SM122

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Spying for the Big Guy!

SM122

EP1061

監視します！ロケット団アローラのすがた！！
You're Being Watched! Rocket-dan's Alolan Forms!!

First broadcast

Japan	May 19, 2019
United States	September 11, 2019* September 21, 2019*

English themes

Opening	The Challenge of Life
Ending

Japanese themes

Opening	キミの冒険
Ending	心のノート

Credits

No additional credits are available at this time.
Animation	Team Kato
Screenplay	松井亜弥 Aya Matsui
Storyboard	齋藤德明 Noriaki Saitō
Assistant director	飯村正之 Masayuki Iimura
Animation directors	志村泉 Izumi Shimura
	中矢利子 Toshiko Nakaya
	大西雅也 Masaya Ōnishi
	柳原好貴 Yoshitaka Yanagihara
	海老沢咲希 Saki Ebisawa

Spying for the Big Guy! (Japanese: 監視します！ロケット団アローラのすがた！！ You're Being Watched! Rocket-dan's Alolan Forms!!) is the 122nd episode of Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, and the 1,061st episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 19, 2019, in Australia on September 11, 2019, and in the United States on September 21, 2019.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

When Team Rocket receives a call from Headquarters, they come to regret their previous claim to have caught Bewear, as Matori tells them to send the Pokémon to Giovanni right away. But, of course, they haven’t actually caught Bewear—if anything, Bewear has caught them. Panic ensues when Matori arrives in Alola, but Jessie, James, and Meowth convince her that they need Bewear’s help to catch an even more impressive Pokémon. Eventually, Matori changes plans and tries to steal Stufful instead, but a disguised Meowth thwarts her plan by taking the little Pokémon’s place. Then, just in the nick of time, Bewear swoops in to take Meowth back home!

Plot

Team Rocket prepares to head off to sell malasadas, but a sudden alert from the Team Rocket HQ stops the trio in their tracks. Matori appears on the monitor and, after noticing the trio is behaving strangely, delivers them a message directly from Giovanni – to send through all of the Pokémon they have caught in Alola to the HQ. As the trio panics, Meowth reveals that they promised Bewear to Matori and Giovanni sometime earlier. Matori's Meowth appears onscreen and orders the trio to stop crying and get on with the job, which only infuriates Meowth. Matori adds that Giovanni has given the order for Bewear to be brought in by any means, including by force, before signing off with "See you in Alola".

At the Pokémon School, Professor Kukui expresses his pride to see all of his students possessing Z-Rings. Sophocles says that he has been studying how to operate the device, Lillie hopes to perfect her Subzero Slammer technique, and Mallow is still getting used to wearing a Z-Ring. Kukui declares that the three students should use their school time to practice their Z-Move poses. When Ash, Lana, and Kiawe declare their excitement for the upcoming Alola League, Kukui suggests the three should practice using the Z-Moves within their battle strategies. He adds that they have to consider which Z-Crystal, move combination, Pokémon selection, and the timing if they wish to amplify the effectiveness of the powerful Z-Moves. With everyone on board, Kukui calls for everyone to join him in the schoolyard for some training.

Meanwhile, the Team Rocket trio watches as Bewear returns to her den with some Berries. Jessie and James prepare to call out their Pokémon, but then, they express some doubts on whether catching Bewear is the right thing to do. Jessie admits that they have been with Bewear for some time and suggests that she might be okay with being caught by them. With this conclusion in mind, she throws a Poké Ball, but Bewear suddenly grabs it and crushes it into tiny pieces between her paws. As Bewear leaves the den once again, Jessie and James declare that neither Bewear, nor Stufful and their own Pokémon, would want to be transferred to the Team Rocket HQ.

Matori and her Meowth suddenly arrive on the scene. She is instantly perplexed as Jessie's Mimikyu roams around freely and Stufful sits on the ground like a stuffed toy. However, Matori is startled by James's ghastly appearance after being suffocated by his own Mareanie. She hears a high-pitched scream in the distance and grins to her Meowth. Matori and the others rush over to watch Bewear as she re-plants an uprooted tree into the ground. She is instantly impressed by Bewear's physical prowess and orders the Rocket trio to hand her over immediately. Jessie, James and Meowth reply that they simply can't, but the vague excuse doesn't impress Matori who presses for answers. Jessie admits that she is planning on catching some other strong Pokémon for the boss with the help of Bewear's strength, and her teammates back up her story. Matori accepts their excuse before adding that she will keep an eye on the trio while they complete the task. Matori reiterates that if they fail, she will take Bewear to HQ. The fake story failed to bide the Rocket trio any time, but Jessie boasts that she is up to the challenge and exchanges a sharp stare with Matori.

The Rocket trio take Matori to the Pokémon School, where they explain that Ash's Meltan is a tiny, but powerful Pokémon that doesn't even appear in the Pokédex. They also declare that Lycanroc and Pikachu are also incredibly tough. Jessie and her teammates are left gobsmacked when they see that all of the children are currently practicing Z-Move poses. The thought of being blasted off is now a far easier thing to accomplish, which terrifies the trio. Matori and her Meowth call for calm, admitting that it looks to be only practice. Through her binoculars, Matori points out that Lillie and the others don't even have Z-Crystals in their Z-Rings. Matori declares that while the trio are simply Team Rocket Grunts, they need to remain level-headed and sharp at all times. Jessie apologizes, admitting that she and her teammates are neither cool or collected. However their worst fears are soon confirmed when Ash has his Pikachu perform Corkscrew Crash on their hiding place, sending Matori and the Rocket trio blasting off.

While one plan is thwarted, Team Rocket remain determined to prove themselves and set their sights on another incredibly strong Pokémon, Grandpa Forest. James throws out a handful of Haban Berries in a bid to attract Grandpa Forest out hiding. Soon enough, Grandpa Forest moves into sight and begins feasting on the bait. Matori and her Meowth watch on in curiosity, but they still have their doubts. Jessie calls out her Mimikyu, but it is disappointed not to be facing up against Pikachu and simply walks away. James calls on Mareanie, and she promptly leaps onto James's head to poison him. Jessie throws the Z-Ring to James, and he places the Darkinium Z onto it. Meowth and Jessie assist James in performing a group Z-pose. Mareanie soon charges with power and begins to unleash a Black Hole Eclipse. However, the arrival of Stufful stops Team Rocket, and soon Bewear swings in and collects everyone in her arms.

Back at her den, Bewear stares at Matori and her Meowth. The pair become terrified as Bewear looks to punch them out, but instead she delivers them a fist of honey each. The sweetness of the honey and gesture surprises Matori, and Meowth explains that Bewear simply wants to be a good host to her guests. Overnight, Bewear is out floating in a lake and staring at the moon while the Rocket trio and Stufful sleep soundly. However, Matori is still determined to fulfil her mission and goes onto snatch Stufful up. The slight disturbance wakes Meowth and Wobbuffet up, and they go onto inform Jessie and James of the quick grab. The Rocket trio are left conflicted as they wish to follow Giovanni's orders, but they truly value their friendship with Bewear. Jessie goes onto follow after Matori, and she strikes up a conversation as a delay tactic. Matori places Stufful down next to her Meowth as she attempts to dissuade any suspicions. Meanwhile, James and Wobbuffet crawl their way over to rescue Stufful and make a quick swap with a decoy. Jessie waves off Matori, who grabs the decoy and rushes into her waiting aircraft bound for the Kanto region. Inside her ride, Matori peers at her catch, but she instead finds Meowth disguised as a Stufful. She grabs him and demands answers immediately. Matori's Meowth instantly goes on the attack, but the commotion alerts Bewear to the scene. Bewear lands on the helicopter's windscreen and crashes her way through to save Meowth from Matori. As Bewear leaps with Meowth to safety, a large explosion occurs in the helicopter's tail.

The following day, the Rocket trio are enjoying the peace of their Alolan lifestyle, and lay outside the den with Bewear and Stufful. Meowth queries what happened to Matori and her crew, but the others genuinely don't know and neither care about giving it any thought. Suddenly a small Rocket robot rolls in to give them an update. Matori, with a bandaged arm and head, and her Meowth appear on the screen. However, the pair are instantly frightened when Bewear stares back at them. Bewear ends the transmission abruptly by crushing the robot with her paws.

Major events

Jessie and James try and fail to catch Bewear and Grandpa Forest, respectively.

For a list of all major events in Pokémon the Series: Sun & Moon, please see the timeline page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

Characters

Humans

Dare da?

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Heracross (US and international), Bewear (Japan)

Trivia

Poké Problem: Who comes to Alola in today's episode?
- Host: Jessie
- Choices: Giovanni, Matori, Brock, Misty
- Answer: Matori
The English dub was released on Google Play on September 11, 2019, 10 days before the episode aired in the United States. However, the episode was pulled on September 13, 2019 and was later released again on September 21, 2019, the day it was supposed to be released.
The opening animation is updated to include Mallow's Z-Ring.
The animation for Lillie posing for Subzero Slammer is taken from the Pose ending song, but also adds her hat and Z-Ring.
Kiawe, Ash, and Sophocles narrate the preview for the next episode.
Team Rocket and Wobbuffet freaking out over the idea that Lillie, Sophocles, and Mallow could each send them blasting off with a Z-Move carries over into the Dare da? segment.
This is the first episode since its debut in which Rotom does not physically appear. Instead, it only appears in one of Professor Kukui's fantasies.
Team Rocket's Team Song is used as an insert song when Bewear shows up in front of the Matori Matrix airship to rescue Meowth.
The title of the English dub of this episode is listed as Spying for the Guy! on most TV guides.

Errors

In the original version, when Bewear picks Stufful and Mareanie up, a second Stufful can be seen on the ground. This is fixed in the dub.
When James and Meowth look at Lillie's Z-Ring, the Z-Crystal slot is missing.

Lillie's Z-Ring error
Two Stufful

Dub edits

In other languages


Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	監視中，火箭隊阿羅拉的模樣
Chinese	Mandarin	監視中！火箭隊阿羅拉的樣子！！
Danish		Spionage for Den Store Boss!
Dutch		Spioneren voor de grote baas!
Finnish		Vaarallinen väite!
German		Spionieren für den großen Boss!
Hebrew		!עבודת ריגול
Italian		La spia del grande capo!
Korean		감시하겠습니다! 로켓단 알로라의 모습!!
Polish		Szpiedzy wielkiej szychy!
Brazilian Portuguese		Espionando para o chefão!
Russian		Матори хари!
Latin American Spanish		¡Espiando para el jefe!
Turkish		Koca adam için casusluk