Did anyone else feel like "Season 2" of Best Wishes was the weakest part of this gen?

Oh boy, where do I begin... I totally agree that BWS2 was when the Unova series went down the crapper. So much rushed battles and wasted opportunities, with most of the Junior Cup and Unova League being a shocking letdown. I really hoped the writers would have learned from their mistakes in the Junior Cup, but they then go on and make an even crappier Unova League.

Apart from Stephan and possibly Bianca, the rivals were a bit lackluster too. I was pleased as punch to see Trip go out so early in the Unova League after his cocky attitude back in the Junior Cup but looking back on it now I think their battle lacked something. It also made the attempts to make him look like a legit threat back in the Junior Cup feel like a total waste of screentime that could have easily been replaced by footage of paint drying. We also got fucked over in terms of league rivals too, with the thick-as-a-brick Cameron and the almost nonexistant Virgil. Come on, the Sinnoh League had none of that shit and it still went pretty well apart from one certain trainer.

It seems like this series just can't survive without a character to hate and Cameron filled in that role shockingly well. He pulls an Iris on us by bringing out a Hydreigon out of nowhere, and I still can't believe that he was allowed to bring 5 Pokemon to a Full 6v6 battle. I'm pretty sure there would be some rule against that. The worst part for me is the fact that he could have missed that league had Ash not helped him out twice. Gah...

Aside from Ash/Iris in the Junior Cup and Ash/Stephan in the Unova League, the battles weren't really that good or memorable either. Iris and Trip pretty much steamrolled their way through type disadvantages in the Junior Cup and the amount of barely seen battles there was just too much. The Unova League performed a bit better in that aspect though.

Outside of those two tournaments, things still don't look too pretty. The general pacing was a bit too quick for me and the battles aren't really memorable. Marlon's debut and only battling appearance so far was lackluster (and I'm sure it came to the dissapointment of many fangirls), the conclusion to Iris's story was "too little, too late", Dawn's return was pretty much pointless, and a filler in the middle of a fucking league?! Are you shitting me? Honestly, the only other good parts were Meloetta and TR. It was pretty much the cherry on top of the shit sundae. (Yeah, I think I got that from the Angry Video Game Nerd. It looks like we're all quoting him here.)

I think that things could have been improved if Ash was still in his badge journey at this point mainly so they would have had something to do rather than bumming around in Cynthia's villa for 13 episodes. The overall pacing of the series could have been slowed down a bit too.

Episode N and Charizard's upcoming return are the last chances the writers have of reviving this series. If they fuck these up too then I'm through with the anime till Gen VI...

Like others I started to lose interest way before Best Wishes 2 began, and here's why:

-Why in the world were the writers giving evolutions in all the wrong places at the wrong times? It was unbearable to watch Ash win his gym battles through evolution of pokemon with little personality, yet Oshawott and Snivy get the shaft. By Best Wishes 2 you think this would be improved, but no. Not even decent battles for the two, that's what pissed me off the most.

-Rival development were sad before and after BW2. Georgia and Burgundy really didn't get the credit they deserved. I seriously don't know why the writers decided to abandon the idea of "underdog" rivalries like May and Drew and Ash and Paul, but since this was their first attempt, I will gladly say I'm just thankful for them giving side main characters rivals. Trip is just irrelevant so that tournament win is long forgotten for me, especially since I think he is one of the most emotionless characters I have ever seen. I will go on to say that Stephan won me over with providing a decent league battle, so I'm very thankful for him. Bianca getting robbed in the League also pissed me off to smitherines!

-Dawn's cameo was sadly pointless. If the writers wanted to go the creative route, they could've mentioned May or Dawn's rivals(at least Ursula, she's the one who had REAL unfinished business with Dawn). I also wanted more screentime for Buneary and Pachirisu because they can be adorably hilarious. But sadly no, Dawn appeared more-so as a prop. They actually should show the next Wallace Cup as a Pokemon special(with some rivals we know) to make up for this. Dawn was treated like crap.

-The League...what League? It came and went, granted Ash did deserve that position for how he performed all saga, but Cameron and Virgil were two characters that were just...not..fun..to..watch.

It's sad to see Cameron and Virgil do so much higher. The least they could've done was had Ash get overconfident against Bel and have her beat him and have Kenyan win the whole thing. Burgundy and Georgia should have been Cameron and Virgil's substitutes. Granted, they each may have suffered another loss, but at least their entertaining.

Virgil pissed me off because he was around strictly because of promotion and I felt I was losing brain cells whenever I came on screen.

I actually thought May making an appearance saying she switched over to gyms out of nowhere and winning the Unova League herself would have been better writing. I really pray that Generation 6 isn't THAT bad. No more evolutions in gym battles, no more mishandling of rivals, no more boring rivals with no emotion, no more extra captures.
Please, Best Wishes been there, tried that, and failed epicly.

I actually thought it'd be a neat idea for Ash to mention Gible to Iris. Then, thinking about the way the writers handled this saga, I feared he might actually let her keep it and that it wasn't so crazy to believe it.

See what Best Wishes does to people...