash had an injury in the last episode. If anything, I wish Ash was still a bit sore from his fall, he volunteers to go save Bonnie, someone tells him not to due to his injury and then Clemont take over.
On the flip side, Clemont overestimating his abilities and having something happen to Bonnie would be much worse, a logical calculation from him thanks to science. If anything Tierno should have just backflipped to the other side, he's the one who showed huge jumping talents in this episode.

----

Beyond hoping Xerneas appearing is a plot point that gets resolved later on, there's not much to get out of this episode.

I do like the implication that it would be fairly easy to pay Team Rocket off - that a likely relatively small bonus on top of kitchen hand wages is enough to get them to ignore their 'steal all the Pokemon' plot.
 
For the plan to startle the Drifblim into action, I was expecting Clemont to throw one of his inventions down so it could explode on them. Wouldn't that be a good way to play with that running gag?

Considering how well the TRio handle straight jobs, why do they even bother with thievery? And this isn't the first time their culinary talents have been appreciated, so why not just open a restaurant or something?
 
For the plan to startle the Drifblim into action, I was expecting Clemont to throw one of his inventions down so it could explode on them. Wouldn't that be a good way to play with that running gag?

That's one of the reasons I found this a bit disappointing. At the start of the season we started to see episodes focusing on Bonnie or Clemont every now and again, and I like that. It made them more like characters and less like the Ash Ketchum Cheer Section that travel companions usually become. Clemont bring out an invention that works and lets him save his sister or something would have neatly subverted the gag and made Clemont more of a character in his own right. But no, it has to be Ash shouting and jumping and doing things out of sheer determination to save the day ... it's only a mercy the characters didn't all turn round - led by a melting Serena - and tell him what a wonderful hero he is
 
For the plan to startle the Drifblim into action, I was expecting Clemont to throw one of his inventions down so it could explode on them. Wouldn't that be a good way to play with that running gag?

That's one of the reasons I found this a bit disappointing. At the start of the season we started to see episodes focusing on Bonnie or Clemont every now and again, and I like that. It made them more like characters and less like the Ash Ketchum Cheer Section that travel companions usually become. Clemont bring out an invention that works and lets him save his sister or something would have neatly subverted the gag and made Clemont more of a character in his own right. But no, it has to be Ash shouting and jumping and doing things out of sheer determination to save the day ... it's only a mercy the characters didn't all turn round - led by a melting Serena - and tell him what a wonderful hero he is

For the record, I wasn't trying to make a point about other characters getting shafted in favor of Super Ash. I was talking about the running gag itself. Since Clemont's inventions tend to explode when they really shouldn't (and often for no good reason), why not have him invent something that's actually supposed to explode? (I think he actually did that once.) That way, TPTB could show that they can have fun with an otherwise annoying and overused gag. (I think TPTB should watch Phineas and Ferb. That show has more fun telegraphing its gags than any show should be allowed to.)
 
I admit, I got a bit carried away there ^^' . But yes, you're right, it was a good chance to play with the gag. It does tie in to my other point though, in that you can kill two pidgey with one stone by playing with the gag and shifting character focus around
 
Ok, I have to admit that this mini-arc is getting better and better.

Let's start with what I found most fascinating: Better than in previous ones, today's episode compared our heroes and their respective counterparts in Team Squirtle perfectly: Ash and Tierno, the two guys for when the going gets rough, Serena and Shauna who represent the "girly part" of their respective teams and finally Clemont and Trevor, both rather analytical thinkers. And it was great too see this was kept as recurrent theme throughout the episode.

When it comes to the orienteering competition, I can't really say much because that part was too short. I would have preferred a two-parter with one episode focusing on rescuing Bonnie and the second one on the competition itself.

Talking of Bonnie, I agree with you that Clemont should have deserved to rescue his sister! Ash's comment ("I'm better than you at these things") totally surprised me because I would never have expected such a rather rude and arrogant reaction. Jessie might be famous for such direct answers but coming from Ash, it sound kind of strange.

Xerneas, well... compared to legendary duos of other regions, it somehow doesn't really make a very legendary impression if you know what I mean. It just seems a little bit too "ordinary". But that might still change in the future...let's see.

So, although a few improvements of the plot here and there wouldn't have hurt, the episode as a whole was pretty good and entertaining!
 
Now that was a fun episode. I felt bad for all the Pokemon that were stepped on though.
 
So rude to team Chikorita, they should be in first place...

They'd be on 24 points now and 14 points before this event.

Always a Beedrill. Xerneous looked pretty majestic.

I still think having 4 people in the team is unfair. Should've have Calem be the fourth in the other one maybe.
 
So next up we have what I'm just gonna call the Super Friendly Scavenger Hunt. I mean...the "rivalry" with these two teams is just...so hard to take seriously. It's all just:

"We're gonna get them points!"
"Actually, we're gonna get the points."
"On the contrary, we shall get the points."

It's like rather than say something competitive, they almost ignore the other guys and hype themselves up because they're just too damn nice. Tierno's really the only one being at least a little competitive. It's kinda funny when you think about it.

Other funny things include James and Meowth getting way too into their cover up roles to the point where they didn't even want to do the VERY THING THEY WENT THERE TO DO because they had to work. Like, the irony there is hilarious. I also just love seeing that wacky Pokemon language everywhere.

Damn, Tierno is an athletic dude! I always knew there was a reason I liked that guy! I seriously love what they did with him in the show. Even though he's not got a lot of screentime, his character is just so much better here.

Serena on the bridge was pathetic! Shauna's just strutting on down and Serena's crawling? Why? What the heck? Why didn't Clemont and Chespin go?

Oh sh*t Iris! And now they're nearly tied in the most friendliest way possible!

Suddenly Xerneas! What are you doing here? Just felt like skipping through the woods?

"I'm back here!" - Clemont. Yes, yes you are.

Okay, Ash seems way more worried about Pikachu than Clemont does about Bonnie...maybe Clemont just has more faith in her?

To be honest, I was hoping Team Squirtle would just go on ahead and win something for once, but I guess they'e just naturally good human beings. I love those guys.

Aww, look at the cute baby Beedrill~

And now Amoonguss? Pikachu down! ....Aaaannnd, she doesn't notice...Aaaannnnddd Bonnie down!...Or up? How...how is that even possible...?

Bonnie just fell and hit her head?! And she's still asleep?! That girl has one hard head...

"You're asleep!" - Ash. Yeah...no sh*t.

Well, it was a nice display of teamwork/I enjoyed seeing all of the guys work together to scare the Driblim and proceed to use them as a bridge to save Bonnie (though Pokemon abuse, much?). And I can be satisfied that neither team got points, as opposed to somehow making Ash and goons win again.

Though, I still don't get what the point of Xerneas was...he didn't do anything but, well...cause the mid-episode plot to go down, I guess. But whatever, the episode was decent. 5/10~
 
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