Japanese Title: Grass Field! Unexpected Rival!
Original Airdate: January 1st, 1999
US Airdate: November 13th, 1999
The one where... The teased Ash VS Gary battle gets the rug pulled out of it. Again.
Ash's fourth battle on the Grass Field is against his toughest opponent yet! He battles Jeanette Fisher from Crimson City who brings a whole cheering section with her. Jeanette uses a powerful Scyther, which Ash has never battled before. Will his Bulbasaur be able whip Scyther's double team attack by using his reliable vine whip? To finish off the match, Jeanette brings out her Bellsprout which Ash feels is far inferior to his Pokémon. Once again, Ash lets his over-confidence take over.
Tropes
- Absurdly Sharp Blade: Bellsprout's razor leaf can cleanly slice chunks out of a rock! Though Muk's body is too viscous for the leaves to cut through.
- Bait-and-Switch: Scyther seems like the obvious threat and Jeanette's ace as it's a strong Pokemon that Ash had never fought in a battle before, but it goes down pretty easily. It's the Bellsprout, a base form relatively weak Pokemon that ends up being a major threat because this one is unusually fast and powerful.
- Big Creepy-Crawlies: Jeanette's first two choices are Beedrill and Scyther.
- Break the Haughty: Gary had spent pretty much the entire Kanto arc being an egotistical jerk, particularly to Ash and his friends. But when Gary gets eliminated during the preliminary rounds (he places in the Top 32), before he and Ash have the chance to face each other in a battle, it takes a lot of wind out of him. Professor Oak lampshades this, knowing the loss will help him down the road.
- Character Development: Ash decides not to have Misty and Brock coach him for the fourth round, wanting to prove he can win on his own. He also realized that Muk could make a difference against any Grass types in the match, which proved to be a very smart choice.
- Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Team Rocket makes more money selling snacks and souvenirs than they ever did from villainy.
- Deconstructed Trope: While Gary is a genuinely skilled and talented trainernote , he's still an egotistical jerk who clearly thought of himself as God's gift to Pokemon trainers (and to the world of Pokemon in general), to the point of having his own personal cheerleading squad. So what ends up happening when Gary finally faces an opponent who's not only just as good as he is, but takes things much more seriously (which includes not going out of their way to rub their accomplishments in other people's faces)? He loses, plain and simple. It doesn't matter how good you are, how many Pokemon (fully-evolved or not) or how many badges you have—if you aren't gonna take things seriously, you're not going to make it very far.
- Graceful Loser: Jeanette, whose response to losing was to personally thank Bellsprout and carry it home in her arms. Gary is also rather graceful about his loss, though he's clearly bummed out about it.
- Metronomic Man Mashing: Bellsprout's attack on Bulbasaur.
- No-Sell: Muk proved to have amazing resilience to Bellsprout's attacks even with having a type advantage. Bellsprout also clearly isn't hurt by Pikachu's electric attacks.
- Noblewoman's Laugh: Jeanette gives one twice when her Bellsprout has the upper hand over Ash's Pokemon.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ash and Misty have a minor one on seeing Jeanette's Scyther.
- Jeanette covered her mouth in horror upon seeing an actual threat to her victory.
- She's a Man in Japan: Gary's opponent in the fourth round is completely different depending on the version you're watching.
- Japanese version — A male trainer named Yoshiki.
- English dub — A female trainer named Melissa.
- Sore Loser: Not Gary (though it's clear his attitude has been taken down a peg), but his cheerleaders are in tears even when he tries to get their spirits up.
- Stone Wall: None of Bellsprout's attacks faze Ash's Muk.
- The Worf Effect: Gary getting eliminated from the Indigo League (he didn't even make it past the preliminaries) before he and Ash have the chance to battle each other only serves to highlight just how much of a completely different level the Pokemon League is compared to gym battles. It's especially notable in that his Nidoking lost to a Golem, even though we previously saw it handily beat a different Golem.
- Underestimating Badassery: Ash is pretty cocky when Jeanette sends out her Bellsprout...until it starts countering Bulbasaur's attacks. Even the commentator sees it as a desperation move.
- Unexpected Character: No one in-universe (except Professor Oak) ever anticipated that Ash would send another relatively "new" Pokémon to battle, Muk. In hindsight, this is actually a bit of a Smart Ball on Ash's part, which Misty comments on.
- Wham Episode: If only for the fact that Gary loses during the preliminaries here, subverting the idea that Ash and Gary would be the climax of the Indigo League arc.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Misty is furious that Brock is rooting for Jeanette to win rather than Ash. When Brock cries over Jeanette losing, Misty gets so fed up that she manhandles him. Even Togepi is upset at him.
- Yamato Nadeshiko: Jeanette's presentation.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Ash slightly considers giving up when the competition heating up, Brock shows up to give a pep talk to this effect.Brock: Listen. You're a great trainer. And as long as I'm around, you're not even gonna think about quitting, okay?
