History Recap / PokemonS18E29AFrenziedFactoryFiasco

* LastVillainStand: After Pikachu trashes their escape vehicle, Meowth's had it and demands one final battle for possession of the twerps' Pokemon. Unsurprisingly, Meowth cheats, and loses.
* NearVillainVictory: Team Rocket nearly make off with a mother load of stolen Pokeballs plus ''all'' the heroes' Pokemon, par Pikachu.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Not only an episode where Team Rocket capture ''all'' the twerps' Pokemon and remain a threat from start to finish, but Meowth and Wobuffet's small skill boost is shown again, with Pikachu having a much harder time shaking them off. First time Meowth successfully landed an attack on Pikachu the entire series (after only 877 episodes of being blasted off by the electric mouse). Ash is actually wary about sending Pikachu to fight Meowth, something that would be [[CurbstompBattle considered a joke]] in previous seasons.
* PrehensileTail: Meowth uses his to hide the Pokeball behind his back before his face-off with Pikachu.
* RoadRunnerVsCoyote: Meowth uses Pikachu's designated Pokeball to try and catch Pikachu, leading to what becomes a near literal cat-and-mouse chase.

* SuperPersistentPredator: Meowth. While it's on par for the trio, this time he goes after Pikachu with nothing but a Pokeball, and Pikachu's attacks that usually took him out easy only make him more angry and incensed on capturing him.
* {{Unishment}}: After Pikachu traps him in a Luxury Ball, Meowth prances out quite blissful from it's pampering treatment, [[DelayedReaction before realising he was duped again.]]
* VillainBall: Team Rocket likely would have escaped with the Poke Balls if Meowth wasn't obsessed with capturing Pikachu.

* AshFace: [[IncrediblyLamePun Ash]] and the other heroes after Clemont's malfunctioning device blast the door right off.

* BrokenWinLossStreak: Downplayed. Pikachu still beats Meowth, but it's the first time in over four series where Meowth successfully landed damage, ending Pikachu's humilating FlawlessVictory run against him.

** Wobbuffet par the course, using Counter against Pikachu's attacks.

* GullibleLemmings: Okay it's nothing out the unusual for the heroes to fall for a PaperThinDisguise by Team Rocket, but then to find nothing suspicious about putting Pikachu in a safety case which looks identical to the trio's recurring electric resistant traps. [[SilentSnarker Pikachu's expression says it all.]]