Saturday 8:30 AM on Cartoon NetworkIn Season
Agreed. I have a feeling Meowth was not really fired from Team Rocket, it's just another Team Rocket scheme. Anyway, I thought it was an awesome episode. Beheeyem is such a cool Pokemon, at least in my opinion. And I like Duosion too.
Leon, the dream thief, was funny. As for Meowth, I can't be certain that he gets hurt more than with Ash and his friends than as part of Team Rocket, or whether he was actually fired from Team Rocket. I'll just wait for future episodes to come.
The whole dream thing was kinda weird, but it did remind me of Inception, except not as complex.
Started off interesting, got really irritating at the middle and end (with no help from the main antagonist who got REALLY annoying), and Team Rocket's end segment is the only really worth wild thing as it moves the series plot along and debuts two important NPC characters from the games. However I do want to say this... why was this episode about dreams? That's Musharna's thing, Beheeyem's thing is tricking your mind and making you believe in the "illusions" which it's making you experience (but you're not dreaming). There's a whole batch of other things though I addressed most of them in my review.
So story, Ash & co. are setting up camp for tonight when a weird man sees they have a talking Meowth and Pikachu and sends out his Beheeyem to trick them. Beheeyem helps Ash & co. out by "granting wishes", one which Beheeyem creates a hotel for them to sleep in for the night. However an Officer Jenny and her Duosion soon break in and reveal to Ash & co. they're inside Beheeyem's dream and find all their Pokemon have been stolen. Soon they meet up with the weird guy who sent Beheeyem to steal their Pokemon and introduces himself as Leon, the Dream Thief. Can Ash & co. get back their Pokemon? And if they do, how are they going to escape Beheeyem's dream? And finally how many times do you think they're going to say something only for something to happen later to contradict it? If you couldn't tell by my small rant above, I would like to get this episode over with so let's go:
Wishing Your Dreams Come True:
We start the episode with Ash & co. setting up for camp for tonight and Meowth runs out to find some firewood. Then out of nowhere this weird guy with big classes, a pointy mustache, huge buck teeth, and a lab coat is watching them from some bushes saying how rare a talking Meowth and Pikachu are and calls out his Beheeyem and tells it he has a dastardly plan and evilly laughs like an afternoon cartoon villain.
Going to Meowth, he's having problems finding a lot of firewood when Beheeyem shows up with a bundle tied to his back and says it's for Meowth and they exchange names.
Back to camp, Ash & co. have things set up when Meowth (who gets their attention by calling them "twerps"... you should really stop doing that if you're travelling with them now) comes back with Beheeyem and after a Pokedex scan Beheeyem says that it likes helping others out (and for now on presume everytime a Pokemon says something it's Meowth translating unless I note otherwise). Iris ask what Beheeyem can do and it says it can grant any of their wishes as the weird guy continues watching them from a bush.
Weird Guy: Beheeyem is one powerfully persuasive Pokemon.
Comment: No, Ash & co. are just extremely gullible.
Opener, title, and we find Cilan with a problem of wanting to make something hot and spicy for dinner and needs Figy Berries but only has Wiki Berries. Meowth asks Beheeyem if it could grant them some Figy Berries and after a beeping of the lights of its hands and a flash of light the Wiki Berries have been turned into Figy Berries! That night they eat the spicy stew (with Ash and Iris getting into a squabble about Ash being a "little kid" for not standing the spiciness with her herself in tears of pain) and Cilan says he thought it was a trick but Beheeyem really did get them Figy Berries. Beheeyem says he'll grant any wish they want and Iris suggest that Ash to wish for the rest of his Badges but Ash says Badges only mean something when you earn them which Cilan compliments and Iris says she can't really think of anything to wish for which Meowth agrees with. The weird guy gets annoyed saying if they don't have any wished they'll ruin his "fiendish plans" but upon hearing Cilan mentioning wishes goes back to spying.
Cilan says they've been camping out for so long that he would like to sleep in a soft bed though he wouldn't wish for a 4 star hotel bed but is willing to "downsize" it to a cabin resort room with a king size bed and feather pillows which everyone gives a "sure..." laugh as Cilan asks Beheeyem if that's possible. Ash says he doesn't think anyone can grant a wish like that but Beheeyem says it can as it leads Ash & co. somewhere with the weird guy seems satisfied everything is now going according to his plans. Ash & co. follow Beheeyem into the forest and with a beep and a flash a huge hotel appears out of nowhere which Iris says wasn't there before (what part of "wishing" do you not understand Iris?) but Cilan is more willing to accept this saying they're living in the age of wonder and rushes to the hotel.
Going inside they find no one is there and Iris wonders if it's closed and Cilan says there is a mystery afoot (... YOU. WISHED. FOR. IT! Of course it wasn't there before, Beheeyem CREATED it. Of course there is no one here, and if you were to believe Beheeyem was actually granting wishes, you only asked to sleep in a warm bed, you asked for nothing that would require hotel staff) but Beheeyem just tells them to follow it to their room. Going to the room, Cilan gets excited seeing the king size bed like he wished for and they all jumped on it commenting on how comfortable it is and falling to sleep which Beheeyem looking at us and giving a laugh.
Malice In Wonderland... The Bad Version:
Outside the hotel, a portal opens up and a rope falls vertically out as a Duosion and a Officer Jenny (who's face they tried to hide but didn't bother to do that for her hair or hat) jump out and as they get up the Officer Jenny's eye glows red making us think this is a bad person even though we already know who the antagonist of this episode is already. The Officer Jenny climbs down to the room Ash & co. are in and... WHOA! Uses an explosion to get in! Don't you think that's a bit excessive? As you can imagine Ash & co. are scared out of their mind but soon calm down as the person that barged into their room is... *GASP* OFFICER JENNY! I wouldn't have guessed...
Actually this Officer Jenny says she's of the Division on Psychic Crimes and assures them their not in trouble as she's investigating a crime involving a Psychic-type Pokemon (well considering you're part of the Division on PSYCHIC Crimes I think that's obvious) and she introduces her partner Duosion (wouldn't it be better to have a Dark, Bug, or Ghost-type being you'll probably be fighting Psychic-type Pokemon?). Officer Jenny asks if Ash & co. noticed if anything of their is missing and quickly discover that all of their Pokemon have been taken and running out the room they see Beheeyem taking them around a corner. As their running after Beheeyem, it creates steel bars to stop them when the weird guy comes dancing out of a room introducing himself as the Dream Theif Leon "the Great". Ash asks Officer Jenny what's going on and she tells them their trapped in a dream created by Beheeyem and asks if they've encountered anything strange which Ash remembers back to the Wiki Berries being turned to Figy Berries and the hotel appearing and Ash takes out his Pokedex to find out more about Beheeyem. For those who don't know, Beheeyem can use their Psychic powers to control your mind and mess with your memories and senses though that's not what's happening. Officer Jenny tells us that Beheeyem had somehow taken them into its dream though she was able to break in using Duosion's Psychic power which makes Cilan realize that Beheeyem wasn't granting their wishes but tricking as Leon mocks them and him and Beheeyem run off with their Pokemon.
Officer Jenny says that they first need to escape Beheeyem's dream before they can do anything about their Pokemon (which I'm a bit confused about, when did they enter Beheeyem's dream? If what Officer Jenny says it's true it would have to be as soon as they met Beheeyem which doesn't make much sense...). Ash asks how can they escape and Officer Jenny says they first need to convince everyone in the dream that it's a dream and they then need to find the emergancy exiting point and attack it with Psychic power as she goes on to explain everything may seem solid but there's always an exit that leads back to the real world. Iris looks down the hall to see a... M. C. Escher-esque painting (so, this is like the what, third time we've seen a "Relativity" structure?) which has the exit conveniently marked in it and Duosion blasts it with a Psywave which creates a flash of light and everyone wakes up in the forest freed from the dream and see Leon and Beheeyem tieing up Pikachu, Meowth, Axew, with their other Pokemon Pokeballs in a bag. Officer Jenny sends out Duosion to attack but Leon has Beheeyem counterattack and... Who's That Pokemon (It rhymes with "Duh, it's Beheeyem")... seems like the writers forgot Dusion and Beheeyem were on a collision course (continuity, what's that?). Duosion uses Psywave but Beheeyem holds its hands out and blocks it (darn, if only people were allowed to carry more then one Pokemon so they can have various types of Pokemon, like a Dark, Bug, or Ghost-type...) but Duosion switches to a Psyshock which hits and finishes with a Flash Cannon (you do know Duosion can learn Shadow Ball, right?).
But before they can start celebrating, the smoke clears to reveal Beheeyem unharmed and its eyes are now glowing and it's speaking in a deeper voice... which turns out to mean nothing as next shot it's normal as Leon says those attacks are nothing to Beheeyem and Beheeyem uses a Energy Ball which, despite Duosion using Protect, blasts through and knocks out Duosion (and now that they have made Beheeyem over powerful how much do you want to bet they're still in Beheeyem's dream and will defeat it and Leon by escaping it for real?). Well if you bet against me you better pay up as Officer Jenny doesn't understand why Protect didn't work and Cilan looks up to see there are two moons in the sky and they realize they are still in Beheeyem's dream because Pikachu, Meowth, and Axew still think this is reality. Ash & co. call out to their Pokemon to wake up which Pikachu and Axew do but Meowth refuses to wake up so Pikachu Thunderbolts him awake (I thought after all these years of being shocked by Pikachu they were immuned to it?) and Cilan explains to him they're stuck in a dream... and where is Leon and Beheeyem? Okay, for some reason Leon and Beheeyem have vanished and Ash & co. are reunited with Pikachu, Meowth, and Axew however Leon and Beheeyem show up and reveal they still have their other Pokemon and start running off in super speed (you can tell by the after images). Officer Jenny says they need to look for an exit which Iris finds on a street sign (you'd think Leon would want to hide those a little better) and Duosion uses Psywave on it and they "wake up" a second time and... a flying saucer comes out of the ground (okay, this is getting stupid).
Leon and Beheeyem come out of the saucer with Leon saying he's an alien and, after Ash ask if true and Iris rightfully calling him a little kid, Cilan points out there are three moons. The reason for this? Meowth fell asleep again... THAT MAKES NO SENSE! You said as long as the person doesn't believe the dream is real you should be able to escape, you told Mewoth this is a dream and he believed you, thus him falling asleep again (while stupid) wouldn't mean you'll be unable to escape! They try to wake Meowth up, he refuses, Leon and Beheeyem "fly away", Pikachu uses Thunderbolt on Meowth, Iris finds another convenient exit sign, Duosion uses Psywave, and flash of light.
Now either in real life or four layers down (hey, I had to make an "Inception" joke, actually I have a feeling the writers just saw "Inception" before writing this episode and wanted to do something like it for Pokemon) everyone wakes up again and, what a surprise, they're still in Beheeyem's dream as now they're running away from a giant Beheeyem. They find Meowth sleeping on one of the many moons and they must be as fed up as I am with this episode as they send a Thunderbolt, Dragon Rage, and Psywave Meowths way but find out they knocked him out (KILL HIM SO WE CAN END THIS EPISODE!). Cilan remembers they have Figy Berries and puts them in Meowths mouth which wakes him up and Officer Jenny spots the exit and has Duosion use Psywave on it and if this actually works get ready for me to rant...
And seeing Meowth awake and one moon in the sky that means it works... which it shouldn't as THOSE AREN'T FIGY BERRIES! If they entered Beheeyem's dream as soon as they met it that means those "Figy Berries" are actually Wiki Berries and since you guys believe those are Figy Berries then by Officer Jenny's rules you shouldn't have been able to escape! Anyway we see Leon and Beheeyem trying to sneak off with their other Pokemon but Iris spots him and Leon tries having Beheeyem put them back to sleep but Pikachu attacks with Electro Ball and knocks it out. Leon returns Beheeyem and tries running off but is stopped by Meowth who is not looking so happy but Leon tries getting Meowth to join him saying with Meowth's ability to talk they'll make a fortune and pulls out a contract. However after having been attacked several times and his mouth put on "fire", Meowth uses Fury Swipes which shreds the contract, Leon's cloths, and his classes with also knocking him out.
Scene fade later we see Leon being arrested and taken away as Officer Jenny rides up to Ash & co. and thanks them for their help and rides off. Iris then fills in a plot hole saying she doesn't remember falling asleep and wonders if they did eat dinner (okay, I'm going to assume that they all fell asleep when Beheeyem turned the Wiki Berries into Figy Berries with a flash of light, but if that was the case why did Leon follow them in? If Ash & co. were asleep being distracted by Beheeyem why didn't Leon just remain in the real world and take their Pokemon while they slept? You know what, I just want this episode to end so whatever).
But anyway, over to antagonists that we actually like, it seems that Team Rocket had made their own train which they're testing out at night to not draw any attention (being underground probably also helps) as they use that device they put on the track switching box an episode ago to switch the tracks. Over to... INGO AND EMMET! Ingo is practicing conductor calls for some reason when an alarm goes off and Emmet runs to a center table map to check it out. Emmet tells Ingo there is a train on the tracks even though the Number 1 train shouldn't be running right now (so does that mean Nimbasa City doesn't have train services at night? Odd...) but when Team Rocket closes the door hiding the secret track they made (I guess? It's my only guess why it wouldn't be on the subway map Ingo and Emmet are looking at) they vanish off the map confusing the twin conductors. Ingo says as the Subway Bosses it's there job to see what is going on or Nimbasa City might be in danger which Emmet asks who will be messing with the subway system which Ingo says he doesn't know but they must be stopped.