>>50136002They really went all out with the episode, paying better homage to XY/Serena than any other season before it, even the "Don't spoil the redesign" bit. But considering this goodbye was essentially a cute extension of the last and they don't have a reason to bring her back extensively like dawn I'm thinking amour's all tapped out as far as screen time goes and they just wanted to reaffirm that these two are probably going to end up together.
popularity or no Ash's love life is a non-factor. unless S/V features Ash's son (don't even entertain this) then the story ends on "but the adventure never ends!" because there's only one unambiguous ship so there's no loose ends
That being said, I started this week thinking we weren't getting a Serena episode, Serena's design would look like a 10 year old when she returned, and that it would be a fumble like most of the returns. so I'm not going to be the guy who pretends to know what the fuck is going on in the writers room.
