Out of This World: Episode 690 - "A UFO for Elgyem!"

I like episodes where there are quirky events and zealous characters all woven into a plot that is seemingly normal. This episode from the Unova saga of the Pokémon anime is just that. The episode is effectively a "Pokémon showcase" where one Pokémon is featured as part of the plot, but the plot itself involves some elements that are quite surreal, or rather supernatural, as they pertain to this episode.

Bright lights in the sky!!

So what happens is that on their journey, Ash, Iris, and Cilan become sidetracked when they were woken up by flashing lights in the sky and decide to investigate the matter. They come upon a science professor (named Icarus in the English dub) and his accompanying Elgyem. An encounter with Team Rocket then predictably leads to chaos as well as a sky-high adventure for all, even involving a flying saucer, whilst Elgyem demonstrates its psychic capabilities all throughout the episode.

"All supernatural events have a rational explanation."

This episode also puts Cilan in the spotlight as he takes on the role of a "science connoisseur". In order to investigate the mysteries posed by the events in the episode, Cilan takes on the assumption that there are sensible reasons for why things are the way they are. And in fact, there are - though the root of the matter remains otherworldly. In doing so, Cilan attempts to demonstrate that he is a "renaissance man" of sorts in regard to knowledge. He's already a fine Trainer and a fine cook, so there's no reason he can't be fine in knowledge either.

Ash, Iris, and Cilan watch the professor work on the saucer.

By the end of the episode, things turn out to be seemingly not that weird after all. The same applies even in our world; we likewise hear many claims and see many pictures of supernatural happenings, though we cannot be conclusive that they are as such. As Cilan says, we can only depend on "rational explanations" that clear them up sensibly... at least until conclusive evidence proves that they are otherwise out of this world.

No saucer, no problem.