YMMV / Pokemon S 25 E 27 The Fiery Road To Mastership

• Alternative Character Interpretation: A frequent debate among fans is whether or not Cynthia truly struggled to defeat Iris. While most of the dialogue from this episode suggests Cynthia was indeed going all out, several other factors in the writing clearly contradict this, most notably The Reveal from a few episodes later that Cynthia was planning to retire from battling, presumably due to the lack of challenging opponents. This has led many fans to assume she was simply humoring Iris's efforts to spare the latter's feelings.
• They Really Can Act: Aoi Yūki and Anairis Quiñones sure did amazing jobs at performing as Iris, especially in the scene where she suffers a Heroic BSoD upon losing to Cynthia.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Fans often lament the missed oppotunity for Cynthia to use her Glaceon and Kommo-o, which have far more thematic connection to Iris than the Pokémon that were actually used (Glaceon represents her past fear of Ice-types, and Kommo-o is obviously, well... a Dragon-type).
  • On Iris's end, fans tend to be disappointed over the lack of any new Pokémon at all, as her current title requires at least six and a new Pokémon would have built further on Iris's progress as a trainer.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite its title, the episode's plot has little to nothing to do with Iris's dream of becoming a Dragon Master. One would think it would at least address how much closer Iris is to achieving it, but not even Iris herself brings up her goal even once.
• The Woobie: Iris. In the end, after losing against Cynthia, she completely gives up and breaks down crying.