This is a great episode.

Well, this was a very interesting start to the Twinleaf festival arc, but apparently, I missed a few minutes of the beginning because CN is doing something cute with the time. It looks like Team Rocket is in what I call one their Typical-Legitement-Hard-Labor-Jobs-During-Big-Event-Arcs-Until-It-Ends-Then-They-Go-Back-To-Chasing-Ash-And-His-Friends scenarios You know, if Team Rocket ever stopped and thinked, they'd realize they're much more successful doing legitment work instead of trying to steal Pokes. And, I have to say, I feel sorry for them in this episode, not just because they got unneccesary blast-off from an edgy Gyardos, but look, they captured all those rare and strong Pokes and all they were interested in were Goldeen! That has to be their dumbest moment yet. As for Dawn facing off against her mother, not a bad first battle against a senior Cordinator for Dawn, even though she lost. My bet is if she used Mamoswine instead of Pachurishu, Dawn could've a better chance. Looking forward to how the rest of the arc goes.

Today's episode was good... but a bit boring until the end. And even then the battle was only for a few minutes as Johanna defeats Dawn once she decided to stop playing around. I really don't have much to say about this episode so here's the review to make up for it:

Seperate Greetings:
* Looks like we're skipping to Ash and co. getting right to Twinleaf Town as Dawn and Piplup decide to race down to the Sinnoh Games hometown.
* Huh? Um, okay, that's odd, we just had the intro but where's the title card?
* Ash, of course it's like Pallet Town, New Bark Town and Littleroot Town also resembles Pallet Town. The reason so I mentioned above.
* And we come to I guess two of Dawn's neighbors Izzy and Cara who are trying to figure out where to set thier food stall... hold it Dawn, now you're excited your mom is Chairperson? Then explain your reaction last episode!
* Huh? The title card? Also the narrator decided to speak up! So was this whole scene part of the pre-opening or was it the actual start of the episode? Either way I think someone has to move either where the intro or title card is placed.
* Was there a slight pause before Dawn decided to rush in her house? Well it wasn't a pause, Ash and Brock looked at each other like "uh, no what?" before Dawn rushed in. Hey! Johanna has an Umbreon!
* Pfft, just like cat Pokemon, Piplup tries to say hi and both Glameow and Umbreon snuff it. And now we're introduced to another neighbor nad her Pokemon: Noel and Bellossom... *snicker* what was with the chime sound when Dawn showed her Ribbons? In addition, have the Ribbons gotten smaller?
* *sigh* Brock, I guess even friends neighbors aren't off limits as long as it's a pretty girl Okay Croagunk, unless Bellossom would like to take care of this one... oh, Poison Jabbed by Croagunk AND Stun Spored by Bellossom!

Catching A Whole Lot Of Stalling:
* Ooh, a (real) battle between Dawn and Johanna, that should be good! And Ash, Johanna said DAWN's favorite dishes, meaning she gets first serves. Oh, apparently Johanna has also set up the guest rooms for Ash and Brock already, and nice dodging Brock there Noel.
* Meanwhile Team Rocket have also been hired by I guess the event organizer helping Johanna to fish up some Goldeens with Old Rods... which is impossible as Old Rods only catch Magikarp, you'll need at least a Good Rod to catch a Goldeen in Twinleaf Town.
* And now back to Ash and co. eating some, I guess lunch, with Johanna and Noel with chit chat... until Noel asked Brock if she could have some of his recipes... but only recipe Brock is showing is one of pain with a punch of Poison Jab and sprinkle of Stun Spore.
* As Dawn and Johanna wash the dishes Ash and Brock talk with Professor Oak and upon hearing a poem Dawn rushes right in *sigh*. You know, I know the hometown is suppose to be a nice quiet place but things are getting a bit boring, when's that Dawn and Johanna battle?
* Oh, Professor Oak is coming... and in comes Delia from no where knocking Professor Oak down. And Ash, if you're embarressed about the "scolding bit" just be glad the "change your underwear" gag was dropped in Season 1.
* Barboach? You can't even catch one in Twinleaf or Lake Verity, and if you could I doubt it would be with an Old Rod. Oh well, anime following its own rules as always.
* Finneon, Whiscash, Crawduant, Remoraid, Feebas, Team Rocket never caught so many Pokemon yet they release them because they aren't Goldeen (you know, instead of catching them and sending it to Giovanni, heck the Whiscash and Crawduant alone would be a good send, maybe the Feebas too).
* Hey, are those Gracidea Flowers growing in the garden? Anyway sounds like we're going to get that Dawn and Johanna battle... and then the Event Organizer, Izzy, and Cara show up with a festival problem.
* They can't figured out which snack to sell next to the main attraction, the battle ring. Of course being they only have two options to choose from, Octillery Snack and Altaria Cotton Candy (I do not want to know those recipes O_O), the words "sell both" come to mind.
* And guess what, THAT was the solution! And now with that done, we can hopefully get back to the Dawn and Johanna bat... GAH! What, did they model Izzy and Cara after Twiddle Dee and Twiddle Dum?
* Anyway Johanna decides they'll walk around the festival site and decide where the food stalls will be thus preolonging the battle (watch, we'll have to wait until the actual Twinleaf Festival for their battle). Meanwhile Ash and Pikachu decide to look around Twinleaf Town.

The "Top" Part Of Top Coordinator Isn't For Nothing:
* Did anyone else notice when Pikachu did a sudden stop from chasing the Ledyba it soundd like how in Flintstones Fred stops his car? What is up with the strange sound effects? Meanwhile Ash notices rustles in a nearby tree and a kid asks for them not to go near it.
* The kid's name is Nathaniel and he had revealed he put honey on that tree (which is the first time we actually see the Honey feature in action). Nathaniel then reveals he's too young to be a Pokemon Trainer which brings up the question why is he then smothering Honey on a tree? Also, we've seen pleny kids his age having Pokemon (like Mira), so how did they become Trainers if they weren't old enough yet?
* Ah, a Heracross, lucky find being in the games there is only a 3.5% (if it's a Munchlax Tree) or 1% (non-Munchlax Tree) chance of finding a Heracross.
* We then get a quick flashback of Ash remembering how excited he was to be around Pokemon when he was young and Nathaniel tells he wants to be a Bug-type Trainer, guess he must be a fan of Aaron. Ash then tells Nathaniel about his Heracross and how it always tried to drink Bulbasaur's sap as we fade out to Dawn preparing for her battle with her mom.
* I guess Dawn must have decided to use Piplup and Pachirisu even though she doesn't know if her mom is going to use Glameow and Umbreon (true it's the only Pokemon of hers we know about, but that doesn't mean they have to be her only Pokemon). Pachirisu noticed that Johanna had been cutting out and framing newspaper articles of Dawn's achievments and...
* FINALLY the Dawn and Johanna battle! Apparently Johanna is going to use Glameow and Umbreon (too bad Dawn doesn't have any Fighting-types). Brock then tries to hit on Noel once more but Bellossom and Croagunk have him reconsider having dark aura around them... wait, dark aura? OMG! THEY'RE SHADOW POKEMON! We need a Snag Machine and quick!
* Dawn had Piplup and Pachirisu send out a Discharging Whirlpool but Johanna counters by having Glameow and Umbreon dodge and do a Quick Attack... okay, how are they flying? Yay, Noel, something more is going on, THEY'RE FLYING!
* Glameow and Umbreon attack back two strong Shadow Balls but Piplup and Pachirisu recover and follows plan A, having Piplup distract them with a wall of Bubblebeam and Pachirisu using Super Fang to actually attack them.
* Glameow and Umbreon use double Attract and both work, which means Glameow and Umbreon as the opposite gender of Piplup and Pachirisu (meaning Pachirisu in the same gender as Piplup). And being we know Piplup is a boy (as strange as that sounds considering a few episode where it dressed up as a cheerleader) that means Pacharisu is male too and Glameow and Umbreon are both female.
* And one Swift later finishes the battle knocking out both Piplup and Pachirisu. But one thing I have to ask is why do both Glameow and Umbreon have the same attacks (Quick attack, Shadow Ball, Attract, & Swift)? Bing Johanna is a coordinator wouldn't both know different set of attacks for combination attacks?
* Ash, how does Dawn having a strong bond with her Pokemon suppose to help you? Anyway we end the episode with Dawn and Johanna hugging, Ash with his hand in the air, Brock trying not to get attacked by Croagunk and Bellossom, and Team Rocket having caught a whole bunch of Goldeen... and a Gyarados which blasts them off... what is up with these Water-type Pokemon, did Twinleaf Town dump some Rare Candies in there or something?