A Promise is a Promise (Pokémon the Series: Original Series)

"A Promise is a Promise" (Japanese: ルギアとのやくそく！"The Promise with Lugia!") is the 222nd episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on November 1, 2001, and in the United States on December 7, 2002.

Plot
Team Rocket captures Lugia as a new technology emotionally manipulates Pokémon, which may prove to be dangerous for Ash and his friends.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The plot is very well done. It continues off from where the last episode left us and shows that Team Rocket have both Lugia, and separates them to make the parent more powerful in rage for their plan.
 * 2) Oliver and Lanturn go together to Team Rocket‘s underwater base to save their friends.
 * 3) The music is amazing, and fits really well with the episode, as usual.
 * 4) Dr. Namba reveals his evil plan and inventions to the trapped heroes, and plans to test them on Ash and Ritchie’s Pikachus, which is terrifying to see.
 * 5) Jessie, James and Meowth are funny as always, as they decide to help Oliver by telling him where the heroes are being held, so they can get the Lugia in the upcoming chaos.
 * 6) Great animation in its time, especially for the cel-animated half of the Master Quest season (season 5) as usual.
 * 7) Oliver made it, freed his friends, and then they briefly knocked out Dr. Namba, saved Ash and Ritchie’s Pikachus, and got all of their Pokémon back, as well as destroy the control panel and inventions in the room, and escaped from the room when the alarm sounded off.
 * 8) When the heroes faced Cassidy and Butch again, they used their Pikachus to destroy Namba’s rage powering devices on Cassidy and Butch’s Pokémon, so they can easily defeat them.
 * 9) Good scenes next, where Jessie, James and Meowth battle Cassidy and Butch, and the heroes defeat the Team Rocket grunts easily and got to Silver and faced Dr. Namba and his Electabuzz, who has the same powering device that Cassidy and Butch’s Pokémon had.
 * 10) Dr. Namba had Electabuzz use Lightscreen to protect his powering device from being destroyed, and shockingly got the upper hand against our heroes.
 * 11) While Jessie, James and Meowth were battling Cassidy and Butch, the attacks from all Pokémon accidentally damaged the parent Lugia’s cage enough to free it, sending Team Rocket and all of their Pokémon blasting off.
 * 12) While Lugia was raging, our heroes came up with the strategy to have Ash’s Pikachu attack Electabuzz first, and while Dr. Namba’s guard was down, Ritchie’s Pikachu, Sparky, attacked him and destroyed the control remote for the powering device, returning Electabuzz to normal, and allowing our heroes to defeat Dr. Namba and his Electabuzz.
 * 13) Our heroes finally managed to free Silver, and brought it to its parent Lugia, who was still raging, but thanks to Silver showing its parent that it’s OK and that they helped them, the parent Lugia calmed down and regained their trust, as it protected our heroes from a falling crumbling ceiling, and all of our heroes and their Pokémon, and the two Lugia all escaped Team Rocket’s base as it exploded.
 * 14) Great ending where Team Rocket is stranded in the ocean, and our heroes say goodbye to the two Lugia, as they happily swim away together, and then Ash, Brock, Misty and Luka said farewell to Ritchie and Oliver as they continue their journey.
 * 15) *Overall, this episode was a great way to end the Lugia Trilogy Arc for Season 5.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Unnecessary torture for Jessie, James and Meowth. They both get painfully blasted off with Cassidy and Butch all because of their actions of freeing the parent Lugia, who was in full rage mode, and was the one who attacked them.
 * 2) *Usually, they get their comeuppance for kidnapping Pikachu and other things. Here, while they are still up to their no good deeds, the way they get tormented constantly seems unfair here. Though thankfully, Butch and Cassidy got their comeuppance, but Jessie, James and Meowth still get to blast off anyway.
 * 3) There is an animation error when Ash and Ritchie rescue their Pikachus, as Ritchie’s gloves changed from their usual color to the same color as Ash’s.

Reception
"A Promise is a Promise" was met with positive reception and critical acclaim among fans and critics. It was scored an 7.4/10 on iMDB.com.

Trivia

 * This is the last episode where Megan Hollingshead voiced Cassidy.
 * At one point, Professor Namba says, "Turn it up to 11, Electabuzz!". This is a reference to the movie This Is Spinal Tap.
 * This episode is featured on Volume 8: Lugia from Viz Media's Pokémon All-Stars DVD series.
 * In a rare occurrence, Jessie, James, and Meowth blast off together with Butch and Cassidy. This makes it the highest number of characters to have blasted off, with a total of four humans and six Pokémon involved.