Mighty Morphin #1.18 – Green with Evil: Part 2

If you didn’t catch the last installment, here’s a quick summary: The Rangers are fucked.

You know this storyline is a big deal because, for the first time, there’s been an update to the theme song.

The episode opens properly back at the Command Center, where everything is still a disaster and Zordon is still missing. Jason monologues about wanting to get his hands on the Green Ranger while Zack and Kimberly quickly summarize the story thus far.

Billy and Trini, meanwhile, are trying to repair Alpha in an as-yet-unseen corner of the Command Center.

Alpha comes back to life and Trini about bursts into tears when he calls them “Dude” and “Dudette.” Me too, Trini — just for different reasons.

Kimberly and Zack are ecstatic, but Jason remains stoic, pointing out that they still need to find a way to get Zordon back and beat the Green Ranger.

On the moon, Rita declares that it’s time to begin Phase II of her plan, which is really just Phase I repeated — use Tommy to defeat the Rangers. Goldar proposes giving Tommy the “Sword of Darkness,” an idea for which Rita immediately takes credit by storming over to Finster to give the command. I guess “Putty-maker” is a sort of arms master, so it makes a certain amount of sense that Finster would be the one to turn to.

Finster gives some pointless backstory about the sword:

“When your evil knight defeated Zordon’s soldiers thousands of years ago, it was taken from him and presented to you as a prize.”

Admittedly, this does gel more with the thus-far established lore of the series than previous attempts at exposition. Finster goes on to say that if Rita gives the sword to Tommy, it “has the power to keep him under your spell forever,” as long as no one destroys it. Finally, he warns that “Zordon knows its secret,” which I guess is that its spell is reversed if the sword is destroyed? I dunno.

Rita teleports herself and Tommy down to Earth — using the same stock footage of her talking atop a building as last episode — and tells him to keep his identity a secret.

After Rita vanishes, Bulk and Skull arrive on the scene. Not having learned their lesson from earlier, they stride up to Tommy and try to intimidate him. In response, his eyes flash green (which sort of makes sense) and fire lasers (which absolutely does not) at them, flinging them into a nearby trashcan.

“Flinging them into a nearby trashcan” is generous phrasing, as the two clearly jump themselves, but hey, budget.

Tommy then flips his Power Coin like he’s Two-Face and strolls out of the alley. We get a mildly-amusing comment from Bulk about Tommy needing to get his eyes checked, and then it’s back to the Juice Bar.

Jason is whaling away on a punching bag and practically shouting about the situation in a crowded room. There’s a moment where a fellow student passes by and he falls silent, but I guarantee everyone in a fifty-foot radius could hear everything he was just saying.

Zack talks him through various theories about the Green Ranger, who they’re apparently only just now realizing might be working for Rita. Guys, has anyone ever attacked the city who wasn’t working for Rita?

Back at the Command Center, Billy has moved on to trying to repair the central console Tommy tore apart. Alpha states that if he can get the main generator online, he can start looking for Zordon. Billy adds that he would also be able to reactivate their communicators.

At school the next/same day (it’s unclear), Kimberly spots Tommy at his locker and approaches him, looking for answers as to why he stood her up the other day.

She’s perfectly nice about the whole thing, but he blows her off. When she mentions being worried when he didn’t show up, he rounds on her and tells her he’s a “big boy” who doesn’t need her to worry about him.

Kimberly takes this all entirely the wrong way and asks if he’s mad at her, which only further enrages him. He snaps that he has other things on his mind than her and that she isn’t the center of his universe. She bites back with a gloriously 90s “Well, excuse me for living!” and storms away.

Back on the moon, I don’t care. Rita’s minions decide to give Tommy another Putty test to prove he’s worthy of the Sword of Darkness…blah blah blah. Admittedly, it’s better than the usual Rita scene because things are actually happening, but those things are repetitive because they literally did this last episode.

Tommy defeats the Putties again and Rita gives him the sword. Raising it to the sky, he declares that “the Red Ranger will be the first to go.” Because…I don’t know? I get Jason’s beef with him, but what’s Tommy’s hang up? He kicked all their asses pretty equally last episode.

Honestly, the only thing of note from the scene is this shot:

As Kimberly and Zack discuss the situation outside Billy’s house, Kimberly reveals that Billy and Trini still haven’t left the Command Center. Putting aside the fact that they’re hanging out at Billy’s house without him (which they’re only doing so they have access to the Rad Bug), this confirms that they did indeed skip class earlier.

Speaking of class, Jason is wandering the near-empty halls of Angel Grove High looking for Tommy. Once he finally finds him, he breaks the news that he’s unable to keep his commitment to work out with him…which he apparently made sometime?

Tommy tells him he understands, and once Jason’s back is turned, shoots a green beam of light at him and teleports him away.

Jason lands in an alternate dimension gated on all sides, and when he wisely tries to fit through the gigantic gaps between the bars, he gets a shock of electricity.

He attempts to reach out with his communicator, but there’s no response, which the show tries to attribute to the alternate dimension, despite the fact that the communicators are already down.

Goldar approaches Jason from behind, taunting him all the while, but when Jason grabs for his morpher, it’s nowhere to be found. Goldar cackles and reveals that he’s stolen it.

Austin St. John’s acting is solid in this moment, delivering just the right notes of fear and affected strength.

He leaps at Goldar, attempting to snatch his morpher, but Goldar knocks him away with ease.

Back on Earth, Kimberly and Zack are worried about Jason, who was supposed to have shown up ages ago. Zack ultimately makes the call to head out without him, telling Kimberly that wherever Jason is, he can handle himself. Though he does allow a moment of doubt as he closes the car door behind him.

In the Rad Bug, Kimberly expresses her concern over Tommy. Zack takes the opportunity to play the big brother, which is a side we’ve yet to see from him. It’s a nice moment, even if she quickly reveals that it’s not just their broken date that she’s upset about. She’s on the right track thinking that he’s “totally changed,” but since none of the teens have put together that he’s the Green Ranger, Zack isn’t too worried about it.

The two land at the Command Center and Trini reveals that Billy has the system almost entirely back up. With a final button push, the Viewing Globe activates, revealing the Green Ranger’s location. Zack wants to jump into battle, but Kimberly points out that they need Jason first.

Zack tries to call him over the communicator, but receives no response and declares that they’re still not working (it’s unclear whether this is actually true, or if the lack of response is simply due to Jason being unreachable in the alternate dimension).

In said alternate dimension, Jason and Goldar are circling one another like they’re about to compete in a West Side Story-style gang fight. Goldar goads him with his morpher, which causes Jason to snap and attack, though he’s quickly taken down.

The ensuing fight…isn’t pretty. Or long. It’s starkly apparent that Goldar far outclasses Jason unmorphed, and Jason slides down the wall in horror as Goldar gives a soliloquy about how Rita has given the Red Ranger to him as a reward for his faithful service.

At the Command Center, Zack has clearly taken over as leader in Jason’s absence, a role I wasn’t aware he played, but one that somehow fits despite his easygoing nature. He tells Alpha to keep trying to contact Jason while the rest of them go to fight the Green Ranger.

I mentioned this a bit last episode, but I want to make sure I emphasize it here: The fights against the Green Ranger are so much better than any other morphed combat we’ve seen so far. The fight choreography, the wire work, and the overall pacing are dramatically leveled-up. For the first time, it doesn’t feel like, “…and then they skipped over to Sentai footage.” These fights actually feel like they belong to and are continuing the same story.

The Rangers don’t do any better against Tommy the second time around, and his new sword and Jason’s absence don’t help. Wisely, they call for their Zords, which…somehow isn’t boring this time? I have no idea why. Maybe it’s just that the battle’s pacing is so much better here that it makes the Zords feel more like a choice than an inevitability.

They form the Megazord, which they definitely aren’t supposed to be able to do without all five Rangers. Tommy shoots a giant blast of energy at the Megazord; when it’s somehow able to reflect this back at him, he flees the fight.

Up on the moon, Rita is furious about the Rangers’ victory, but Squatt points out that she still has Jason. She cackles Goldar’s name in glee at this realization.

Fun fact: For the first time ever, I skipped recapping an entire Rita scene earlier. Do you see what little bearing most of her scenes have on the overall plot?

In the alternate dimension, Goldar is still monologuing, though now he’s moved on to how no mere human is a match for him. Suddenly, he whips out a sword and indicates that he’s done toying with Jason and is now going to kill him.

Back at the Command Center, Alpha is still frantically trying to locate Zordon. Zack seems to be growing ever-more rattled by the situation, and at Billy’s news that Jason is still missing, he cries, “If Rita’s behind this, she’s doing some serious damage!”

If? I get it’s not her usual MO, guys, but come on. We can go ahead and operate under the assumption that Rita is behind all supernatural threats to Earth. I feel comfortable abandoning “innocent until proven guilty” in her case.

Zordon’s voice emanates from his tube, but it’s broken and static-y. The teens all beg him for information on where he is and what to do, but he’s unable to give them much. Zack continues to wig out (this is honestly a really good episode for his character), and Trini pleads with him to stay. But Zordon vanishes as quickly as he appeared.

As if to remind me that this is still Power Rangers, we cut back to the alternate dimension, where Goldar is again flaunting the fact that he stole Jason’s morpher. I say “as if to remind me” because there’s a moment where Jason obviously replies to Goldar via voice-over, because we can see that his mouth doesn’t move.

Goldar drops Jason’s morpher on the ground and invites him to try and grab it. Not missing a beat, Jason launches forward and manages to out-maneuver him enough to get close, but Goldar swings his sword just in time to stop him from snatching it.

Goldar knocks Jason on his back and declares that he’s “finally ready to end this game.” He rears his sword back while Jason just stares at him for way too long, and we get our “To Be Continued.”