By JC
Hey guys! Today I’ll be summarizing and reviewing the 18th episode of Pokemon Black and White. Our heroes begin at the edge of Pinwheel Forest—a large forest that is notorious for people getting lost inside. It is the only obstacle keeping them from Castelia City and the next gym badge. They enter and are promptly ambushed by a Sewaddle. It knocks Ash down and unleashes a surprise attack on Pikachu. Ash tries to catch it, but it uses its web to avoid the Pokeball and retreat. They try to run after it, but they cannot and become lost.
Iris plans on getting them back on the right path, but is made fun of when she leads them to a dead end. They decide to get to higher ground and spot a very big and tall tree. Upon their arrival, Iris and Ash get excited and ascend the tree. Near the top, they spot a weird looking object. To their surprise, a man jumps out! He introduces himself as Burgh and goes on about his pure heart. Cilan recognizes him as the famous Bug-type trainer. The party finds out that Burgh is actually the gym leader of Castelia City and they join his desire to live in the forest. Sewaddle strikes once again but becomes docile when it sees Burgh.
They all decide to take a rest while Cilan prepares a delicious meal. Burgh explains how Sewaddle greet one another. He, Pikachu, Iris, and Axew all take turns saying hello, but Sewaddle headbutts Ash instead. A prospective trainer must first familiarize himself with these bug-type Pokemon in order to successfully catch them. They learn to “live in the forest” by following Sewaddle and doing what it does. They watch it roam the forests and take a nap with it in the prairie. It takes a stop near a bush of leaves and gets attacked by two Woobats. Just when it looks like it’s going to get a thrashing, Ash takes the hit, which allows it and Pikachu to fend off the hostile Woobats.
They go back to the camp, eat the dinner Cilan prepared, and get ready for bed. The morning comes with an alarming call from Pikachu indicating that Sewaddle has gone missing. The scene shows it being carried off by a Patrat. A gust of wind carries it off and it collides into a galloping Deerling. The trainers chase the Patrat into a cave and learn that it only wanted to heal its friend. Burgh gives the injured Patrat some medicine and earns their gratitude. Afterwards, they chase the frantic Deerling, and Ash commands Sewaddle to use String Shot onto him. Just when things look good, another gust of wind blows it into the lake below. Ash dives in to save it and braces himself for the upcoming waterfall. Burgh sends out his Leavanny to use String Shot to rescue the pair. Sewaddle finds Ash a worthy trainer and gives him its consent. Ash catches it with a Pokeball, but something is wrong. It turns out that he already has 6 Pokemon with him, so he must talk with Professor Juniper to make room. Burgh gets them out of Pinwheel Forest and to the nearest Pokemon Center. Another happy ending!
Now for my two cents. From the video games, I definitely thought Burgh’s gym layout was very cool. We see his animation for the first time and he seems a bit eccentric. My first impression is that Burgh and Cilan are kind of similar. I wonder why the writers chose to introduce this gym leader early. In my opinion, Sewaddle would be at the bottom of my list to center an episode around, especially this late into the series. We see more Patrat and Deerling and, of course, Pikachu. There are some cute scenes, notably the one when Sewaddle crawls into Ash’s sleeping bag. Iris and Cilan are mostly in the background, but get their lines in. This is another episode where we none of Team Rocket and we have yet to see Team Plasma. I’m actually starting to miss those guys.
The highlight of this episode has to be the appearance of Leavanny. Stage 2 Pokemon are always nice to see. (I’m still sticking with Butterfree as my favorite beginning bug-type Pokemon). It doesn’t show off too much in this episode; we’ll see more of that during the gym battle. Oh, and I’m curious as to Ash’s new lineup. I’m going to say he sent Scraggy back to Professor Juniper. If you have to pick and choose which episodes to watch, I can recommend that you skip this one. Other than missing out on the acquisition of a new Pokemon, you won’t miss much story-wise. Will Ash reach Castelia City and challenge Burgh in the next episode?
Tags: Burgh, Cilan, Deerling, Patrat, Pokemon TV Show, Sewaddle, Woobat