Recap: Houndoom's Special Delivery

Dedicated to my dog, Max

Hello everyone. While I have been trying to work out how to do this episode for a while, I decided I would finally take a look at this one as one of my last Johto recaps. Though the episode that featured Houndour is all right, this one with its evolved form stood out at me more when I was younger. So, let's open up "Houndoom's Special Delivery."

We open on Ash, Brock and Misty still on their way to Ecruteak City; when they all see a Houndoom running on a hillside; carrying bags on its back.

As Togepi is in awe of the fiery dog of darkness; we get the "Born to Be a Winner" opening, which I still love listening to after all this time. I will link to it one last time, and I still listen to it even when watching this on Prime to write about this episode.

After just casually drinking tea, Team Rocket decides to ambush everyone from the sky in an attempt to steal Pikachu! However, amidst all the chaos, Togepi uses Metronome; which results in Teleport taking it away as they're sent blasting off!


As Ash and Brock help Misty search for Togepi, Houndoom crosses paths with Togepi and helps protect the child, driving away a fierce Pinsir and helping get an apple from a tree to feed Togepi!

So, that's the long and short of the main plot: nothing too fancy, it's kind of like some of the shorts in the scenes where Houndoom is guarding Togepi, where there's very little dialogue apart from their cries and the music and pictures just advance the story. To be honest: I rather like the whole "Lone Wolf and Cub" vibe that I get from this egg baby pairing with a big Cerberus; and any "cute" monster pairing with a "badass" one. Even if the animation isn't too showy this time around, I did get an amusing freeze frame of Misty seemingly doing her best Home Alone impression.

Those reactions of teases of the new Sonic movie, woof!

After a brief mishap with a Gyarados in the Meowth balloon and tracking some of their footprints past a glen full of grass Pokémon; Houndoom and Togepi take refuge from a brief rainstorm inside a hollowed-out tree. During this next stretch, "Never Too Far From Home" from the Totally Pokémon album is playing. While I never had it growing up, it's actually a pretty decent track as early-2000s bubblegum pop goes. Feel free to have a listen: the only way it could be more early-2000s is if it were wearing camo shorts, Skechers and a CG Yoda shirt.

Also, there's a brief tease of Raikou as the thunderstorm breaks. Disregarding any jokes about the wandering Pokémon, this brief glimpse of the beast is still more interesting to me than the entirety of the Legend of Thunder.

After the storm lets up, Houndoom has successfully found its way to a Mareep shepherd, complete with Togepi sleeping on its back! The pouches it was wearing also had some clippers to help shear the Mareep. Also, apparently the shepherd likes to call his Houndoom "Doomy" for short. Guess it's a bit more family-friendly than its Japanese species name, "Hellgar." I may be crazy, but I'm not crazy enough to make that up.

Team Rocket tries one last time to steal Houndoom, but this dark; fiery doggo is able to send them blasting off with a single attack! Success!

So, as the shepherd points everyone in the right direction towards Ecruteak City; Togepi thanks Houndoom as everyone continues on their way to their next challenge. Good an ending as any.

As the last episode before everyone reached Ecruteak City, "Houndoom's Special Delivery" is actually one of the better episodes of the Johto League Champions season. Rewatching this on Amazon Prime to write this, I was reminded by my dogs that have touched my life over the years. In my games, I've often named the monsters that resemble dogs after them in their honor. This is still something I do to this day, as one of my Dusk Lycanroc is named Max after I started playing last year. Though I know that I will miss Max when he passes over to another plane of existence, I know that I will always remember the time I spent with him. He's a brave fighter, and a good friend; much like the Houndoom in this episode. The last episode I have in mind for Johto is next up: "Gotta Catch Ya Later." See you, space cowboy.