Plot
It's the semifinal round of the Wallace Cup and Dawn's Piplup is battling hard against Kyle's Crawdunt. Dawn breaks out one of her trusted strategies--using Whirlpool to envelop an opponent--but that doesn't do much against Crawdunt who hits back with Surf. However, Kyle and his Crawdunt get a big surprise when Piplup's spinning Bide move knocks Crawdunt out of the competition. Dawn's creative strategy earns her a spot in the finals and an awkward post-match interview with Jessie, now in full TV star mode as Jessadia.
The other semifinal match pits May against Zoey and both Coordinators have opted to use their reliable Pokemon: May uses Beautifly while Zoey goes with Glameow. Zoey looks like she's on her way to an early lead with some gorgeous moves by Glameow, but May has plenty of Contest experience on her side. Beautifly catches Glameow by surprise with its new move, Aerial Ace, and May is declared the winner when time runs out.
After seeing May's performance, Dawn feels a little nervous going into the final battle. She sticks with Piplup while May brings in Glaceon, making its first Contest battle appearance since it evolved from Eevee. Once again, Dawn is banking on a strong Whirlpool and creative spinning movesto help her win; Glaceon is a tough opponent and Dawn realizes she can't hold back against an opponent as tough as May. It's a close battle to the finish, but when time runs out, Dawn is the winner! As May returns to Johto and Zoey resumes her own journey, Dawn happily rejoins her friends on the road to Pastoria City and Ash's next Gym Battle.
Trivia
- Details of this episode were made known in K-Zone, an Australian children's magazine, before any official Japanese episode listing.
- The English title is a reference to the famous saying, "Service with a Smile!"
- This episode marks the first time Dawn has won a Ribbon since Settling a Not-So-Old Score!, 52 episodes before.
- Together2008 debuts in this episode.
- Instead of Professor Oak's Pokémon lecture, the end of the episode featured a memorial to Pokémon Heroes. This is part of a countdown to Giratina and the Sky Warrior.
- This episode is the 27th episode of the eleventh season. The previous episode in which Dawn won a Ribbon was the 27th episode of the tenth.
- Dawn and May read the title card. This marks the first time in this season that someone other than Ash reads the title card.
- In the Japanese version, Ash, alongside Dawn and May, reads the title card.
- Dawn's first opponent looks very similar to Cherry from another episode.
- Pokémon Symphonic Medley is used as background music.
- Music from Mewtwo Strikes Back, The Power of One, Jirachi: Wish Maker and Pokémon Ranger and the Temple of the Sea is used.
- This is the last episode that May appears in.
Errors
- When May's Glaceon is sent out for the Contest against Dawn, the long ends hanging off its "sherpa cap" are colored the same color as its body, down to the fold of the ends for a small amount of frames.
- When Zoey tells the gang that May is doing an interview, she says he's doing an interview. This was fixed in later airings.
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