[DreamSword]

We're in my top 10 now! Can you guess what seasons will place where?

I also learned this morning that I gotta be careful from here on out. I went and watched one episode of this season... which then turned into 10, haha.

Jungle Fury

Pre-Show Preamble

Like many of the seasons I've been going over lately, Jungle Fury is a season that alot of people had initially passed on, but overtime has grown more and more fans. And again, it's great for me because I felt this was a huge step up after PROO.

There's so much to like about this season that a part of me almost feels like I should put it up higher, but, that should help to highlight just how much I enjoy not just this season, but all the future ones I'll be touching on.

First off, I absolutely loved the Kung Fu motif that the show went for. Power Rangers takes alot of inspiration from Jackie Chan movies as it is, so having an entire season based off of various martial arts and kung fu flicks honestly just seemed like a really natural progression. It's to the point that the Civilian Powers of past seasons disappear, and everything is focused on hand-to-hand combat.

Second, I am absolutely floored with how well the show's' writing turned out considering the time. Many might not remember, but back when the show was being made, there was a huge writer's' strike going on, so PRJF cycled through alot of different writers. Yet somehow despite that, the writing remained mostly consistent and the character development absolutely on point. There's even alot of subtle foreshadowing I missed the first time around.

And last, in compliment to the second, the character development was really, really good this season. RJ is my favorite here, as well as my favorite Purple Ranger, but if I had to give the award of "best development" to anyone, it would be Camille and Jarrod. Not only was making the Sixth Ranger not just a bad guy, but THE Big Bad a totally fresh idea at the time, but many episodes are just as much Jarrod and Camille's' as they are the Power Rangers. I'd even go so far as to say I think they're the best developed villains the franchise has had!

It ended up making choosing a favorite episode of the show really hard, but in the end, I think I found it.

Episode 9: Good Karma, Bad Karma

The overall theme and message of this episode is duality, and how the people, events, and choices we experience in life play a huge part in who we end up becoming.

Alongside the usual monster of the week, there are two plotlines ongoing here: One focusing on Casey and a boy named Josh, and the other focusing on Jarrod and his new master, Carnisoar.

Before we get to Casey's' half, can I just say that while I didn't get much out of it as a kid, now that I'm older and I've worked fast food, can we just take a moment to appreciate the fact that the Rangers this time around are all fast food workers? Not only is it a nice message to send that fast food workers aren't inherently losers, but maaann did I find alot to relate to considering my past experience in the industry. There were SO many times during the binge that I outright said "God this is way too similar to my normal day at work." Especially during the episodes when things were going hectic. Also Fran is nowhere near appreciated enough, the poor girl.

Anyway, this time around, Casey has to contend with a boy named Josh, who steals a $5 bill off one of the tables so he can buy a kite that he really wants. Casey chases the kid down and decides to try and teach him about not giving into greed and working to be better than that. Realistically enough, Josh does what alot of little kids would do and gives in anyway, buying the kite with the stolen money.

At the end of this, while he certainly could've worded it better, I do like the message that Casey passes on here. The message he gives essentially being that it makes no sense to look up and admire heroes if you don't also strive to uphold their core values. It's not always easy. Infact, many times it's very hard, but your integrity and your sense of right and wrong are very important, and you should do your best to live up to those ideals. He even uses Josh's' kite at the end to help defeat the monster! Which is a great callback to the training he got from RJ in episode 3, by the way.

Side tangent: Apparently alot of people dislike the Solar Morphers? I always felt they were not only something cool and different, but also practical. Toei seemed to have liked the idea too, considering Sunglasses Morphers would make a return come Go-Busters.

I guess I should talk about the monster in this one, huh? He's an eel monster named Slickagon, whose gimmick is that he's far too slimey and slippery to get a clean hit on. Though really, the best thing to come out of him is not his slime, but the fact that he does the worm as a form of attack. That always gets a giggle out of me. Oh, and double points in that despite Theo and Lily going to RJ for help, he's not the one who comes up with the solution, Casey does all his own.

Another side note: I always loved how low tech RJ's' pad was compared to other command bases in the series. Dude straight up monitors things via CRTs and has the Rangers swing out of the joint Tarzan-style. Just another point to RJ being one of the most unique mentors the series has ever had. Love this guy.

But now we get into the real meat of this episode, and something that I feel wouldn't be nearly as effective if we didn't have the Casey plotline to directly contrast with.

Carnisoar shows Jarrod visions of his past, all the while convincing him to literally have a change of heart so that the might of Dai Shi can continue to take over Jarrod's' mind.

It's here that we learn a whole lot about Jarrod. He was a loner who always tried to do the right thing, only for life to turn around and kick him for it at every turn. He had absentee parents, he was bullied, and many of the things he tried to succeed in, he failed at.

I especially like how this is shown as a gradual process: Carnisoar first starting with something small(cheating on a test), and then growing bigger and bigger(letting an innocent family essentially die), thus letting Dai Shi's' hatred flow even more. Another great detail to notice too, and a follow up to previous scenes in other episodes focusing on Jarrod, is that despite all of this, Jarrod is still there, doing his best to resist Dai Shi's' influence. Jarrod isn't evil, just misguided and someone who's been hurt over and over again. The only person who really cares about him being Camille.

This culminates with Camille deciding that Carnisoar needs to go, as even she can recognize he's a horrible influence on her master, furthering the arc that the two share and the grand payoff it would have come the end of the season.

Overall, Jungle Fury is a season that's all about insecurities, and how they both influence how people act as well as what people do to try and either handle or overcome them. Nearly every character has one they need to conquer in order to better themselves, and that motif lead to some overall great character arcs; this episode being a great example of the building blocks that make that up.

After-Show Bonus

Ever notice how this season doesn't have a Battlizer nor any sort of crossover with its predecessor season(Operation Overdrive)? Apparently the budget for those was instead put into making the Spirit Rangers, and personally? I think they made the right call on that front.