While Pokémon doesn't technically have filler, here's a guide to the episodes with direct relevance to the first season's plot.

This all started with Pokémon Season 1, Episode 1, "I Choose You!" and that makes it not only the most essential episode of Pokémon, but one of the most essential anime episodes, as well.

A lot of what made it onto TV in the late 90s wouldn’t fly today, but even so, Pokémon season 1, episode 18, “Beauty and the Beach,” was an obvious non-starter.

Season 1 The first 80 episodes of the Pokémon anime were groundbreaking in every way. It set up every trope and theme the series would go on to follow for the next 26 years of the anime's tenure.