History Recap / PokemonS1E48HolyMatrimony

* DarkAndTroubledPast: Poor James's was the only child to ridiculously wealthy parents, who emotionally abused and belittled him, [[WhyCouldn'tYouBeDifferent? 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.

* EveryoneHasStandards: This episode contains notable examples from Ash and Co and Team Rocket:

* IdenticalStranger: Jessebelle looks and sounds just like Jessie, only with a different hairstyle and
* SouthernBelle accent.

* PoorCommunicationKills: If James had just explained to Jessie and Meowth that he didn't want get married and why, instead pretending to have amnesia they wouldn't have forced to return home and he might not have deal with Jessibelle again.

* IdenticalStranger: Jessebelle looks and sounds just like Jessie, only with a different hairstyle and SouthernBelle accent.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: James' parents own what is pretty much a ''sex dungeon''.

* 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.

* RunawayFiance: James was betrothed to Jessebelle when he was only a child, and her controlling attitude and penchant for violence was enough to cause him to run away from home even then. At the end of the episode he runs away again and Jessiebelle declares that she is not going to give up on him that easily (although it takes over 500 episodes before she shows up again).

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

Ash and company continue their journey when they spot a missing persons sign. They are shocked to see that the child on the sign looks like James of Team Rocket. They later discover that James comes from a rich family and ran away when he was just a boy. His parents are dead and James can only inherit his fortune if he marries his fiancee Jessiebelle. Jessie and Meowth overhear this and while James resists they restrain him and march him like a puppet to his family's manor to claim his money.

Unfortunately, it turns out that this is a trap; his parents are not dead and Jessiebelle 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.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessiebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and 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 Jessiebelle is shown smacking him around. [[SubvertedTrope On the other hand, everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessiebelle is horrible.]]

* EvilCounterpart: While Jessie isn't a hero, Jessiebelle is certainly a more evil version of her.
* EnemyMine: Pikachu and Growlie team up to take on Jessiebelle's Vileplume.
* EyeCatch: The "Who's that Pokémon" was Vileplume for this episode, since Jessiebelle uses one.

* IdenticalStranger: Jessiebelle looks and sounds just like Jessie, only with a different hairstyle and SouthernBelle accent.

* OjouRinglets: Jessiebelle looks like Jessie except her hair is in several large "drill curls." This is a pretty quick way to indicate her higher social status.

* RunawayFiance: James was betrothed to Jessiebelle when he was only a child, and her controlling attitude and penchant for violence was enough to cause him to run away from home even then. At the end of the episode he runs away again and Jessiebelle declares that she is not going to give up on him that easily (although it takes over 500 episodes before she shows up again).

** And later, when discussing Jessiebelle:

'''Jessie:''' [[YouJustHadToSayIt I'll make your mouth even bigger!]]

Ash and company continue their journey when they spot a missing persons sign. They are shocked to see that the child on the sign looks like James of Team Rocket. They later discover that James comes from a rich family and ran away when he was just a boy. His parents are dead and James can only inherit his fortune if he marries his fiancee Jessebelle. Jessie and Meowth overhear this and while James resists they restrain him and march him like a puppet to his family's manor to claim his money.

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.

* 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, knowing that his story is only a fake.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and 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 Although everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jessiebelle is horrible.]]
* EndOfEpisodeSilliness: In an ironic role-reversal, the episode ends with Ash and his friends being chased by Jessebelle, who is demanding them to take her to James.

* EnemyMine: Pikachu and Growlie team up to take on Jessebelle's Vileplume.
* EyeCatch: The "Who's that Pokémon" was Vileplume for this episode, since Jessebelle uses one.

* IdenticalStranger: Jessebelle looks and sounds just like Jessie, only talking with a SouthernBelle accent.

* NoIndoorVoice: Hopkins the butler frequently speaks through a megaphone--[[UpToEleven even when talking to someone five feet away]].
* OjouRinglets: Jessebelle looks like Jessie except her hair is in several large "drill curls." This is a pretty quick way to indicate her higher social status.

* RunawayFiance: James was betrothed to Jessebelle when he was only barely a child and her controlling attitude and penchant for violence was enough to cause him to run away from home even then. At the end of the episode he runs away again and Jessebelle declares that she is not going to give up on him that easily (although it takes over 500 episodes before she shows up again).

** And later, when discussing Jessebelle:

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

* TeamRocketWins: While this trope would recur in later episodes, this still stands as the only episode to date that Ash and his friends fall victim to the EndOfEpisodeSilliness ''instead'' of Jessie and James, which this is the first and only time the villains win in this episode.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: James's parents own what is pretty much a ''sex dungeon''.

Ash and company continue their journey when they spot a missing persons sign. They are shocked to see that the child on the sign looks like James of Team Rocket. They later discover that James comes from a rich family and ran away when he was a just a boy. His parents are dead and James can only inherit his fortune if he marries his fiancee Jessebelle. Jessie and Meowth overhear this and while James resists they restrain him and march him like a puppet to his family's manor to claim his money.

* ContinuityNod: When James is pretending that he cannot remember his childhood he claims that all he does remember is flunking out of Pokemon Tech and joining a bicycle gang, two things earlier episodes mention him and Jessie doing together.

* AbusiveParents: James's parents are overly controlling, 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.

* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and 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. Although everyone except James' parents and their butler think Jesiebelle is horrible.

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

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.

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's pet Growlith from childhood, Team Rocket escapes with their freedom, but none of James's fortune.

* 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 causes everybody else to cry in tears... [[OnlySaneMan with the exception of Misty]], who immediately points out that James is alive and standing right here, knowing that his story is only a fake.