JN073

Grabbing the Brass Ring! (Japanese: ピカチュウ隊長！進めタイレーツ！！ Captain Pikachu! Advance, !!) is the 73rd episode of Pokémon Journeys: The Series, and the 1,158th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on July 16, 2021, in Canada on November 27, 2021, in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2022, in South Africa on January 18, 2022, and in the United States on January 21, 2022.
==Blurb==
When Professor Cerise mentions a Pokémon named Falinks, Ash and Goh are inspired to go to the Galar region for some research! A Falinks is six individuals who move together as one Pokémon—the brass gives orders, and five troopers follow. But our heroes soon meet a Falinks who’s struggling to coordinate. The solution? Practice! Goh and his Pokémon train with the brass, while the troopers try following Pikachu. When they reunite, a wayward Eiscue stumbles in for a battle, and Falinks gets its chance to demonstrate its newly honed teamwork! As the Eiscue flees, Falinks feels triumphant, and it decides to become the newest member of Goh’s team.
==Plot==
In a frigid area in the Galar region, an gets set adrift while sleeping on a floating block of ice, only waking up in the middle of the ocean to see that its home and colony are nowhere in sight.
At Cerise Park, and Goh are feeding their Pokémon. Goh's Raichu is helping in the task by having Pokémon stand in a line and get from her in turns. Professor Cerise remarks that the sight reminds him of a , which Chrysa shows a picture of to the boys, explaining that a Falinks is formed of six individuals that act together as a single Pokémon. Ash and Goh are excited to see one in person and immediately decide to travel to Galar do so.
After arriving in Galar, Ash and Goh immediately start looking around for a Falinks. Goh spots what he initially thinks is a lying on the ground, but quickly turns out to be a instead. After scanning it with his Rotom Phone, Goh quickly proceeds to it, before resuming the search for Falinks. Meanwhile, Eiscue has washed up ashore, and ends up tripping on a Galarian 's tail and hitting a rock, shattering the ice around its face. Panicking, it spots an ice cream cart nearby and manages to refreeze its head in the cart's freezer before the vendor grabs it by accident and proceeds to toss it away and onto a bypassing pickup truck.
Ash and Goh finally locate a Falinks. As Goh's Rotom Phone tells them that a Falinks consists of a brass and five troopers, they observe it demonstrating its teamwork by easily defeating a and doing other sorts of activities. However, it soon turns out that the brass isn't all that good at commanding the troopers, indicating that they've only recently started working together. When gets into its usual mischief and starts hitting Falinks with its stick, the grows irritated and attacks. Reacting quickly, Ash has use to defend him and Goh. The attack causes Falinks to fall apart, with the brass rolling down a hill. Goh runs after the brass while Ash takes care of the troopers. Goh manages to catch the brass just before it can roll into a river, and as it recovers, he apologizes for what Ash did and tells it they should go back. The brass, however, is hesitant, as it lacks confidence in its leadership skills. Meanwhile, Ash has managed to gather all the troopers back together. With the brass absent, the troopers start following Pikachu around instead, much to Pikachu's dislike.
Goh decides to help the brass learn to be a better leader, and calls out his , Raichu, , and to demonstrate good teamwork. Unfortunately, Cinderace is too fast and energetic for the other Pokémon to keep up, so the demonstration ends in a failure. Next, Goh has his Pokémon follow after the brass. After some training with Goh's Pokémon, the brass becomes more confident in giving orders, and Goh returns to Ash, allowing the brass to reunite with its troopers and relieving Pikachu of his involuntary leadership duty.
While Ash and Goh observe Falinks's synchronized movements and recognize it as a sign of improved teamwork, Eiscue, which has been on a wild ride around the nearby area, appears before them and ends up running into Falinks. Aggravated, Falinks challenges Eiscue to a battle. During the battle, the brass demonstrates its improved confidence by effectively commanding the troopers in both attack and defense. However, when the battle causes the ice around Eiscue's face to break, it panics again and runs off. Still, Ash and Goh are impressed by what they saw, and decide to head back, having gotten all the Falinks data they wanted. After a brief discussion between the brass and the troopers, Falinks expresses its willingness to come along with Goh. Happily agreeing to this, Goh then catches Falinks. Ash is excited by thinking of all the Galarian Pokémon that he's not seen yet, and he and Goh agree to visit the region again for more research later.
Meanwhile, Eiscue, having fallen into a river, drifts out into the ocean, the ice around its face slowly reforming, until it eventually finds itself back home with its colony, making it happy.
==Major events==
* and Goh visit Galar again.
* Goh a and a .
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* ()
* (Galarian Form)
=====TV episode debuts=====
* (Galarian Form)
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* 
* Goh
* Professor Cerise
* Chrysa
* Ren
* Children
* Ice cream vendor
===Pokémon===
Who's That Pokémon?: ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; ×3)
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; )
* ()
* ()
* ()
* ()
* (; Galarian Form; new)
* (; new)
* (Professor Cerise's; Rotom Phone)
* (Trainer's)
* (; multiple; debut)
* 
* 
* 
* (Galarian Form; debut)
==Trivia==
* Get Inspired! Let's Solve a Poké Riddle!!: 
* The English dub title is a reference to the phrase "to grab the brass ring".
* When following around, the Falinks troopers repeat the word "Pika".
* Goh, , Chloe, , , , and Pikachu narrate the preview for the next episode.
===Errors===
===Dub edits===
* The Japanese text depicting the Galar region's name is edited out.
==In other languages==
073
Category:Episodes written by Akemi Omode
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Noriaki Saitō
Category:Episodes by one-time directors
Category:Episodes animated by Chiaki Kurakazu
Category:Episodes animated by Kaori Saitō
Category:Episodes animated by Tomohiro Koyama
Category:Episodes animated by Kōichi Taguchi
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a main character obtains a new Pokémon
Category:Episodes which aired in Canada before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
de:Anführer gesucht!
es:EP1162
fr:LV073
it:EP073
ja:新無印編第73話
zh:宝可梦 旅途 第73集