History Recap / PokemonS1E48HolyMatrimony

%%* TheUnfavorite: Poor, poor James.

* ArrangedMarriage: James was arranged to marry [[RichBitch the very wealthy but cruel]],[[DomesticAbuser violent and domineering Jessebelle]], much to his dismay.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: The caption for the page picture is a quote from this. When James is shown running away from Jessebelle in a flashback, she criticizes his running technique, not realizing that he want to ''get the hell away from her''.

* EndOfEpisodeSilliness: In an ironic role-reversal, the episode ends with Ash and his friends being chased by Jessebelle, who is demanding that they take her to James.

Unfortunately, it turns out that this is a trap; his parents are not dead and Jessebelle is violently aggressive in controlling everything James does. With the aid of Growlie, James' pet Growlith from childhood, Team Rocket escapes with their freedom, but none of James' fortune.

* AbusiveParents: James' parents are overly controlling and demanding, forcing James to act "properly" in every area of his life. When they tried to force him into an ArrangedMarriage with a clear {{yandere}}, he ran away. The fact that he wasn't the least bit surprised that they would fake their deaths to lure him back likely means they were emotionally manipulative as well.

* BigDamnHeroes: Growlie coming to James' rescue.

* BitingTheHandkerchief: Brock is seen doing this after hearing James' sad childhood tale involving his Growlithe.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and [[WhipOfDominance beating him with a whip.]] James is not happy about it, but mostly complains about how controlling she is, and his parents seems to think it's great. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in Pokemon in general, but they certainly have never portrayed James smacking a woman around like Jessebelle is shown smacking him around. [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand, everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessebelle is horrible]].
* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The coffins James' parents put out have crosses on them. References to real-world religions would be phased out of the franchise by the time of Hoenn.

** James' parents are similarly hateable for not only enabling Jessebelle to abuse James, but encouraging it too. Since they lack all the BlackComedy elements to Jessebelle's character and are manipulative snobs on top of being similarly controlling to James, it makes it all the sweeter once he finally, truly slips out from under their thumb for good.

* ItWasADarkAndStormyNight: James' story opens this way.

* NoblewomansLaugh: Jessebelle, naturally, along with James' parents.

* ShoutOut: James' fake story about him and Growlie dying in the show and being carried off by angels is a direct reference to Literature/ADogOfFlanders.
* SouthernBelle: James' mother has a classy Dixie accent and all the mannerisms one would associate with a haughty rich woman from the DeepSouth. Jessebelle's another SouthernBelle, but with a ''lot'' of {{Yandere}} tendencies thrown into the mix.

--->'''Jessie:''' Hmm, this kid looks a lot like you.\\

--->'''Jessie:''' Well, James, that fiancée of yours is truly despicable.\\

* WhipOfDominance: James' arranged bride Jessiebelle uses a whip while trying to forcibly (and violently) make him act like a proper gentleman, further illustrating her ridiculously controlling nature.

* BigDamnHeroes: Growlie coming to James' rescue.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor James was the only child to ridiculously wealthy parents, who emotionally abused and belittled him, [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent forcing him into learning how to become a "proper" member of the upper class society]]. They also arranged him to marry Jessebelle, an equally rich but ''very'' violent and controlling girl who James is absolutely terrified of. Even worse, despite the fact that it's obvious that James doesn't want to marry Jessebelle, who barely even ''hides'' her less than desirable traits, they still fully expect him to marry her and even ''prefer'' her over their own son. Jessebelle, on her part, [[DomesticAbuser treated him terribly]] and he eventually ran away from home in order to get away from her, thus condemning him to the criminal lifestyle he has today.

* EnemyMine: Pikachu and Growlie team up to take on Jessebelle's Vileplume.

* TooDumbToLive: Jessie and Meowth's "invisible" disguises. Full stop. The only reason they aren't outed sooner is that everyone chooses to play along with their idiotic ploy.

** Some have theorized that the ''real'' reason why Jessebelle wants to marry James is just to get to his parent's money.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and [[WhipOfDominance beating him with a whip.]] James is not happy about it, but mostly complains about how controlling she is, and his parents seems to think it's great. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in Pokemon in general, but they certainly have never portrayed James smacking a woman around like Jessebelle is shown smacking him around. [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand, everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessebelle is horrible.]]

** In Jessie and Meowth's case, despite being greedy and forcing James to return to the estate in the first place to get his money, once they see for themselves just [[DomesticAbuser how horrible Jessebelle really is (tricking them into bringing him to a prison-like room, attacking James with a whip and then paralyzing him so that he couldn't escape)]], they don't make any more attempts afterwards, though in their case, it's more like EvenEvilHasStandards.

* GoldDigger: Meowth and Jessie are this by proxy, as they try to make James marry Jessebelle just so they can get his inheritance.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and [[WhipItGood beating him with a whip.]] James is not happy about it, but mostly complains about how controlling she is, and his parents seems to think it's great. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in Pokemon in general, but they certainly have never portrayed James smacking a woman around like Jessebelle is shown smacking him around. [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand, everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessebelle is horrible.]]

* TheUnfavorite: Poor, poor James.

* {{Yandere}}: ''Jessebelle''. She's ridiculously violent and controlling of James, and is willing to whip him senseless and even sic her Vileplume on him in order to make sure he can never escape from her twisted sense of "affection".

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor James's was the only child to ridiculously wealthy parents, who emotionally abused and belittled him, [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent forcing him into learning how to become a "proper" member of the upper class society]]. They also arranged him to marry Jessebelle, an equally rich but ''very'' violent and controlling girl who James is absolutely terrified of. Even worse, despite the fact that it's obvious that James doesn't want to marry Jessebelle, who barely even ''hides'' her less than desirable traits, they still fully expect him to marry her and even ''prefer'' her over their own son. Jessebelle, on her part, [[DomesticAbuser treated him terribly]] and he eventually ran away from home in order to get away from her, thus condemning him to the criminal lifestyle he has today.

* NoIndoorVoice: Hopkins the butler frequently speaks through a megaphone--[[UpToEleven even when talking to someone five feet away.]]

* NoblewomansLaugh: Jessebelle, naturally, along with James's parents.

* DidYouDie: When recalling his fake childhood memories, James tells the tale of what happened to him as a child, when he and his Growlithe were caught out in the cold and James tragically froze to death. This gets a tearfully heartfelt reaction from the listeners... [[OnlySaneMan with the exception of Misty]], who immediately points out that James is alive and standing right here, proving that his story is false.

* GoldDigger: Meowth and Jessie are this by proxy, as they try to make James marry Jessebelle just so they can his inheritance.

* ArrangedMarriage: James was arranged to marry [[RichBitch the very wealthy but cruel]],[[DomesticAbuser violent, and domineering Jessebelle]], much to his dismay.

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor James's was the only child to ridiculously wealthy parents, who emotionally abused and belittled him, [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent forcing him into learning how to become a "proper" member of the upper class society]]. They also arranged him to marry Jessebelle, an equally rich but ''very'' violent and controlling girl who James is absolutely terrified of. Even worse, despite the fact that it's obvious that James doesn't want to marry Jessebelle, who barely even ''hides'' her less than desirable traits, they still fully expect him to marry her and even ''prefer'' her over their own son. Jessebelle, on her part,[[DomesticAbuser treated him terribly]] and he eventually ran away from home in order to get away from her, thus condemning him to the criminal lifestyle he has today.