WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1, Part 3 Episode 2 of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, "Splash, Dash, and Smash for the Crown!" now streaming on Netflix.
Pokémon Journeys spans multiple genres, able to go from intense action to down-to-Earth drama to hilarious comedy. "Splash, Dash, and Smash for the Crown!" excels in that last genre, with some of the biggest laughs the series has to offer.
This episode tells two stories about two lazy Pokémon, Magikarp and Slowpoke. The first half describes Goh's Magikarp training for a high jump contest, while the second involves Ash and Goh's visit to a Slowpoke island. In addition to the hilarity of seeing Ash and Goh with six-packs, both parts also reference popular meme songs about Magikarp and Slowpoke.
The episode sets its comedic tone right away, as Team Rocket breaks the fourth wall to announce via the Pelipper capsule bot this is a Magikarp and Slowking double feature. It's time for the 10th annual Magikarp High Jump contest and, inspired by all-time champion Kasukarp and his partner Shinegoldie, Goh gets fired up to enroll. Goh has an issue though, that being his Magikarp is humongous. Luckily, Kasukarp isn't just a champion, he is also a fitness trainer, and with his videos Ash, Goh and Magikarp beef up. Magikarp trains against a Boldore as Ash and Goh do sit-ups, push-ups and achieve the six-pack of any young man's dreams.
The day of the competition arrives, and Goh is beyond ready to Splash his foes away. After overwhelming his first opponent, Goh makes it to the finals against Kasukarp. Goh removes his Magikarp's fin weights Rock Lee style. Magikarp was holding back just for this moment to completely blast Kasukarp and his Shinegoldie away.
Unfortunately, the only one doing any "blasting away" is Goh's Magikarp. Its high jump is so overwhelmingly powerful, it rockets up through the stratosphere... and doesn't crash down. To win the contest, Goh's Magikarp needs to land, but since it doesn't, he is disqualified. The Magikarp song plays as Goh loses the competition.
The second half of this episode has Ash and Goh on a Slowpoke island. Immediately, the two are hit by the best reggae-hit around, the Slowpoke song. This segment gets even weirder when Slowking arrives. Slowking slurping noodles from a bowl might take the cake for one of the most random moments to happen in Pokémon. Slowking's Shellder head attaches itself to Ash as Slowking takes Ash's ramen cup noodles for its own hat.
Shellder is a Pokémon that helps evolve Slowpoke into either Slowbro or Slowking depending on if it bites a Slowpoke tail or head. Thus, it has some power to control its host and transforms Ash into Ashking. He hilariously refers to himself as the Slowpoke Master instead of Pokémon Master and freaks Goh and Pikachu out enough that they attack Ash to get the Shellder off him. Cue the hottest potato match yet. The Shellder jumps from Goh's head to Pikachu's head, to Ash's until finally Goh's Magikarp returns, crashing down onto Slowking and sending Ash's ramen cup noodles back to him.
Technically speaking, this is a rather uneventful episode. Ash and Goh don't catch any new Pokémon, they don't battle against any popular gym leaders and, generally speaking, this would be considered a filler episode. However, the throwback to memorable Pokémon tunes and some of the most bizarre humor Pokémon has to offer makes this filler unskippable.
