Pokémon Journeys: The Series

Episodes 7-8

Literally anything would be a step-up from Pokémon: Journeys' incredibly boring low point of “Working My Way Back to Mew," and I'm pleased to report that Episodes 7-8 are something of a return to form for the show. That is to say, it continues to eschew any larger narrative in favor of having Ash and Goh zip across the Pokémon continents to get into random adventures, but at least these random adventures give us more to work with than “Goh throws a bunch of Pokéballs at different Pokémon and catches them all." Specifically, “Serving Up the Flute Cup!” gives us a good old fashioned tournament-styled Trainer Battle, and “Sinnoh Ice Race” is all about, well, the Sinnoh Ice Race, which is complicated by the arrival of a certain propulsion themed team of idiot villains. Classic Pokémon shenanigans, in other words.

What's ironic about Pokémon: Journeys so far is how, in opening up every single region of the Pokémon world for easy and almost immediate access, it feels much less like a journey than any of the older series I'm familiar with. The show goes against that old cliché by declaring emphatically that, no, the destination is more important that the journey. This isn't a bad thing, but it certainly makes this feel like a Pokémon for the YouTube Generation, where instead of having to wait for Ash and Co. to make their way from Point A to Point B, viewers have the chance to find an episode that will give them whatever they personally want to get out of the Pokémon experience, and that's a different model of consumption than what I've known for most of my life.

Take the Flute Cup episode, for example. Ash's goal of becoming a Pokémon Master has become remarkably undefined since I last checked in with the franchise, something the show brought attention to last week when Chloe and Goh seemed not to even know what the heck the kid was talking about. If you're going by the template set by the games, the path to Master is pretty clear: Beat all of the Gym Leaders, and then the Elite Four, and then the reigning Champion, and boom, you've got yourself a Master. Sure, the goalpost got moved with every additional game, giving Ash/the Player oodles more badges and Elite Fours to conquer, but it was still a definable goal.

Here, though? The trip to the Flute Cup isn't presented as the first step in an incredibly long and important journey–it feels like any other random battle Ash might get into, just with the pomp and circumstance of the stadium and whatnot. Hodge, at least according to my research, isn't any kind of significant character from the game, or past seasons. He's just some guy with a Mightyena and a Hariyama, and after he wipes the floor with Goh (who really isn't cut out for battling, it seems), Ash takes him on with Pikachu and Mr. Mime. Whether Ash wins or loses doesn't necessarily matter to us, the viewers, because we have no understanding of where this battle would place him on his quest, or whether being a Pokémon Master even means anything anymore outside of being able to battle good.

IIt's a fine fight, don't get me wrong; I get a sick sense of pleasure seeing Mr. Mime kick ass by spamming Reflect like the petty, devious little trainer I used to be in my Game Boy Advance days. I just can't be bothered to care about it very much. I know that, for content-starved kids who want to watch as many battles as possible, this likely doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, but if you want my two cents on it, well, there you go.

”The Sinnoh Ice Race” is better because the plot's stakes are rooted in character relationships and concrete goals. Sure, the characters in question are a Piplup and a Croagunk that are swimming the titular race as rivals for their air-headed trainer Lauren's affections, but that's at least more substantial than “Ash does a battle because he likes battles." Piplup is another all-time great starter, too, so I'm all in favor of watching the cute little stinker wipe that smug grin off of Croagunk's face. Naturally, Team Rocket arrives to steal Pikachu and all that, which forces Piplup and Croagunk to work together to save Lauren's life, so even though the race is canceled, lessons are learned, and all is right with the world.

This is candy-coated disposable kids television at its most basic, but it's way too late to knock Pokémon for falling back on reliable formulas on a regular basis. What matters the most about “The Sinnoh Ice Race” (and “Serving Up the Flute Cup!” to a lesser extent) is that they're fun. Any kid or kid-at-heart that wants some quick and easy Pokémon adventuring can hop onto Netflix and down both of these episodes in time for lunch, and thanks to modern streaming conventions, they can skip past whatever boring stuff that doesn't interest then with the push of a button. That doesn't make for a very interesting Pokémon: Journeys, but it's more than acceptable for a bite-sized afternoon's worth of Pokémon Hangin' Out.

Rating:

Odds and Ends

• The Weird World of Pokémon: It just struck me that, in the original series, Ash left home at 10 to travel the whole world and go on all sorts of crazy adventures, which was totally ridiculous, but it at least fit into some kind of classic “Hero's Journey” mold, so it was easy to accept. Here, Ash's mom basically sold her son off as an indentured servant to Professor Cerise, since he and Goh definitely aren't getting paid for all of the free research and data they're providing, and the only one around to make sure the Professor doesn't just steal the kids' kidneys and dump then in an ice-bath is Mimey the Mr. Mime… and Mimey isn't about to snitch. I'm on to your sick crimes, Mrs. Ketchum.

• Can someone tell me why Chloe is even in this show? The advertising and everything that went down in Episode 1 made her seem like the third member of the traditional Pokemon trio, but she's had maybe half-a-dozen lines across eight episodes? Mr. Mime has been given more to do, and to be outshined by a soulless clown monster like that… it's just really sad.

• Speaking of soulless clown monsters, this episode provided one of the easiest screencap picks I've ever been given, because Mimey's reaction to Goh wondering whether or not it can even battle is the biggest laugh this show has gotten out of me so far.

Pokémon Journeys: The Series is currently streaming on Netflix.