#hz019

Like, he's so far been seen as this nice dude to just oddly looks intimidating and we didn't really see any reason for the appearance outside of fun contrast, but today, we DO see his anger. Like, the way he hold grudge on Mitchell due to what happened with Mawhip was like... holy fucking hell even I got scared of it, like the way his voice deepend and got more serious from usual sweet Murdock was like, holy cow, no wonder Liko and Roy got spooked.

It also really highlighted how thoughtful Liko is, like she really wanted to help Mawhip, and Murdock, to reconcile. Like her seeing Mawhip react the way she did towards Mitchell and all really said it all to Liko. And I also adore how they made her just, bust out "LET'S GO ASK A DOUBLE BATTLE" and then we HEAR HER INNER MIND ALL ANXIOUS, FACE TELLING IT ALL TOO! That's awesome, I loved that scene so much. And I also love how the battle turned into a cookoff on sweets because holy heck askjfhfskhjsf, that's exactly what the two patissiers needed. Really made me enjoy the episode all around.

The way Liko and Roy get to discover new sides of the adults who watch over them is interesting. They got to hear about Friede in HZ018, and now Murdock. Liko always saw Murdock as someone kind and reliable, but now she sees that he has his own worries too. Murdock also apologizes for making them listen to his story and not really being grown-up.

Also, I loved Liko's role in Murdock's story. I mentioned it in a post here but there are several moments of Liko feeling for both humans and Pokemon and it keeps shining through in her desire to help others and not leave them alone. It's becoming a pattern. She helped and reached out to several characters (Dot, Oliva..). She couldn't leave Murdock alone after hearing that story and wants to help him, especially for Mawhip's sake. Actually, part of why she wanted to hear the story is because Mawhip looked sad and she immediately picked up on it.

Liko noticed that Mitchell was looking their way and thought that maybe there could be a possibility for them to do something about this situation.

And she only grows more stronger and determined once she sees how Mawhip feels. So she asks Murdock to challenge Mitchell to a battle, and even says she'll battle with him. She felt a bit embarassed but she took a step forward because she couldn't leave things be.

She is the one asking Mitchell for a battle and she is determined to win for Mawhip's sake.

Roy didn't seem to get where she was coming from at first.

At the end, she tells Murdock that the battle was a lot of fun even though it turned into a sweets battle and she explains that she felt like Mawhip was probably hoping for this and wanted to make sweets with both Murdock and Mitchell like before. She is the only one who picked up on Mawhip's feelings.

Liko seems in tune with Pokemon's feelings and I love that she gets focus on emotions and connections. She is helping mend broken bonds (Murdock and Mitchell), helping someone come out of their shell (Dot), helping a forest flourish again (Oliva).

And it's interesting that even though she feels for both humans and Pokemon, sometimes she isn't in sync with Nyhaoja's feelings (and apparently, it'll be brought up in the next episode according to a comment from Kabu's VA?).

After the sweets battle, Murdock and Mitchell actually talked things out and both apologized to each other.

Murdock acknowledged earlier in the episode that he understood in retrospect that Mitchell probably wanted Mawhip to evolve into the Matcha form and admits that he doesn't know what to say to him and still wonders how he can make up with him so this has probably been weighing a lot on his mind, especially since they were very close friends. Mitchell admits his wrongs as well, that his skill was lacking and that he ended up lashing out at Murdock and Mawhip in jealousy. They both made up eventually! Mawhip is happy about it too. I feel like they probably wanted to resolve this earlier, but perhaps their prides got in the way and they just didn't know how to approach this and it just festered until there was no going back. Though it wasn't too late to apologize since they could resolve this in the episode.

I wonder if they'll keep in touch since Murdock will eventually go back to the group and if we'll hear about Mitchell afterwards. I hope Dot gets the cotton candy she wanted too.

The battle was short but fun, and it's nice that Liko and Murdock teamed up. Liko's Nyahoja and Murdock's Iwanko get along and often play together, and Murdock is also thankful to Liko for being Dot's friend so it's good to see their bond growing with time.

Also, so much of Murdock's personality was conveyed through the way he battled. He was more on the defensive and Mawhip helped Nyahoja break out of the Cotton Spore. Then Mawhip used Decoration (which is a move raising the target's attack), and Murdock encouraged Liko to battle. I feel like this really shows how Murdock acts as a support and always helps out because that's just the kind of person he is.

While Dot isn't going with Liko and Roy to shop for groceries, it's nice that she is feeling more comfortable asking for help, especially since she wants to use the cotton candy in a video. She is talking more openly about her Gurumin stuff.