Recap / Holy Matrimony!

You're not running properly, let me show you the right way to do it.

"We may not have a lot of money...but we sure have got our freedom!"

— Jessie

Japanese Title: Gardie and Kojirō

Original Airdate: June 11, 1998

US Airdate: March 13, 1999

The one where... We find out James is engaged to a Yandere.

Ash and company continue their journey when they spot a missing persons sign. They are shocked to see that the child on the sign looks like James of Team Rocket. They later discover that James comes from a rich family and ran away when he was just a boy. His parents are dead and James can only inherit his fortune if he marries his fiancee Jessebelle. Jessie and Meowth overhear this and while James resists they restrain him and march him like a puppet to his family's manor to claim his money.

Unfortunately, it turns out that this is a trap; his parents are not dead and Jessebelle is violently aggressive in controlling everything James does. With the aid of Growlie, James's pet Growlith from childhood, Team Rocket escapes with their freedom, but none of James's fortune.

This episode contains examples of the following tropes:

• Abusive Parents: James's parents are overly controlling and demanding, forcing James to act "properly" in every area of his life. When they tried to force him into an Arranged Marriage with a clear yandere, he ran away. The fact that he wasn't the least bit surprised that they would fake their deaths to lure him back likely means they were emotionally manipulative as well.
• Arranged Marriage: James was arranged to marry the very wealthy but cruel, violent and domineering Jessebelle, much to his dismay.
• Big Damn Heroes: Growlie coming to James's rescue.
• Big Fancy House: Exaggerated. Ash and friends see a huge, ornate mansion and are astonished that James apparently used to live there... only for the butler to reveal that it's actually Growlie's doghouse and show them an even bigger and fancier house nearby.
• Biting the Handkerchief: Brock is seen doing this after hearing James's sad childhood tale involving his Growlithe.
• Comically Missing the Point: The caption for the page picture is a quote from this. When James is shown running away from Jessebelle in a flashback, she criticizes his running technique, not realizing that he wants to get the hell away from her.
• Continuity Nod: When James is pretending that he cannot remember his childhood he claims that all he does remember is flunking out of Pokemon Tech and joining a bicycle gang, two things earlier episodes mention him and Jessie doing together.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Poor James was the only child to ridiculously wealthy parents, who emotionally abused and belittled him, forcing him into learning how to become a "proper" member of the upper class society. They also arranged him to marry Jessebelle, an equally rich but very violent and controlling girl who James is absolutely terrified of. Even worse, despite the fact that it's obvious that James doesn't want to marry Jessebelle, who barely even hides her less than desirable traits, they still fully expect him to marry her and even prefer her over their own son. Jessebelle, on her part, treated him terribly and he eventually ran away from home in order to get away from her, thus condemning him to the criminal lifestyle he has today.
• A Day in the Limelight: For James, to the point that Ash and the gang play the parts Team Rocket normally plays, viewing from the sidelines before intervening.
• Did You Die?: When recalling his fake childhood memories, James tells the tale of what happened to him as a child, when he and his Growlithe were caught out in the cold and James tragically froze to death. This gets a tearfully heartfelt reaction from the listeners... with the exception of Misty, who immediately points out that James is alive and standing right here, proving that his story is false.
  James: I'm all mixed up!
• Double Standard: Abuse, Female on Male: Jessebelle is shown as shockingly violent towards James, paralyzing him with her Vileplume and beating him with a whip. James is not happy about it, but mostly complains about how controlling she is, and his parents seems to think it's great. There is a lot of slapstick comedy in Pokemon in general, but they certainly have never portrayed James smacking a woman around like Jessebelle is shown smacking him around. On the other hand, everyone except James's parents and their butler think Jessebelle is horrible.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: The coffins James's parents put out have crosses on them. References to real-world religions would be phased out of the franchise by the time of Hoenn.
• End-of-Episode Silliness: In an ironic role-reversal, the episode ends with Ash and his friends being chased by Jessebelle, who is begging them to take her to James.
• Enemy Mine: Pikachu and Growlie team up to take on Jessebelle's Vileplume.
• Everyone Has Standards: This episode contains notable examples from Ash and co. and Team Rocket:
  • Despite being enemies, Ash and co. actually wanted to find James and bring him to the estate when they thought his parents were dead. Also, they didn't approve of Jessie and Meowth trying to force him into getting married just to get to his inheritance.
    • They also sympathize with him once he reveals his Dark and Troubled Past to them and Ash and Pikachu even help fight off Jessebelle so he could get away from her.
  • In Jessie and Meowth's case, despite being greedy and forcing James to return to the estate in the first place to get his money, once they see for themselves just how horrible Jessebelle really is (tricking them into bringing him to a prison-like room, attacking James with a whip and then paralyzing him so that he couldn't escape), they don't make any more attempts afterwards, though in their case, it's more like Even Evil Has Standards.
• Evil Counterpart: While Jessie isn't a hero, Jessebelle is certainly a more evil version of her.
• Eye Catch: The "Who's that Pokémon" was Vileplume for this episode, since Jessebelle uses one.
• Faking Amnesia: James pretends he can't remember his childhood in order to avoid Jessie and Meowth's questions about it, hoping he can get away without them forcing him to claim his inheritance.
• Faux Affably Evil: Jessebelle is introduced putting on an air of Southern Belle sophistication. She's later revealed to be a sexual sadist.
• Foul Flower: Jessebelle's Vileplume, who happily follows its trainer's orders to paralyze James against his will.
• Gold Digger:
  • Meowth and Jessie are this by proxy, as they try to make James marry Jessebelle just so they can get his inheritance.
  • Some have theorized that the real reason why Jessebelle wants to marry James is just to get to his parents' money.
• Hate Sink:
  • Jessebelle, whose abuse and horrible treatment of James make her very easy to root against since Team Rocket is a lot more sympathetic than usual in this episode.
  • James's parents are similarly hateable for not only enabling Jessebelle to abuse James, but encouraging it too. Since they lack all the Black Comedy elements to Jessebelle's character and are manipulative snobs on top of being similarly controlling to James, it makes it all the sweeter once he finally, truly slips out from under their thumb for good.
• Identical Stranger: Jessebelle looks and sounds just like Jessie, only with a different hairstyle and Southern Belle accent.
  Meowth: Amazing! That girl looks just like Jessie!
  Jessie: How dare you compare me to that wimp!
  Meowth: Are you kiddin'? You both have exactly the same face!
  Jessie: We do not!
• It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: James's story opens this way.
• Never Say "Die": Apparently, 4Kids is okay with averting this trope if it's ultimately Played for Laughs.
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Jessebelle, naturally, along with James's parents.
• No Indoor Voice: Hopkins the butler frequently speaks through a megaphone—even when talking to someone five feet away.
• Ojou Ringlets: Jessebelle looks like Jessie except her hair is in several large "drill curls." This is a pretty quick way to indicate her higher social status.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Possibly the only time characters play along with Jessie and Meowth's flimsy shadow disguise for their own benefit.
• Parental Favoritism: James is an interesting case, since it's implied that he is an only child but his parents obviously prefer Jessebelle over their own son, deeming her to be their idea of a "perfect daughter-in-law" and not only enable the abuse she inflicts on him, but even assist her in it.
  James's father: She's as delicate as a flower!
  James's mother: She's much too good for our delinquent son!
• Poor Communication Kills: If James had just explained to Jessie and Meowth that he didn't want to get married and why, instead pretending to have amnesia they wouldn't have forced to return home and he might not have deal with Jessebelle again.
• Runaway Fiancé: James was betrothed to Jessebelle when he was only a child, and her controlling attitude and penchant for violence was enough to cause him to run away from home even then. At the end of the episode he runs away again and Jessebelle declares that she is not going to give up on him that easily (although it takes over 500 episodes before she shows up again).
• Say My Name: Finally at his wits' end, James calls for his only friend at the estate:
  "GROWWWWWLIIIIEEEEEE!"
• Secretly Wealthy: James never told his teammates that he came from a rich family, probably fearing they would make him go back to claim his money.
• Ship Tease: Probably the most significant amount for Rocketshipping (Jessie X James) the show ever had.
• Shout-Out: James's fake story about him and Growlie dying in the show and being carried off by angels is a direct reference to A Dog of Flanders.
• Southern Belle: James's mother has a classy Dixie accent and all the mannerisms one would associate with a haughty rich woman from the Deep South. Jessebelle's another Southern Belle, but with a lot of Yandere tendencies thrown into the mix.
• Take That!: Meowth gets some of his best Cats Are Snarkers moments in this episode.
  • It's equal opportunity, too. This, when Team Rocket happens upon the missing sign:
  Jessie: Hmm, this kid looks a lot like you.
  James: You think so? He looks pathetic.
  Meowth: That's what she means, James.
  • And later, when discussing Jessebelle:
  Jessie: Well, James, that fiancée of yours is truly despicable.
  Meowth: Told ya she's just like Jessie.
  Jessie: Huh?! I'll make your mouth even bigger!
• Team Rocket Wins: While this trope would recur in later episodes, this still stands as the only episode to date that Ash and his friends fall victim to the End-of-Episode Silliness instead of Jessie and James, which this is the first and only time the villains win in this episode.
• Too Dumb to Live: Jessie and Meowth's "invisible" disguises. Full stop. The only reason they aren't outed sooner is that everyone chooses to play along with their idiotic ploy.
• The Unfavorite: Poor, poor James.
• Whip of Dominance: James's arranged bride Jessiebelle uses a whip while trying to forcibly (and violently) make him act like a proper gentleman, further illustrating her ridiculously controlling nature.
• Yandere: Jessebelle. She's ridiculously violent and controlling of James, and is willing to whip him senseless and even sic her Vileplume on him in order to make sure he can never escape from her twisted sense of "affection".

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