>>53370516-Banette's flashback, revealing the exact circumstances of its abandonment, shaves off the last of its scariness and replaces it with empathy for the emotional climax later (we basically get the "I waited for you" montage from Futurama lol). The girl's face is purposely obscured to reflect Banette's faulty memories. Also interesting that this Banette was a cute dinosaur-like substitute doll, and named Gon-chan (Gon is a famous children's manga about a silent dinosaur from the 90's.)
-The flowers in Banette's memories are too numerous and not detailed enough to perform flower autism on.
-With such a unique birth, it's really interesting to see how the anime chooses to portray Banette's first moments. It appears to wake up without memories or understanding of what had happened (so the doll itself wasn't alive or anything before this), but upon seeing the photograph, it recognized itself and the fact that it was once loved. It doesn't even realize that it looks scary now until it sees its reflection. Very cool.
-The next day when they discover the abandoned house, Misty actually still has the heart in her hair, but Ash has it in his pocket when they confront Banette inside. This is another example of seemingly conscious avoidance of a ship hint (no direct handoff of the heart between Ash and Misty onscreen). These avoidances seem to be purposeful, I'm assuming to keep attention on Banette's emotional story.
-Ash gives the Banette the hair tie, and it's a good heartwarming moment. This episode has a strong emotional core, so Ash's kindness is really felt moreso than usual. They go on the hunt for the little girl, but after a few failed attempts, Misty deduces that the girl they're looking for is grown up by now. A montage of failures as they confront various woman (Brock seems happy to spend his time doing this, much to Misty and Crogunk's chagrin, lol).