Liko And Amethio - Pokémon Horizons Episode 65 Review - Heart To Heart With The Enemy

Gasp! Liko and Amethio actually escaped the cave on-screen. The writers are actually not shoving everything into off-screen land this time around! Other than that, this week's episode of Pokémon Horizons was filled with plenty of surprise twists and intriguing lore. You can’t help but to wonder what’s going to happen next!

The Liko and Amethio portions were nice because, like Liko, we finally get to know more about Amethio's backstory. It’s crazy how he's appeared in Pokémon Horizons since the beginning, and yet we're only learning about his motives and goals 65 episodes in. Amethio wants to get Rayquaza and Terapagos because he wants to be helpful to his grandfather Gibeon, and for Gibeon to be proud of him. It feels like an honor thing. Amethio, despite being a villain, does actually have some kindness dwelling within him. If he wasn’t a kind person, Ceruledge wouldn’t have tried to warm its trainer with one of its blades after seeing Floragato try to get some grass for Liko. If Amethio wasn’t kind, he probably wouldn’t have cooperated with Liko in order to escape the cave either, but he did. It’s nice that Liko knows that Amethio isn’t as bad as he appears to be, and I really liked their heart-to-heart conversation. The fact that Amethio motivated Liko to not be so down over her failing her Implementation test is certainly something though. Liko didn’t even ask Grusha for a possible rematch as she knew there could be other ways she can master Terastal. Sometimes, the most unexpected person and words can be your biggest motivation.

Poor Amethio, the moment he becomes nice to Liko is when Spinel frames him for cooperation against the enemy, resulting in him getting kicked out of the Explorers. I’m assuming a simple act of kindness or cooperation with the enemy is something Gibeon despises? I wonder if something happened to him in the past, for him to abandon his own grandson over something so minuscule. I’m assuming that’s what happened to Amethio’s father too? Gibeon seems like a cruel person for believing in a fabricated video, and not even asking Amethio for a concrete answer. People are speculating that Amethio might be going through an anti-hero route akin to Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airibender. While I can see a potential anti-hero route for him, I don’t think it’s fair to compare it to Zuko as the circumstances of their turn is different. Zuko is a blueprint for antihero stories, but he doesn’t need to be the pathway that all of them need to follow.

For the Roy and Dot portions of this week's episode, I’m glad that the kids were sharp enough to realize that Sidian and Coral were deliberately stalling them because they’re targeting Liko. However, what they didn’t expect was that they’re super good at stalling. No matter what plan they could come up with, the Explorers were able to counter it. People might get angry over the battle, but really, it’s because the kids weren’t battling seriously. They’re being hasty because of their concern for Liko, resulting in them not being as focused on the battle as they should have. Fortunately, the battle gets called off once Grusha enters the scene, thanks to him getting a call from Friede about the situation; Friede called because he knew he wouldn’t get there in time, and that they'd need some extra help. I wonder why Grusha mellowed out in this episode compared to how stern he was two episodes ago though. Also, I wonder what his Altaria’s beak is made of, because it pecked the heck out of that boulder and Flying moves aren’t supposed to be that effective against Rocks.

I did like that Amethio’s words about not giving up impacted Liko in such a a way that she even asked Roy and Dot to go to the Highest Peak with her. Usually, Liko is so passive, and the other two seemed okay with not going once they found Liko and knew she was safe, but she still wanted to go. It’s nice that Liko is being a bit more assertive now, and I hope to see this more in future episodes.

Also, it seems that Terapagos’s anger towards Amethio is due to him reminding Terapagos of Gibeon, possibly even mistaking him for his grandfather initially before realizing that they’re different. The way Terapagos got upset when Amethio mentioned his grandfather Gibeon is another indicator. The turtle definitely has beef with Gibeon, and it could be a factor to why Gibeon was unusually cruel to Amethio in this episode.

With the announcement of the fourth arc starting in October 11th, this means that this arc has only three more episodes until it's all wrapped up. I honestly can’t wait to see what this new arc has in store, as the DLC characters are shown in the key visual. I am a little upset that Arven didn’t show up at all in this arc though, and it seems that Kieran is going to get that same treatment seeing how he’s not in the poster while his sister Carmine is. What are your thoughts on this episode?

(By the way, I support Spinel’s rights, wrongs and future beatings.)