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>The problem is that Ash's sudden 'maturity" doesn't really contribute to how the plot goes in the episode as much as his prior character did in earlier episodes.
>OS Ash's quickdraw snark and stubbornness with Misty led to Brock getting Vulpix and Misty's Poliwag evolving into Poliwhirl. AG Ash decides to ignore May's first round in the Grand Festival to train Snorunt? Suddenly Glalie. Ash's insistence on getting one over Paul and proving him wrong led to his Sinnoh team getting stronger, Chimchar evolving, and Infernape getting over his batshit crazy fever rush and beating Paul at his own game.
>XY Ash's level-headed maturity has been his only defining character trait, to the point that anything contrary to that results in a single second cutaway gag like Serena slapping his hand when he goes to get that food in the Diantha episode, or his enthusiasm over Clemont's inventions, themselves a gag in the first place. An entire episode was devoted to having an alternate dimension Ash with an opposite personality just to demonstrate this point. And yet, none of this maturity has led to anything objectively productive in the episodes like previous Ash incarnations have done. Whenever something happens, it's because the object of interest comes to the XY group, not because Ash sought it out or his character provoked it.
>He's not mature. He's robotic.