Ash Catches the Bug (And a Bird): Episode 3- “Ash Catches a Pokemon”
Welcome back to The Pokémon Snapshot blog, your ultimate digital companion to our chronological journey through the Pokémon anime!
Today, we are diving into Episode 3 of the anime: "Ash Catches a Pokémon" (or, as it was originally titled in Japan when it aired on April 15, 1997, simply "I Caught a Pokémon!"). It only took three episodes, but Ash is finally going to live up to the franchise's catchphrase. Let's hit play.
The First Catch (and the Anxiety of the Wobble)
The episode kicks off right where we left off: Ash is having a Wild West showdown with a wild Caterpie in the middle of the Viridian Forest. In a moment of pure, unadulterated drama, Ash turns his hat backwards, declares, "Caterpie, you're mine now!" and heaves a Poké Ball at the unsuspecting bug.
Right out of the gate, we have to point out a hilarious continuity error.
Jeff: "So that is a continuity error that we are already coming into with this. In our last episode, in Pokémon Emergency, he doesn't say, 'Caterpie, you're mine.' In fact, he just says 'Poké Ball, go!' when he throws the Poké Ball."
Tyler: "And see, that's a lot less dramatic, so I can see why they changed that."
Ash hurls the Poké Ball and nails the Caterpie perfectly. Keep in mind, he hasn't battled it. He hasn't weakened it. He just threw a metal sphere at a bug minding its own business.
What follows is an animation sequence that is permanently burned into the retinas of every 90s kid: the Poké Ball hits the ground and begins that oh-so-familiar shake and wobble.
Tyler: "Honestly, it still gives me anxiety to this day, especially when it's like a high-level Pokémon that I really want. That shake and wobble, it's anxiety-inducing. In the episode, when it started happening with this Caterpie, I was like, man, I really hope he catches that Caterpie, even though I have no reason to root for him at this point."
Jeff: "I feel the same way you do, Tyler. In fact, even to this day when I play a Pokémon game, I hold down the B button or the A button when I throw a Poké Ball because, you know, back when we were kids we had the playground rumors. And one of the rumors was if you held down the button to throw a Poké Ball, it would make it easier to catch a Pokémon."
It is amazing how that specific rumor spread across the entire globe pre-internet. We lived in completely different parts of the state as kids, yet we both instinctively held down the B button in a desperate bid to catch our virtual monsters. And you know what? It still feels like it works.
Despite breaking every rule of Pokémon catching, the Poké Ball clicks shut. Ash celebrates wildly. He has officially caught his first Pokémon!
Pokémon Bullying and the Bug-Phobic Companion
While Ash is celebrating, practically spinning Misty around in joy, Misty is absolutely horrified. As established in the previous episode, Misty has a deep, irrational fear of bugs (and, as she casually mentions later, carrots and peppers).
Ash lets Caterpie out of the Poké Ball almost immediately to officially welcome him to the team. And Caterpie, despite being forcibly sucked into a dark sphere just moments prior, decides it actually really likes Misty. It scurries over and affectionately rubs against her leg.
Misty’s response? She screams that Caterpie is disgusting. Caterpie immediately gets sad and looks like it is about to cry.
Tyler: "I mean, he is just minding his own business and then this kid comes out of nowhere and tries to enslave him... Caterpie is having a bad day. Also, why doesn't he just run away? He's been captured, he's been sucked into a Poké Ball, he gets let out immediately afterwards. If I were a Pokémon, I would be gone the moment they let me out of the ball. I'd be like, 'I'm not doing this, I'm not being hauled around with this kid, being forced to fight other Pokémon, and being dissed on by this ginger girl who doesn't like me because I'm a bug.'"
The Pokémon bullying in these early episodes is rampant. Misty even goes so far as to make fun of Ash for liking the Pokémon, telling him, "It takes a worm to know a worm."
In the original Japanese version, this dialogue is actually much harsher. Ash comments that he and Caterpie are a match made in heaven, and Misty coldly retorts that his heaven is her hell.
Jeff had some thoughts on Misty's extreme bug phobia.
Jeff: "I don't like bugs like Misty. I mean, it's a little different here because bugs don't understand what we're saying, but this Caterpie obviously understands whatever language is spoken at it. You can't be dissing on the Caterpie even if you don't like it."
To make matters worse for Ash, Pikachu decides this is the perfect moment to assert some emotional dominance. Ash tries to confidently tell Misty that Pikachu only likes him and will electrocute anyone else who touches it. Instantly proving him wrong, Pikachu runs over and affectionately hugs Misty.
Devastated, Ash attempts to walk away dramatically, complete with pulling down his eyelid and sticking out his tongue—a Japanese sarcastic gesture known as an Akanbe. Unfortunately for Ash, Misty reminds him he still owes her a bicycle, and the incessant bickering continues as they set up camp for the night.
Star-Crossed Caterpillars
That night around the campfire, we get one of the most surprisingly beautiful and subtle moments in the early anime.
While Ash and Misty are fast asleep (with Caterpie having controversially crawled out of its Poké Ball to sleep directly next to the bug-hating Misty), Pikachu and Caterpie have a late-night chat. They sit together on a log, looking up at the moon, just saying their own names back and forth in an indiscernible conversation.
While it seems like simple filler, there is a brilliant visual cue happening in the background.
Jeff: "So something I've noticed here is when they do look at the moon, Caterpie sees a Butterfree flying by. So my thought here is Caterpie just really is like, 'You know, she thinks I'm ugly. I'm going to just try and become beautiful.'"
It perfectly re-contextualizes the entire scene. Caterpie isn't just complaining to Pikachu about a bad day; it sees its final evolution soaring gracefully across the moonlight and finds the motivation to push forward. It’s a wonderful bit of visual storytelling that pays off massively by the end of the episode.
The Pidgeotto Disaster and Type Advantages
Morning arrives, bringing with it Misty's panicked screams as she realizes she spent the entire night sleeping next to a giant green worm. Ash scolds Misty for hurting the bug's feelings, prompting Caterpie to dramatically, slowly crawl back into its own Poké Ball (which, according to later anime lore, Pokémon aren't actually supposed to be able to do themselves).
Suddenly, a wild Pidgeotto swoops down from the canopy.
Ash pulls out his trusty Pokédex, Dexter, who informs him that Pidgeotto is a powerful, dangerous bird Pokémon. Does Ash use strategy? Does he use his Electric-type Pikachu?
Absolutely not.
Tyler: "Ash has a lot of confidence for someone who has accomplished almost nothing in three days on the road, except for destroying literally everything he comes into contact with. He destroyed a bike, he destroyed an entire hospital... Things aren't going well, but boy, that has not deterred him."
Ash throws a Poké Ball directly at the massive bird without weakening it. The Pidgeotto casually swats it away with a wing.
Misty finally snaps. She yells at Ash, trying to explain the most basic fundamental rule of Pokémon: you have to weaken a Pokémon in battle before you try to catch it. Ash, ever the defensive ten-year-old, literally tells Misty to "keep your big mouth shut" and inexplicably sends Caterpie—a Bug-type—out to fight the Flying-type bird.
Predictably, the tiny Bug-type gets absolutely brutalized by the massive bird of prey, proving that sheer willpower doesn't negate a massive type disadvantage.
Misty continues to scream at Ash about strategy and type advantages, marking the very first time type matchups are explicitly mentioned in the anime. Ash's response is the worst advice a Pokémon trainer could ever give: he claims he just needs to "try hard enough" and things will work out.
Tyler: "What kind of terrible advice is that, Ash? 'Just try hard enough, it'll work out.' No, Ash, people try hard every day and fail. That's reality."
In the original Japanese broadcast, Misty doesn't just yell at Ash for putting Caterpie in mortal danger—she walks over and slaps him across the face! While the animation of the slap was cut from the English dub, if you listen closely to the audio track, you can actually still hear the sound effect of the slap connecting!
Realizing his worm is about to become bird food, Ash recalls Caterpie and finally sends out Pikachu. A quick, super-effective Thunder Shock completely stuns the Pidgeotto. Ash throws his Poké Ball, we get the anxiety-inducing wibble-wobble, and click. Ash catches Pidgeotto!
This is a massive milestone. It marks the very first time a main character catches more than one Pokémon in a single episode. In fact, Ash wouldn't catch two different species of Pokémon in the same episode again for another 1,088 episodes (all the way in the Pokémon Journeys series)!
A Swing and a Miss for Team Rocket
Just as Ash is celebrating his victory, Team Rocket erupts onto the scene. They launch into their iconic motto, but Ash, feeling himself after two successful catches, dismissively tells them he is "busy at the moment."
Jessie and James demand he hand over Pikachu. When Ash tells them to go find their own, Meowth finally explains their motivation: this specific Pikachu's electrical power far exceeds its evolutionary level. (Meowth is immediately beaten up by Jessie and James for giving away their secret reasoning, which Tyler rightly pointed out is a bizarre double standard considering the dubbers just censored Misty slapping Ash a few minutes prior).
Team Rocket sends out Koffing and Ekans. Ash, proving once again that he is a terrible trainer in high-stress situations, refuses to send out a second Pokémon to help Pikachu because "it's against the official rules."
Tyler: "What a fool Ash is in this moment. Does he not understand that he's literally being robbed? Like, he's being robbed right now. He's being robbed, he needs to defend his Pokémon, and instead he's like, 'We bow to the official rules of engagement!' No, Ash, this is not the time for that. There are no rules of engagement in war, Ash."
Misty demands they forgo the rules. Koffing immediately hits Pikachu in the eyes with a Sludge attack, blinding him. Ash is forced to pull Pikachu back and sends out his newly caught Pidgeotto.
What follows is perhaps the most hilariously inept Pokémon battle in anime history. Pidgeotto uses Quick Attack; it misses because Ekans digs underground. Koffing uses Sludge; Pidgeotto dodges it. Ekans shoots out of the ground; Pidgeotto dodges again.
Tyler: "Everybody's missing. This is like a free-for-all battle of people just dodging each other's attacks. It's like that famous Mike Tyson fight clip where he's like dodging around that dude and he can't hit him. Like that's what's going on here, except nobody can hit anybody."
Eventually, Pidgeotto gets double-teamed and goes down. Ash, out of viable Pokémon, decides to physically fight Team Rocket himself. He charges at them swinging his fists, but Jessie and James just stick their arms out, holding the flailing ten-year-old back by his forehead while laughing at him.
A Sticky Victory and a Bizarre Evolution
Desperate, Ash throws out his last resort: Caterpie.
Poor Caterpie. It has been verbally abused by Misty, physically traumatized by Pidgeotto, and is now being forced to fight two hardened Team Rocket Pokémon solo. Jessie and James laugh hysterically at the tiny bug.
But Caterpie is about to have its moment. Ash orders a String Shot. In the video games, String Shot does zero damage and only lowers the opponent's speed. In the anime? It is a weapon of mass destruction.
Caterpie rapidly fires off String Shot, wrapping Koffing into a tight web. It spins around and blasts Ekans directly in the face. With incredible physical prowess, Caterpie headbutts the wrapped-up Koffing, sending it flying into Ekans and knocking them both out. When Meowth tries to intervene, he gets mummified in string as well. Team Rocket, utterly humiliated by a caterpillar, runs away.
Ash is ecstatic. He celebrates with Caterpie, and even Misty has to admit that the little bug is "tougher than I thought." Ash convinces her to finally give Caterpie a pat on the head.
As Misty reaches out, Caterpie suddenly freezes. It rears back and begins violently spewing a massive, thick web of string from its mouth, wrapping itself up in seconds.
Tyler: "It almost looked like that scene from Alien where that thing like busts out of the people's gut. Like, it was like that except it came out of his mouth... and then we find out something amazing is happening. Caterpie is actually evolving into Metapod."
Jeff: "Yes, and you will come to find out that that's not the normal way that Pokémon evolve. He kind of is making his cocoon like an actual caterpillar would... but later on in the anime, Caterpie evolve like any other Pokémon and they turn white and just change form."
Ash pulls out Dexter, who confirms that this is an incredibly fast evolution for a Caterpie—likely thanks to the massive XP boost of soloing three Team Rocket Pokémon back-to-back while sitting at what was likely 2 HP!
It’s a bizarre, slightly gross, but undeniably triumphant moment. Ash holds his new Metapod high, and Misty, standing back and watching him celebrate, realizes that beneath his stubborn, loudmouth exterior, Ash truly does love his Pokémon.
Of course, Ash ruins the moment immediately by refusing to leave the forest, declaring they are going deeper into the woods to catch even more Pokémon.
Episode 3 is an absolute classic. It establishes the catching mechanics of the anime, introduces us to the incompetence of Team Rocket battles, and gives us our very first taste of Pokémon evolution. While Ash makes some terrible rookie mistakes (seriously, throwing a bug at a bird?), his genuine bond with Caterpie shines through.
Thank you for joining us for another written recap on The Pokémon Snapshot blog! Let us know what you thought of Caterpie's triumphant evolution, and be sure to check back next time as the gang ventures deeper into the Viridian Forest to face "The Challenge of the Samurai"!
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