Quoted By:
XY had the potential but was out due to the plot having holes and unmentioned parts.
The original goal for Team Flare, the whole getting in it for money part was unoriginal but a classic way, stealing valuable items and using it for their personal gain. They usually came across as a bunch of stuck up pricks who were fending for themselves, half way through most of them just spewed random shit and it left a bad taste.
Lysandre while a bad leader wasn't awful, he touched up on the real world shit like how the world is full of selfish assholes just like his members. He hinted his misanthropy several times and just full on out of nowhere said to everyone that he would kill them all, it should have been overheard by the grunts near 7th gym what and where the plan was.
The capturing of AZ and the legendary, also left untouched on how those happened and the fact that they were freed without too much effort, it's just sort of "oh we have these guys so that's a thing, you can set them free and stop the plan if you want" and if it wasn't for the pale blue glove guy swindling you, I would have been less impressed.
Finally, how the whole situation is confronted, the inventor and possibly rich guy who has control over a lot of things mentions that he'll get rid of everyone and nobody steps up to do something about it. Even your 'friends' don't do much, serena maybe but you're just left ditched and forced to take on several admins and a legendary all by yourself near the end.