Maybe it's just from Misty fanboys or it's just me being soft and spineless and not being able to separate fiction from reality, but I find it a hit-or-miss. Sometimes Ash deserves it, other times Misty is being a bitch (especially in that Princess vs Princess episode that I hated even as a kid), other times it's just simple cartoonish slapstick. I do appreciate the edge of the origial series compared to the tameness of what comes later (the roasts especially), but maybe I'm just salty because Ash doesn't also physically fight back. At least Brock had the guts to smack his fist on her head.

btw r.i.p. Rachel Lillis