May and Max witness a live Pokemon evolution for the first time.
Brock's Forretress is revealed to know Tackle.
After Poochyena uses Bite to free itself and the other Pokémon from Team Rocket's net, Meowth makes a pop culture reference to McGruff the Crime Dog's motto "Take a bite out of crime."
This episode marks the first time in the anime when a Pokédex entry is shown for a Pokémon that doesn't otherwise appear in the episode. This wouldn't happen again until Battle Club! A Mysterious Pokémon Appears!! (2010), 376 episodes later.
Ash criticizes Max for making Poochyena evolve into a Mightyena by faking a battle, although he ironically did the same thing in Paras and Parasect (1998).