Recap / Showdown at Dark City

Brock just can't say "No" to a pretty girl.

—Misty

Japanese Title: Showdown! Pokémon Gym!

Original Airdate: April 30, 1998

US Airdate: October 29, 1998

Alas, poor ketchup bottle.

The one where... Pikachu shows an interest in ketchup.

In the middle of a terrible desert, our heroes inadvertently wandered into Dark City. With no name but Dark, the city has fallen into ruin. The streets, even at midday, are vacant of people. But suddenly, a rare figure appears and begins to throw stones at Ash and friends. They had heard at a restaurant in town, that this town contains two authorized Pokémon gyms, but that their Masters try to battle traveling Pokémon trainers anywhere within the town (and it doesn't help that Jessie and James have been hired by one of the gyms as their bodyguards). This is said to be the cause of the town's desolation. Will our heroes also be caught up in the whirlwind of these battles?

This episode contains examples of:

• Ash Face: When Vulpix uses Flamethrower on Team Rocket, they are burned to three different levels of severity, which they Lampshade. Meowth, Arbok, and Weezing are "rare", and lightly singed, Jessie is "medium" and is charred brown, while James is "well done" and is completely charred black.
• Atrocious Alias: The aliases Ash, Misty and Brock use while in Dark City are Tom Ato, Ann Chovi and... Caesar Salad. It’s not much better in the Japanese version where they have aliases based on Ketchup, Chicken Rice and Curry Rice…
• Berserk Button: Not just Scyther and Electabuzz when they see red, but when Jessie and James arrive at the restaurant in disguise demanding service, the owner keeps insisting he doesn't want any trouble, and eventually Jessie and James can't resist revealing themselves, saying their motto and attacking the owner.
• Big Damn Heroes: Nurse Joy of all characters, working as an official Pokemon League gym inspector, saves the day when she stops Yas and Kaz from attacking Ash and his friends.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: When the young kids decide to become Pokémon trainers, they ask for Pikachu's autograph, causing Ash to faint. He figures this is because "Pikachu is the star".
• Brick Joke: When Ash comes up with fake names for him and his friends to avoid trouble in Dark City, Ash sees Pikachu obsessed with ketchup and decides to call himself "Tom Ato." Then near the end when Ash tells the Yas and Kaz to clean up the mess they made from the street fights, the leaders say "At once, Tom Ato," and Ash finally realizes how ridiculous his Atrocious Alias sounds.
• Bull Seeing Red: The Pokédex mentions Scyther and Electabuzz are among the few Pokémon that can distinguish colors, becoming enraged at the sight of the color red. Incidentally, this fact is also mentioned in the Pocket Monster Encyclopedia, essentially the writers bible for the original games. Before the Japanese Pokémon Blue was released, they were exclusive to the Red Version.
• Cargo Ship: In-Universe, Pikachu and the ketchup bottle. The heartbroken look on Pikachu's face when Scyther slices the bottle in half...
• Combat Pragmatist: The techniques used by the gyms, up to and including calling out groups of Pokémon to gang up on a human. Amusingly, this was written before the introduction of the Dark type in the games, which is based on similar principles.
• Conspicuous Trenchcoat: A woman is seen at the restaurant disguised in a trenchcoat, sunglasses, fedora hat and a scarf over her mouth. Near the end, she then reveals herself to be a Nurse Joy working for the Pokémon League Inspection Agency.
• Crazy-Prepared: Ash and his friends set up multiple lightning rods to power up Pikachu's attacks, even though they are certain that they will be able to solve the conflict without fighting.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Literal examples in Electabuzz and Scyther's cases; Electabuzz manages to effortlessly blast away Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan, Mankey, and Machoke with a powerful Thunderpunch attack and Scyther uses Cut attack to destroy a building the Team Rocket trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth happened to be sitting on before they get taken along with the collapsing building.
• Dying Town: Dark City is becoming this, courtesy of almost everybody in town declaring "Screw This, I'm Outta Here"
• Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's That Pokémon is Scyther.
• Failed Attempt at Drama: Ash's refusal to help either gym, foiled by an inconvenient ketchup stain on the floor.
  (thinking) "That was dramatic..." (slips on ketchup stain and falls on his butt) (out loud) "That was pathetic!"
• A Fistful of Rehashes: The plot of this episode is inspired by Yojimbo.
• Foreshadowing: During the kids setting up to put an end to the war, they interestingly put lightning rods on the houses. Turns out it was part of a third option if the leaders decided not to stop after their initial plan.
• Funny Background Event: Pikachu seems to really love eating ketchup out of the bottle.
• Joisey: In the dub, Kaz talks with a New Jersey accent.
• Line-of-Sight Alias: Subverted. Ash spots Pikachu with a ketchup bottle and almost picks "Ketchup" until remembering that sounds too much like his own name, and adopts the alias "Tom Ato".
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Yas and Kaz gym members, when Pikachu uses Thunder on them.
• Meaningful Name: "Dark City" deserves the name by being the battleground that shows what happens when people use Pokemon for gang warfare (in a TV-Y7 fashion, of course).
• Mediation Backfire: After the heroes have managed to defeat the gyms' Pokemon, Ash gives them a well-deserved "The Reason You Suck" Speech about how they have become too hostile to be good Pokemon trainers with their rivalry. The gym leaders agree to bury the hatchet... and order their Pokemon to gang up on Ash and his friends. Pikachu and Nurse Joy have to stop them for good.
• Non-Dubbed Grunts: Like many Pokémon, Electabuzz retains its Japanese vocals in the dub, though for some reason 4Kids decided to recycle only a single voice clip of the Pokémon. The full range of its Japanese voice (0:45-0:50) can actually be heard in Pokémon Snap.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • The three kids, when they get shocked by Pikachu.
  • Yas and Kaz, as well as Team Rocket, when they get drenched in ketchup.
  • Yas and Kaz when the mysterious Conspicuous Trenchcoat woman from the restaurant throws her Pokémon League Inspection Agency Pokéball. But when it turns out to be a Chansey (and the woman being Nurse Joy), Yas and Kaz collapse in the usual anime fashion.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Towards the end of the episode, Ash and Nurse Joy express their frustration over Yas and Kaz resorting to using their Pokémon for illegal street fighting.
• Red Herring: Most viewers who watch this the first time would think the mysterious stranger in the trench coat would be Jessie due to how she would often disguise herself, until you find out a bit later it wasn't her as she and the other Team rocket members were with the Kaz Gym and the stranger turns out to be Nurse Joy.
• The Rival: Scyther vs Electabuzz. Even though in the games, Scyther is associated with Pinsir and Electabuzz with Magmar.
• Serious Business:
  • Two rival gyms are so willing to do anything in order to become official (and the only gym in town) that they have escalated into a full-blown Mob War which has made many town residents leave because of their fear for their lives and livelihoods becoming collateral damage.
  • Pikachu getting rather teary-eyed over a broken ketchup bottle.
• Shout-Out: The entire episode is one BIG shoutout to Yojimbo.
• Single-Stroke Battle: The final showdown between Scyther and Electabuzz resembles this. Except they run headfirst into each other instead.
• Theme Naming: Ash and his friends use food-themed aliases. Ash is "Tom Ato" (tomato), Misty is "Ann Chovie" (anchovy), and Brock is "Caesar Salad".
• Unnecessary Roughness: Both rival gyms pretty much pride themselves in being brutal (by Pokemon battle standards); which has turned the situation into a full-blown mini-Mob War (and the titular city is stating to become a Dying Town because people prefer to leave rather than risk becoming collateral damage). Joy's reason to deny both Gyms a Pokemon League membership is because said brutality is utter lack of sportsmanship.