Lapras's Memories of Its Companions - Pokémon Horizons Episode 32 Review - Why Did Lucius Break His Promise?

I’m quite a bit divided over this week's episode of Pokémon Horizons, in all honesty. While there are several good aspects of this episode that I liked, there are a number of things that are nagging at me a lot. So sit down, relax, and let me explain what's got me so conflicted with this episode.

The good was the entire Ludlow sequence. That man is a crazy sailor and knows how to pilot a ship. This makes sense as the Brave Olivine used to be his small fishing boat, after all. Seeing Chansey rolling around and Murdock sliding from side to side was a treat to see. I do hope that we'll get a proper Ludlow backstory episode some day; I’d love to learn what sort of person he was in the past, before he became the regular fisherman that he is now. The part where his Quagsire used Surf was great. I think the last time I saw Surf used efficiently was back at the Hearthome City Tag Battle Competition back in the Diamond & Pearl era.

I also thought they handled well the part where Diana asks Liko and Roy whether Lapras is good or bad for stealing food. To humans, what Lapras is doing might be bad, but for Lapras and its friends, they’re doing it to survive. Good and bad are simply not applicable to the Pokémon’s standards and situation, for them it's simply a question of survive or die. I do appreciate this that sort of more nuanced writing.

I also liked the part where Lucius finally makes his proper debut. Now that we've finally seen his face, it's interesting how much he looks like a male version of Liko. It seems like either he's a direct ancestor of Liko, or that they're otherwise related, with Liko descending from another close member of Lucius’s family. Lucius is voiced in the Japanese version by Daisuke Namikawa, who also voices Dot’s Quaxly. The memories Lucius's Pokémon have of him end with him at the entrance to Rakua, promising that he won’t die and that he would return — but then he never did. This explains why Lapras was so upset; and also why Galarian Moltres was upset when Liko and Roy first met it. This just continues to build up the mystery behind what Rakua actually is, and what happened to Lucius that meant he never came back.

As for the bad parts of the episode, I felt like the whole Lapras portion was a bit hastily written. After Lapras fought off the Rising Volt Tacklers by freezing their boat, Liko, Roy and Friede just showed up at its base, and after some quick convincing and seeing the flashback with Lucius, it just goes along with Liko. I honestly thought Lapras would have been a lot more reluctant than this. In much the same way that people used to criticise Ash back in the original series for not properly earning many of his gym badges, I have to admit that it feels like these hero Pokémon are going along with Liko so quickly that it doesn’t feel truly earned. In the case of Arboliva they at least helped out with the forest, earning its trust. But for Galarian Moltres and Lapras, the Pokémon just meets Terapagos, thinks about Lucius a little, and then tags along. It does makes me wonder what would've happened if Terapagos wasn't there for whatever reason, and if there will be a hero Pokémon that will be harder to convince to come later on. I’d honestly love to see that, with the group having to make multiple attempts to try and convince a Hero Pokémon to come with them, only to be rebuffed each time because the Pokémon is so doubtful of their intentions. Given the connection the original group of Explorers had to Lucius, it'd be interesting to see if maybe one of the other Hero Pokémon might be inclined to trust them more than the Rising Volt Tacklers.

I can acknowledge though that giving Lapras and its band of pirate Pokémon food was the best thing to convince Lapras to join. I just want to know how Lapras ended up in that situation to begin with. Did it get those scars before, or after its awakening? Since Horizons focuses more on the people part of the Pokémon world rather than the Pokémon themselves, I guess Lapras’s scars will remain a mystery for a while to come.

The Terapagos’s adventure segment this week has the little turtle exploring the basement of the ship where Fuecoco and the other wild Pokémon sleep. Terapagos has cute interactions with all of the Pokémon, but especially Fuecoco. It’s nice to see Terapagos interact with the starters, while still maintaining their personalities.

Now that Shiny Rayquaza has shown up, I do wonder what’s going to happen next. The episode preview for next week shows Amethio fighting the dragon with Ceruledge. All I know here is that Rayquaza is going to wipe the floor with them. It was nice knowing you, Ceruledge. What are your thoughts on this episode? How easily do you think things are going to go for Liko and the other Hero Pokémon moving forward?