YMMV / Pokemon S 13 E 32 The Semi Final Frontier

• Fridge Brilliance:
  • Ash's team selection to face Tobias makes perfect sense; all of the Pokémon he chose had either fought Legendaries before ^note  Pikachu defeated Brandon's Regice, Sceptile fought Brandon's Regirock and a wild Deoxys, Swellow fought the same Deoxys, and Torkoal fought Brandon's Registeel or had moves perfect to counter Darkrai ^note  Heracross had Sleep Talk and Megahorn, and Gible had Rock Smash . His only mistake was not calling on Charizard ^note  who defeated Noland's Articuno , but that might be excused by the distance between Sinnoh and the Charicific Valley.
  • It's not mentioned in the episode, but it's likely that the reason Ash didn't use Infernape against Tobias (despite it being his Sinnoh powerhouse and having a type advantage against Darkrai) is that Infernape was still too injured from Ash's battle with Paul, similar to what happened with Harrison's Blaziken back in Johto.
• He Really Can Act: Bill Rogers really makes Sceptile's waking up from Dark Void and defeat of Darkrai sound really awesome.
• Memetic Badass: Pikachu and especially Sceptile holding their own against two Legendary Pokémon cemented their badass credentials amongst the fandom.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • Sceptile's defeat of Darkrai; in fact, it's generally considered by fans to be what solidified Sceptile as one of Ash's top tier Pokémon.
  • Pikachu's entire battle with Latios was epic.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: Ash's whopping defeat at Tobias' hands after what many believed to be his most significant character progress up to that point is a very sour spot to fans of the series even long after the episode aired, overshadowing quite a lot of what happened both in Diamond and Pearl (defeating Paul in the previous episodes notwithstanding). Many believed that Ash's development and momentum were derailed just for the sake of keeping the status quo. The fact that Tobias was barely developed as a character (and is never seen again since), and the battle was shortly followed by the divisive Black and White saga added more salt to the wound.
• Signature Scene: As controversial as Ash's loss was, Sceptile defeating Darkrai is one of the most remembered moments in the entire series, cementing his place as one of Ash's best Pokémon. To lesser degree, Pikachu ending his battle with Latios in a double KO added further to his accomplishments.