Episode 361 - Yesterday Again

Today on Power Rangers, it's a much less amusing with no lesson learnt version of Groundhog Day!

We start with Carter failing to fly. He jumps out of his ship and lands... on the clouds? It's totally a simulation. At least they test stuff? Although they don't give a lot of training or time, seeing as they're testing Carter's ability to fly this thing and expect him to fly it for realsies THE NEXT DAY. Joel attempts to be nice, but it just comes across as condescending (or his jerkiness has tainted my view, whatever).

In the mess hall, everyone is confident in Carter. He is Pouty McPouterson and doubts himself while Dana tells really terrible jokes out of the newspaper. I LOVE HER SO MUCH YOU GUYS. Kelsey learns the valuable lesson of NOT rollerblading in the house, because she knocks over a big bowl of breakfast and she, the cook, and the floor are covered in oatmeal. Oh show. We're never going to get rid of that covered in food footnote, are we? At least Chad and Dana help her clean up. I'm sure Joel and Carter would have, but they had more important flying things to do.

Carter still fails. I'm wondering if the problem isn't with the jet instead of Carter. He seemed to be doing just fine when the jet engine started sparking. While he's attempting to NOT BLOW UP, a monster attacks and the rest of the team have to go out and stop it. While he tries to fix the jet. Since when is Carter a mechanic or an engineer? I thought he was a firefighter. He's certainly no Damon!

He morphs, jumps back in the jet, and rushes off to go help his friends, leaving his jacket behind to dramatically flutter in the wind. It's all slow motion and ominous and SUPER DRAMATIC and I love it. He's too late though, showing up just in time to watch his friends get blown to smithereens.

And then he jumps out of the simulation to find Joel standing there telling him he's okay and he'll be ready to fly for real tomorrow. Except he's very concerned because he thought Joel was dead. And nobody seems to think that's strange? What is this magic? It's as if science took a holiday and now Carter is living the day ALL OVER AGAIN. He answers Dana's really bad joke. He dramatically turns as Kelsey dramatically blades towards the chef and then dramatically stops her from spilling oatmeal everywhere. He tells Ms. Fairweather he's concerned he's reliving the same day over again and all she can say is "Simulations can be disorienting." I THINK THAT'S A LITTLE MORE SERIOUS THAN DISORIENTING, MKAY???? And he is CLEARLY not fit to fly, but they're sending him out anyway.

While fixing the power circuits, again, he spies his Dramatic Jacket from his previous day. He determines he traveled through time and that's why he relived the day over again. This... makes no sense. Science is taking a MAJOR holiday here. This is not how even the most unaccepted views on potential time travel work. He rushes off to his friends again and shows up in just enough time to stop them from being blown to smithereens. This time.

Carter uses missiles to attack the monster and manages to do loops and tight corners and amazing tricks in the jet that JUST MOMENTS AGO HE COULDN'T FLY SO BADLY THAT HE BROKE THE ENGINE. That's right. He's now an expert. And apparently the monster can fly because he's chasing Carter in the jet. Carter makes a daring high speed escape. Monster grows. Zords come out. Big fight. Whatever. I'm so done with this episode.

In order to fix the jet, Ms. Fairweather had to replace basically everything. All the circuits. All the fuses. All the everything. But it won't give him any problems now, apparently! Joel gives him the hat. He pulls it off way better. End credits. FINALLY.


5 fish. Just... no.
Covered in food: Kelsey, a chef, and the floor absolutely pasted over with oatmeal.

This is getting the dramatic cape tag because seriously... that dramatic fluttering jacket was the only good thing about that episode.

Episode 356 - A Face From the Past

Previously. Ryan is no longer shirtless every episode. Woe.

Kelsey is rollerblading through the Aquabase, because she is a) apparently not very good at it, and b) a failbot. I mean, I like her. But that is super irresponsible.

Captain Awesome then tells them that he has an important assignment - they need a day off! Which, hey! Is good. Because all work and no play makes them a very dull team. Or something.

Everyone decides to go to the beach, and Joel is busy being an asshat in a wifebeater, Chad and Kelsey go surfing, and Dana decides to bury her brother. Dana, unbury him so we can ogle. Carter, on the other hand, is going to go train. Captain Awesome is all "I told you to take a day off" but Carter is all "from training? Never." So Captain Awesome offers to be his sparring partner.

Captain Awesome is all "don't go easy on me just because I'm an old man" and he ends up flipping Carter. Then they go jogging. Carter offers to slow down for him, but Captain Awesome is all "you're too slow."

The villains then decide to knock out the power to Mariner Bay, which should also shut down the Aquabase. Because they don't have backup generators or something.

Captain Mitchell is all "when I was your age" to Carter, and he tries to convince Carter to take a day off. SERIOUSLY BEST DADDY, EVEN TO KIDS WHO AREN'T HIS.

Carter tells Captain Awesome about the fireman who saved his life as a kid. Carter wants to be as good as him, even though he doesn't know who the mysterious firefighter is. He has such issues. But it is an adorable bonding moment that is sadly interrupted by monsters.

Carter and Captain Awesome show up at the burning power plant, (which was being visited by a field trip of tiny children) and Carter morphs, and Captain Awesome dons firefighter gear and they both go in to help. Because apparently there are just spare uniforms lying around. and the firefighters aren't going to notice or care.

Captain Awesome and Carter make a good team. The rest of the Rangers all show up to help, and Ms. Fairweather calls in to say another power plant is under attack. Captain awesome sends all the Rangers to help that one, saying that he'll handle things here. The tiny children just huddle in the burning building, when Captain Awesome, who is apparently the only firefighter, shows up. Unfortunately, one of the tiny children forgot her bear, so she goes back for the bear.

Meanwhile, the Rangers fight the monster and beat it. (Seriously, super dull.) Then they go back to the fire, and discover Captain Awesome has gone back for the girl and her bear. Carter runs in after them, and Carter realizes that Captain Awesome is the one who saved him years ago. And as he has his realization he just STANDS THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIRE, before Captain Awesome yells at him to run, and Carter gets the girl out.

A fireball comes out of the building, and Dana flips out, assuming her dad is dead, but he has managed to escape unharmed. Then there are hugs. Unfortunately we have to cut away from the heartwarming moment because zords and monsters growing. Luckily, the fight is over quickly, and the villains go talk more about the planets aligning or whatever. Vypra's acting is pretty bad, as usual.

Back on the Aquabase, Carter walks in on Ms. Fairweather patching up Captain Mitchell, and he sees a burn pattern on the Captain's back. The Captain confirms that he was the one who saved Carter all those years ago. And then he's been stalking him ever since. It's both creepy and sweet.

Carter is all "I'm going to train even harder to make you proud!" The Captain again tells him to go take a day off.

And now I ship them. I AM GOING TO HELL.

Anyway, back at the beach, Carter shows up with his shirt unbuttoned. Everyone is like "Carter can have fun? What?" So he decides to spray them with a super soaker while Captain Awesome looks on approvingly.

Fish: 3. It was super cliche, but in a good way.

Today on Power Rangers, the Cocoon of Evil kicks some ass.

So the Cocoon of Evil has made it's way to the city. It has lasers! And is impervious to the Rangers blasters! There is a whole plethora of bad guys just lined up waiting and they are not disappointed. The blasters cause a big explosion and the Cocoon of Evil bursts open, tearing a large crater in the concrete. An evil laugh emerges from the rubble.

Olympius rises from the smoke and ash All Grown Up. He's cocky. And apparently rightfully so because he first throws Carter under his boot and then manages to take down the other four rangers in one blow. He kidnaps them and then suffers some kind of migraine. He is forced to retreat.

The bad guys are very boring. Olympius monologues about his plan and restoring his powers and blah blah blah. It's boring. Apparently monsters lose their power in water, so they can't infiltrate the Aqua Base. Except Olympius can totally change his shape to look like the rangers he has trapped in his little star thingy.

Ryan knows an awful lot about Olympius and the Star Power and he explains everything. Meanwhile Olympius approaches as Chad. Chad looks really good evil. He should be evil more often. He throws some dirt on himself and stumbles out to Carter. Carter buys it hook, line, and sinker and takes him straight home. He's not the brightest crayon in the box.

"Kelsey" comes running up and says everybody is back safe and sound and they can call off the search party Captain Awesome ordered. Carter is suspicious but goes with it anyway. "Kelsey" tries to break into the computer. Unsuccessfully. She breaks into Captain Awesome's office instead and, upon being nearly caught, switches to "Dana" instead. "Joel" even manages to fool Ms. Fairweather and gets the doors open. Seriously lady! He didn't hit on you! THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DEAD GIVEAWAY!

This is not actually a bad plan on the part of the bad guys! It seems to be working, mostly because it seems the Aqua Base is full of idiots.

Of course, then Ms. Fairweather figures out there's a problem and tries to stop Joel. It's only when he attacks her that anybody figures out he's not Joel. Olympius changes back into himself and grabs Ms. Fairweather to use as a shield. Yes, let's put the woman in  danger. Great job show.

Ryan attacks from behind. Carter throws Olympius into the water and manages to avoid getting electrocuted despite the massive surge of electricity going all over the place, and then they both end up on the beach. The other rangers are released from the star and the bad guys have to retreat so Olympius can recover from the water issue. One guy stays behind.

There is a fight. It is boring. The rangers win. I can't even remember this bad guy's name.

Olympius beats himself up over losing the rangers. The other villains mock him for being so young.

The other rangers get on Carter about Olympius getting in. They are really mean about the fact that he couldn't tell the difference between Olympius and his friends. They back him up until he falls in the water again. Poor Carter. That wasn't very nice.

5 fish. Oh god show. This was awful. Just... seriously. I cannot wait for this season to be over. It's so god awful boring.

Episode 341 - Trial By Fire

Today on Power Rangers, we get our Red Learns to be a Leader episode. We start out with Kelsey taking everybody rock climbing. They mock each other and tell funny stories about stupid things they did when they were kids. Fireman Sam Carter says he didn't always want to be a firefighter and then starts to tell a story. It's apparently sad, because he stops before he really gets anywhere. They get called to the training field and have to be all military and saluting and stuff. So much for rock climbing, I guess. There is a big training montage that I just can't hate, even though it makes no sense for what these people were like as civilians. Like, seriously, vaulting so artfully over that wall? Not gonna happen. I do love that they really have to train hard though. Right down to rescuing civilians and medical care on babies. CPR is important to know, even for a Power Ranger! And their weapons training involves lots of paintball, which is always great. Carter apparently was the fastest but got the lowest score because he didn't use his brain, he just shot at the targets. I like this! He has to be able to see the safest way out of any situation and just shooting all the bad guys isn't always it. I can see the argument that Captain Mitchell should have told him why he basically failed. But honestly, given the fact that Carter is basically an adult, and not a cocky badass, frankly I think that wouldn't be giving him enough credit. Nor would it have been a lesson that would have really stuck with him. He needs to find the answer himself, with minimal guidance. He has to work through the steps on his own before he can figure out what he did wrong and what he'll need to do better next time. On the Bad Guy ship, baby creature is upset by... something the monsters are talking about? I don't get it. They decide to destroy things from the ground up and cause what appears to be an earthquake, except of course Lightspeed Rescue knows better. They confront Vypra who has her goons hammering... things?... into the ground in a warehouse. I do not see the point. Anyway, Vypra can't act to save her life so this scene just hurts. Like, wow. She's not just bland, she's BAD. Carter has to jump in to save the people shopping nearby from the bad acting. He puts himself between them and her, but doesn't take into consideration that this warehouse is full of explosive chemicals. Vypra does, and manages to set everything on fire. Carter is ordered to put the fire out first, but he wants to rescue the people from the collapsing ceiling. He does as he's told and saves things from exploding, but does not manage to save a Tiny Child from the falling concrete. Joel rushes in to take the kid to a hospital. Which was actually a bad idea. He should have immobilized the boy's spine and waited for the ambulance. You don't move people with head injuries. Carter rushes back to base and yells at the Captain. He insists he was wrong to listen and should have rescued them. It takes everything Captain Mitchell has to not point out all the explosive chemicals that would have killed everybody instead of just causing one little boy to get hurt. Carter will have to learn this for himself. He goes to visit the little boy in the hospital and apologizes. He tells him the story he started to tell before. He was trapped in a fire (school? apartment? I can't tell). The fireman comes in to rescue him, tries to get him out, and then stops a beam from falling on them. The fireman insists Carter runs away, out of the fire, and into the arms of another fireman. He knows he'll never be that good, but he wants to. He wants to be that strong. It's only then he goes back to the training room where he shot all the paintballs. It's only then he sees the explosive containers and realizes he shot one. It's only then he runs back to the warehouse and sees the containers of gasoline. Then he realizes what he could have done. Captain Mitchell gives a poor inspirational speech about being a leader. This guys is AMAZING. He knows how to teach the important lessons. Carter wouldn't have really learned it if he hadn't been able to puzzle it out for himself. He has to be able to apply that to every situation, not just the obvious one. I am seriously impressed. There is another fight, Carter questions his use as a leader, but leads anyway. It's kind of boring. Carter apparently really likes to shoot stuff. This seems to be his solution to everything. This is probably why it was so important he learn that shooting things is not always the best solution. They win. Duh. Carter goes back to visit the little boy. He's not in his bed and Carter is all sad thinking something really bad happened. But the little boy was just up and about having a walk and he stops Carter. Says thank you and tells him he's okay because of Carter. Then he says he wants to grow up to be just like Carter. My little heart melts. And apparently so does Carter's. 2 fish. Really not bad. I also approve of Captain Mitchell's teaching methods.