EP244

Enlighten Up! (Japanese: ヤドンのさとり！サトシのさとり！ 's Comprehension! 's Comprehension!) is the 244th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 18, 2002 and in the United States on April 26, 2003.

Blurb
''As Ash and friends approach the site where Ash will earn his eighth badge, they fall victim to an unexpected Team Rocket trap. As they prepare to fight, they are interrupted by a mystic and her Slowpoke. This woman explains to them that the Slowpoke's distant expression evidences that it is pondering the meaning of its existence. Ash and friends eagerly volunteer to strengthen their minds through training in this Slowpoke's shrine, and are surprised when Team Rocket does the same. Jessie, James, and Meowth show their true colors soon enough however, reviewing to all that their actual motive is not enlightenment, but rather the valuable gold statues that decorate the shrine.''

Plot
,, and stop by Lake Slowpoke en route to Blackthorn City. appear from a hole they built, leading to confrontation with the travelling trio. As they're about to battle each other, a with a yellow flag calmly walks through the two parties and sits on a rock to fish. appears and says that Slowpoke is looking for enlightenment, effectively ending the confrontation. Madeleine asks everyone a philosophical question, but is met with vague remarks and silence. She offers to take everyone to Slowpoke Temple for lunch before offering training.

The group walks over to the nearby temple, where a giant gold statue of a Slowpoke sits in the center of the complex. Upon seeing the statue, Meowth imagines gifting it to, and the Team Rocket trio set their sights on stealing it when no one is looking. After a salad lunch the group witness a meditation class, before joining in themselves. All of them fail because of idle thoughts. Next, Madeleine sets them the task of scrubbing and cleaning the entire temple complex's floors. This quickly erupts into a race, with Ash and Team Rocket speeding through corridors with Misty, Brock, and Meowth trailing behind. Ash overtakes Jessie and James by running along a wall. Madeleine appears again and notices the floors are still a mess, everyone then cleans the floors properly.

Afterwards, Ash, Misty, and Brock ask Team Rocket if they would like to join them fishing. They politely decline and instead see this as their opportunity to steal the golden Slowpoke statue. While accompanies Madeleine, Ash and crew for the fishing at Lake Slowpoke. Misty eagerly begins, bragging about her water Pokémon mastery though quickly loses patience upon seeing no bites. In contrast, Slowpoke is fishing much better than Ash and his friends, pulling up a, , then a. Next, Slowpoke captures a, Misty goes on to state Gyarados is her least favorite Pokémon and is still frustrated with the fishing exercise. Out of desperation, she throws Meowth into the lake to get him to talk to the water Pokémon. Meowth reveals the Pokémon know they will be captured and they go to Slowpoke because the Pokémon know they won't be captured; this point is also confirmed by Madeleine.

Suddenly, a latches onto Slowpoke's tail. Simultaneously the gold statue is stolen by Jessie and James, who peddle down the hill with it. Before the gigalith is about to hit Ash and his friends, Slowpoke evolves into and defeats them with a  attack. Slowbro sends the statue back to the temple with this same Confusion attack. Madeleine explains that Slowbro had reached its enlightenment, and that the Shellder is symbolic of that achievement. Ash and his friends then head off. Though Team Rocket stay at the temple, this time to truthfully learn enlightenment with some enforced meditation, and they attempt to keep out of 's eyesight.

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * (fantasy)
 * (flashback)
 * Temple students
 * Temple priest (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * Temple students
 * Temple priest (flashback)
 * Temple priest (flashback)

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international),  (Japan)
 * (fantasy)
 * ('s; evolves)
 * ('s; newly evolved)
 * (temple student's)
 * (temple student's)
 * (×2)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple; flashback)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple; flashback)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple)
 * (multiple; flashback)
 * (multiple; flashback)

Trivia

 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Lecture:
 * This is the final episode written by the 's original head writer, Takeshi Shudō.
 * The English title of this episode is a pun of the phrase "lighten up".
 * The religion draws heavily from.
 * This episode uses music from Pikachu's Vacation.
 * mentions that "Slowpoke is just a name that humans invented". This may be true in the, but is doubtful in the anime, where most Pokémon can say their names even right after being born. This implies that Pokémon in the anime were named after their "natural" cries.
 * does not blast off in this episode.
 * During the meditation scene, sees herself chasing an unknown "legendary water Pokémon". The only part of the Pokémon seen is a giant fin, which is similar to that of the then-unreleased.
 * Interestingly enough, Misty would go on to own a capable of Mega Evolving as of When Regions Collide!.

Errors

 * The guidebook that is reading at the start of the episode is black in color, when it should be blue and yellow, as in previous episodes.
 * The color of the guidebook was probably changed by accident because of the second book that Brock reads, which is also black.
 * In the dub, Brock says that his hometown is "Flint City", though he is actually from Pewter City. is the name of his father.
 * When runs along the wall during the cleaning challenge, 's  is not equipped on his belt.
 * It is said that when a clamps down on a Slowpoke's tail, it will change shape, and the Slowpoke will evolve into a Slowbro. The Slowpoke should evolve right when the Shellder makes contact with the Slowpoke's tail. The Slowpoke that was fishing at Lake Slowpoke caught a Shellder on its tail, but was not seen evolving until later.

Dub edits

 * During the meditation scene, Brock's fantasy of Madeleine was cut from the English dub.
 * The closeup shot of the robed man hitting another robed man with his wooden paddle was covered up by an impact animation for the dub.
 * The sound effects of the paddle hits during the meditation scene are much louder in the original Japanese version.

In other languages
Erleuchtung für alle! EP246 EP244 無印編第244話 精灵宝可梦 第245集