I'm surprised that no one has started an episode discussion on this yet (unless SPD has vetoed these too).

Well, it looks like Dawn has finally beat Ursula straight out. If you recall, in the past Dawn won due to beating the clock. What makes it even better is that it involved Pachurishu and Gabite like in their first battle. So you could say, this win was poetic justice.

Now, they're down to the final 16, which includes Dawn and her three remaining rivals. Still, I do have one question: What happened to the kimono Pikachu usually wears while cheering for Dawn in these Contests?

I think we are still getting over the premere episodes of Best Wishes to really give this weeks episode the attention it deserves.

Anyway it was a great episode, though I wish Ursula has beaten Dawn once going into this battle, it is almost Barry like "Ha 7 badges I have 6"comical her trash talking Dawn without a victory under her belt. But she does make a good point about Dawn relying on luck and last minute comebacks. She can't rely on luck forever in order to win the Grand Festival.

I finally know what Ursula saidat the end, it seems much nicer than what I thought she said when I saw the Japanese version.

Awesome episode! The Grand Festival continues! And Dawn finally defeats Ursula without having to rely on the clock running out!

So part 2 of the Grand Festival has gone and went and Dawn is still there but her rival Ursula has been knocked out by Dawn herself. It was a hard battle, but Dawn managed to win through perseverance, determination, oh, and cheating. What? You heard me. If you were going by points, let's just say that Dawn could have had more points then Ursula... if they flipped negative with positive. Don't get me wrong, I want Dawn to win and definitely show Ursula her place, but if the writers write themselves into a corner like this where they have to ignore the point system and have Dawn knocking out her opponent's Pokemon to win, I'm sorry but that's not how I want my heroes to win. And even if some people did forget about the points, they then remind us of them at the end of the battle when they show the scoreboard showing Ursula and Dawn having the same amount of points since the last time they showed us their points despite all the attacks which were done between those times! This was a pretty good episode, but I can't give it more then that. Here's my comments just in case you aren't done hearing me rant on this:

Why Don't You All Focus On The Upcoming Rounds:
00:05 - The Pokemon Contests to end all Pokemon Contests? Don't you think you're exaggerating? It's not like they'll be removing Pokemon Contests in the next generation...
01:35 - So Cyndaquil got hit and an Ice-type attack while itself was using a Fire-type attack... yet it got knocked back?
01:44 - From the flavor text from the game's description of Safeguard: "The user creates a protective field that prevents status problems for five turns." BUBBLEBEAM SHOULDD STILL CAUSE DAMAGE! Safeguard will only protect from BubbleBeam's Speed reduction.
02:12 - Really Ash? Draco Meteor when you perfectly see Piplup is out and Kenny no where in sight? Oh, two orbs? Wonder which one the 2nd is going to hi... oh nevermind both are going for Piplup.
02:28 - This is a clue to you Ash, DON'T USE DRACO METEOR WHEN PIPLUP'S OUT. You ran this running joke into the ground and it's now passing through the planet's core.
03:20 - Exactly Brock! Dawn and Zoey can say they'll meet each other in the finals... but whose to say they won't be versing each other in the next round? Also why is there only one Appeals Round in the Grand Festival? Shouldn't there be atleast 2, maybe one for single performances and another for double?
03:52 - Sure Jessie, you'll be the one winning the Grand Festival... though I'd admit it would be an interesting twist if they didn't have Dawn make it into the finals but Jessie does. She'd still lose but still it would be interesting for them to shake things up like that.
04:59 - OR you and Dawn will be battling each other before the final round, do none of you think that thats possible? Brock pointed it out (though Ursula wasn't there, but still)!
05:25 - Wait a second, 4 judges? What happaned to the two Nurse Joys from Hoenn?
05:58 - SEE! I told you you could be battling each other at any time... though now that they're seperated into blocks and Zoey, Nando, and Jessie aren't in block A I guess that means Dawn won't be facing any of them until the Finals, if she or them gets to the Finals.

Who Attacks First Does Make A Difference:
07:51 - Whoa, calm down Fantina, the battle hasn't even happened yet! At least wait until they begin using combos.
08:26 - Huh? Why is Mamoswine being charged by Pachirisu's Discharge? Oh, I get it, Mamoswine passes the Discharge to Gabite with Take Down and knocks it into Flareon for it to get hit by it... I guess that makes sense?
09:24 - O_O... yay, that's a Scary Face alright...
10:14 - Wait, does Ursula's Flareon know any Fire-type moves? In the appeals it used Iron Tail and Hidden Power, and now it used Scary Face and Shadow Ball. Unless she taught it new attack it doesn't know any Fire-type attacks.
00:26 - Why is Gabite still using Double Team on Mamoswine and Pachirisu? Ursula already had it do what she wanted it to, plus it looked liked thay all vanished after Mamoswine and Pachirisu got hit.
00:51 - Ash, that's the problem. Remember in a Pokemon Contest battles are timed and right now Ursula is in the lead.
01:18 - Oh, Flareon does know a Fire-type attack. Good old TMs... wait... no, Fire Spin can't be learned through TM. And Eevee can't leanr Fire Spin so when did it have time to learn Fire Spin?
01:58 - Well that's just one Jessilina card. You had a whole batch of them so it's not like Jessie was unpopular.
02:12 - James, Jessie's Battle hasn't happened yet, right now she's in the back moping it's not her turn yet.
03:02 - DAWN, ICE SHARD IS NOT WORKING! Oh wait, she had Pachirisu attack Flareon... why didn't she do that before, like on the 2nd try?
03:32 - Hold it, Mamoswine didn't break Ice Shard up with its tusk. Though I have to say no matter how beautiful Ice Chandelier it shouldn't have taken that many points off, at most reduce Ursula to having half of her points remaining. Also didn't Ice Chandelier not work with Mamoswine?
04:00 - Yes, all that's training with Buneary did work... IF YOU WERE USING BUNEARY.

Having Hard Times Admitting The Truth:
04:54 - Okay, determined by how many points Dawn lost from Mamoswine being hit by a Shadow Ball, at this point Dawn should have no points left.
05:16 - Dawn, Gabite is right in front of Mamoswine, an Ice Shard to the face would be pretty paintful to it with that quadruple weakness to Ice-type attacks, plus STAB from Mamoswine!
05:22 - Okay, you protected Pachirisu but Mamoswine still got hit by Dragon Claw (and as I said above you should have no more points left at this point). And now Flareon used Fire Fang (Once again, when did it learn that?) on it subtracting more of Dawn's negative points.
06:08 - Oh Ash, they're pulling this from somewhere, but it isn't from a hat...
06:18 - How did Pachirisu turn? Why didn't it turn instead of slamming into the slam? Writers, it's one thing for Dawn to pull a win-from-victory, it's another thing for you to make up and ingore things just to have her win! I want Dawn to win, but not because the plot says so!
06:37 - I counted, Flareon and Gabite were on screen for 3 seconds with their attacks ready to fire yet for some reason they let Pachirisu use them as a bowling pin.
07:00 - Oh come on, Ursula doesn't have that many points left. AND IF ANYTHING DAWN SHOULD HAVE A TINY, TINY SLIVER LEFT! What, did the judges fall asleep and woke up after hearing Pachirisu's strike? While I do like they had Dawn win with a knockout, she should have lost awhile back.
07:52 - Why is Jessie freaking out? It's not like she's been put up against Dawn (yet, if that's what planned), infact we don't know even who Jessie, Zoey, or Nando is versing so Jessie should more be worried about facing one of them instead of Dawn at the moment.
08:43 - Ursula, a true b**** till the end. At least Harley knows May had talent and went out of his way to either hinder her or out show her. Then again I suppose Ursula does know Dawn has talent and is just trying to save face.
09:09 - Wow Jessie, I know your ego travels faster then a rocket into space (see what a did there?), but can't James and Meowth atleast watch your battles (especially after you were freaking out after Dawn's battles)?
09:23 - Wait, so now it's a whole batch of Jessilina cards? And somehow I think Jessie signing them decreased their value.
10:14 - Seeing how when Dawn is about to lose the fact that there are points in battles is ignored so she could eitehr catch up or knock her opponents out, I'm going to say the plot is pointing to Dawn to win.

Great episode.