>>40222299They aren't that evil. Jessie and James had shitty childhoods and failed aspirations, while Meowth was rejected by both its own kind and humans. They joined Team Rocket because it gave them a door to fame, fortune, and love. Jessie's dream is to be admired and loved, and she sees being famous or rich as the path to that end. James' dream is to find friends and a place for him of his choosing that accepts him for who he truly is. Meowth's dream is to find that one thing that he is competent at so he won't be turned away for being differnet.
TRio see Giovanni as a surrogate father and they try desperately to seek his approval.
They may resort to trickery, theft, kidnapping, destruction (on a city-block scale), but those are a means to an end of getting Giovanni's approval and their dreams. They are selfish, greedy, and reckless but they aren't sociopaths.
When face-to-face with more evil antagonists, Team Rocket often refuses to join their cause and are disgusted by them. Hunter J is cruel and callous to any of her targets, emotionally torturing them before freezing them permanently. The evil villain teams are far too destructive and just want to cause destruction for the sake of that destruction. The Iron Mask from Movie 4 is extremely brutal as he resorts to torturing and killing Pokemon by using other Pokemon as tools. Even Faba trying to mentally erase Lillie's memories of him being responsible for the incident that emotionally scarred her for most of her life is considered too evil for them.
Team Rocket has saved Ash and his friends more than multiple times, and they intend on paying back debts to the people and Pokemon that have helped them. Jessie refused to fight the Blissey that she befriended in nursing school. James fought against his friends to protect his foster grandparents' home and Pokemon. Meowth fought against Malamar and its cronies because they just want to make a world for themselves and destroy everything else.
