Japanese Title: Madame X's Plot! The Scary Calamanero!!
Original Airdate: March 13, 2014
US Airdate: May 24, 2014
Is sweet, innocent Inkay really a future Monster of the Week?
A mysterious woman and a Malamar entrance Team Rocket, then Pikachu! Can the twerps figure out what nefarious plan the Malamar is concocting?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Big Damn Heroes: Clemont's Pikachu robot comes out of nowhere and attacks the Malamar, thus releasing everyone from under its control.
- Brainwashed and Crazy: Malamar's strategy against the cast, mind controlling all of them except Ash and Meowth. Even Madame X is a brainwashed Officer Jenny.
- Call-Back: The twerps run into a battered and bruised Meowth at the start of the episode, not unlike what happened at the start of his Fake Defector stint back in BW. This time, however, Meowth really was in real danger.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- Even after the obligatory malfunction, Clemont's Pika-bot would later snap Pikachu out of his brainwashed state.
- As they approach Madame X's lair (an abandoned broadcast tower), they notice Officer Jenny's motorcycle amidst the premises, and the group wonders where she could have gone off to.
- Meowth's Fury Swipes technique against the brainwashing comes in handy when he and Ash are cornered again. He also uses the move to dislodge some architecture to distract the Malamar.
- Crying Wolf: After a long string of Fake Defector schemes, the heroes are ironically for once all skeptical of Meowth's claims until Madame X appears in person.
- The Dog Was the Mastermind: Madame X is a brainwashed Officer Jenny, and her loyal Malamar is the actual mastermind behind the plot.
- Dwindling Party: The group decides to Let's Split Up, Gang!, with Meowth, Ash and Serena in one group and Clemont and Bonnie in another. The siblings immediately get hypnotized right afterwards, and then Serena during an ambush, so it comes down to Ash and Meowth.
- Enemy Mine: Meowth teams up with the heroes (this time for real) to rescue his brainwashed comrades.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Meowth gets mad at Madame X for kidnapping Pikachu to try and Take Over the World, which he immediately admits to himself was no different from what he had been trying to do for who-knows-how-long.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
- Mewoth tried to snap Jessie and James out of Malamar control but to no avail.
- Ash was able to reach out to Pikachu as he got him to fight back from Malamar's control.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Inkay unknowingly induces this on the rest of Team Rocket when Meowth remembers who it would eventually evolve into.
- Sequel Hook: The ending, and Team Rocket's Mass "Oh, Crap!" when they realize what Inkay is supposed to evolve into, foreshadows events in the next season.
- Shout-Out: The plot with Madame X and Malamar is very similar to Chikyuu Sentai Fiveman.
- Villain Ball: The Disaster Dominoes caused by the Pika-bot may not have occurred had Madame X controlled via Malamar not wasted time sending Pikachu onto Ash for cruel sport.
- Would Hit a Girl: Played with for laughs. Meowth is eager to Fury Swipes Serena to protect her from brainwashing. She's dead against it, thus leaving her vulnerable to Malamar straight after.
