Bound for Trouble – Pokémon Season 2, Episode 24

Filler / stand-alone episodePikachu & Meowth chained together

Bound for Trouble is the 24th episode of Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 104th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 106, Bulbapedia code EP104). It first aired in Japan on 15 July 1999 and in the United States on 15 September 2000. It falls within the season’s Trovita Gym & Charizard’s change of heart stretch (EP103–EP105).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

After earning his third Orange League badge on Trovita Island Ash and his friends have stopped at a place renound for super sized Pokémon. Just as the group set off to explore the island they see a giant fruit bowl in the middle of the road, Ash and Pikachu run straight at it, Misty shouts at them to come back, and they return to the group just before they reach it. Misty thinks it’s a trap, Tracey agrees and the group stay away from the fruit bowl, instead heading over to a nearby tree which is also covered in fruit, as they approach the tree they do indeed fall into a trap.

Team Rocket appear at the top of the pit and begin their motto, apparently Team Rocket knew Ash and co would think the fruit basket in the road trick would be a trap, and using reserve psychology they set a trap nearby instead, pretty clever stuff from Team Rocket.

Jessie and James send out Arbok and Weezing to begin their attack and Ash throws Pikachu into the air to use a thunderbolt, Jessie, James and Meowth however block the attack with a new patent pending device that absorbs electricity, unable to use its electric attacks Pikachu is then weakened by Arbok and Weezing before being captured by Meowth who attaches himself to Pikachu using some sort of rope, Team Rocket run off and make it back to their balloon, intending to take Pikachu straight to the boss.

A giant Pidgeot then flies over and grabs both Meowth and Pikachu, Pikachu takes advantage and shocks Meowth, then shocks the Pidgeot who drops them both to the ground. Still attached to one another Meowth and Pikachu begin to pull in different directions, Pikachu leverages his electric attacks to take dominance in his and Meowths arrangement.

Ash and co arrive at Team Rocket’s balloon and confront Jessie and James who explain that they were taken by a giant Pidgeot. Team Rocket leave in search of Pikachu and Meowth in their balloon, Tracey meanwhile sends out Marrill and tells it to listen for a giant Pidgeot, Marrill quickly leads the group to a giant Pidgeots nest, unbeknownst to the group that Pikachu and Meowth aren’t there. Pikachu and Meowth continue through the forest, Meowth schemes to take Pikachu straight to the boss by pretending to be its friend but Pikachu sees through the plan and shocks him.

Ash arrives on top of the platform where the giant Pidgeot’s nest is, but its not pleased to see him and knocks him off the cliff. Ash walks off on his own and continues the search for Pikachu. Pikachu and Meowth stop for a moment because Pikachu says he can smell Pokémon, and unfortunately he is right, a giant Rhydon emerges from behind a rock nearby and gives chase, unfortunately due to Meowth and Pikachu trying to run in different directions it catches up to them and knocks them flying, but the Rhydon isn’t done, and continues to chase them until the two eventually reach a dead end. The Rhydon starts its final run at Meowth and Pikachu, Pikachu tells Meowth to get Rhydon’s mouth open and Pikachu will do the rest, Meowth tickles Rhydon and sure enough its mouth opens, Pikachu then shocks it straight in the mouth and knocks it out.

Ash and friends, led by Marill find Pikachu and Meowths footprints, they also realise that they were being chased by a Rhydon. Pikachu and Meowth are both getting very hungry at this point and start fighting over an apple they find, Pikachu wins and claims the apple, but splits it in half, giving half to a tearful Meowth, the two sit together and Meowth contemplates that Pikachu might not be such a bad Pokémon afterall. The two fall asleep and the next morning just as the two wake up they are chased by a giant Pidgeot, who leads them straight into the path of the charging Rhydon, just as it looks like theres no way out for Pikachu and Meowth both Ash’s group and Team Rocket arrive.

Ash sends out Snorlax who stops Rhydon from getting to Pikachu and sends it flying away with a mega punch, Jessie sends out Arbok who fends off the giant Pidgeot. Both Meowth and Pikachu are still stuck together however, Jessie grabs Meowth and pulls him to try and reel Pikachu in, Ash uses Bulbasaur to retrieve the key and free Pikachu and Meowth.

Team Rocket start to ascend in their balloon and have one more trick up their sleeve as a weapon emerges from the base of their balloon, Misty accidentally sends out Psyduck to stop them, who isn’t particularly useful, Team Rocket’s weapon is charging up and things look bad, but then a mysterious attack destroys their balloon, sending them blasting off once more. Misty is starting to suspect that these mysterious attacks really are Togepi’s doing.

Major Events

• Pikachu and Meowth are chained together on Fairchild Island
• Snorlax’s Mega Punch
• Last episode before the second movie
• The Japanese broadcast ended with Pokémon Ondo
• First aired in the US on a Friday, the opening night of Pokémon Live!

Trivia

• The English title plays on “Pikachu and Meowth are literally bound together”.
• The screenplay is by Yukiyoshi Ōhashi.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Orange Islands story.
• The Who’s That Pokémon? segment features Pidgeot in Japan, where it almost always matched the episode, but Charizard in the US, where 4Kids picked the Pokémon at random.

Changes in the English Dub

• Many impact and collision sound effects muted or lowered (Pikachu and Meowth, Arbok’s bites)
• The Japanese TV broadcast ended with Pokémon Ondo (home video restores Type: Wild)
• Six cues replaced and 9 min 17 s of silent scenes scored — about 60% of the episode; Meowth’s Song instrumental replaced by a 2.B.A. Master instrumental

Part of our Pokémon: Adventures in the Orange Islands guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.