Japanese Title: The Four Eivui Brothers
Original Airdate: April 16, 1998
US Airdate: October 17, 1998
The one where... We're introduced to a bunch of dudes in spandex who are way too into a certain Eevelution.
In Stone Town, Ash and his crew come across Mikey, a young trainer who has an Eevee. His three older brothers are each in an argument over which stone Mikey should use to evolve his Eevee into one of three Eeveelutions known of in Kanto. Will a solution to the issue be forced when Team Rocket comes by and swipes Eevee?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Villainy: A minor case. In the dub, when Team Rocket argues about what to evolve Mikey's Eevee into, Jessie has the idea of using all three evolution stones on it at once to see what happens. In the original, she actually suggests presenting the stones to it and letting Eevee make the choice.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Team Rocket steals the Pokémon, the evolution stones... and the food from the buffet. The only thing they don't steal is Psyduck, to Misty's disappointment.Misty: Why couldn't they take you, too?
- Badass Adorable: Mikey's Eevee turns into this when it one-hits Team Rocket hard enough to send them flying.
- Misty's Horsea as well. It leads Misty and the others to Team Rocket's location by leaving a trail of ink behind. It also blasts Jessie in the face with ink, forcing her to drop the cage with Mikey's Eevee.
- Balloon Belly: Happens to James and Meowth briefly after them and Jessie steal the food along with the Pokémon and the evolution stones.Meowth: Ah, nothing tastes better than a victory meal.James: We've gotten beaten so many times, I forgotten what victory tasted like!
- Big Brother Bully: The whole episode is about Mikey's brothers trying to force him to evolve his Eevee to whatever evolution they have themselves.
- Big Brother Instinct:
- The three elder brothers join forces to save Mikey's Eevee.
- Misty also displays some big sister instinct towards Mikey by giving him advice on how to speak his mind to his brothers.
- Burning with Anger: Misty calls Jessie an old hag. Jessie uses Flamethrower.Meowth: Wow! Jessie just evolved into a Flareon!
- Call-Back: While talking to Mikey about his reluctance to evolve his Eevee, Misty tells him that Pikachu decided not to evolve a while back.
- Misty likely sympathizes with Mikey because like him, she's also the youngest and the black sheep in a group of siblings.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Mikey's brothers have their hair colored and styled to match their evolved Eevees. It makes one wonder if their hair color was natural or if they
dyed it. - Epic Fail:
- Jessie and James' attempts to find Evolution Stones involved randomly digging in the ground. If Evolution Stones are sold in stores like in the game, then they just wasted their time on a wild goose chase.
- Misty's Psyduck attempts to use Water Gun against Team Rocket. It's not very effective.
- Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's that Pokémon is Eevee.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mikey’s brothers. They try to force their younger brother into evolving his Eevee into whatever evolution they have and they berate people like Ash and Brock for not wanting to evolve their Pokémon via evolution stones. However, they jump into action when Mikey’s Eevee is taken by Team Rocket and they console their injured Pokémon.
- Ma'am Shock: When Misty calls Jessie an old hag for the first time, she has the biggest freak-out yet.
- Sibling Rivalry: All three of Mikey’s older brothers think their evolved Eevees are the best and that Mikey should choose whichever evolution each of them has.
- Shout-Out: After Misty once again slaps Ash, Brock does his best Mr. Miyagi imitation saying, "Grasshopper have little sense for big mouth."
- Take a Third Option: Rather than choose one of the three evolutions his brothers have, Mikey opts to be an Eevee trainer by the end.
- Throw the Dog a Bone:
- Psyduck gets to spend some time outside of its Pokeball for most of the episode.
- After initially taking a beating, Team Rocket defeats the brothers before Mikey and his Eevee save the day.
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: Misty's Horsea squirts ink along the road in order to lead Ash and his friends to Team Rocket.
- Uncatty Resemblance: All of the brothers have a hairstyle that resembles their choice of Pokémon.
- Wham Line: When Ash and his friends talk to Mikey after they return his Eevee, they don’t receive any thanks for finding his lost Pokémon. Instead, he asks them why they brought it back. This leads to them learning about the unhealthy relationship he has with his brothers.
