Drew barely played a role in this episode, sadly. Brock could've taken his place easily. Still, he's a cool character, and an episode with him that doesn't involve Contests is cool.
Speaking of which, considering the lengths KidsWB! is going to to avoid the 5th Contest, why don't they remove the abundant references to May's next Contest? At first, I thought that some of the less intelligent viewers wouldn't notice the skipping of the Pacifidlog Contest, but with remarks about it popping up left and right, I expect a lot of people are going to realize that something's amiss.
Epsiode about Mirage Island is an instant win IMO

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The Wynaut were cute, but the little Wynaut party struck me as odd. Not the Wynauts themselves, because the Dex says they do that, but May's invite. She seemed honored by the invitation, like the Wynauts could give her no greater a gift 0_o. Interacting with wild Pokémon is certainly a treat for most Trainers, but being that pleased about it is just strange.
Masquerain's voice was adorable, as always. They reused the same Silver Wind scene a lot, however.
Leichi Berries look cool in the animé, and I liked the various reactions to them by the characters.
Wobbuffet balloon, eh? Never saw why Team Rocket used it in the first place, but I'm glad they did
Jessie's reaction to Wobbuffet, though far from being as poignant as James's devotion to his Pokémon, was still rather nice to watch. It's good to see she has a bit of human affection in her.
Meowth's cannon was kept. I expected it would be, but after the 5th Contest news, I wasn't sure how KidsWB! would react to it....Meh, still looked great.
The animation in this episode was pretty good. It's nothing compared to Showdown at Linoone, but it was still great, especially in certain scenes.
Roderick was a cool character, and pretty unexpected.
TR was smart about the Leichis. They are extremely rare, so selling them would get them loads of money.
Overall rating:
9.2 out of 10
Perhaps Showdown at Linoone just got me excited, but this episode fell a bit short of my expectations. It was still a god May/Drew-centric episode, though, and a quality Hoenn episode.
~*CB*~
The 8th Champion