MMPR Season 3 Episode 15: The Potion Notion

Romantic Affection Portrayed Via Barking
Invisibility Just A Thing Everyone Can Do Now I Guess

Throughout the course of this blog, I've found that there are a few things I don't enjoy saying. Certain jokes I'd prefer not making, or certain topics I don't really want to discuss, but there's a particular phrase that I have made a concerted effort not to say. Not just in these reviews, but in real life while I'm watching this series. Six little words strung together that destroy all of my enthusiasm for the world we live in.

"I remember this one being good."

As far back as Season 1, I still had a certain wide-eyed passion for this series. Something that kept me happily plopping the DVD's in to revisit this show that defined so many of my formative years. Of course this show isn't groundbreaking, I'm completely prepared for that. The problem occurs when I see an episode title and think 'Oh boy! We're finally at this episode now!" Then the episode continues and my optimism slowly fades. I'm watching an episode that I have absolutely nothing to comment on. All I want is to turn off VLC and switch to the next episode. But why is this episode so bad? I watched it as a kid and I had a lot of fun. But now…what happened?

"I remember this one being good."

Those six words can be said in two distinct ways. The first is when I use them as a source of unbridled optimism. I see the title of a Power Rangers episode that I really remember enjoying. I'd get a big grin remembering when I used to make-believe I was one of the Rangers fighting whatever monster happened to be in that episode. Then I watch about 10 minutes of the episode, and the 2nd use of those six words kicks in.

"I remember this one being good…"

Imagine these words escaping your mouth with a mournful longing. As though you reconnected with your first love and invited them to a nice lunch. During that meal, this former love says something devastating. Reveals that they've changed completely from the person you always thought they were. Maybe you two no longer see eye to eye on something, but the fact is this person has changed. Changed into someone you no longer feel any love for. It's easy to believe that you can put the whole world on pause while you try to figure things out, but then when you go back to relive the past, you learn that everything has changed.

At some point you resent even believing those memories were positive. That you're wasting your time even revisiting them at all. Why would I ever say I thought this was good? What a waste of time! I shouldn't have even spent time on this in the first place.

But when you hug that former love as they leave the café, you don't have to be mournful of the times since gone. It's easy to regret the time you spent with someone or something that brought you joy, but even if you're critical of it, that doesn’t mean you have to despise the joy you felt in your youth.

So what's the purpose in saying all of this? Best I can figure, it's a declaration I wanted to make about this show. I've been in a slump with some of these episodes, and I've found myself pre-judging a lot of them as being absolute trash before the theme song has finished playing. And honestly? That's not fair.

I'm making a concerted effort, here and now, to not be afraid of my own optimism. Anyone who reads this blog has the right to balk at the idea that I consider myself an optimist, but I think I would have quit writing about this show if I didn't assume it would keep me interested and give me more crazy stuff to talk about. More importantly, I'm not going to immediately bite my tongue when I use those six words positively. I'm not going to be afraid to go back on a journey to the pop culture of my youth and remember the good times I had with this ridiculous show. I'm going to revisit this show, as well as the memories it left me. I'm going to be excited to see how it holds up, and be proud to speak that one sentence that brings memories flooding back.

"I remember this one being good!"

Now that being said, I sure hope this episode is as good as I remember. Or I'm going to look like a real fucking moron.

Inside of Angel Grove High School, Bulk and Skull notice Kim and Tommy walking by and desperately ask them when they went on their last date. While this seems like a depressing attempt by Bulk and Skull to live vicariously through television's #1 superhero karate hunk, it's actually even sadder than that. They're being forced to sell tickets to a junior police ball, or else Lt. Stone is set to throw them in the brig. Or at least the laundry room, which will hereafter be referred to as "the brig."

There's a pretty great gag here when Bulk tries to butter up Tommy and Kim. He mentions how lovely a couple these two are and how he's said that from the minute they started dating. He nudges Skull, and Skull reacts completely dead-eyed, "Yes you're right. Lovely." Just look at him!

Someone just realized he's in for another 3 seasons of this

I give a lot of props to Paul Schrier's portrayal of Bulk, but Jason Narvy really deserves credit here too. His work as a foil to Bulk is genuinely great. Power Rangers doesn't often give him a chance to shine, which is a genuine shame. It's easy to default to Bulk being a dumbass, but Skull often gives him a run for his money. Maybe we can scrap one of the upcoming episodes about Tommy in a karate tournament or whatever to give some attention to Skull.

This is why nobody puts me in charge of franchises.

240,000 miles away, Rita pouts that Zedd never takes her on a nice cozy fuckcation either. Zedd's actually prepared for his wife's endless harping this week, as he's juiced up Serpentera for a glorious 2nd honeymoon through the cosmos. Zedd commands Goldar to keep the place looking good while he and Rita are off banging on the outskirts of Neptune atop a dragon murder machine.

Rito handles the absence of his siblings by hanging out with Finster and learning about his newest monster. Finster elaborates that this new creature will be equipped with the love potion that Rita used on Lord Zedd. Finster coyly doubles back on this piece of information and pretends that Rita did no such thing on the galactic overlord. It's cute in of itself, but Rito's banal reaction of "Ah, right." is the icing on the cake that is this scene. Instead of thinking about what Finster just said in any form whatsoever, he completely ignores it because he's a boneheaded doofus.

Finster leaves Rito alone in the workshop for a moment before instructing him not to touch anything. Rito promptly disregards this and snoops around the monster lab. After smacking a padlocked cabinet, Rito asks where that love potion could be located. He says this while looking directly at a big red bubble gun with a heart on top of it. Just before I can mock this show's incredibly obvious love potion prop, Rito says "It couldn't possibly be this bright red one with a heart on it, could it?"

Someone in the writer's room had a sense of humor about this production, and I love them for it.

Rito tests this love potion out by spraying it at Finster's dormant monster, Miss Chief. As soon as the love bubbles hit her, she springs to life and begins doting on Rito. What a lucky man! Who wouldn't want a piece of this cutie?

It took me a good 15 years to realize this monster's name was a pun

Rito shrugs off Chief's love for him, but she soon announces she would do anything for him. Cue your standard reaction of "Did you say anything?" Which could lead to one of two things. The most insane and intense sex scene ever filmed between two rubber monster puppets, or wacky comedic shenanigans.

The producers of this show go with the latter, which proves once and for all that Power Rangers is made by absolute cowards.

We transition back to Angel Grove High School, where Miss Chief is running amuck! No, she isn't attacking people or slaughtering teachers. She's spraying her love potion at unsuspecting teenagers to make use of their pent-up hormones. You might be asking yourself why nobody notices her, and that's a damn fine question. It's quickly explained by Miss Chief when she denotes that she loves being invisible. A power she has solely for the sake of plot convenience and literally no other reason.

Miss Chief sneaks up behind Kimberly and sprays her love bubbles at the unsuspecting cheerleader. As Kim describes her ideal outfit for the date with Tommy, Chief's love potion takes effect and the Pink Ranger falls in love with the first man she sees.

Eugene Skullovitch.

Holy smokes. Looks like my wish might be coming true after all.

Kim declares Skull to be the cutest thing that she has ever seen. Tommy and Skull both react with shock, and Bulk looks heartbroken that he may have lost his dearest friend to this jezebel.

No more nightcrawlers for Bulkie.

Kim asks in a sultry tone if Skull has a date to the upcoming police ball. Surprisingly, this rampant pussy crusher hasn't been able to score a gal to spend an evening with him, so Kim offers to take him out. When Tommy attempts to interject, Kim asks "When you've got the best, why settle for the rest?" Which is exactly what Haim Saban was heard saying to five of his primary actors during contract negotiations for Season 3. Try and guess which five!

This scene ends with one of the strangest pieces of character interaction in this entire series. Maybe I just don't know how love works, which is preposterous given that I'm in charge of a very important Power Rangers blog, but why does Skull make a barking noise at Kimberly? Why does she yelp in ecstasy at this concept? Oh wait, now I understand. Kim is so used to being romanced by canines, Skull's simply playing the part. It makes perfect sense!

Tale as old as time…

While Skull introduces Tommy to the ruff world of 90's cuckoldry, Lt. Stone wanders around Angel Grove High looking for Bulk and Skull. He finds himself inside of Ms. Applebee's classroom asking if she knows where her two stupidest students are. Before he's able to get an answer, Miss Chief invisibles herself into the room and blasts Lt. Stone with her love bubbles. Overcome with emotion, Stone begs Applebee to attend the police ball with him so he can gaze longingly into her beautiful eyes. Applebee puts on her best wealthy dowager impression as she exclaims "Beg your pardon!?" It's the same reading you'd hear from an uptight woman cast in Revenge of the Nerds Part 4."

While one pig is busy romancing, another is looking for love. Bulk mocks Skull for his sudden injection of charisma, but he soon finds himself in a pickle when Miss Chief uses her cupid juice on him. Bulk falls in love with the first person he sees, and before you good people get your hopes up, it isn't Skull. The one thing I wanted most out of this episode and it was snatched away from me! If I don't see those goons making out with each other sometime in this season, I'm going to go absolutely berserk.

Instead, Bulk keeps things nice and straight by falling in love with Aisha. As soon as he starts babbling about where she's been all his life, the Yellow Ranger Teen becomes appalled. These two haven't exchanged more than 5 lines of dialogue in 60 episodes, what's gotten into his pork boxers?

Bulk has an appropriately creepy line about taking Aisha to the Kasbah, which is about as close as this children's show for infants is going to get describing high schoolers fucking. Aisha says that something fishy must be going on around here, because Bulk has always known the social order dictates he's not allowed to talk to any woman without active lesions on her face. 

Back on the Moon Palace, Goldar pisses and moans that he's got to deal with two dipshits from the Repulsa clan every ding dong day. Squatt and Baboo chime in to say they kind of like Rito, and then they vanish into the ether because they've managed to remind the audience they still exist. Thanks for taking up another 3 seconds of airtime you two! Really excited for whatever pointless drivel you provide next week.

This is when Goldar rants about something a bit more…personal. He grouses that he should be the one at Zedd's side while the galactic emperor conquers the universe. This line may seem like a typical complaint from Goldar, but let's put it into context with what we've seen in the episode so far.

Zedd has said nothing about conquering the universe this week. The only thing he's said is that he would be taking Rita on a glorious honeymoon for just the two of them. It's this particular occasion that really gets Goldar's blood boiling, and would you like to know why? Because Goldar is madly in love with Lord Zedd.

I know you good readers are used to me being snarky about Goldar and his love for sexual humiliation at the hands of Lord Zedd, but I'm being quite sincere this time. The second that Lord Zedd showed up, Goldar dropped all pretense of caring about Rita's stupid shit so he could live out his sub lifestyle under Zedd's dom feet. Then Rita comes spiraling back into their lives and mucks everything up. Goldar is back to being a forgettable soldier who can't confess his love to the great unholy emperor.

Sure, Goldar can try to conceal his emotions with talk of conquering the universe, but why would they be coming to the forefront now? In an episode based around unrequited love? Go ahead and say I'm jumping to conclusions. Then cry in the dirt when you realize I was right all along.

The Ranger Teens convene in the park to discuss all the weird goings-on at school today. Kim continues her lovesick babbling about how wonderful Skull is, and how there's nothing weird about falling in love. If left up to a lesser actor, these jokes about falling in love wouldn't play whatsoever. Thankfully, Amy Jo Johnson is one of the most capable assets this show has, and she puts her all into acting like a lovesick tween. She hasn't been around the last few episodes very much, but I'm glad this week is making such good use out of her.

Out of the blue, Goldar and the Tengas arrive on Earth to challenge the Power Rangers. Not because he particularly cares if they die or not, but because he knows their corpses are the one thing that will prove to Zedd who loves him most. Our heroes don't involve themselves in this lovers' quarrel, and promptly Ninja Morph.

So a fight breaks out between the Rangers and Goldar's henchbirds, but something struck me as odd during this fight. I'm usually a little lukewarm on the fights with foot soldiers, but I'm particularly disinterested this week. Why? Because I actually want to get back to the civilian plot!

That's something I haven't felt in a truly long time, but I'm seriously interested in this silly set of romantic musical chairs going on. If I had to pinpoint why, I'd say it's because the characters we've spent so much time with are actually acting different in an amusing way. Lt. Stone isn't that memorable of a character since he's only been in like 4 episodes so far, but seeing Kim gush over how dreamy Skull is? Bulk swooning over Aisha out of nowhere? That's something I'm invested in. I can watch ninja birds get their beaks kicked in next week.

…But just in case you can't wait that long, here's a .gif to tide you over.

Never say I'm not a man of the people.

Though Goldar is trying to win Zedd's eternal love, the intergalactic warlock is busy rushing through the galaxy with his blushing bride. Rita offers up some real groaner lines where she tells her hubby that he "sure knows how to show a ghoul a bad time." Puke. I didn't know your lines were being ghostwritten by the Cryptkeeper, Rita.

All my groans quickly subside when Zedd mentions that his robotic death dragon is running out of gas, so they'll need to pull over. Rita cackles as she ribs her husband, noting that she "hasn't heard that line in 3,000 years."

If you can't enjoy a good-hearted joke between a space witch wife and her henpecked monster husband about how bad his attempts at getting laid are are, then clearly you found this blog by accident.

Concerned about Serpentera's depleting energy, Zedd gets in contact with Rito and demands to speak with Goldar. Rito mentions that Goldar isn't around, so that means he should be left in charge. Zedd furiously asks why he would leave Rito in charge after that dumbass couldn't even leave his dragon robot plugged in overnight. Rito picks up the mic he's using to communicate with Zedd and bops himself on the head with it, indicating his frustration at being the universe's biggest dumbass.

It's a really simple physical gag, but good lord it had me giggly.

Back on Earth, Goldar and the Tengas retreat from their complete blunder of a battle. With that out of the way, the Ranger Teens de-morph and head to the Command Center so they can ask Zordon what's gotten Kim all wet in the trousers for Skull. Alpha runs some 22¢ prop up and down Kimberly's body in order to figure out what's going wrong.

Here's an idea Tommy. Maybe Kim is sick of dating you. Maybe she wants the excitement of dating some idiot who looks like a bloated possum carcass.  Is it beyond the realm of possibility that she was sick of doting on some dork who doesn't know when her birthday is, but can recite the name of every Steven Seagal movie from memory? Maybe Kim just wants to try dating someone else now that her mom is moving to France and she's realizing that she doesn't want to be stuck in Angel Grove for the rest of h-what's that Alpha? Oh…she's been mesmerized by a love potion? I suppose that's equally as plausible.

Zordon fires up the Viewing Globe to showcase this week's monster du jour. Miss Chief is running rampant through Angel Grove Park, spraying her love bubbles at any unsuspecting chumps she gets her eyes on. When the other Rangers ask what they're supposed to do for Kimberly, Zordon offers the profoundly unhelpful suggestion of "Maybe the love potion will wear off if given enough time."

That's all you've got for us? No "find the mystical crystals from planet Bookala and grind them into a fruit smoothie for Kimberly to drink on the 2nd eve of the full moon?" Zordon's advice is literally "MAYBE SHE'LL SNAP OUT OF IT IF YOU LEAVE HER ALONE FOR A LITTLE WHILE. I DON'T KNOW. I'M NOT A DOCTOR, RANGERS." Thanks for nothing, shithead.

Goldar shows back up at the palace and demands to know why Rito sent Finster's monster to Earth without permission. During this conversation, Rito accidentally spills the beans about the love potion Finster created for Rita, and Goldar begins to connect the dots. He bellows at Finster to create an antidote for that love potion posthaste. Hopefully Finster will have it done in time for Goldar's birthday, because he's a big fan of Zedd's hands, and he's been hankering for a spankering.

Back on Earth, Miss Chief continues her love potion spewing. Her latest target is Mr. Caplan, who also falls in love with Ms. Applebee. As he swoons over her BBW charms, the perplexed schoolteacher yells "Has everyone in this school gone mad?!" For reasons I'm not entirely sure of, she seems to be affecting a British accent when she says this line. Maybe because the actress was embarrassed to have this bald weirdo hitting on her, so she had to pretend she was someone else for the duration of the scene.

Thankfully Finster arrives on the scene with his love potion antidote hot off the presses. Wait a second though, Finster's on Earth too? Why can't anyone see him? Uh…well he's invisible too. That's a power that the Evil Space Aliens have now, so deal with it. Unless there's an episode in the future where such an ability would prove advantageous for the villains to possess, then don't bother bringing it up.

Finster runs across Miss Chief and informs her that she's to stop playing matchmaker this instant. The monster retreats back to the Moon Palace, disappointed she won't be able to convince any more of these whitebread losers to get their fuck on. Finster runs into Ms. Applebee, who's currently caught in a sordid love triangle between Lt. Stone and Principal Caplan. For some reason, she's no longer mortified by two men having some kind of sexual lust for her, but is now titillated at the very thought that she's sought after by these middle-aged cretins.

I'd also like to take a moment to illustrate how surreal it is to see Finster in the same shot as three tertiary characters from this show. I don’t know if I'm the only one who feels this way, but it's interesting to see four of the least-utilized characters in the same frame. It just so happens one of them happens to be a gigantic sheepdog-man who makes love potions out of bubbles.

Lt. Stone offers Ms. Applebee a seat.

After briefly observing the mating habits of the human male, Finster decides to put an end to all this nonsense by spraying them with bubbles from his love antidote gun. Caplan and Stone look around, perplexed, as they try and figure out why they were just about to beat the everloving piss out of one another. Ms. Applebee, exhausted from all the moistness her pantaloons have experienced today, passes out into Caplan's loving embrace. So for all of you who were hoping to see a threesome between Ms. Applebee, Principal Caplan, and Lt. Stone, get help.

Finster continues through the Angel Grove High hallways and sprays both Bulk and Kimberly with his love antidote. Bulk quickly stops tussling Aisha's braids as he ponders why he was acting like Season 1 Bulk all of a sudden, and Aisha quickly brushes him off before getting as far away as possible.

Unfortunately, Skull doesn't take Kimberly's departure as jovially. After getting hit with the antidote, she suddenly becomes disgusted with Skull and flees his embrace. Skull sadly calls out "I'll miss you!" to Kim, as the tragedy of this guy's situation sets in.

All of a sudden, the girl of your dreams has fallen head over heels in love with you. You're not sure why, but it's all you've ever wanted and life has finally thrown you a bone. After a whirlwind love affair that couldn't have lasted more than a day, the woman who loved you suddenly appears disgusted at your presence. In one breath she's singing your praises, and in the next she's prying herself away from you. Skull had to experience all of that and honestly, it's hard not to feel bad for him. He wasn't trying to creep his way into Kim's pants. She suddenly got interested in him and he was happy about it. In his own, weird, Skullovitch-y way.

And the most shocking part of all? I think Power Rangers is cognizant of this. I'll get back to this near the end.

Finster and Miss Chief return to the Moon Palace, where Goldar demands that this monster spray Lord Zedd with that antidote as soon as he gets back. Rito scoffs at this, considering Miss Chief is currently head over heels in love with him. If the Bone Daddy tells her not to spray, she ain't sprayin'. But all of a sudden, Rito agrees with Goldar's proposition. He whispers a suggestion into Miss Chief's ear, and the monster giggles in agreement.

Rita comes stomping into the palace before immediately bitching at Goldar. Why? I'm not sure. It's par for the course at this point though. It's at this moment that Rito enacts his genius plan. Miss Chief sprays Rita with her love potion and causes her to fall in love with, you guessed it, Goldar.

The reaction I had when I watched this scene today in 2017 is the exact same I had when I watched this episode back in 1995. I got the biggest, stupidest grin on my face as Rita started looking all lovey-dovey at the mortified Goldar. I don't know why, but it's just such an amusing premise and I absolutely adore this scene.

Rita asks "Golducks" if he's always had such beautiful red eyes, and chases him all through Lord Zedd's chamber. Rito, Finster, and Miss Chief all laugh their asses off at how miserable Goldar is about this predicament. A sentiment I gleefully share. Because this scene is just excellent. It's not even necessary to the plot, it's just an overall funny moment. It doesn't need to be here whatsoever, but this whole episode has been about experimenting with different characters' relationships, why not take it to the extreme with two characters who so deeply hate each other?

Nope, nothing to grab here...ah fuck it I'll twirl his braids.

Goldar desperately pleads with Finster to douse Rita in the antidote before she tries creating some sort of unholy offspring through his golden dingus. Finster agrees, but only on the condition that Goldar stops using his monster-matic to create Lord Zedd fuck pillows. As soon as Rita is hit with the antidote, she screeches that she's so close to this gold-plated hyena and pries herself off of him. At the very least we can thank our lucky stars that Squatt and Baboo weren't in this scene, because I can guarantee you they would have been furiously rubbing one out the entire time.

After all the commotion has died down, Lord Zedd calmly enters his chamber and nonchalantly asks "What's wrong with her?" It's quite possibly the most understated reaction from Zedd we've gotten ever since he's been introduced, and I love it to pieces. Zedd has no idea that his wife and dog-manservant were just canoodling on his very throne. Instead, he's left blissfully unaware of the absolute ass-backward banana-bullshit that just happened in his palace. All he knows is that his wife is upset about some damn thing, and he's not getting involved. It's perfect.

The Ranger Teens breathe a sigh of relief now that Miss Chief's love spell has been broken, but they're not out of the woods yet! Zordon buzzes the Ranger Teens and informs them that Miss Chief has been unleashed on Angel Grove once again. Now that none of his child soldiers have been overcome with disgusting emotions, this will be the perfect time for them to murder this fire chief cupid.

The Rangers morph and arrive in front of the monster, whom Tommy refers to as a "stupid cupid." Hey, you know what I don't love? That line. Kick rocks, Oliver.

Miss Chief now wields a brand-new weapon: a large jagged wheel which she uses as a shield to block the Rangers' attacks. Once the Rangers manage to corner her, she flings her wheel through the air, cutting all six of the Rangers in one sweep. Unfortunately, the same trick doesn't work a 2nd time. As soon as she tries chucking her wheel again, the Rangers dodge it and Tommy (of course) slashes her weapon to the ground with Saba.

Remember when the other five Rangers got to have weapons? What a time that was.

With their creature on the ropes, Rita and Zedd pool their magic together to make Miss Chief massive. This prompts the Rangers to summon the Ninja Megazord to battle the newly gigantified monster. While it looks like the Rangers are winning, Miss Chief still has a trick or two left up her sleeve.

...Wasn't this a monster that made people fall in love?

Thankfully, Tommy's here to save the day yet again. He calls on the Falconzord to combine with the others, and the Ninja Megafalconzord is formed! After a wolf/ape punch to Miss Chief's chops, the giant monster is destroyed. See ya, Miss Chief. Thanks for teaching a generation how to live, laugh, and love again.

While Rita is frustrated at the loss of her monster, Goldar has had enough of all of these shenanigans. He bellows to Lord Zedd that Rita tricked him into marrying her, and that he's looking for love in all the wrong places Perhaps he could consider dating a much more rugged, golden, well-hung individual instead.

Goldar instructs Finster to use the love antidote on Zedd. Even though the antidote hit him with plenty of anti-love bubbles, Zedd doesn't falter in his devotion to Rita in the slightest. He admonishes Goldar for speaking ill of his bride, and demands the golden ape apologize for his insolence. Goldar sheepishly apologizes as Rito comes to a conclusion. In spite of all the horrendous drugging, manipulation, kidnapping, tossing out into space, and shouting, maybe Rita and Zedd really do love each other.

Truly something we can all carry with us throughout our search for love in this desolate world.

Once evening falls, we join our heroes as they attend the Annual Police Junior Charity…what was it again? Ah who gives a shit? All that matters is that it takes place inside the Youth Center. Because of course it does. We've got four sets to film at, so pick one and shut up.

As the dance gets underway, we're also treated to a bit of generic 90's soft rock. It's a band in the Juice Bar called "Flames of Love." Because subtlety is dead, and Power Rangers murdered it. It's during this musical performance that we see all of our named characters dancing with someone. Except for Adam. I kept assuming that the show was trying to pair him and Aisha off, but Billy swoops in and asks Aisha to dance. Why? I don't know. Billy used to have a crush on the old Yellow Ranger right? Just transfer it over. Nobody will notice.

Let me backtrack that for a second. Not all of the named characters are dancing. One fella' is left sitting all by himself in some dimly-lit corner of the Youth Center. None other than Mr. Eugene Skullovitch. The junior police officer sits dejected as he realizes the love of his life is out there with some kind of dancing dog.

That's when Power Rangers does something that absolutely astonishes me. Kimberly stops her dance with Tommy as she looks over at Skull. She notices how upset he looks, and says she wasn't very nice to him. While I wouldn't say this situation was really Kim's fault, what with her being under a magical spell and all, I think it's surprisingly competent of this show to acknowledge that Bulk and Skull have actual feelings. They may be a pair of dipshits who spend most of their free time falling into various pastries, but they're still human. It was an unfortunate situation for both parties involved, so Kim decides to do something about it.

She offers Skull a dance as friends. To apologize for hurting his feelings earlier.

While this is an obscenely simple solution to the problem, I can accept it for one big reason. Skull doesn't buy it at first. When Kim asks if he wants to dance, he turns her down cold. He thinks she's just trying to make an ass out of him once again. It's not until she genuinely says sorry for upsetting him and saying that she's happy to be his friend that he accepts her apology and takes her out on the dance floor.

And man. That's pretty sweet. For a character whose entire purpose is to cackle like a banshee and smell his own armpits, they managed to make you give a shit about him. For one fleeting moment.

Shut off Season 3. It ain't getting better than this.

Your Weekly 90's Nostalgia: Unrequited Love

Personal Thoughts

I'll try and keep this short because holy moly did I drone on, but god almighty this episode was good. This is easily some of the best material I've seen in Power Rangers in I don't know how long. It had good action, charming interactions, a good sense of humor, and even some heartfelt stuff at the end. Kim dancing with Skull never fails to give me a smile. Genuinely one of the most effective things this show has ever pulled off. Way to go!

This was the first episode written by a gal named Jackie Marchand. She would go on to do quite a bit of work on the Power Rangers series, and for good reason! If this is her first foray into the Rangers universe, then I'm welcoming her with open arms! If she ever writes an episode I don't like all that much, remind me to give her a mulligan on it. Anyone who writes a scene of Rita and Goldar canoodling gets a pass in my book.

I really don't have much more to say here. There was a scene cut from the Japanese version where Ninjor jumps in to fight Miss Chief, but it was cut. They kept some scenes of her getting hit by Ninjor's fireball attack to substitute for a scene of her counterpart falling into a giant fireworks display (don't ask.)

Also, thanks to all you good guys and gals for being patient with this super-sized review! If anyone wants to keep up to date on when my reviews are out or when I'm running late, make sure to follow me on Twitter! You'll also see me clumsily tweet political memes you won't agree with, and try to hide when I'm following pornography actresses. But what else is Twitter for huh?