When Zordon and Alpha 5 are on a secret mission, Lord Zedd takes advantage of their absence.
Last time on Power Rangers: Lord Zedd tried to make Kimberly his evil queen.
Imminent Return
At the Gym and Juice Bar, Bulk and Skull arrive to demand their sandwiches to go. Trini points out their rudeness, Billy quiet beside her. The duo is determined to succeed at finding out who the Power Rangers are. An amused Richie points out that their sandwiches were right there.
Kimberly bounds in, wearing white overalls. Billy apparently got convinced by somebody to get rid of his overalls between season one and two, in contrast. Jason, Zack, Curtis, and some other guys are revealed to be off playing football. The brunette is giddy because she got a letter from Tommy saying that he’ll be home “at the end of the week”.
Billy and Trini are happy to hear the news and the trio decides they ought to throw a surprise ‘welcome home’ party for their friend before leaving the building.
Lord Zedd is not amused by this morale boost in his enemies. In one breath he dismisses Tommy as “their fallen comrade” yet in the next decides to give the teen a “final farewell”. Maybe he’s just being melodramatic?
Jason, Zack, Curtis, and some random guys are indeed playing football in the park when the trio finds them to reveal their plan to give Tommy a surprise party to welcome him back to Angel Grove.
In the Command Center, Alpha 5 reassures Zordon about their plan which they plan to do while there’s lull between attacks. Zordon leaves his tube first, with Alpha heading into a secret chamber after him. The building basically shuts down in their absence.
However, Lord Zedd detects this “sudden weakness in the morphing grid”. Goldar is clueless, but his boss plans to take advantage of Zordon’s absence. “Nimrod, the Scarlet Sentinel” will be created out of a statue in the park and used to distract the Rangers. Yet now Lord Zedd wants the Green Ranger to be the “heir to my throne”.
Didn’t Lord Zedd want Tommy destroyed as he was a reminder of Rita’s failures? Is Lord Zedd lonely and/or wants to interact with somebody smarter than his current minions? Is that why his Tommy-related goal has apparently shifted? That might also explain why he tried to make Kimberly his queen as well.
Bulk and Skull are spying on a hill for clues when there’s a bright bolt that streaks through the sky.
Jason and Billy leave the group to check out whatever just landed in Angel Grove.
Bulk also wants to check it out, overruling Skull’s hesitance. In her trash can, Rita is sound asleep. The duo finds the crater and the can on another hill. Skull can almost hear Rita from within. Bulk and Skull decide to take the can to the latter’s dad’s workshop. Since he already has on heavy-duty gloves, Skull can safely touch the hot can to take it away.
Billy and Jason arrive too late to see the others’ departure. They briefly study the crater and worry what was in it and where it went.
Secrets Within
Zack and Curtis are still playing around in the park. When the football goes wide, Zack ends up over by the fist statue to see strange green goop. Understandably confused, he goes, “Major funky.”
He cautiously leaves as the goop continues to ooze. Upon his return, Zack suggests he’s wiped out and that the group should call it a day. Agreeing, the other boys all leave. Zack wants to show Trini and Kimberly what he found.
The trio heads over to the fist statue and are uneasy by whatever is going on. Zack tries to contact Zordon and Alpha 5 to no avail. Trini suggests contacting the others and Zack does tell Jason about having Billy take a look.
Jason and Billy teleport in, the latter pointing out whatever’s going on is likely Lord Zedd’s work.
Glowing red, Lord Zedd is upset as his monster is still incomplete. So he sends down some Z-Putties to attack the Rangers. Thus there’s an unmorphed fight scene down in the park as a rock song plays, Billy and Kimberly teaming up towards the end. Afterwards, the two are concerned in particular as the group wants to contact Zordon and Alpha again.
Bulk and Skull head into the workshop, the former now able to carry the cooled trash can. They want to open it up and learn what’s inside. Bulk gets out a crowbar while Skull gets out a spoon.
All worried, the five teleport to the Command Center. Meanwhile, the fist statue is turning into a monster.
Up in the mountains, Tommy gets out of a lake to dry off after a swam. Alternatively glowing green or white, the teen suddenly teleports away.
Lord Zedd is pleased that Nimrod is nearly ready.
Entering the main chamber, the five are concerned by the lack of light, especially Kimberly. Billy points out there’s only emergency lighting on. Zack is concerned by the duo leaving without warning. Kimberly’s fretful while Billy gets a disc to study the Command Center’s recent activity back at his lab. The group teleports away.
Bulk and Skull are working to open up the space trash can, waking up Rita to her annoyance.
Suddenly impatient, Lord Zedd opts to activate Nimrod early.
Billy types away at his computer in his garage lab as the others cluster around him. There’s a “hidden door of light” and Billy works to find the coordinates. Suddenly there’s a minor shake, making Jason and Zack in particular uneasy.
Morphing, the five return to the park when Nimrod attacks them. According to both Billy’s and Kimberly’s comments, this monster is female. Lord Zedd quickly sends down a BBomb8 to supersize the monster. The Zord transformation sequence and the Megazord formation sequence ensue.
Nimrod creates two other supersized monsters, AC and DC, to take on the Megazord. Billy opts to teleport back to the Command Center to see if he can find Alpha and Zordon.
Bulk is now using a chainsaw to try opening up the trash can. Rita is yelling. Somehow Skull could pick up on that while Bulk couldn’t. Skull checks that he didn’t hear his mom before Bulk resumes using the chainsaw.
“You’ve giving me a headache!” Rita shouts, for the first time very justifiably.
While he trusts that Zordon and Alpha had a good reason for their actions, a helmetless Billy is still worried as he walks through the Command Center. He puts in the access code and the door of light opens up. Billy enters and ends up falling down to someplace else. In the chamber below, Alpha 5 and Zordon are hard at work.
The blond goes to a grille in the floor to peer into the room below. To his surprise, they’re creating a White Power Ranger suit and powers.
Conclusion
This was a solid first half. Lord Zedd opts to take advantage of Zordon’s absence while Zordon only decided to do the secret mission because there was at that point a lull between attacks. Oops. Nimrod is a surprisingly tough monster, but I suspect the Rangers will end up finding her weak spot due to Lord Zedd activating her too early.
Lord Zedd’s motives and ultimate goals seem to be falling apart at this point. It’s a bit worrying, even if he continues to be more of a threat than Rita ever was.
Billy discovers that Zordon and Alpha’s secret mission is that they’re putting together a White Ranger suit and powers to use in the battle against Lord Zedd. Obviously this will be a major point in the second half of this ‘arc’.
Curtis and Richie again show up. It’s definitely bemusing. And I really do wish we’d get an explanation about where Angela went- did she move away, did she dump Zack, are they dating on the down-low, or what? Of course, I suspect both guys will end up quietly disappearing from the show once Zack, Trini, and Jason have left.
Bulk and Skull are going to end up accidentally freeing Rita Repulsa, which is not good news for Earth.
Next time on Power Rangers: To the others’ surprise, Tommy rejoins the team as the White Power Ranger.
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