DON'T CONGRATULATE ME!
—Misty, after the Narrator congratuates her for catching a Psyduck
Japanese Title: Sleeper and Pokémon Hypnotism!?
Original Air Date: September 23rd, 1997
US Air Date: October 12th, 1998
Psyduck is being caught by Misty whether she likes it or not.
The one where... Misty catches Psyduck (against her will).
A clash of issues is affecting Hop-Hop-Hop Town. The children have all gone missing, and the Pokémon are falling asleep at the Pokémon Center without getting better. Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy both have their hands full, so the twerps—and, on their own, Team Rocket—try to track down the sources of both issues. And then there's the issue of the Psyduck with the constant headache...
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Break the Haughty:Ash: Well, that's just one more case solved by Ash Ketchum, Master Detective!Misty: Excuse me, but you didn't solve anything.Brock: Are you joking?Ash: [laughs sheepishly]
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Misty's response to the narrator, as shown in the page quote.
- And Team Rocket, when deciding to use whips to capture the hypnosis Pokémon, after their attempt to get Hypno to hypnotize itself fails.
James: I don't get it. Why didn't we just do this from the beginning?Jessie: We have to fill a half hour. - Dub-Induced Plot Hole: When Ash thinks about his mother, he flashes back to their last meeting...which was in the one episode to this point that had been removed from the dub. Oops. In re-airings of the Japanese version this is replaced by the more iconic scene from the first episode, but the dub has never bothered to fix it.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Yet another episode that refers to real-life animals and locations, this time referencing the dream-eating tapir that Drowzee and Hypno are based off of.
- Eye Catch: This episode, the Who's That Pokémon is Psyduck.
- Failed a Spot Check: The kids were all in a park—for three days. Was anyone looking for them?
- Hypnotism Reversal: Attempted by James. Team Rocket's plan to capture Hypno in this episode was to trick it into hypnotizing itself by making it hypnotize its own reflection. The plan is foiled by Ash shattering the mirror with a potted plant.
- Jumped at the Call: Misty stumbles while backing away from Psyduck, and drops an unused Poké Ball. Psyduck opens it and catches itself.
- Lost in Translation: Averted. The town is "Hop-Hop-Hop Town." The Japanese name is "Yoyoyo Town." It literally translates to "Hop-hop-hop." Hence the Visual Pun, whose repeat at the end of the episode was cut from the English dub.
- Marshmallow Hell: As Arnold's mother mistakes Ash for her son, she hugs him a little too intensely and accidentally smothers him with her rather large breasts.
- Momma's Boy: Ash wants to help find the missing kids not just because of the usual Chronic Hero Syndrome, but also since he was reminded of how Delia must have constantly been worrying about him ever since he started his adventure.
- Mundane Utility: One of the earliest episodes to show Pokemon being used for things other than battling. In this case, helping cure insomnia.
- My God, What Have I Done?: The head of the Pokémon Lovers Club really feels terrible that his club's alteration of Hypno's hypnotic powers had the side effect of making children think they were Pokémon and Pokémon becoming fatigued.
- Ocular Gushers: Team Rocket, while whining about how they haven't had a vacation in a long time.
- Only Sane Man: Misty, with Brock hitting on a useless officer and Ash pretending to be a competent detective. At least until Hypno makes her brain go wonky. Ironically, even her brain going wonky allows the group to make more progress than anyone else has on the missing kids in three days.
- Police Are Useless: Seriously, only one officer is shown looking for over a dozen missing kids? And makes no progress for three days?
- Stating the Simple Solution: James asks why they didn't lasso the Pokémon to begin with, and Jessie tells him that they had to fill a half hour.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Misty's reaction when the Pokédex tells her about Psyduck's condition.Misty: YOU MEAN THIS THING ALWAYS HAS A HEADACHE?!
