Japanese Title: Cursed Satoshi...!
Original Airdate: March 8, 2020
US Airdate: September 11, 2020
Gengar is causing trouble for the Cerise Laboratory once again. This time around, it seems to have inflicted a curse on Ash.
- Bait-and-Switch: We're lead to believe Gengar cursed Ash...actually, it turns out Ash has just been ill the entire time.
- Big Damn Heroes: Ash saves Gengar from Team Rocket by ordering Pikachu to use Iron Tail on the machine it was trapped in.
- Bookends: The end of "Best Friend...Worst Nightmare!" has Gengar on top of the Cerise Lab with a sinister grin. The ending of this episode has Gengar there again, but this time it eats an apple with a happy smile.
- Call-Back: When Ash catches Gengar, he’s wearing a Charmander shirt, the first of his Pokemon that were originally abandoned.
- Contrived Coincidence: How convenient that Ash bumps into a random guy who happened to be Gengar's former trainer!
- For Want Of A Nail: If Ash didn't go barreling out of the lab after one too many 'curses' on him — with Gengar still in his shadow — he wouldn't have bumped into Gengar's former trainer, learned Gengar's backstory, and then subsequently befriend and capture the Ghost Pokémon.
- From Bad to Worse: Not only does Gengar find out about why it’s trainer never returned to it, but it gets captured by Team Rocket (while having trust issues with humans).
- Funny Background Event: Ren's terrified reaction as Goh tells Ash about the Gengar curse.
- Ghosts Abhor a Vacuum: Team Rocket captures Gengar using a vacuum-like contraption.
- Humiliation Conga: After Ash gets cursed by Gengar. A leg of his chair breaks, he accidentally ends up drinking the flower water, he almost falls down the stairs, causing him to grab Goh's butt to not fall, the entire content of parmesan cheese falls on the pasta that Mimey made for him because the cap fell off, he gets accidentally tramped by the Pokémon in the lab, including his own Dragonite, and finally, he gets his foot stuck in a hole made by a Diglett.
- It Amused Me: Professor Cerise knew that the laboratory was haunted but bought it anyway because he thought it was fun.
- Jerkass: Not only was Gengar’s former trainer a jerk for bragging about abandoning Gengar, but he was rude to Ash when Ash tried to apologize for bumping into him.
- Karma Houdini: Unlike Damien and Seamus, Gengar's trainer doesn't get comeuppance from Gengar. Ash doesn't chew him out but rather tells Gengar to calm down.
- Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: While it's implied that all the effects of Gengar's "curse" have been simply due to Ash being ill all along, this doesn't explain the ridiculous bad luck that haunted him throughout the entire day and which supposedly also touched Gengar's previous trainer.
- Now You Tell Me: Apparently, Professor Cerise knew that the building he bought for his laboratory was a Haunted House all along.
- Rage Breaking Point: After a string of bad luck, Ash ends up stepping on a Diglett hole. This causes him to scream in anger and run out of the lab, which spills into the above-mentioned For Want Of A Nail incident.
- Recycled Plot: Once again, Ash ends up befriending and catching a Pokémon left behind by a Jerkass trainer who promised to come back for it with no intention of actually doing that. The fact that Ash wears a t-shirt with Charmander on it during the final scene may be a subtle Lampshade Hanging.
- Shout-Out: Team Rocket trapping Gengar in a vacuum device, as mentioned above, is likely a reference to Luigi's Mansion.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Gengar's former trainer is last seen fleeing for his life and never gets any comeuppance for abandoning his partner.
