I think this is the part of the story where I lost interest as a kid, maybe because I was growing out of the show at the time. Either way this marks the spot where new pokemon start being introduced and where someone leaves the group. It also is a good example of one of the things that annoyed me about Pokemon both the game and the show...there's too much going on at once. There's so many different goals that stuff just keeps getting piled on and nothing gets resolved because all the goals are open ended and never ending. Discover Pokemon, train Pokemon, catch all the Pokemon, win the gym badges, compete in the Pokemon league, replace Misty's bike, become a Pokemon breeder, evolve your Pokemon, stop team Rockets plans and do tasks for Oak. In this one they are supposed to be bringing a new type of Poke Ball back to professor Oak but get sidetracked and instead of completing the task they move on to competing in the Pokemon league in a new place...it's just so unorganized and chaotic. If it wasn't for the theme song I would have long forgot what the point was supposed to be because they get sidetracked while getting sidetracked on their sidetrack.
There's never a satisfying place to stop with Pokemon it's designed to be like a crack addiction, you'll never stop watching or playing because there's never a conclusion. The show started in 1997 and is still going in 2023... 26 years of nearly 1,300 episodes with no end in sight. It's one thing to keep a popular show going but you have to satisfy and conclude story arcs but there are plotlines that began in 97 that weren't resolved until 25 years later...the people who were kids when this show started are grown adults now I don't have time to watch 1,300 episodes to see how a story I watched as a kid ends. They should end the series with each generation and then start a new series with new characters instead of having them bleed into each other in an endless stream of chaos.