A Legendary Photo Op! (Pokémon the Series: XY)

"A Legendary Photo Op!" is the 37th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY Kalos Quest, the 86th episode of Pokémon the Series: XY and the 887th episode of the whole series.

Plot
As Ash and his friends are heading for Mt. Molteau, Trevor teams up with them once again to take a picture of Moltres, who rests beneath the mountain.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) The main criticism of this episode is that it is too similar to Freeze Frame from Season 4 (let alone rehashing said episode), is that a friend of the group whose hobby is to take photographs of one of the legendary birds, with this being Articuno. But in this episode, the same goes with Moltres.
 * 2) Ash has been somewhat poorly-written in this episode who changed from a strong and engaging trainer who learns his mistakes into an obnoxious, selfish trainer. Though not as bad as his Black & White counterpart.
 * 3) The pacing in many scenes near the end of the episode is too fast.
 * 4) Poor writing and dialogue.
 * 5) The motto that Team Rocket delivers is very cheesy.
 * 6) Clemont's crying can be loud and annoying depending on your perspective, which is just filler.
 * 7) The scene near the end where Ash jumps into the volcano to catch Talonflame and attempts to literally kill himself and Talonflame by falling into the lava can be way too dark and out of place for a kid's anime. And it’s also stupid that he would do that because Talonflame is a fire type.
 * 8) *Granted, Frogadier has to save Ash and his Talonflame from falling into the volcano by using his frubbles to form a rope to pull them up to safety. If it weren't for that, Ash and Talonflame would've died and became incinerated in the lava easily!
 * 9) Unnecessary torture of characters, such as Trevor getting attacked by Charmeleon's Flamethrower move, and Ash risking his own life to catch Talonflame while falling into the volcano, as mentioned above.
 * 10) The bias where Moltres realizes that Ash and his friends are enemies is very frustrating, especially for Pokémon standards. Also, Moltres's characterization is too aggressive mainly for torturing and attacking most of the characters.
 * 11) Half-bad ending: Ash's friends scolded him and called him crazy just because he almost fell in the lava along with his Talonflame while attempting to rescue it due to refusing to be careful of himself, which is overall mean-spirited.

Good Qualities

 * 1) It's good to have Moltres back after seventeen years of being lost in the anime.
 * 2) Ash won his battle against Trevor in this episode, which is pretty epic.
 * 3) The scene where Ash's Fletchinder evolves into Talonflame is beautiful and is one of the most iconic moments of the season.
 * 4) *Ignoring this, the battle involving Talonflame against Moltres is very entertaining to watch.
 * 5) Some good funny moments, such as Jessie hitting the device of Clemont's Rock Searcher Mark 1 invention in frustration, only for the rest of the Team Rocket trio to run away while the machine chases them.
 * 6) The montage of some of the photos that Trevor took are pretty heartwarming and entertaining to watch, especially with Moltres.
 * 7) Ash's XY personality in the series isn't that bad, it's just that his counterpart in this episode is poorly written.
 * 8) Half-decent ending: After Trevor takes photos of Moltres, Moltres realizes that the group aren't enemies anymore as he flies away. Ash and his Talonflame high-five at the end of the episode after leaving the mountain.
 * 9) Some fans might enjoy this episode.
 * 10) It isn't really that bad of an episode, just pretty flawed.
 * 11) Good animation and voice acting as usual.

Reception
Despite sitting at a 7.3/10 on IMDb, this episode has received harsh criticism by some fans due to Ash being poorly-written in this episode, and is considered to be one of, if not the weakest episodes in Pokémon the Series: XY. Due to the positive reception, some fans do enjoy this episode despite Ash's poorly written nature.