Review XY112: The Master Class Begins! A Maidens' Fierce Fight Where Sparks Fly!!

[GurahkWeavile]

Oh, so it was just several Freestyle Performances with one Pokemon?

Pretty much

 

[SonansuMan]

Okay episode.
Everyone will slowly realize Pumpjin is basically the TR Manene of Kalos. Don't believe me? Look at XY104 and this. Lol.

Now some of these performances were pretty decent IMP, but would it kill the writers to make Serena's Pokemon slightly more unique with the move set? Tairenar is just getting really repetitive at this point...

I actually wanted Millefuei to win cuz she was pretty good in the performance. Too bad she was paired with Mary Sue.

Like it was said before, how did the majority of contestants we've seen in XY108 actually manage to get here along with Musashi? There must be relatably close showcases.

How dare they just rush through what could've became a potentially good saga-- they can do better then this.

7/10
+1 for Numelgon cameo.
8/10

 

[Alola]

In another thread, I said that the Master Class arc (or rather two episodes) should hurry up and be aired-to spare us any disappointment and such. After watching this episode however, I instead would have liked for this arc to have lasted at least three episodes. Past Showcases, pacing and potential aside, they really could have done something special here with the climax of Showcases.

~As always, the scenery and stage were gorgeous.

~Palermo's stiff face is getting old. Fast. As of now, she just seems like an unreasonably hard to please character. Given all of her claims during the XY saga, if Aria doesn't blow me away (and all of us for that matter) next week, I'll declare Palermo a delusional, senile relic.

~I guess the Master Class focuses primarily on the Performance aspect of Showcases, since they essentially jumped to Free Performances. I thought the Free Performance Theme was pretty neat-it seemed the objective was to commandeer all attention away from other Performers (whilst only using one move?).

~All of the viewers watching and seemingly supporting Serena was nice to see. I say seemingly because all the characters didn't have much if any substantial interaction with Serena (apart from Tierno, Trevor, Rhyhorn, Fletchling and maybe Goodra). Which sucks because it's not as sentimental as when May & Dawn's friends watched them from afar in their big moments. That aside, it was still enjoyable to see all the cameos (yay Korrina!).

~The fact that you can vote electronically is also pretty neat and plausible. As an earlier user said, given the reach of Showcases, it is hard to believe Serena had never heard of them despite living in Kalos for at least 10 years. My guess is that Grace may have had her focus on Rhyhorn this and Rhyhorn that, so much so that Serena was cut off from most media.

~I was wondering how the Princess Keys were going to become invalid. It seems like you can't keep them, unlike badges and ribbons.

~Serena's mother did two things that irked me: 1) For some odd reason, she didn't sit with Ash and Co. You know, Serena's closest and dearest friends that helped her get as far as she is today? 2) What she's wearing is hideously distracting. Let's leave the stylized suits to Zoey, who pulled them off much better. But kudos to her being there to support her daughter, whom she may have to cuddle if Serena follows Miette and Nene's suit.

~Speaking of which, this is why this arc needed more time. To give Serena's rivals the time and spotlight they deserve for making it to the final stage-something the writers sucked at today. But sadly no-Jessie annihilates Nene the only way she knows how: Bog, Loud and Grandiose. She literally smoked her competition. Serena knocked out Miette because we can't contradict the title of next week's episode, and both girls understandably shed tears of sadness while respectfully supporting Serena afterwards. And that's how they were handled-all of their previous Performances, character episodes devoted to them, gone-in the span of 5 minutes. And that's not even counting Shauna, whom we didn't even get to see perform. She even used Ivysaur twice in the Theme performance, instead of her other Pokemon. It's just disappointing really-if we had more time, each of the rivals (and perhaps other Performers) could have given substantial Appe-Performances that really would have done their characters justice.
~Sidenote, Jessie inexplicably picked up two Princess Keys. We all knew this was coming, but it's no less upsetting. I really expected the writers to have her to bully some other Performer for theirs since they realized "the Master Class is here and we gave Jessie no keys."

~Master Class folks and still Performers are sticking with 3 Pokemon or less. Why did they even mention the 6 party-rule.

I'm interested to see how this will all end next week, seeing how they have to fit:
~Serena, Jessie and Shauna's Free Performances
~Elle's Free Performance
~Serena, Jessie and Shauna losing or Serena winning or a Third Option
~Crying scenes
~Grace comforting Serena
~A memory montage of sorts
~Rival Goodbyes
all in 22 minutes. And that's just the gist of it.

 

[R!ck]

I think what the writers tried to do with showcases/tripokalon was to introduce the Idol anime stuff, which is popular in Japan right now to the Pokémon anime, like a Love Live! version but with Pokémon, of course idol anime is not everyone's cup of tea, I don't like that genre myself but I found tripokalons to be at least entertaining and provided Serena a goal, so it's alright with me, I think there's no doubt contests were superior (because the battle element!) but I liked showcases as well.

 

[lavandula]

I loved this episode. Sure the timeline was rushed, but I loved the effects in this episode.

* I loved Ivysaur's bulb decoration. It made me laugh.
* I laughed when you actually need to put lipstick on a Smoochum.
* Jessie smoked through her performance.
* Goodra.
* The stage is very beautiful.
* How Nene and the blue haired girl cried, but ended up congratulating and cheering for Serena.

To this point, I don't think I'd mind whether Serena loses against Elle. I'm just really proud of Serena especially how she screwed really badly during her first performance.

 

[Nicolas721]

Ok episode. I thought it was going to feel like yet another showcase, but at the end the writers made the Master Class feel special with the gigantic stage, all the cameos from known characters and the keys scene, I love that segments of retrospection. However, some of that "event-building" was ruined by the rushing, as the last 4 minutes were definitely terrible and the performances were nothing to write home about. I liked that at least we got to see new personality traits of Nini and Miette.

 

[P_S_B]

There were several things I liked about this episode, but as others have said; Serena's goal has been handled exceptionally half-assedly. Aside from Jessie, Shauna was the only rivak shown winning anything, and we didn't even get to see her perform. No Swanna Girl either.

I liked Cal, as well as Gurkinn's blink-and-you'll-miss-it unsatisfied expression upon Korrina's vote in Nini and Jessie's round. Apparently she didn't vote for the performer he liked.

I think part of the problem is that they took over a year to start the Tripokalon arc, which left them with too little time to flesh out the arc. I do appreciate that they gave us recurring background characters instead of just random one-shots each time. I enjoyed it, but the whole arc really has been very sub-par. Not Unova League bad, but still a huge let-down.

 

[JessicaTR]

I really liked the episode.The animation was awesome!I loved Jessie's performance.It was sad to see Miette cry,I felt bad for her.I am neutral to Serena's performance.Cameos were cute.Overall,it was enjoyable and I hope the next one will as good or even better. :3

 

[SonansuMan]

There were several things I liked about this episode, but as others have said; Serena's goal has been handled exceptionally half-assedly. Aside from Jessie, Shauna was the only rivak shown winning anything, and we didn't even get to see her perform. No Swanna Girl either.

I liked Cal, as well as Gurkinn's blink-and-you'll-miss-it unsatisfied expression upon Korrina's vote in Nini and Jessie's round. Apparently she didn't vote for the performer he liked.

I think part of the problem is that they took over a year to start the Tripokalon arc, which left them with too little time to flesh out the arc. I do appreciate that they gave us recurring background characters instead of just random one-shots each time. I enjoyed it, but the whole arc really has been very sub-par. Not Unova League bad, but still a huge let-down.

You got me there. For once the background characters aren't one-dimensional.

 

[PTOldMan]

I agree with everyone who says that this arc could and should have been much better handled. However, I am always excited to watch these things, and the reason is Jessie!
I enjoyed a lot of things from this episode. The background animation was really beautiful, and I loved how they handed the BGM. I know some people don't like when Zygarde's theme is used in scenes associated with showcases, but I love it, and it really made the scene in which the Master Class is starting and Serena is using her keys.

What I loved the most was Jessie! I am in love with her performance. I enjoy how she was confident and how Meowth was saying that she was going to make it. I think that the fact that Jessie was truly confident and succeeded was a nice bit of continuity from her contests career (sure, Jessie is always confident, but we know from contests that when Jessie is truly confident and relaxed she always wins - if I recall correctly her first win with Dustox happened when she thought Meowth and James had bribed the jury or something like that).
I loved how she waited for Nini and that other girl to start performing and then, calmly, approaches her spot. This "sexy and gourgeous" part was excellent, a pure Jessie moment. (and the BGM for her performance is one of the highlights for me!)
She won and won again, and now she is going to face Serena and Shauna. I am praying that they don't skip over Jessie's performance! I really hope we get to see it, even if I know that it may happen (we all remember Jessie vs Dawn at the Grand Festival).

I was expecting Jessie to use Inkay for Master Class. With Gourgeist, Wobbuffet and Meowth, Jessie was always very limited in terms of Pokémon, so I expected that she was going to use Inkay for this. Guess I was wrong! But, even if I enjoyed the fact that Jessie used James's Pokémon during DP (because it made contests more of a TRio thing than a Jessie thing - heck, James even participated once!), I also think that only using her Pokémon is good and it gives us a chance to develop Jessie's bond with her Pokémon. Speaking of Jessie's Pokémon, I have to mention how Gourgeist is slowly becoming one of my favourite Rocketmon! It was so cute and in sync with Jessie during this episode. I can also truly see now why the writers thought that evolving Pumpkaboo was a good idea - it fits Jessie like a glove!

 

[SonansuMan]

I agree with everyone who says that this arc could and should have been much better handled. However, I am always excited to watch these things, and the reason is Jessie!
I enjoyed a lot of things from this episode. The background animation was really beautiful, and I loved how they handed the BGM. I know some people don't like when Zygarde's theme is used in scenes associated with showcases, but I love it, and it really made the scene in which the Master Class is starting and Serena is using her keys.

What I loved the most was Jessie! I am in love with her performance. I enjoy how she was confident and how Meowth was saying that she was going to make it. I think that the fact that Jessie was truly confident and succeeded was a nice bit of continuity from her contests career (sure, Jessie is always confident, but we know from contests that when Jessie is truly confident and relaxed she always wins - if I recall correctly her first win with Dustox happened when she thought Meowth and James had bribed the jury or something like that).
I loved how she waited for Nini and that other girl to start performing and then, calmly, approaches her spot. This "sexy and gourgeous" part was excellent, a pure Jessie moment. (and the BGM for her performance is one of the highlights for me!)
She won and won again, and now she is going to face Serena and Shauna. I am praying that they don't skip over Jessie's performance! I really hope we get to see it, even if I know that it may happen (we all remember Jessie vs Dawn at the Grand Festival).

I was expecting Jessie to use Inkay for Master Class. With Gourgeist, Wobbuffet and Meowth, Jessie was always very limited in terms of Pokémon, so I expected that she was going to use Inkay for this. Guess I was wrong! But, even if I enjoyed the fact that Jessie used James's Pokémon during DP (because it made contests more of a TRio thing than a Jessie thing - heck, James even participated once!), I also think that only using her Pokémon is good and it gives us a chance to develop Jessie's bond with her Pokémon. Speaking of Jessie's Pokémon, I have to mention how Gourgeist is slowly becoming one of my favourite Rocketmon! It was so cute and in sync with Jessie during this episode. I can also truly see now why the writers thought that evolving Pumpkaboo was a good idea - it fits Jessie like a glove!

There isn't exactly you can do with a move that throws you to the ground and a move that hits you in the chode. But Maiika probs could've worked.

Pumpjin is starting to became my favorite Rocketmon too (back off Sonansu, there's a new girl in town).
It's a shame they only had 4 Pokes ( if you count Nyarth) for TR this region, and they could've had 5 or more like they always did. But this doesn't really surprise me too much either seeing as this region also gave our heroes the least Pokemon out of all in this region, 13 (if you count Pikachu). At least they weren't as bland as the Pokemon from last region were. There wasn't even any interactions between them besides Desumasu. I'm glad they evolved Bakeecha too because not only does it continue the trend of Musashi having big Pokemon, but it can be described as what it's name is in English.

 

[KenzeyEevee]

Something else I noticed: it seems even Nini is aware of Serena's crush.

Ash still is denser than plutonium and can't figure it out.

Yes, he is so dense, everyone knows exxcept Ash

 

[ii kanji]

I got the distinct impression that Citron was also out of the loop

 

[GurahkWeavile]

I got the distinct impression that Citron was also out of the loop

Bonnie has said that Clemont's "just as clueless as [Ash] is". So most likely, he is.

 

[GhostLucario]

I guess I was the only one that liked the episode.
Nice effects, ok music, I even liked all those cameos from the characters. There's a even a meme floating around tumblr of how Grace leaves her pokemon unattended with a laptop lol

 

[Jaisac]

A very emotional episode, watching Miette and Nini crying was too sad for me.

I hope Serena wins, but I can't really tell. Only time will...

 

[Master Cyrus]

I refuse to believe a talentless hack like Jessie could have legitimately won her keys.

I'm going to assume she stole her keys.

 

[SonansuMan]

I refuse to believe a talentless hack like Jessie could have legitimately won her keys.

I'm going to assume she stole her keys.

k den

 

[Mikuri]

I refuse to believe a talentless hack like Jessie could have legitimately won her keys.

I'm going to assume she stole her keys.

Nice headcanon you have there. Jessie has more talent in her little finger than most Performers possess in their whole body.

Jessie is the only one delivering new, unique performances each time she competes in Showcases, unlike Serena who always starts her performances by having Braixen create a ring of fire around them before commanding Pancham to use Stone Edge to create luminous blue rocks that explode into glitter when Braixen touches them with her feet and then asking Braixen to use another Fire-type attack.

And Serena does all this while spinning in a circle and moving her arms, taking advantage of camera angles to make us believe these are the ultimate dance steps.

OR Shauna, who once again is going to command Ivysaur to use Vine Whip to lift her off the ground while her Flabébé uses Fairy Wind to leave a trail of glowing pink dust. She'll be doing this in the semifinals of the Master Class this Thursday. She'll be doing this after telling Serena she was practicing a new performance when Serena called her to talk about her recent victory at the Frey Showcase.

I see no reason to assume Jessie is less talented than these two, really. And you can rule out the possibility of Jessie's Princess Keys being fake or stolen. The writers never let anyone get away with anything wrong. The bad guys always have their plains ruined and each time someone cheats in a competition they get disqualified.

 

[JessicaTR]

Nice headcanon you have there. Jessie has more talent in her little finger than most Performers possess in their whole body.

Jessie is the only one delivering new, unique performances each time she competes in Showcases, unlike Serena who always starts her performances by having Braixen create a ring of fire around them before commanding Pancham to use Stone Edge to create luminous blue rocks that explode into glitter when Braixen touches them with her feet and then asking Braixen to use another Fire-type attack.

And Serena does all this while spinning in a circle and moving her arms, taking advantage of camera angles to make us believe these are the ultimate dance steps.

OR Shauna, who once again is going to command Ivysaur to use Vine Whip to lift her off the ground while her Flabébé uses Fairy Wind to leave a trail of glowing pink dust. She'll be doing this in the semifinals of the Master Class this Thursday. She'll be doing this after telling Serena she was practicing a new performance when Serena called her to talk about her recent victory at the Frey Showcase.

I see no reason to assume Jessie is less talented than these two, really. And you can rule out the possibility of Jessie's Princess Keys being fake or stolen. The writers never let anyone get away with anything wrong. The bad guys always have their plains ruined and each time someone cheats in a competition they get disqualified.

I completely agree.Jessie's performances are far more creative and impressive than other competitors.Too bad that she's treated horribly in showcases of XY.I hope we will get to see her flashbacks of winning keys in the next episode.It will be completely unfair and injustice to her talent if she doesn't make it to the finals.(Well,I know she won't,sadly).