Episode 26 - Gung Ho!

You know, for an episode about Tommy and Jason, this one actually wasn't that bad! That is probably because a) most of the episode features them showing off their mad martial arts skills and b) they're shirtless for a lot of it. All good things, as far as we're concerned.

Anyway, like the last Jason centric episode, this one is about Jason (and Tommy!) learning the importance of cooperation and teamwork. And like the last one, we have no idea why they chose that particular moral for the episode. I mean, yes, Jason and Tommy need to learn to get along. But they weren't really having any problems with it in the last few episodes, and it doesn't work in context.

Tommy and Jason are preparing for the Team Ninja Finals, even though they just had a Martial Arts Expo just a few episodes ago. Angel Grove has a lot of martial arts competitions. One of these days I will post my theory about how Angel Grove is secretly a country, and this episode just backs up that theory. It would explain the wacky geography, maybe.

The boys are sparring against each other, and apparently this is preventing them from cooperating. No shit. They're sparring AGAINST each other. Unless they were doing an intricate kata, they shouldn't really be cooperating at that exact moment. I mean, for real. If they were practicing against two others, then yes, it would work, but they're both trying to beat the other person at that exact moment, so I have no idea what they're going on about.

The other Rangers are all watching them spar (and honestly, we can't blame them. They're both quite pretty at this point in time) and Trini gives them a lecture about how Gung Ho is Chinese for working together. A quick google search will point out that while the two characters in that phrase do mean "work" and "together" but they don't count as an official phrase. (So speaks wikipedia, but the librarian in me cries typing that sentence.) It is however a motto for the Chinese Industrial Cooperative Society. We'll totally give the show credit for it anyway.

Before Jason and Tommy can roll their eyes too much, Bulk and Skull show up in ridiculous outfits. Bulk is all pimped out, and Skull is a referee. Apparently they're sponsoring their own team of ninjas in the competition, and we get to watch the two ringers spar. They're not bad, and Tommy and Jason look nervous. Then Bulk gets knocked over. *sigh* But we have a few questions. This is supposedly the finals, so how come Jason and Tommy are just seeing these guys now? If they were having trouble working together before, how come it didn't affect them getting to the finals? And if they need to be sponsored to be in the competition, who is sponsoring the Rangers?

Meanwhile, on the moon, Rita is all excited for her super putties, and we're incredibly excited, because they remembered what happened last episode! Except wait, it looks like the Frankenstein monster they blew up in an extremely gory fashion is alive and well. So close, show! So close!

We switch to Trini and Kim walking in the park, and Trini starts talking about how Zack is helping the boys train, and... well, isn't Trini supposed to be a martial artist herself? Isn't that her big defining characteristic? Apparently she can't be bothered, or else the show just doesn't want to showcase her skills. They get attacked by the all new super putties, and promptly get their asses kicked. In a rare moment of actually remembering what the communicators are for, Kimberly calls Zordon and asked for help. Zordon immediately pages the other Rangers (and I briefly need to point out how ANCIENT Billy's laptop is. OMG we are SO OLD) and they run out of the Youth Center to go help the girls.

Queenriley immediately flails because Billy went to protect Trini. OTP, y'all. OTP. (Even if Trini should be able to take care of herself. I mean, really.)

Back at the Command Center, the Rangers demand some answers from Zordon. Putties haven't kicked their asses since episode 1. Zordon explains about the Super Putties, and then tells Tommy and Jason that they must go retrieve new weapons to defeat the putties, while the others go morph and fight them. Apparently Tommy and Jason retrieving new weapons involves tearing the map in half so that they can learn to cooperate. We get that learning to cooperate is important, but maybe they could do that at a time where the rest of the team isn't in danger? I mean, seriously. We have to admit that the Super Putties are pretty awesome. If they get broken, they reform into two new putties! How awesome is that?

While four of the Rangers are getting beaten up by a bunch of clay goons, Tommy and Jason discover a rock, and Jason is all "Look at me! I found a rock!" and Tommy is "not without my half of the map, you didn't!" and for real, just get over it. We're assuming that they're still on Earth, but the geography of this makes no sense, although we supposed we shouldn't be surprised by that. Apparently there's some shrine to dinosaurs (Sabre-toothed tigers and Mastodons still ARE NOT DINOSAURS) that nobody has discovered. Jason comments that it's too easy, and apparently he's never seen a movie in his life, because he doesn't know that means they're about to get attacked.

And they are! It's Titanus, although we don't know that yet. They morph, and then fall down a hill. Apparently to solve all their teamwork problems, Jason gives his sword to Tommy and Tommy gives his shield to Jason, and then Jason runs up the hill and grabs the new weapons. We're not quite sure how a sword is a long distance weapon, but apparently Tommy uses it to fire some sort of energy, but we've seen him do that before with his Dragon Daggers, so IDK. They teleport to the other Rangers and give them the new weapons, which are weird slingshot shaped guns, and then they blow up the putties. The end. Hey, there wasn't an actual monster this episode! Wacky! And we've still got... a lot of time left!

We then return to the Youth Center, for the highlight of the episode. More sparring! Except shirtless this time. Right before the competition begins, Zordon rings them, and they answer their communicators in the middle of the Youth Center, and nobody notices. Seriously, Zordon is drugging the water or something. He tells them Titanus was the guardian and will be an ally.

Jason and Tommy win the competition, and then Bulk gets covered in water. We still have no idea why they chose this episode to be Jason's second "learn to work together" episode. We can't wait until Jason gets an episode that isn't about that.

Lists!

This episode gets 4 fish. It isn't quite as ridiculous as the Bench Pressing one, and we feel that we should be nicer because it actually mostly remembers what happens in the episode before, but it's pretty ridiculous. Amazingly, we didn't actually mind Tommy in this episode. This was pretty necessary for his involvement in the team, but the execution was pretty flawed.

Covered in food: Bulk gets covered in water. Surprise, surprise.