EP048
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Holy Matrimony!
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First broadcast
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English themes
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Japanese themes
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Credits
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Holy Matrimony! (Japanese: ガーディとコジロウ Gardie and Kojiro) is the 48th episode of the Pokémon anime. It was first broadcast in Japan on June 11, 1998, and in the United States on March 13, 1999.
Synopsis
Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock are merrily walking across the countryside until they come across a poster of a young boy who bears a great resemblance to James of Team Rocket. Just then, a limousine shows up, and an old man asks the trio if they've seen the boy. Ash answers yes if it was James. Shortly after the old man takes the gang with him in the limo, Jessie, James, and Meowth also show up and look at the poster. Jessie and Meowth are convinced that the boy in the poster is James, but he denies it. Nevertheless, Team Rocket follow Ash and friends in the same direction.
The old man, who is revealed to be James' butler, Hopkins, tells Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu all about how James is a millionaire, yet ran away from his home at a young age, as well as show them a huge doghouse that belongs to James' favorite Pokémon, Growlie, as well as a gigantic mansion. Team Rocket have also arrived, yet James isn't very keen.
Once inside the mansion, Hopkins tells our heroes that James' parents died earlier that morning, and unless he marries his fiancée in 24 hours, all of James' money will go to charity.
As the gang wonder how to find him, Team Rocket fall off the roof, with Jessie and Meowth beating on James because he refuses to get married. Ash tells them to stop, and Brock agrees that it's James' decision on whether he wants to get married or not. James then tells everyone a story of when he died on a cold night with Growlie howling sadly. Everyone else is left crying, except Misty, who yells that the story is false because James is right here. James then makes a run for it, but Jessie and Meowth lasso him back.
A few minutes later, James is wearing a blue suit, and Jessie and Meowth are wearing invisible costumes. They knock on the door, and Hopkins is pleased to see his master home again. He then takes James up to the room where his "deceased" parents rest in peace. But then, laughing can be heard from inside the coffins - and out jump James' parents, both alive! James knew that they would pull off a trick like this, and he tries to escape, but gets captured immediately. Ash and friends realize that this was all part of a big plan to get James to come home and get married.
Upstairs, James is really frightened to see his future wife, Jessiebelle, who seems to be a dead ringer for Jessie. Then, they head down into the basement, where James's parents tell him that he needs to be taught a lesson for running away from home, as well as tell Jessie and Meowth that they saw them all the time and only pretended to not notice. After having fun cracking her whip at her future husband, Jessiebelle sicks her Pokémon, Vileplume, on James, knocking him out, along with everyone else (except his parents), with Stun Spore. Jessiebelle then vows to force James to become a gentleman even if it kills both of them.
Ash, Misty, Brock, Pikachu, Jessie, and Meowth are then thrown out of the mansion, then hear a pounding on the doghouse door, which is burst open to reveal Growlie, as he rescues James from Jessiebelle and Vileplume.
James, Growlie, and the others hide in the doghouse. Jessie is disgusted by Jessiebelle's behavior, and James explains that Jessiebelle is the real reason why he left home. Ever since the announcement of their engagement, Jessiebelle kept following James everywhere he went. A flashback shows a young James running out of his house with a young Jessiebelle, carrying an Oddish, far behind. As the flashback ends, James admits that if he marries Jessiebelle, it will be the worst mistake of his life. Growlie is the only real friend James has on this stuffy estate. Suddenly, Jessiebelle and Vileplume burst through the wall, sending Jessie and Meowth flying, and a battle is on. Vileplume tries do another Stun Spore, but Growlie and Pikachu shoot a combination of Ember and a ThunderShock right back at it, causing Jessiebelle and Vileplume to run away in fear.
Jessiebelle knocks James' parents into a pond of Magikarp, leaving them convinced that she's too good for their son. From the bushes, James says goodbye to Growlie and asks it to look after his parents, because James would rather live the free low-life with Team Rocket instead of the upper-crust lifestyle. Growlie howls sadly as James heads off.
Meanwhile, Jessie and Meowth are sad, because they think James got married to Jessiebelle. But then, they hear a familiar voice that says "Prepare for trouble." It is James, flying in the Meowth balloon, and he brings Jessie aboard and they vow to continue their own lifestyle. As Jessie and James look into each other's eyes, Meowth yells that they forgot him.
Finally, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu are being chased by Jessiebelle, who's demanding that they help her find James.
Major events
- James' childhood is revealed.
- James is revealed to own a Growlithe
- For a list of all major events in the anime, please see the history page.
Debuts
Pokémon debuts
Characters
Humans
Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: Vileplume
- Pikachu (Ash's)
- Meowth (Team Rocket)
- Growlithe (James's; nicknamed Growlie)
- Oddish (Jessiebelle's; flashback)
- Vileplume (Jessiebelle's)
- Magikarp
Trivia
- James's faux flashback appears to be based upon Fyodor Dostoevsky's short story, "The Little Orphan." James (as a small child) is dressed like a street urchin, and dies in front of a painting of a choir of angels on a cold winter night. James recalls that "the boy departed this world" and that "he was found frozen solid." In "The Little Orphan," a young poor boy freezes to death in the cold on Christmas Eve. He wakes up in heaven to find himself surrounded by all the other forgotten children, looking up at the splendor of Jesus' Christmas tree.
- This is one of the few times Brock was easily fooled by a blatant lie told by Team Rocket. He was seen crying in mourning for James when he told the story that he was frozen near a church, and died. This can be considered ironic, since he is considered to be the wisest, most level headed person in the group (except for when it comes to girls, of course).
- Two episodes regarding Team Rocket's past are referenced in this episode, when James pretends to have amnesia and says that he remembers flunking out of Pokémon Tech and joining a bicycle gang.
- Meowth wore this same disguise in a later episode, which aired 5 years and a day from the date of this episode. The disguises worn by Jessie and Meowth were once again used in another episode, which aired exactly 11 years from the air date of this episode.
- Growlie is not seen again until The Treasure is All Mine!.
- This episode is referenced by James' Nanny in the episode Sweet Baby James.
- This episode's English title is a reference to the traditional Christian term for marriage.
Errors
- Ash tells Pikachu to do electric shock, a non-existing move, instead of ThunderShock, a frequent error during this season. Although, Thundershock is called Electric Shock in the Japanese version.
- When Jessiebelle calls her Vileplume out, Ash apparently doesn't know what it is and checks his Pokédex. However, he has already seen a Vileplume in Celadon Gym.
Dub edits
- The poster with James's picture says 尋ね人 tazunebito (missing person) in the original. This is painted over with "Missing" in the dub.
In other languages
| Language | Title | |
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| Mandarin Chinese | 卡蒂狗跟小次郎 | |
 Czech
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Jamesova svatba | |
 Finnish
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Avioliitto kutsuu! | |
 European French
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Un sacré mariage | |
 German
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Verliebt, verlobt, verheiratet... | |
 Hebrew
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צרות של עשירים tsarot shel ashirim * | |
 Hungarian
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James jegyese | |
 Italian
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Matrimonio in vista | |
| Portuguese |  Brazil
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Sagrado Matrimônio |
 Portugal
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Santo Matrimónio! | |
 Russian
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Священное бракосочетание | |
| Spanish |  Latin America
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¡Santo matrimonio! |
 Spain
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Sagrado matrimonio | |
 Swedish
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Bröllop på gång | |
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This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime. |
