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I'm past being mad about the loss, but the loss basically spells death for hope of Ash ever being anything more than runner up. They can't just have him win the Alola "league" because it'll be an obvious cop out, and they can't have another XYZ unless they pull the "Ash being at his peak" thing for 2 more seasons. Ash losing Kalos just signals to the viewers that regardless of what the fans want, if the higher ups don't want Ash to win, he won't, and they never want him to win.
I'm loving the SM anime, it's fun to watch and very entertaining, but I have zero faith in Ash ever becoming an effective, high level trainer in the future.
