Pokémon Horizons' New Villains Proved They're Actually Worse Than Team Rocket

Warning: Spoilers for Pokémon Horizons Episode 47

Summary The new villains in Pokémon Horizons, the Explorers, lack Team Rocket's skill in disguises and infiltration.

Liko and Roy quickly see through Coral and Sidian's fake identities, setting the stage for a showdown.

Coral and Sidian seem to be taking on a comedic role similar to Team Rocket, adding a new dynamic to the series.

Pokémon Horizons' new villains, the Explorers, have proven themselves far more dangerous and competent than Team Rocket in nearly every way--except one. As it turns out, the Explorers are absolutely terrible at disguises and infiltration, something that happened to be Jessie and James' specialty.

The new arc of Pokémon Horizons, "Terastal Debut," opened in the previous episode by having Liko, Roy, and Dot enroll in Naranja Academy of the Paldea region in order to learn how to make use of Terastallization. They weren't the only ones to have this idea, however; two Explorer minions, Coral and Sidian, also attempted to enroll in Naranja Academy under some ludicrously fake names ("Sandwich," similar to her Japanese name "Sango," and "Onigiri," or "rice ball," similar to "Onyx").

Unfortunately for them, however, Liko and Roy immediately recognized the pair as belonging to the Explorers and were set on guard.

The Explorers' Disguise Skills are No Match for Team Rocket

Close

Coral was similarly seen through by Murdock in episode 47 the instant he laid eyes on her, although so far the heroes have agreed not to let the duo in on the fact that their disguises aren't working, instead opting to play along and find out just what they're up to. Since Amethio recently learned to utilize Terastallization himself, it makes sense that the other members of the Explorers might be trying to do the same, especially after their disastrous confrontation with the Black Rayquaza recently.

Of course, in the classic Pokémon anime, Jessie and James were masters of disguise, and would fool Ash and his friends on a regular basis with their costumes. Sometimes, they'd even get so caught up in playing a role that they'd forget what their original intention was, such as when selling concessions at Pokémon League tournaments. While the Team Rocket trio's disguises were often painfully transparent to the audience, usually due to their incredibly distinctive hair (or the presence of a talking Meowth), the disguises were always successful in-universe.

Interestingly, Coral and Sidian seem to be sliding into a role similar to that held by Team Rocket in the classic anime. Like Jessie and James, they have a very particular dynamic that lends itself better to comedy than the rest of their evil team, albeit one that's quite distinct from Team Rocket. Coral in this episode ends up going against Liko in a cooking competition held by gym leader Katy, only she has no idea what she's doing and creates a mess, while Liko produces a perfectly edible cake. Coral storms off after failing in a manner that's a bit reminiscent of Jessie.

With Coral and Sidian seemingly taking a much larger role in this arc than they've played previously, it will be interesting to see just how similar to Team Rocket this duo ends up being. The absence of a Team Rocket-like group of goofy ne'er-do-wells has been one of the main differences between Pokémon Horizons and the original anime, so perhaps the time has come to remedy that by slotting Coral and Sidian into that role.

Watch on Netflix