1.18 Green with Evil Part II: Jason's Battle

Season 1, Episode 18

"Green with Evil Part II: Jason's Battle

Writer: Tom Wyner, Cheryl Saban, and Stewart St John

Director: Robert Hughes

Episode Summary:
We open with some very sad Rangers at Ernie's trying to relieve some stress as Jason angrily punches a bag.  He and Zack question the true identity of the "Green Ranger dude" and lament the loss of Zordon, Alpha's virus, and the overall destruction of the Command Center.  Then we see Rita going on about yet another ancient relic that apparently everybody but the Rangers and us the audience knew about for centuries (I really hate being left out of the loop) - the Sword of Darkness.  We cut to Tommy in the same alley he was first abducted and Bulk and Skull confront him about the whole karate mess in the hallway the day before.  Tommy shines some green light in his eyes and then shoots lasers out of his eyes at them as they run away - in all honesty, if this didn't start Bulk and Skull thinking about the true identity of certain Power Rangers, I don't know how much more of a blatant clue they need.

Back at school, Kimberly asks Tommy why he didn't show up yesterday for their pseudo-date and he responds very Greg Brady-like with "something suddenly came up" and then she states the obvious - you're being kinda not yourself.  Tommy is apparently on his period as he shoots back something like "the whole world doesn't revolve around you, Kimberly."  Gees.  All she asked was why you stood her up, take a Midol and get over it Tommy.  Tommy then has to prove his worthiness to Rita to earn the aforementioned Sword of Darkness by fighting some putties - without his powers!  Spoiler alert: he succeeds.

Jason, doing the responsible thing, informs Tommy that he won't be able to make their date, I mean workout plans to which Tommy (apparently still PMS-ing) comments "oh, I understand all right" and then shoots Jason off into another dimension wherein he has to cage-fight Goldar for his morpher!  Oh no!  Kimberly and Zack use the Rad-Bug to drive to the Command Center to meet up with their fellow Rangers and morph so they can battle the evil Green Ranger with his Sword of Darkness.  Without Jason, they form Megazord and (sort of) defeat the Green Ranger.  We close on Jason on his back in the cage fight with Goldar declaring it will be the end of him.

Facts:
-First line - Jason - "Man, I wish I could get my hands on this Green Ranger dude."
-Last line - Jason - "What's your point?"
-First on-screen Ranger - Jason
-Focus Character - Tommy and Jason
-First time Jason does not morph in an episode
-First time Zack says "it's morphin time"

Observations:

Jason's gone (a Red Ranger has to face an enemy alone - a novel concept) and Tommy becomes more powerful.  Kimberly is upset that Tommy stood her up and everyone notices Tommy's overall moodiness - yet how do we not put two and two together to see that Tommy is the Green Ranger?  While Zack, Trini, and Billy are all in this episode and all have some sort of function (Billy fixes Alpha, Trini watches, and Zack drives the Rad Bug and says "it's morphin time") - the show is still driven by Jason/Tommy/Kimberly.  Get used to it, folks.

Zack says "it's morphin time" for the first time which is kind of cool.  Without Jason, we see Zack take up second-in-command duties and (in my opinion) make a much better call than Jason would.  Green Ranger kicked our butt last time, so let's beat him to the punch, escalate the battle (against Zordon's rules, but hey, Zordon's in another dimension right now) and form Megazord to fight a 6 foot tall man.  Genius really.  And guess what?  It works.  But let's not get used to a Ranger having a good battle strategy.

All in all, the episode progresses the saga, but really could have been condensed into five minutes (much like the other episodes in the saga) and starts to feel a bit drawn out.  Plus, Tommy's hair is really starting to bother me.