Mighty Morphin #2.37 – Forever Friends

We begin with Aisha cheering on Kimberly as she practices her tumbling. Kimberly mentions that she’s heard the competition in the upcoming meet is tough, and Aisha agrees, adding that the team from her old school was really good.

She mentions that her friend Shauna is on the team, and Kimberly says she can’t wait to meet her. Shauna walks in at that moment, and Aisha wraps her in an ecstatic hug.

Her enthusiasm is not reciprocated, however, and the reunion quickly turns icy when Aisha mentions how excited she is to see her and Shauna replies:

“Yeah, I can tell. That’s why you transferred, right?”

Aisha points out that the transfer wasn’t up to her (what is the public story for why the three transferred schools mid-semester?), and Kimberly tries to mend fences by introducing herself and saying Aisha’s told her a lot about her.

Shauna raises her eyebrow and ignores her offered handshake, and when Kimberly mentions that they’ll be competing for the district title, she replies:

“I’d say we’re going to be competing for a lot more than that.”

Shauna brushes past her and Aisha apologizes for her friend’s rudeness. On the moon, Zedd plans to use the situation to turn the Rangers against one another, even though the Rangers are currently getting along fine.

Shauna spots Aisha complimenting Kimberly across the Juice Bar and decides it’s time to stir some shit up:

Shauna: It’s good to see you again, Aisha. You don’t seem to have a broken finger. So why don’t you ever call?

Aisha: Come on, Shauna, I try to call you — we just keep missing each other.

Shauna: Well, whenever I call you, you’re never home!

Aisha: Shauna, I’m sorry, I’ve just been really busy. Honestly!

This is all entirely too awkward for Kimberly, who tries to make a break for it by saying she’s going to check on the boys. Aisha calls after her, saying she wants Shauna to get to know her, and asks if they can hang out at the park. Shauna reluctantly agrees, and they leave together.

We catch up with the boys, who are failing spectacularly in wood shop, so it’s nice to see they’re not great at everything. Bulk and Skull interrupt and ask if they’ve heard of “that new thing the Power Rangers do,” and somehow know its correct name of “jetting,” though I’m quite sure the Rangers didn’t mention it in their lone television appearance.

To keep up with the Rangers, the bullies have elected to make jetpacks, so that’s what they’ll be doing this episode.

The jetpacks don’t work, as if you thought they would. They do manage to set off sparks powerful enough to send the boys running into a pile of hay that’s sitting in the park for some reason, which is impressive given Bulk and Skull’s limited technical skills.

Elsewhere in the park, Kimberly is trying in vain to mediate a peace between the fallen-out friends. She asks how long they’ve known each other, and when Aisha replies that she thinks they met in second grade, Shauna snaps that they’ve known each other since first grade, and that she can’t believe Aisha forgot.

Zedd plots to kidnap Kimberly and Shauna, which he somehow assumes will lead to the Rangers not being able to cooperate. Even though Kimberly’s been kidnapped before…?

Goldar appears at their picnic table and Shauna recognizes him from the news. Kimberly and Aisha push her behind them, but they’re unable to stop him from teleporting her and Kim away.

Panicking, Aisha pounds on her communicator, but realizes the others can’t hear her because they’re still at the shop. She sprints away to find them herself, and Zedd gleefully assumes the others will be furious “when they discover she did nothing.”

Aisha reaches the shop in a frenzy, and once she tells everyone what happened, they of course place zero blame on her and instead hurry to the Command Center.

Zedd is pissed that they didn’t turn on her (…literally what in their history has led you to believe they would…?) and instead turns a saw in the shop into his latest monster.

In Goldar’s prison, Shauna admits how frightened she is, and Kimberly urges her to keep calm, as they’ll find a way out somehow. Shauna begrudgingly confesses she’s impressed with Kim’s composure.

Kimberly: You’re doing fine, too, Shauna.

Shauna: Why are you being so nice to me, though? I mean I was rotten to you.

Kimberly: Cause I think I understand how you feel, that’s all. It’s tough when you think you’ve lost someone. When my parents got divorced, I felt really abandoned for a long time.

Shauna shares that her parents are divorced, too, and that she felt the same way as Kimberly.

Shauna: Whenever anyone close to me leaves, it always reminds me of my dad leaving.

Kimberly: Me too. At first. But you know what I discovered? Is that my dad loves me just as much even though I don’t see him all the time. Just cause someone moves away doesn’t mean you’ve lost them.

At the Command Center, Aisha admits that she feels like she failed her friends. Zordon replies that no one blames her for the situation, but that she has to remain strong in the face of danger. Tommy pats her shoulders and reassures her, as well.

Zedd’s new monster pops up on the Viewing Globe, and Aisha remarks that “This day has gone from bad to worse!” Zordon tells the Rangers they need to defeat it, but Aisha argues that they can’t just leave Kimberly and Shauna. Tommy grabs her shoulders again and says that he’ll take care of them while the others tackle the monster, which is moronically named the Jaws of Destruction.

Aisha pleads with Tommy to save them, and he vows to do just that as they morph.

The Rangers jet to the park so Bulk and Skull can see them in the air and try their failed jetpacks again. They work about as well as they did before.

Tommy arrives at the cave Kimberly and Shauna are being kept in (yes, it’s the same cave the show always uses) and quickly defeats all the Z-Putties guarding it. Shauna is delighted to see the White Ranger has come for them, and he breaks the barrier with Saba and helps her out.

Kimberly rushes after her, but the barrier reforms before she can escape. Shauna cries that she can’t leave without Kimberly, who smiles at her. Tommy tells Alpha to teleport Shauna home, and Kimberly assures her everything will be fine.

The second Shauna is gone, Kimberly morphs and punches another wall of the barrier down herself.

Zedd howls at Goldar for leaving Z-Putties to guard the cave instead of doing it himself, which for once is a fair critique. He touches down outside the cave, and Tommy sends Kimberly ahead to help the others while he tackles the general himself.

Kimberly arrives at the battle just in time to save Aisha from an attacking Z-Putty, and she knocks several to the ground before helping her friend to her feet. Aisha asks where Shauna is, and Kimberly explains that Alpha sent her home.

Zedd throws a bomb to make his monster grow and the Rangers call their Zords. And yes, I intentionally write the same sentence every time. If I have to watch it every episode, you have to read it.

The Jaws of Destruction threatens to carve its initials into the Thunder Megazord, but the Rangers draw the Thunder Saber and that’s all she wrote.

Back at the cave, Tommy kicks Goldar’s sword out of his hand, which the general takes as his cue to flee. Once he arrives back on the moon base, Zedd screams at him for a loss that, for a change, was actually partially his fault.

At the Juice Bar (as if the gymnastics competition would be happening anywhere else), Bulk and Skull arrive covered in hay, and the Rangers get in a good laugh at them before what we’ve all been waiting for finally happens.

Aisha hurries over to Kimberly and thanks her for being so nice to Shauna while they were captured. Kimberly replies that it was her pleasure — after all, she got a new friend out of it.

Then the announcer states that it’s time for the final two competitors on the last event (just how late is Aisha to this meet if they’re on the last event? Also, the Juice Bar is not long enough for a vault runway, tall enough for a set of uneven bars, or wide enough to fit all of this along with a regulation floor apparatus), who are, of course, Kimberly and Shauna.

Kimberly steps onto a few mats (nope) under a spotlight (nope) and does a series of A-level skills (nope) in a full-body leotard (nope) to a 40-second song (nope) with lyrics (nope).

She salutes the judges, which is about the only accurate part of this whole nonsense, and they deliver their scores.

Shauna steps up next and does an incredibly similar routine (though she has the decency to wear an actual competition leotard to do so), throwing in some not-so-pretty leaps and an actual two-footed rebounding skill, so points to her for difficulty in this non-event.

The judges give their scores and, of course, the two girls tie for the gold. Aisha snatches the trophy off the judges’ table (girl, that is not yours to give) and hands it to her friends, proclaiming how lucky she is to have them both in her life.