>>54506493Goh was competent from day one. He was a little nerd, though ostensibly friendless aside from Chloe, but never unpleasant. I was as skeptical as most about the idea of him catching so many Pokemon and holding them all at Sakuragi Park, but the in-between episodes showed how much he did care for him. Some of the high emotional moments of the series involved Goh just caring about his Pokemon. The one that sticks out most to me is when his Sobble evolved into Drizzile, became a moody teenager, and wanted to hang out in his room all day because he wasn't an Inteleon. After a small tiff, Goh sought him out, remembered his own experiences of being forced into trying to be with people, and told the Drizzile it was cool for him to take his time. There's a lot of untapped potential with him to develop further, but he was a good egg.
Chloe's a bit different. Pokemon needs a straightman, and while Goh could straightman Ash, he himself was goofy enough that he needed one for him. Chloe fit that role. It was nice seeing her warm up over the first chunk of the series to becoming a person who was more accepting of Goh and Ash's goof shit. I get people's frustrations with the Eevee, and her indecisiveness, and I see why Liko gives them flashbacks. I think that could've been resolved if her ending wasn't kind of a weird episode in the middle of the Masters 8 where it seemed like she just decided to continue as she was. Still more untapped potential.
>>54506540That kind of happened in Journeys. It was just scattered all over the place, and felt a bit empty. MPM filled in the gaps of cameos, and I think its focus (so far) has been a better take. In my ideal world, the first 70 or so episodes of Journeys would've been MPM + Ash beating Leon, and the second half would've been Goh and Chloe as the first stab at a post-Ash anime.