Scraggy and the Demanding Gothita (716)

[Faker500]

I get the Pokemon's wants for scraggy but the girl could have been more respectful of the fact that the Pokemon didn't belong to her and she should have went to go catch another one. But I guess that would be too simple in this show.

That girl was ten times bigger than that little Smoochum reject. She seemed like there was something going up in that head of hers. But maybe a battle to get the little Pokemon's butt kicked would be a way to get her to stop. But I doubt if we see them both again, the Pokemon would still have that problem. If.

[ForgottenPearl]

I enjoyed this episode overall. I wasn't very happy with Ash getting goaded into the battle, but he can be very impulsive at times, so I guess it isn't too out of character. Katherine was an interesting character, getting bossed around by her own Pokemon. Since the stakes were high, I thought the Tepig battle was pretty exciting. I was so happy when he won. The relationship between Scraggy and Axew was very cute, and Snivy looked proud to defend it. ^_^ And Cilan had one heck of an outfit in Axew's dream. Finally, it was nice to see Snivy put Gothita in her place: that made me smile too. Also, it was interesting little twist that the typical ending good-byes had to be rushed.

And I do think it would be interesting to see Katherine again. If she does return, I have the feeling the episode will center around her trying to develop some backbone around her Pokemon. Overall, great episode in my eyes.

[thekorean]

That girl was ten times bigger than that little Smoochum reject. She seemed like there was something going up in that head of hers. But maybe a battle to get the little Pokemon's butt kicked would be a way to get her to stop. But I doubt if we see them both again, the Pokemon would still have that problem. If.

lol Smoochum reject. Had me chuckle.

[Caseydia]

And I do think it would be interesting to see Katherine again. If she does return, I have the feeling the episode will center around her trying to develop some backbone around her Pokemon. Overall, great episode in my eyes.

Yeah I hope she would alteast be a league participant later on and maybe have a little fued battle over Scraggy/Scrafty.

[pokeaussie37]

Finally watched it.

I laughed at Gothita's stubborn, petulant ways, and also how oblivious Scraggy was. Poor Axew!!!

Edit: Rank up!!!

[gliscor&yanmega]

I didn't really care for Katherine's dub voice, it kind of made her more annoying to me to be honest, which I guess is fine since she seems like she's meant to be annoying.

Garbodor sounded odd to me, but I'm fine with it's voice.

Overall, I enjoyed the dub version.

[Sapphire Kirby]

Scraggy and the demanding Gothita is one of the better episodes of the Black and White Saga. This episode focuses on the character interaction between Scraggy, Axew, Snivy, and Gothita. Scraggy and Axew’s friendship (or Bromance, if you like) is absolutely adorable and I wish that it was focused on or shown more often. Axew cares deeply for Scraggy as both a best friend and little brother. He was the most worried about losing Scraggy to Gothita, and became jealous and angry of Gothita as a result. Scraggy is the more naïve of the pair, much like his trainer. He is completely oblivious to Gothita’s crush on him, treating her as a new friend at best or an opponent at worst; he humorously tried to attack Gothita when they first met, only to miss his target and give both Gothita and the audience something to laugh at. He was also had no clue that Gothita was trying to take him away from Axew, his trainer, and friends. This is seen in a humorous moment when Scraggy keeps on eating when everyone else learns that Gothita wants a trade and the react appropriately. He still deeply cares for Axew, as seen when he tries to protect him from Garbodor with his High Jump Kick.

Gothita is the episode’s main villain, as she tries to take away Scraggy from our protagonist. She is not evil, however; she is merely a spoiled child who expects to get everything she wants and gets angry when her trainer Katherine does not give it to her. Gothita constantly orders around Katherine, and it is noted by both Iris verbally and Axew visually in his dream that Gothita is the one who wears the pants in this relationship; Gothita and Katherine could be a metaphor for the results of bad parenting. Snivy, while not very interesting as a Pokémon battler, is interesting as a character. She is constantly watching over the younger Pokémon, keeping them safe like a mother or older sister. As soon as she sees Gothita disrupt the peace of their group, she vows to keep a vigilant watch on Gothita. She is very upset when Gothita puts Axew and Scraggy in danger, and purposely protects only Axew and Scraggy while letting the little Psychic-Type have her just deserts. Despite all of this, she continues to keep her cool and never miss a beat. Given her literally spanking Gothita as well as Gothita’s anger before and after the battle, Snivy is the first being to ever give the little Psychic-Type parental discipline.

As for the trainers, Katherine seems like a nice enough trainer, but her complete devotion to Gothita makes her merely a puppet to the Fixation Pokémon. The way she became a witch at Gothita’s command to goad Ash into battling her makes me believe she has done this before. I would love for both Katherine and Gothita to return so we can see how others would react to the pair. As for the others, Ash tried to resist trading and the high-stakes battle though his hot-headed nature got the better of him and accepted the challenge. Iris did very little in this episode so I have nothing to say of her. Cilan is mostly the same, but he did have moments of humor: chatting excitedly about the Nimbasa Subway to Katherine while completely ignoring the Katherine wasn’t interested at all and looked a bit embarrassed was both funny and a nice continuity nod. Secondly, the fact that Cilan is flamboyantly dressed in Axew’s nightmare was both funny and makes one wonder what Axew really thinks about Cilan.

While the character development was good, I feel that the episode’s battles were lacking. Tepig once again shows his unusually high amount of endurance, taking attacks that should have knocked it out, or at least wound it severely (the first Brave Bird comes to mind). The fact that the final collision did not knock the piglet back at all also felt unrealistic. Gothita commanding Katherine was a nice quirk, but one must wonder how Katherine can understand which attack Gothita wants her Pokémon to use. The Snivy and Gothita was much better and more realistic, but whatever happened to the final Psyshock? Gothita uses Psyshock while Snivy uses Leaf Storm; we see Leaf Storm hit but the Psyshock is completely ignored.

For dub voices and lines, the voices were all fine in this episode; I like how Casey’s VA came back to voice Katherine. Iris mentioned how Cilan was a great chef, but how is making normal looking sandwiches make one a chef. At another moment, it starts to rain heavily and Ash simply says “It’s raining.” Thank you Captain Obvious! I felt the music this episode was fine, as I can’t tell the difference between dub and raw music unless it is a game theme. The music used when Deerling used Aromatherapy felt too triumphant for such a simple and nonviolent solution.

Overall, I really liked this episode. It has great characterization, funny humor, and okay battles. I hope more BW episodes are like this one; if they were then I might have a higher opinion of the Black and White Saga.

Edit: I forgot about Tranquil! Did you know that Ash has a Tranquil? And that he used it today? Why will Ash use Tranquil to look for lost Pokemon, but not let it out of its ball to hang out with the others? It didn't eat lunch with the other Pokemon, it did not cheer on its fellow Pokemon while they were battling, and we never saw Tranquil actually find the lost Pokemon or return to its Pokeball. It was as though Tranquil was an after thought when it came to this episode. It is sad that a Pokemon has to be marketable these days in order to get an attention from the writers.

[wobbanut]

Man, that gothita was a spoiled little brat. But it was a good axew episode.

6/10

[AuraChannelerChris]

The episode is airing today again.

I want to re-watch that funny dream sequence.

[Zoruagible]

I loved seeing Gothita being beat up by Snivy. I don't think the trainer was being fair to Ash since he already has the types of those Pokemon she offered to trade.

[AuraChannelerChris]

If people are wondering if Katherine makes it to the league, here's the answer:

Yes she does.     Spoiler:- :

Show Spoiler

 
But she's not even spoken to.
 

[duh]

That episode was really boring. Also I knew that Katherine was only a COTD and wouldn't make it to the league.

[AuraChannelerChris]

That episode was really boring. Also I knew that Katherine was only a COTD and wouldn't make it to the league.

She really does make it. I checked.