MisPokonceptions: Grookey and Team Rocket

When I first watched Episode 59 of Pokemon Journeys, I gave it a positive review, saying Goh’s capture of Grookey honestly didn’t really bother as I saw the grass-type fitting for Goh’s team, both as type coverage and as a sign of Goh’s status as a beginner, paralleling Ash having all 3 starters back in the Original Series.

Looking back at the episode and hearing other people’s thoughts on it, though, some of my opinions have changed for that episode, but not by a large margin. I still personally feel Goh and Grookey are a good match for each other, especially with the endless possibilities it can pull off with Cinderace and Sobble… but did the episode really have to put Team Rocket in such a bad light?

Episode 59 kinda portrayed Team Rocket as aggressive, inconsiderate trainers who don’t care about the personal feelings of their Pokemon when really that’s far from the truth. Yes, they’re pretty much the main villains of the anime as a whole, but they DO have standards. Jessie and James willingly released their Arbok, Weezing, and Dustox, knowing that it would be for the better of them despite how strong their bonds were for those Pokemon. James also let Chimecho stay with his grandparents when it got ill, knowing that having it stay with his team would only hurt it for much long. Additionally, James barely allowed it or Mime Jr. tp battle due to his utmost care for their wellbeing. And heck, look at Wobbuffet. If Team Rocket were really the inconsiderate trainers Episode 59 portrayed them as, they would’ve ditched him all the way back at Johto when he was less competent, but no, they never had because they CARE for him. They even had PLENTY of opportunities to leave him behind, such as the times he got lost at the Mirage Island in Hoenn or the abandoned mining town in Kanto, but still preferred to look for him.

With all this in mind, it really bugs me that Episode 59 portrayed Team Rocket as uncaring trainers no better than the likes of Damian, pre-league Paul, and Shamus to the point that Grookey had to destroy his own Pokeball to escape them. If we had the true Team Rocket, they would see how much Grookey loved being with Goh more than them, respect his choice, and let him go on the count that they would be all rivals from there on out. Team Rocket didn’t even had to be the main antagonists in that episode, as the anime could’ve easily just replaced them with some generic mean trainer, like they did with Gengar.

And I thought MK11′s take on Sindel was bad.