[raz]

The lack of reaction from the rest of the team is what killed the episode for me. I'm going to use Shinkenger 45 as an example, not of how to do a Samurai episode but how to pay attention to human reactions.

When Kaoru entered and Takeru revealed his secret of being a shadow to allow her to train, and he wasn't even a Shiba clan member, it DEVASTATED Mako, Chiaki, Genta, Kotoha and Ryunosuke. Why did it tear away at them and drive them away from their duties, almost ripping them apart emotionally? They had spent their lives training under their family's guidance, knowing that their goal was to serve a true lord. They meet this lord, fighting alongside him, pledging their life to him as he's the only way to defeat the enemy. They spend the year bonding with him, risking themselves, devoting every second of their life to him because they believe in his conviction.

Not to mention Genta, Takeru's childhood friend, has to realize that his best friend in the entire world, who he believed to be a role model and the most important person in the world to him, and he spent his life training to join teams with has been feeding him a lie. However, Genta soon realizes and affirms to Takeru that although he had been leading this double life, they were still best friends and had identities outside of being Samurai.

The severe attachment to the Samurai mission, the bonds with each other, devotion and loyalty are what caused the revelation of the secret to have an intense, to say the least, emotional reaction over several episodes. How does Samurai approach this? Mia and Emily ask Lauren to go shopping. Mike gets a hamburger and oogles Lauren's Shodophone. Kevin and Antonio enjoy the cookout. This isn't about comparing it to Shinkenger for the sake of, "oh, this is how it happened in the Sentai." This is the fact that there has been dozens of episodes of build up, and devotion to a red ranger, without none of them realizing what it means for them to be lied to about such a thing.

However, if I'm seeing this wrong. Please correct me.