PokeRecap – Showdown in Pewter City

To celebrate the Pokemon anime’s 20th anniversary, we’re recapping an episode of the series every Saturday!

Episode Title: Showdown in Pewter City

Original Air Date: April 29, 1997 (Japan); September 14, 1998 (US)

Episode Synopsis: Ash and Misty leave the Viridian Forest and encounter Flint, a rock dealer set up on the edge of Pewter City. Flint shows them to the Pokemon Center, where Ash learns about the Indigo League – a tournament to decide Pokemon masters. Ash must earn eight badges to compete in the Indigo League from various gym leaders. After learning from Flint that there’s a gym in Pewter City, Ash heads there to challenge Brock, the gym’s leader. However, Pikachu is quickly overwhelmed by Brock’s Onix and Ash has to forfeit. Flint consoles Ash and reveals that Brock’s tough exterior hides a caring and parental nature, developed by taking care of his siblings as both of Brock’s parents abandoned them. Flint also suggests that Ash super-charge Pikachu for his next battle against Brock at a nearby power plant.

The next day, Ash returns to the Pewter City gym to challenge Brock again. Ash’s Pidgeotto is no match for Brock’s Geodude, but Pikachu quickly fries the floating Rock-Type Pokemon with a turbocharged Thundershock attack. Pikachu then fires several Thundershocks at Onix, one of which strikes the lights overhead. When Pikachu gets caught in Onix’s Bind attack, Brock suddenly calls the match over Ash’s protest as he doesn’t want to see Pikachu harmed any more. Just then, the lights damaged by Pikachu’s attack cause the sprinkler system to go off, giving Pikachu an opening to finish Onix off. Although Onix is hurt by Pikachu’s attacks, Ash refuses to order the finishing blow due to a sudden burst of guilt (spurred along by Brock’s siblings).

In the end, Ash leaves Pewter City gym, but Brock gives him a Boulder Badge anyways. Flint then reveals himself to be Brock’s father and agrees to start taking care of their family so Brock can join Ash on his Pokemon journey and fulfill his own dream of becoming a Pokemon breeder. So, Brock and Ash leave Pewter City, with Misty close behind them and vowing to follow Ash until he repays her for her damaged bike.

Ash’s Episodic Moment of Idiocy: Ash sends out Pidgeotto to battle Geodude without realizing that Flying-Type Pokemon are naturally weak to Rock-Type Pokemon. He also recalls Pidgeotto before it takes any actual damage from Geodude, leaving Pidgeotto to do all the work.

Characters Introduced: Brock, Flint, Brock’s Onix, Brock’s Geodude

Locations: Pewter City

Ash Ketchum isn’t a very good Pokemon trainer. This is a point the anime beats into viewers over and over. He’s brash, ignorant about the nuances of Pokemon battling, and seems to put himself in bad situations in almost every episode. So how does an idiot like Ash earn gym badges? Well, as we see in this week’s episode, you can apparently earn gym badges by showing character instead of actually beating gym leaders in battle.

Ash’s second battle against Brock is weird from the start. He sends out and quickly recalls Pidgeotto after discovering that Flying-Type Pokemon have a weakness to Rock-Types, even though Geodude hadn’t actually done anything besides grab at Pidgeotto with his oversized rocky hands. Pikachu gets grabbed by Onix and squeezed to the point that Brock feels that the match is over. As soon as Brock orders Onix to put Pikachu down, the sprinklers go off, which gives Pikachu the opening he needs to actually harm Onix. However – THE MATCH WAS ALREADY OVER AT THAT POINT. Had Brock not ordered Onix to drop Pikachu, Pikachu’s eyes would have bulged out of its head as Onix squeezed it to death. Pikachu’s Thundershock attack was basically an attack made after the whistle. Real classy, Ash.

Anyways, Brock doesn’t seem to mind the cheap shot, as he quickly decides to join Ash on his journey. Despite acting as his sibling’s guardians for years, Brock is more than happy to abandon his brothers and sisters once his father makes his grand reappearance after disappearing for several years. I don’t know, I would think that Brock would be a little more hesitant to trust his dad since he stepped out on them and didn’t speak to them for years, but maybe Brock just saw his window of opportunity and leaped through it feet first.

One interesting note about this episode is that the English dub mentions that Brock’s mother died from overwork after Flint left town. That gets contradicted in a later episode, when Brock’s mother returns and repurposes the gym as a Water-Type gym. In the original Japanese episode, Flint says that his wife also left town to raise Pokemon instead of claiming that she died.