By the way, it seems like Team Rocket got their hands on Pikachu’s monster ball? In the second preview, we saw Satoshi putting balls in a case (with Team Rocket still in disguise) / then the humans being held captive / then Pikachu going to fight against Nyarth in the open while Nyarth still has this ball behind him. … and yeah, Pikachu’s monster ball is his best protection to not be caught in another one, but also his biggest threat in case someone else than Pikapi gets their hands on it :’D

Didn’t Pikachu’s Pokeball have a lightning bolt on it?

Yes and no: it only had a lightning bolt on it when it was inside Ookido’s lab! EP001 + movie 05′s redo of this scene (with the glove error):

Once Satoshi left the lab, it wasn’t there anymore. (Given that the three other starters’ monster balls with stickers were still in the lab, even when empty... Seems like Ookido makes trainers re-catch the Pokémon with another one? Shigeru’s Kamex has a regular monster ball, too, iirc.)

Aaand we’ve seen Pikachu’s monster ball “recently” (XY020):

And it’s a "regular” one :3

Wow, this episode was uh….well with all the hype around it I expected way more than what I got. I might have set my expectations a tad too high but a lot of things in this episode were pretty mundane to me but a lot of things in it were great as well. I guess I can just sandwich the bad stuff between the good stuff. 

First of all, the best thing about this episode was easily the friendship and interactions between Viola and Grant. I thought it was adorable the way Viola kept calling him “Zakuro-kun” almost as if they were good friends since childhood or something. How she just awkwardly waves at him using his rock climbing talents to hang from a freaking roof. How she’s annoyed by him falling from the roof. How he immediately challenged her to a battle. There interactions during the battle and after. They were both very cute and all. I do hope we get more of this in the future, not to mention the anime did a good job of giving Grant some nice characterization and personality. I found the majority of the XY characters in-game to be lacking in entertainment value but the anime did a fantastic job of making Viola very great to me and Grant was entertaining enough as well. Job well done.

I did not care for the battles this episode, three battles and all three very rushed. Then again this episode in-general could have really been better if it was a two-parter, so much time spent on set-up, showing off and exposition only to blast through the battles quickly and end everything so fast. I really did like the explanation on the nobility system and the Chateau’s past and the flashbacks with the dueling knights alongside their Heliolisk/Furfrou. The Battle Chateau is a very interesting location in-game and I’m glad the anime expanded on it well and even remembered Viola is prominent there in the character’s first visit. They even went to the trouble of giving Grant/Viola nice clothes and the whole cape system as well and how it was explained. 

I doubt this is the last we’ve seen of the Battle Chateau, they set up so much that I just can’t buy this is the last time we’ll see it ever…I hope. Serena going on to explain about the Battle Chateau and not compete really got on my nerves. It would be perfect as something for her to try out. Battle Chateaus are about being stylish and looking classy. Serena has a flair for fashion and it would have been a great place for her Fennekin to try its hand at battling given the amount of trainers of varying levels there.(Marchioness, Earl, Duke, Grand Duchess, etc.) I just ultimately think it would be a waste just to use them on Ash, who has his gym badge quest and is likely going to participate in activities his friends won’t like Sky Battles. Plus Ash’s battle, again was quite rushed. Though I did enjoy the usage of Featherdance and Iron Tail. 

As for the other battles, I feel like Grant/Viola could have been much better. It just wasn’t that interesting to me, I’m not fond of Grant using Onix either given the Pokemon isn’t interesting to me, has been seen more than enough under the ownership of gym leaders and the replacement of Amaura struck me as weird. If you’re going to replace it with something why not something underseen like Archen? What I would pay to see an Archen in battle.

We practically had already seen more than half of the Viola/Grant battle via previews. It was clever by Grant to do what he did but I didn’t like the way Surskit went down so easily, Viola’s much better than that and to go down to Flash Cannon in one hit just felt poorly paced.

Bonnie, Serena and Clemont were all entertaining enough. Bonnie’s fondness of Dusknoir was cute and Serena’s spazzing over Tesla and Nikola’s rapping was amusing too. The animation was weird this episode, great in some areas and very off-model/ugly in others. I like how Ash let his Froakie and Fletchling out to watch the battle as well and how he used Pikachu’s Poke Ball to greet, unfortunately I don’t think I saw a lightning bolt symbol which was weird since it was Pikachu’s ball. It did seem weird they debuted Fletchnider but didn’t do much with it, I figured Pikachu would have battled it at least after defeating Fletchling. Maybe Nikola and Tesla will make another appearance in the future? Dunno. 

It wasn’t a bad episode, it had its great moments thanks to Viola/Grant, the Battle Chateau and its history, animation at times and character interactions. But I think I expected way more than what I got, like I said it could have really had done more with another episode under its belt imo. 

unfortunately I don’t think I saw a lightning bolt symbol which was weird since it was Pikachu’s ball.

From what I recall, Pikachu's monster ball has always been a "regular" one as soon as Satoshi got out of the lab in EP001. We don't know what exactly happened (did Satoshi re-capture him in the lab? Was the data transferred to another ball?) but it's logical that it wouldn't be the same: Ookido also had the Kanto starters' "old" monster balls (with their names written on them) to show him they were empty :3 So, not a mistake!

Duchess Viola 

And they say the current generation has awful taste.

This is symbolic

The reactions towards Grant being revealed as the Gym Leader of Cyllage City.

Photobombing friends.

A Member of High Society