Pokémon S1E8: “The Path to the Pokémon League” Review

“The Path to the Pokémon League” was an interesting episode, although I found it more annoying than some of the previous episodes. The biggest reason for that is Ash himself.

We start the episode with Ash winning his tenth consecutive Pokémon battle. That’s actually nice to see because it demonstrates that Ash is finally starting to take Pokémon training more seriously and is gaining some genuine experience. The problem is that ten victories immediately seem to go straight to his head.

Ash encounters A.J., a Trainer running an unofficial Gym who has achieved 98 consecutive victories without a loss. Rather than recognizing that he might be able to learn something from someone with nearly ten times as many victories, Ash marches in acting like he’s already some kind of Pokémon Master.

A.J. has deliberately chosen not to pursue Gym Badges yet. His goal is to achieve 100 consecutive victories before beginning his Pokémon League journey. Ash, meanwhile, proudly points to his ten victories and two badges as evidence of his superiority.

That’s particularly amusing considering how Ash received those two badges. Neither came from an undisputed Gym victory.

Predictably, A.J.’s Sandshrew defeats Ash.

I’m not particularly surprised. Sandshrew has been trained extremely well by someone who clearly knows what he’s doing. A.J.’s training has even allowed Sandshrew to overcome some of its normal weaknesses, including training it to withstand water.

Ash doesn’t take the defeat particularly gracefully either. Instead, he initially accuses A.J. of cheating.

Where the episode gets more interesting is when we see how A.J. trains his Pokémon.

His methods certainly look harsh. He pushes his Pokémon extremely hard, uses a whip to issue commands, and has Sandshrew train with a special strength intensifier. Sandshrew even trains in a swimming pool despite Ground-type Pokémon normally being vulnerable to Water attacks.

I can understand why Ash is uncomfortable with what he’s seeing.

Where Ash crosses a line for me is when he decides that A.J.’s Pokémon need to be liberated from their Trainer. That’s an incredibly ballsy and disrespectful move for someone who is still a complete novice himself.

Ash assumes that because he doesn’t approve of A.J.’s methods, A.J.’s Pokémon must feel the same way.

They don’t.

As the episode continues, it becomes clear that A.J. genuinely cares about his Pokémon. His methods are demanding because his philosophy is about pushing them to become the strongest Pokémon they can be. More importantly, his Pokémon understand that and return his loyalty.

Sandshrew in particular has an incredibly strong relationship with him.

When Team Rocket attempts to steal Sandshrew, its disappearance gives Ash another opportunity to insist that Sandshrew must have run away because of A.J.’s treatment. He even tries convincing A.J.’s other Pokémon to leave with him, and they completely ignore him.

Eventually Sandshrew returns, and its happiness at being reunited with A.J. finally demonstrates to Ash that he badly misjudged their relationship.

I like what the episode does with A.J. He’s not simply presented as a cruel Trainer who needs Ash to teach him the power of friendship. He has his own philosophy about Pokémon training. It’s much stricter than Ash’s, but it works for him and his Pokémon.

A.J. pushes them hard, but he genuinely cares about them, and they’ve developed tremendous loyalty toward him in return.

Team Rocket also makes their inevitable appearance, once again attempting to steal a Pokémon. This time their target ends up being Sandshrew rather than Pikachu. Their interference ultimately gives A.J. another opportunity to demonstrate just how well trained Sandshrew actually is.

Sandshrew defeats Ekans, Koffing, and Meowth, giving A.J. his 100th consecutive victory. Having finally reached his goal, A.J. closes his unofficial Gym and sets off to begin collecting official Gym Badges himself.

He and Ash part on considerably better terms than they started.

Final Thoughts

“The Path to the Pokémon League” is an interesting episode, but Ash annoyed me throughout much of it.

It’s good seeing him finally gaining experience and taking Pokémon training seriously. Ten consecutive victories isn’t nothing. But Ash immediately starts behaving like those ten wins make him an expert, only to encounter someone with vastly more experience and assume that he knows better.

A.J. was the much more interesting character for me.

His methods are certainly harsh, and Ash isn’t unreasonable for initially questioning them. But the episode demonstrates that there isn’t necessarily one correct way to train Pokémon. A.J. has developed his own demanding training philosophy, genuinely cares about his Pokémon, and has earned their loyalty in return.

Most importantly, Sandshrew isn’t being forced to remain with A.J. despite his training methods. Their bond is real.

Ash’s attempt to convince A.J.’s Pokémon that they need rescuing therefore comes across as remarkably arrogant.

Maybe that’s the lesson Ash actually needs at this stage of his journey. Becoming a Pokémon Trainer isn’t only about accumulating victories and badges. It also means recognizing that other Trainers may know things you don’t and that their relationships with their Pokémon don’t necessarily need to look exactly like yours.

Ash has finally started learning how to train Pokémon.

Now he needs to learn that ten victories don’t make him a Pokémon Master.