Review JN133: Project Mew

[Gard81]

Am I the only one who feels like Goh's stuff should have been done BEFORE the league? There was no way they were gonna top Ash achieving that milestone. It's baffling it wasn't saved for the end.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

I am the only one who feels like Goh's stuff should have been done BEFORE the league?

Not technically a League, but the equivalent of one, yes.

 

[Gard81]

Not technically a League, but the equivalent of one, yes.

Right, sorry, force of habit. I meant Championship.

 

[Rockapheller]

Compared to what the episode builds up to, this one feels rather underwhelming. The events escalated quite chill and no real problem to face happened just yet apart from Poké Balls not working. The plot is quite anticlimactic. I am hoping the next episode delivers better, although my expectations are somewhat in between. I like that Grookey finally has felt like he needs to do something for other people around him rather than acting self-centric and childish.

 

[majestic honor of lugia]

Is this the first main sequence episode where ash doesn't make an appearance?

Edit: I stand corrected. This is the second time. The first was JN032.

 

[Imtnt]

Was nice. I still think it should have been a movie.

 

[FinnishPokéFan92]

 

[Nicolas721]

An okay episode. I can understand the comments of "straight line from point A to point B" but it was entertaining enough, the hiking part in particular had a lot of tension to it. The environments were varied and Horace showing he owned a legendary too was wild.

However, I'm confused as to why Goh felt relying on his Pokemon was a weakness when all the times that happened it was portrayed as a strength, and Grookey's realizing he's weak also feels "too little too late", there's no believable way he'll hold his own against the Hoenn titans.

 

[LuxrayOfTheWild]

However, I'm confused as to why Goh felt relying on his Pokemon was a weakness when all the times that happened it was portrayed as a strength, and Grookey's realizing he's weak also feels "too little too late", there's no believable way he'll hold his own against the Hoenn titans.

I don't see how its a weakness. Its like they're trying to create a flaw soley because the plot demands it. And yeah, its a little too late for Grookey. Should have covered this long ago.

 

[Vulcanos]

I don't see how its a weakness. Its like they're trying to create a flaw soley because the plot demands it. And yeah, its a little too late for Grookey. Should have covered this long ago.

On the bright side, we're going to see two legendaries deep fry a monkey in the next episode.

 

[Kurolegacy]

I don't see how its a weakness. Its like they're trying to create a flaw soley because the plot demands it. And yeah, its a little too late for Grookey. Should have covered this long ago.

Well that has basically been Go’s MO this entire series, flaws as the plot demands it in an attempt to make him seem deeper than he actually is. In reality, it just leads to him being a wildly inconsistent character. And totally agree with Grookey. They had plenty of time to give it an arc but instead, they proposed to just have it be a shoulder warmer who causes trouble and never does anything actually productive. If they want it to have an epiphany about its uselessness as a result of doing nothing but dicking around for its entire existence, then do it like they did with May’s realization of having to find her own battle style; make that the lesson that is learned that they strive to change about themselves in the future beyond the current series. Any sudden change to actually being competent in battle would feel like a Broken Aesop that rewards it for its bad behavior.

 

[Imtnt]

However, I'm confused as to why Goh felt relying on his Pokemon was a weakness when all the times that happened it was portrayed as a strength..

So my guess is they were trying to make emotional scene, using Goh's moment like he was scared or something.. angry about not being strong enough on his own in a hiking challenge. But it was not as emotional as they wanted it to be.

 

[Vulcanos]

So my guess is they were trying to make emotional scene, using Goh's moment like he was scared or something.. angry about not being strong enough on his own in a hiking challenge. But it was not as emotional as they wanted it to be.

I'm gonna hazard a guess, but I think its tied to Goh's catching style, where the Pokemon he uses, if any, are largely the ones he randomly catches and just uses for situations, while any that he could potentially grow and develop with are quickly forgotten about in favor of the new flavor of the month. The series began with Scorbunny as his starter, then it became disinterested in him when it evolved into Raboot as a case study into Goh's lack of experience as a trainer, and once it became Cinderace, we all assumed it would be his ace for the show... until he stopped using it outside of situational moments. Then Sobble comes along and spends a good chunk of its time hanging out in a cave before evolving into Intellion, and once more, it was a situational character.

And we were stuck with Grookey. Oh, ye Gods, Grookey.

If we had focused more on Goh's development as a trainer instead of him trying to fill the Pokedex in order to justify being part of the Project Mew team, we likely could have seen this as an experience that he was still out of his element. But Goh has spent large parts of Journeys relegated as a supporting character or as a foil to Ash, which has hindered his development as an individual.