Review S16 EP25: What Lies Beyond Truth and Ideals!

[garrison-san]

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Please remember to keep all spoilers pertaining to future episodes inside spoiler tags.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

This was really Perfect a Great Episode and it felt Great for the End of a Mini Saga. WE WILL MISS YOU Nicholas DiMichele and you were GREAT AS N. Also I thought it was Funny when Ghesis told both Barret and Aldith that they were totally useless, THIS shows that Ghestis ONLY CARES ABOUT HIMSELF AND ONLY HIMSELF AND NOBODY ESLE AND THERE DOING.

 

[Ambipom666]

On the whole, I didn’t really like this episode. I had a lot of problems with it. I did like a few things. I’ll break it down by category:

The good
- I think this is the first time Axew living in Iris’ hair has ever amounted to anything positive at all. I did enjoy seeing Iris and Team Rocket help out Ash. It's a good scene in theory.

The funny
- N, Colress and Ghetsis’ hilariously animated faces.
- The twerps actually freezing Ghetsis and co. solid after having almost no interaction with them whatsoever. This gets x1000 funnier when you remember that Ghetsis tries to do this to the player in Black and White 2. Seriously though, do Ash and friends or Team Rocket ever say one word to Ghetsis?

The bad: All the issues I had with this episode.
- What happened to the Reshiram shown in N’s flashback four episodes ago? N acts like the Reshiram seem in that flashback and the Reshiram seen here are one and the same, but I don’t think I have to explain why that can’t be the case. Did that 1st Reshiram fly off somewhere never to be seen again?
- What was with Iris and Team Rocket coming to help Ash? It’s like each of their Pokémon use one attack and then the entire brainwashed army is incapacitated. Meowth driving off all those Liepard with Fury Swipes? Really? I know the protags’ small, marketable Pokémon beating the villains’ big/numerous Pokémon isn’t really anything new for this show, but it’s really annoying here in this finale.
- Why does Colress not take control of Axew, Woobat and Yamask? He takes of control of Gardevoir and Gothitelle with little trouble.
- Why did the writers even bother to set up Looker’s aid from the International Police when they’re just going to show up after the fact and arrest the villains? Is this to make it look like their appearance at the end is more than just a random appearance to tie up loose ends?
- Why does Ghetsis not do anything during the time when Colress is trying to take control of Pikachu, and Team Rocket does their motto? Is he just standing there with Reshiram? He doesn’t send out Reshiram until Ash starts charging for the machine later on. Earlier, when Team Rocket talks about how they need to stop Team Plasma, Ghetsis actually is just standing there with Reshiram! LOL! This is our villain guys! But considering he spent the whole arc sitting around doing nothing, I guess it’s not surprising!
- Why is nobody burned alive by Reshiram? (I’m just kidding!).
- Not really relevant to this episode, but if Team Plasma is done, where are the other Sages? What were they doing to further Team Plasma’s objectives?
- Biggest question, how did Team Plasma lose? Between the mini-army of brainwashed Pokémon and Ghetsis’ flying superweapon, I can’t really imagine any situation with Team Plasma loses, at least not where the ending is contrived as hell. Seriously, Pikachu randomly breaking free of its brainwashing and giving Reshiram electroshock therapy? What’s up with that? I think that’s one problem with this episode: Reshiram is not really allowed to do anything under Ghetsis’ control, because it really only has to attack the heroes once, and it’s game over. I guess that’s part of the problem with this episode in general: If Team Plasma acted swiftly (and the battles weren’t so one-sided) Plasma would win easily and there’d be no plot.

If the villains have to stand around and do nothing while the heroes go and meet up and scheme, that's bad writing.

;___; I miss the Team Galactic finale ;___;

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

One of the best episodes I've seen from BW (and the TPCi dub) in a while.

Only fair I give it a 9.5/10, IMO.

Gonna miss Nicholas DiMichele as N, and gonna miss hearing Darren Dunstan as Barret. Those are probably some of the best dub voices I've heard in a while. XD.

Yeah, Ghetsis is a prick, IMO. XD.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

I agree with you on that Man What an A**hole Ghestis and I thought Bill Rogers is Perfect as him.

 

[Aamir]

This episode gets a 7/10 in my opinion. I had high hopes for it, but I ended up disappointed. And one question- If the dub is continuing the season "Adventures in Unova," how is the next episode called "Farewell, Unova," and then they go to the Decolora Archipelago? That doesn't make much sense :boom:

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Stan Hart as Cedric Juniper is Priceless and I hope see more of Stan Hart because he is just great and is MUCH BETTER THAN Cater Cathcart as Oak and it needs to change like NOW!!!!!!!

 

[Ambipom666]

This episode gets a 7/10 in my opinion. I had high hopes for it, but I ended up disappointed. And one question- If the dub is continuing the season "Adventures in Unova," how is the next episode called "Farewell, Unova," and then they go to the Decolora Archipelago? That doesn't make much sense :boom:

Seems like TPCi just chose the worst possible name for the season. The protags leave Unova 25 episodes after the season begins; we have no idea whether or not TPCi knew that this would happen. The opening for Season 15 contained footage of Skyla, who didn't appear for 18 episodes after the opening debuted, so obviously they can see pretty far ahead; how far ahead, we don't know.

I'm also wondering if the opening video will be changed since we're done with Team Plasma.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Oh yeah, Never gave my Rating as a complete 10/10 here and this was just great it did not feel like a great Disappointment to me here Ok Guys.

 

[Pokémon Master Ash]

Stan Hart as Cedric Juniper is Priceless and I hope see more of Stan Hart because he is just great and is MUCH BETTER THAN Cater Cathcart as Oak and it needs to change like NOW!!!!!!!

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Darth Darkrai]

Thanks Man and it was good a good comment and does anyone think the Opening will change Next Week at all.

 

[Magenta Fantasies]

I was expecting to be let down, as the anime usually has pretty anticlimactic ways of ending things, but I wasn't. I actually really enjoyed this episode, and I'll be sad to see the N saga end. On the other hand, I'm rather curious about what's coming up next, but unfortunately I'll be away next Saturday and won't be able to catch the first episode of the new saga. :bawl:

The only thing that could've been improved is that I would've liked to see a longer battle with Reshiram, but considering Colress had the Pokemon controlling device for most of the episode, I can see why Ash didn't risk sending more of his Pokemon out. It would've been pretty awesome to see Charizard and Reshiram fight, and have Charizard realize that it's no match for the legendary.

 

[Aamir]

Thanks Man and it was good a good comment and does anyone think the Opening will change Next Week at all.

Pretty sure it will

 

[valzz]

The dub actually made the ending emotional. The original music in the Japanese version was just to peppy and didnt fit. Anyways I really liked this last episode and I know how everyone hates it when Team Plasma controls Pikachu because it gets annoying but this time it was cool to watch him destroy the device with Reshirem!

 

[DracoMan]

Somehow, I was kinda hoping for more, especially with Team Plasma taking control of Reshiram. Maybe devote more of the episode to them causing whatever carnage they'd planned, and even extending it into the next, showing just how hard Our Gang would have to work to stop them. And wouldn't it have been cool for Zekrom to show up? You know, Reshiram's opposite number, who was in the first ep of BW, but hasn't been seen since (not including the movies, since their canon-ness is questionable). Let them struggle with each other, bringing home the clash of truth vs. ideals.

Actually, I just had an idea of how that might play out: Zekrom shows up to fight brainwashed Reshiram. Ghetsis and Colress decide to try to control both of them; however, the strain of doing so overloads their machine, thus ruining their plans. Unfortunately, the effects of their machine leave both Ubermons mentally scrambled, causing them to go completely out of control and cause even more devastation. Ash/N/Looker could then give Ghetsis and Colress a "Look what you've done!" speech, as the two baddies watch helplessly while everything goes to hell because of their hubris.

Yeah, that's not how it played out, but a boy can dream, right?

 

[Neo Blaze]

Pretty good episode, perhaps not the best way to end Episode N, which was great alltogether, but I'm content with it. Yeah it was a bit rushed maybe, Reshiram didn't get as much screentime as I wanted it to have, and it is kinda sad there was no Charizard vs. Reshiram, which was what the original opening of Episode N wanted us to believe would happen.

N's voice is really great, I will miss it. In my opinion it's one of the best voices the show ever had. I really hope Nicholas DiMichele will return for another big role, perhaps in XY (or as N again, if he ever returns, but I don't think that will happen).

 

[Gabo2oo]

I usually focus on music, so I'm glad they kept the BGM when Pikachu jumps to help Ash, then Iris, then Team Rocket helps Iris; since for me, that was the signature BGM in this episode. Now, why in the world did they changed the BGM during Team Rocket's motto? It only makes it more repetitive and it doesn't stand out from the others. And it's not that they haven't keep the original Unova motto music all the times it played in the original until now...

 

[fidjnr]

this is a very good episode 9/10

 

[Sakuraa]

This episode was okay, but I actually had hoped for more for the Team Plasma finale. I'll do something different and just quickly point out what I liked and disliked.

Likes
-N has somehow gained the power to throw Team Plasma grunts off of him.
-When Ash said "Destroy the machine" there was something just so cool about it.
-Dragonite, Krookodile, and Crustle's high-fives.
-Axew actually does something useful.
-Meowth's awesome combat against Team Plasma.
-N realizes that People and Pokémon can live together

Dislikes
-Reshiram really didn't do much when it was controlled by Colress except launch a few Fusion Flares here and there.
-Pikachu is all of a sudden able to completely resist the power of Colress's device at it's strongest when in the last episode he was totally unable to escape it without Colress's doing.
-I really would have liked to see a Charizard vs. Reshiram battle.
-Ghetsis totally told his grunts that they were worthless and they had no reactions and still fought for him.
-Team Rocket acting like their old selves at the end.

Overall the ending was okay, but it definitely didn't compare to the Galactic finale. 7/10.

 

[Queen Cynthia]

A rather underwhelming finale of a promising plot. What a pity!

This episode had so much potential but instead of concentrating on Reshiram going apeshit because if its anger, it was just an ordinary Team-Twerps-against-Team-Evil-episode with Reshiram standing on the sidelines. No, this was not a worthy conclusion of the arc, so I totally agree with DracoMan and his alternative suggestion how the episode could have been written instead:

Somehow, I was kinda hoping for more, especially with Team Plasma taking control of Reshiram. Maybe devote more of the episode to them causing whatever carnage they'd planned, and even extending it into the next, showing just how hard Our Gang would have to work to stop them. And wouldn't it have been cool for Zekrom to show up? You know, Reshiram's opposite number, who was in the first ep of BW, but hasn't been seen since (not including the movies, since their canon-ness is questionable). Let them struggle with each other, bringing home the clash of truth vs. ideals.

Actually, I just had an idea of how that might play out: Zekrom shows up to fight brainwashed Reshiram. Ghetsis and Colress decide to try to control both of them; however, the strain of doing so overloads their machine, thus ruining their plans. Unfortunately, the effects of their machine leave both Ubermons mentally scrambled, causing them to go completely out of control and cause even more devastation. Ash/N/Looker could then give Ghetsis and Colress a "Look what you've done!" speech, as the two baddies watch helplessly while everything goes to hell because of their hubris.

Yeah, that's not how it played out, but a boy can dream, right?

Yes, you're right, that's how a really great finale should be written. Think of the EPIC them Galactic finale, by far the best episode ever! This, however, stands no comparison to Team Galactic's last episode.

Admittedly, Pikachu trying to be the hero by fighting against the influence of the control device certainly was very impressive but nevertheless, this episode should have concentrated on the legendary Pokemon primarily. And now that it's over, I can't help but wonder: "Um, and now what?"

To sum up, the episode fully play out its potential and kind of leaves you with feeling of incompleteness.