The Garden of Eatin’ – Pokémon Season 7, Episode 48

Filler / stand-alone episodeSlakoth evolves into Vigoroth

The Garden of Eatin’ is the 48th episode of Pokémon: Advanced Challenge, the seventh season of the Pokémon anime, and the 361st episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 364, Bulbapedia code AG088). It first aired in Japan on 5 August 2004 and in the United States on 27 August 2005. It falls within the season’s To Lilycove: Aerial Ace & the Lilycove Ribbon stretch (EP86–EP92).

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

On the way to Lilycove City the group see a banner for the Banana Slakoth Garden, home to the world’s largest Slakoth population according to Brock’s guidebook, and May is sold on a visit by the promise of banana splits. The gates are unchained, but inside, the banana trees are bare and there is not a Slakoth in sight. A rumble shakes the ground, and a young keeper named Marcel pulls them to safety in the office. He explains that the garden has closed because a Snorlax, apparently driven down from the mountains by a construction project a month earlier, has been eating all the bananas and frightening the Slakoth into hiding. Ash mentions the Snorlax he keeps at Professor Oak’s lab, and the group volunteer to help. Overhead, Team Rocket spot the sleeping giant and decide to deliver it to Giovanni.

When the security monitors show Snorlax waking up and eating again, Ash goes out to challenge it, but it ignores him. Pikachu’s Thunderbolt and Iron Tail do nothing, and Snorlax’s Yawn sends Ash, Pikachu and the others to sleep. Team Rocket’s balloon claw meets the same fate: the trio nod off, Meowth lets go of the lever, the balloon bursts and they crash into the forest. Once awake, Ash calls Professor Oak, who explains that Snorlax needs special Pokéblocks and cannot battle right after eating, and suggests a Pokémon with the Vital Spirit Ability, which prevents sleep. Max knows that Vigoroth has it, so Marcel asks his Slakoth for a volunteer. One steps forward and trains against Ash’s Pikachu, Torkoal and Grovyle, each of which fights hard and then falls as planned, until the Slakoth evolves into Vigoroth.

Marcel and his new Vigoroth confront Snorlax as it eats. Vigoroth pops the Yawn bubbles and lands Scratch, dodges a series of Hyper Beams and shrugs off a second Yawn, then powers up with Focus Energy before knocking Snorlax out with Focus Punch. Marcel catches the Snorlax in a Poké Ball, and the Slakoth come out of hiding to hug him and their evolved friend. The garden reopens as the Banana Slakoth and Vigoroth Garden, with Vigoroth added to the sign at the entrance. Marcel serves everyone a tiered banana cake topped with a Slakoth, which May enjoys most of all, and turns Snorlax into the star of a relaxation room where visitors can nap under its Yawn. He thanks the group for their help, and they continue on towards Lilycove City and the ferry to Mossdeep.

Major Events

• The Banana Slakoth Garden
• Marcel’s Slakoth evolves into Vigoroth and beats a wild Snorlax, which Marcel catches
• Professor Oak gives advice by videophone

Captures and evolutions

• Snorlax#0143 · Marcel · Banana Slakoth Garden
• Slakoth → Vigoroth#0288 · Marcel

Trivia

• The English title plays on the Garden of Eden.
• The screenplay is by Aya Matsui.
• This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Hoenn story.

Changes in the English Dub

• A “That’s bananas!” pun added
• Pokémon Trainer’s Choice (dub only, in place of Who’s That Pokémon?): which Pokémon is best against Whiscash? Answer: Cacnea

Part of our Pokémon: Advanced Challenge guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.