Sweet Baby James
"Asking us to behave is like asking a baby not to cry! And we're babies, alright!"
Score: 7/10
Munchlax is sick, and an old couple who happen to be wandering the field the heroes are in agree to let them come with them to heal it. Cut to Team Rocket, where Chimecho is also sick, and James spies a castle in the distance. He runs there (despite it clearly being many miles away and Chimecho not being well enough to make the journey, also, they have a balloon), and we learn the old couple are James' grandparents and the castle is one of his summer cottages. Yep, those classical European castles are just all over Japan. Also: James’ grandparents own a Mime Jr., which proceeds to spend the entire episode mimicking James’ movements.
James lies and claims Meowth and Jessie work for him to impress his grandparents, including claiming that he’s president of a major organization. They tell James that Chimecho is just exhausted, even though it's like the single pokemon in the series that engages in the least strenuous activities and it hardly does anything other than join in at the last part of the Team Rocket motto.
The heroes and Team Rocket bump into each other, and James convinces the heroes not to tell them the truth and to pretend they're all friends, even though James is supposed to be the president of a major company and the heroes are children so this would be incredibly suspicious.
James’ grandparents take everyone to the Pokemon House, which is like a greenhouse where they keep dozens of pokemon, including tragically revoiced Wooper. Jesus Christ, the old voice was amazing (WOOPA), this voice is just terrible (Woop-err?).
At night, James spends time with Chimecho and May with Munchlax, and Mime Jr. is impressed by how kindly James acts. Jessie and Meowth go around the castle stealing all of the pokemon, and James and the heroes confront them. Angered, James sides with the heroes and has Cacnea attack Seviper, and once again, it seems to be kind of implied James is a better battler than Jessie, and he blasts them off. I also think this is the only time in the series when only part of Team Rocket blasts off.
In the morning, the heroes leave, but Chimecho is still too weak to move. His grandparents tell James that he can't take it with him, and he has a montage of playing with Chimecho while a silly sad song plays in the background.
FOREVER BEST FRIENDS, ME AND YOU! YOU NEED TO KNOW YOU'RE NOT ALONE I'LL BE BACK REAL SOON
James decides to come back for Chimecho when it heals, which according to Bulbapedia, he never does. I choose to assume this means Chimecho dies off screen.
As James leaves, he drops an empty pokeball, and Mime Jr. catches itself so it can come with James and fill the “Unnecessary cute thing” slot.
Overall, a solid James-centric episode.
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Started: July 6, 2005