So we start off with Rocky and Billy sitting around a table at Ernie's Juice Bar. They have a pile of books and Billy is quizzing Rocky on math. Rocky gets the proper answer and Billy is sure Rocky will have no trouble acing the ADVANCED MATH test. The same ADVANCED MATH test that Billy himself is taking. Which means, Rocky is on level with Billy when it comes to math which means Rocky is NOT stupid (despite popular fanon opinion).
I kind of love Rocky, can you tell? I hate that he gets a bad rap in the fandom.
Anyway, Ernie is setting up a new pachinko machine. Ernie tells Rocky to give it a try and Zedd notices that Rocky seems to enjoy it. So while everybody conveniently turns away, Zedd puts Rocky under a spell. An irresponsibility spell. It makes Rocky want to play non-stop (and I see sudden disturbing similarities between Rocky and my Spousal Person). He even says he just wants to have fun when Billy tries to get him to stop playing and study some more. A Tiny Child of Adorableness comes up and pleads with Rocky to help her practice for her green belt, but he refuses. She asks Billy what's wrong with Rocky and THAT was the first sign to Billy that something really was amiss. Really? Do you have so little faith in Rocky, Billy, that you wouldn't notice when he goes from abnormally responsible teenager to tethered to a pachinko machine? Seriously?
Meanwhile, Skull blocks Bulk's video game (oh arcade games... I miss the days of your allowance eating fun) with a huge stack of papers. It appears Skull has done LOTS of research. He's gathered information on every single monster attack for the prior six months and coordinated local citizens habits. He discovered that every time a monster attacked, Ernie had the day off (except he didn't really). Ergo, Ernie must be a Power Ranger! They grow suspicious.
In Ranger happenings, instead of remembering those handy little communicators that he invented, Billy runs all the way to the park to meet up with the others and tell them something is wrong with Rocky. Adam says he'll go talk to Rocky, but not once does ANYBODY say "Gosh, maybe my normally reliable friend has fallen under a spell that has changed his personality! We ought to look into that hypothesis." No, that never crosses their minds. They are horrible friends.
Zedd doesn't want them ruining his fun so he sends down a bunch of putties. He's cruising around space in Serpenterra for no reason other than he's a badass. Go on with your bad self, Zedd, and have your fun.
Aisha brilliantly remembers the communicator she's had for all of a month or whatever and calls Zordon. They apparently need backup. Zordon is going to send Rocky over and doesn't question Rocky's behaviour when he answers his communicator in a surly voice and nearly refuses to go the park. He changes his mind, however, when he realizes the park could be a lot of fun
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull are trying to be secretive and detective-like and investigate Ernie. It's adorable and Skull is awesome at improvising.
Rocky shows up at the park and ignores the putties, instead playing around with a frisbee and the playground equipment. He has some nice arms. Ahem. Anyway, Zedd turns Ernie's pachinko machine into a monster and the rangers all morph, even Rocky, though we can't figure out why he morphed as well. He runs straight for the monster, thinking he'll know how to have fun. He dances around the other rangers and generally acts very silly. They STILL don't suspect a spell or any kind of evildoing. Terrible terrible friends.
The pachinko machine monster starts turning rangers into balls and Rocky plays around with them. Heeee. My inner twelve year old giggles uncontrollably at Rocky playing with his teammate balls. Eventually even Rocky is turned into a ball leaving Tommy as the only ranger standing. He throws a frisbee and the monster chases it, giving Tommy enough time to collect his friends-as-balls and teleport to the Command Center. He tells Zordon Rocky was acting kind of funny and Zordon scans him, discovering he was under a spell the whole time. AND NOBODY NOTICED. *sigh* So Tommy is determined to be the hero and stop the monster on his own. He doesn't need his friends or anything.
Tommy goes off to fight while Alpha finds a way to turn the balls back into rangers. Tommy kind of fails and this takes up about half the episode it seems. Because it's all about Tommy and how he's supposedly awesome. Luckily, Rocky is revived and somehow that magically broke the spell. He feels incredibly guilty (and self-loathing!Rocky is really hot... I may have relationship issues) and is determined to beat the monster and make up for his irresponsible behaviour. So he goes to fight with Tommy. And he wasn't doing half bad until the others show up with their zords. At that point Zedd comes down in Serpenterra and tries to step on them. Tor magically appears and we see the same exact footage we saw four episodes ago. Tor gets squished, Serpenterra loses power (in this episode because Tor drained it), the city is saved (but looks nothing like Angel Grove, because four episodes ago it was an abandoned city on another planet), and Serpenterra flies away. The rangers win by default.
Back at the Youth Center, Bulk and Skull discover that Ernie is not, in fact, a Power Ranger. Bulk is mad at Skull for having an hypothesis. Poor Skull.
Rocky walks over to Aisha and Billy and tells them he'll join their study session after he teaches his karate class and helps Tiny Child of Adorableness practice for her green belt. Billy is kind of mean and decides to confirm that Rocky really is being responsible and doesn't "just want to have fun". Rocky says he learned his lesson, but really? He was UNDER A SPELL. His behaviour was NOT IN HIS CONTROL. It's not like he was doing it on purpose. Anyway, Aisha breaks out and old saying and it's basically a turnaround of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."
Billy still doesn't quite believe him, though, even when Ernie offers Rocky another game of pachinko. I just want to smack Billy upside the head and repeat UNDER A SPELL over and over. It wasn't his fault, people! Give the poor kid a break.
And that's all the not-really-development of Rocky we get for... um... basically ever (although this episode does totally set up our personal fanon that Rocky has an addictive personality... which I kind of love about him, even if it's not exactly a healthy thing).
List time!
4 fish. I'd like some actual character development here, please!
Billy speak: "So it's the exponential difference between this number and that number."
"It's sensational not to be spherical"
Covered in food: Bulk and Skull had some popcorn accidentally spilled on them? But I'm not really counting it.
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