BW032

← BW031 : Ash and Trip's Third Battle!

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

BW033 : Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster! →

Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open!

BW032   EP689 ガマガル、マッギョ！水辺の戦い！！ Gamagaru, Maggyo! Battle on the Waterfront!!

First broadcast Japan May 19, 2011 United States September 10, 2011

English themes Opening Black and White Ending

Japanese themes Opening ベストウイッシュ！ Ending ポケモン言えるかな？ＢＷ

Credits Animation Team Kato Screenplay 武上純希 Junki Takegami Storyboard 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Assistant director 浅田裕二 Yūji Asada Animation director 岩根雅明 Masaaki Iwane Additional credits

Screenshots on Filb.de

Facing Fear with Eyes Wide Open! (Japanese: ガマガル、マッギョ！水辺の戦い！！ Gamagaru, Maggyo! Battle on the Waterfront!!) is the 32nd episode of Pokémon the Series: Black & White, and the 689th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on May 19, 2011 and first aired in the United States on September 10, 2011.

Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.

Blurb

Stopping for lunch alongside a beautiful lake on their way to Nimbasa City, Ash decides to conduct some special training with Oshawott to teach it how to open its eyes underwater, while Iris keeps an eye on all the other Pokémon as they run off to play. During playtime, Scraggy encounters a group of Foongus and—as usual—greets them with a headbutt. The angry Foongus respond by shooting poison spores at our heroes’ Pokémon, making Pikachu and the others ill!

Iris agrees to watch over the poisoned Pokémon while Ash, Cilan, and Oshawott go to find the cure: a water plant called Remeyo Weed, which grows in tight crevices at the bottom of the nearby lake. Cilan waits on the shore while Ash guides Oshawott, who still won’t open its eyes, down to the lake bottom. Suddenly, they are attacked by a group of Tympole, commanded by a powerful Palpitoad! Oshawott finally manages to open its eyes so it can battle back, and quickly drives off the attackers.

But the danger isn’t over. Palpitoad’s ally Stunfisk arrives and turns on Ash and Oshawott, driving them out of the water with its shocking attacks. Fortunately, Cilan is an accomplished fisherman, and he manages to catch Stunfisk—and when Palpitoad surfaces to come after Oshawott again, Ash manages to catch it with the help of Oshawott’s Aqua Jet, now with much better aim!

With Palpitoad and Stunfisk out of the way, Oshawott has no trouble gathering the Remeyo Weed so Iris can make medicine for the ailing Pokémon. And so, our heroes have added two new Pokémon to the family, and Oshawott has conquered a major fear!

Plot

While continuing their journey to Nimbasa City, Ash and his friends spot a beautiful lake. Iris and Cilan think it is a great place to stop for lunch, but all Ash is thinking about is what Trip said to him in the previous episode, when he said that Oshawott was having trouble with Aqua Jet because he wasn't opening his eyes underwater, and Ash decides that this is the perfect training spot for that. So the group lets out all of their Pokémon, excluding Iris's Excadrill. Ash and Oshawott go into the water while the others start cooking.

Ash and Oshawott jump in the water and begin training. Ash tries to get Oshawott to open his eyes underwater, but he refuses. As a result, Ash forcibly opens Oshawott's eyes. This scares Oshawott so much that he uses Water Gun on Ash, blasting him out of the lake.

Back at the camp, Cilan is cooking lunch while Iris watches. All of the Pokémon are having fun playing together, except for Snivy and Emolga, as they keep getting into fights. The group starts playing catch, but Emolga forcibly hits the ball as hard as she can at Snivy, so Snivy uses Vine Whip to send it away. Cilan's Dwebble catches it, but the ball deflates after Dwebble touches it with its pointy hands. Meanwhile, Ash's Scraggy wanders off and finds a group of Foongus. He begins to Headbutt them as he does with every other Pokémon he meets. However, the Foongus become angry and attack Scraggy with poison spores to paralyze them. Cilan announces that lunch is ready, but the other Pokémon have gone to see what happened. When they get there, they get attacked by Poison Powder as well. Iris and Cilan go to see what happened, and they are devastated. Ash and Oshawott soon come up, equally concerned. Ash then scans the Foongus with his Pokédex and the Foongus run away. Cilan says the Pokémon need serious medical attention, but there are no Pokémon Centers for miles.

However, Iris comes up with an idea. She says she needs a Remeyo weed found at the bottom of the lake in order to cure the Pokémon. Iris volunteers to watch the Pokémon, while Ash, Oshawott, and Cilan go back to the lake. They arrive, and Ash and Oshawott go to the bottom of the lake. However, Oshawott still won't open his eyes and Ash has to guide him by pulling on his ears. Meanwhile, back at camp, the condition of the Pokémon is becoming worse. Iris becomes extremely worried and wonders how the boys are doing. Nearby, an angry Palpitoad watches the duo and decides to attack, so he commands a group of Tympole to attack them. Ash spots the Remeyo weed and tells Oshawott to grab it, just when the Tympole attack. Ash manages to get away, but Oshawott, with his eyes closed, is a sitting duck just waiting to be attacked. Ash tries to get Oshawott out of harm's way, but the Tympole attack with powerful Hydro Pump and Supersonic attacks. Oshawott tries to fight back using Razor Shell, but with his eyes closed, it proves ineffective. Ash begs Oshawott to open his eyes, and after a few tries, he succeeds and reflects a Bubble Beam shot at him by the Tympole. The Tympole then swim away in fear. Ash and Oshawott decide to retreat for now. However, the angry Palpitoad isn't done with them yet. He calls on Stunfisk, who was hiding with Camouflage, to attack Ash and Oshawott. Stunfisk launches a powerful Thunder Shock attack, sending Ash and Oshawott out of the lake. Ash and Cilan then ponder their next move.

Ash after catching Palpitoad

Ash and Oshawott plan to swim down the bottom of the lake again. However, Stunfisk jumps out of the lake and laughs at the group. Cilan volunteers to distract Stunfisk using his expert fishing skills. Cilan then starts throwing Stunfisk in the air and spinning it around, hoping to make it dizzy and tells Ash and Oshawott to hurry and get the Remeyo weed. However, the Palpitoad jumps out of the lake and attacks them. Stunfisk uses Mud Bomb on Cilan, which he barely dodges. Ash asks Oshawott to battle Palpitoad. Oshawott looks a little nervous about that, but Ash convinces him. Oshawott starts with a Water Gun but is easily countered by Palpitoad's Hydro Pump. Ash commands Oshawott to use Razor Shell but is stopped by Palpitoad's Supersonic. Palpitoad then quickly switches to Mud Shot, making contact, and blasts Oshawott into a small pool of mud. Cilan takes note of how quickly Palpitoad can alternate between moves. Oshawott stands up, wipes the mud off his face, and continues to battle.

Oshawott and Palpitoad continue battling. Ash commands an Aqua Jet, but it misses. Palpitoad then aims another Mud Shot at Oshawott. Ash tells Oshawott to remember how he beat the Tympole because he had his eyes open, and that convinces him to open them now and is able to dodge the Mud Shot attack and hits Palpitoad with the powerful Aqua Jet, knocking him out. Meanwhile, Cilan also manages to knock out Stunfisk, who had gotten dizzy from being spun around so much. The two Trainers decide to catch the Pokémon, Ash getting Palpitoad and Cilan getting Stunfisk. Now that the threat is gone, Oshawott easily goes down to the bottom of the lake and grabs the Remeyo weed. The trio goes back to camp and Iris crushes it into medicine that the Pokémon take. After a while, they start feeling better, and they cheer on Oshawott for being brave and mastering Aqua Jet.

Major events

Cilan after catching Stunfisk

• Ash's Oshawott overcomes his fear of opening his eyes underwater and perfects Aqua Jet as a result.
• Ash catches a Palpitoad.
• Cilan catches a Stunfisk.

For a list of all major events in the animated series, please see the history page.

Debuts

Pokémon debuts

• Ash's Palpitoad
• Stunfisk (Cilan's)
• Foongus
• Tympole

Characters

Humans

• Ash
• Iris
• Cilan
• Trip (flashback)

Pokémon

Who's That Pokémon?

Who's That Pokémon?: Foongus

• Pikachu (Ash's)
• Axew (Iris's)
• Oshawott (Ash's)
• Tepig (Ash's)
• Snivy (Ash's)
• Scraggy (Ash's)
• Swadloon (Ash's)
• Palpitoad (Ash's; new)
• Emolga (Iris's)
• Pansage (Cilan's)
• Dwebble (Cilan's)
• Stunfisk (Cilan's; new; debut)
• Foongus (multiple; debut)
• Tympole (multiple; debut)

Trivia

• Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster: Whirlipede*.
• There is no Professor Oak's Pokémon Live Caster following this episode.
• This episode is one of the only three times a Pokémon is caught in a battle with a human; the other two times occurred in Mystery at the Lighthouse and A Tail with a Twist!
• This is the first time Ash has:
  • Caught a Pokémon in its evolved state since he caught Noctowl in Fowl Play!, 535 episodes earlier.
  • Caught a dual Water-type Pokémon since he caught his Lapras in The Lost Lapras, 605 episodes earlier.
  • Acquired an evolved Water-type Pokémon since his Krabby evolved into Kingler in Round One - Begin!, 614 episodes earlier.
• This marks a rare instance of more than one main character catching a Pokémon in the same episode, the only other instance before this being All in a Day's Wurmple, when May and Jessie each catch a Wurmple, 401 episodes earlier.
• Despite the move having existed since Generation III, this is the first time Camouflage is used in the anime.
• Ash and Iris narrate the preview for the next episode.

Errors

• When Ash and Oshawott are stretching before getting into the water, Ash is closest to the water facing away from it. When he kneels down, and the camera changes, their positions are switched.
• When Ash is telling Oshawott not to worry, his mouth doesn't move.
• Stunfisk's mouth is yellow instead of light-brown just before Ash scans it with his Pokédex.
• When Cilan is leaning against the tree at the end of the episode, his left forearm is missing.
• During the ending scene, Tepig's tail is missing while Pansage has some lumps around his shoulders.

• 

  Stunfisk's mouth error.

• 

  Tepig's tail and Pansage's shoulders.

In other languages

Language		Title
Mandarin Chinese		藍蟾蜍、泥巴魚！水邊的戰鬥！！
Danish		At se Frygten i øjnene!
Dutch		Met open ogen het gevaar tegemoet gaan!
Finnish		Silmät auki pelkoa päin!
European French		Affronter la peur les yeux grand ouverts !
German		Stell dich der Angst mit offenen Augen
Greek		Αντιμετώπίζοντας το Φόβο με Ανοιχτά τα Μάτια!
Hindi		खतरों का बेखौफ सामना करना! Kharon Ka Bekhaunf Samna Karna!
Indonesian		Palpitoad dan Stunfisk! Pertarungan di Air!!
Italian		Affrontare la paura con gli occhi ben aperti!
Korean		두까비와 메더! 연못가의 대결투!
Norwegian		Møter frykten med vidåpne øyne!
Polish		Pokonać strach z otwartymi oczami!
Portuguese	Brazil	Enfrentando o Medo de Olhos Abertos!
	Portugal	Enfrentando o Medo de Olhos Bem Abertos!
Russian		Смотреть в глаза страху!
Spanish	Latin America	¡Enfrentando al miedo con los ojos bien abiertos!
	Spain	¡Enfrentándose al miedo con los ojos bien abiertos!
Swedish		Möt rädslan med ögonen vidöppna!
Thai		กามาการุ แมคเกียว! ศึกริมน้ำ!!

← BW031 : Ash and Trip's Third Battle!

Pokémon the Series: Black & White

BW033 : Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster! →

This episode article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of Pokémon animation.