[Androzani84]

Week 8 continues with?

Time Force Epusode 8: Jen?s Revenge

My interesting fact about this episode is that Erin Cahill, who played Jen, named his as her favourite episode of the series because she got to be more aggressive. How much more? Let?s find out.

As Trip checks on the 7 Mutants the Rangers have captured so far (hooray for continuity), which are being held in a freezer (probably in case the capsules malfunction, but that?s just my interpretation. I?m half sure someone will disagree with me). Wes then wakes up to his alarm and falls out of bed, with the others telling him that it?s not early (despite the clock reading ?6.45? and the sun looking like it was rising or setting in the establishing shot). He notices that Jen isn?t there, and learns she?s ?training as usual?.

By which I mean, she?s out by the lake, punching a tree with a rope wrapped around it with fingerless gloves, before staring wistfully at her engagement ring. Wes then arrives, offering to work out with her? only for her to throw him flat on his ass.

Jen: Someday, if you get up early enough, maybe you can keep up with me.

(That quote isn?t that important to later in the episode. I just thought it was distinct enough to stand out)

We then cut to Casa de Ransik, where Frax defrosts the unfortunately named Fatcatfish (adapted from Mad Blast from Timeranger 05), with the latter tasked by Ransik with taking out the Rangers in exchange for half a briefcase full of money. And Frax loses the mechanical delivery to mock him for his surprise.

Frax: Surely a bounty hunter of your reputation will have no problem going after them.
Fatcatfish: Of course not. I?ll pulverise them.

He demonstrates by using his gatling gun arm to take out Nadira?s entire entourage. Which she?s oddly ok with, laughing at the robot carnage. But Frax fails to see the humour in Fatcatfish?s Robo-racism, and vows revenge - and implies that robots share the same discrimination and goals that mutants do (which would explain how Ransik got him to join the gang - playing on that).

But before Fatty (Nadira?s nickname for him, which I?m adopting to spare my spell checker) can go and kill the Rangers, Nadira Shanghais him as a valet while she goes shopping, forces him to pay for all her purchases and then deserts him once he goes broke. Predictably, he goes on a rampage in response.

The Rangers arrive on the scene to stop him. And in a divergence from the Timeranger episode, Jen does recognise him? Alex arrested Fatty alongside her back in the year 3000 (and somehow, Fatty recognised Jen beneath the helmet. Does he remember her voice from their one meeting?). And when he insults her over Alex?s death (How did her learn about that? Because the only way he could know is if Nadira told him during her shopping splurge), which is what prompts her to stock footage mandated ?he must die? rage (I know we couldn?t do a gunned down parents story in a show aimed at PR?s demographic, but they probably could?ve come up with a stronger motivation to replace it). And Fatty chooses to withdraw when the other Rangers stop Jen. (And apparently, the V5 has a ?destroy? setting, despite being made to capture criminals. That invites a lot of questions)

Fatty comes across Frax, who proceeds to mock him for his cowardice and forge a friendship? purely so he can make a copy of his likeness and voice, which he uses to send a bogus surrender message to Jen (So deepfakes still exist in the future. Ok) offering to hand over Ransik in exchange for clemency at an old warehouse. That night, Jen sneaks out to said warehouse on her Time Force uniform, where Frax has arranged for Fatty and Ransik to meet up at said warehouse to sell the ruse (with the former even reassuming his robot voice to deny involvement). The ruse goes off with, Ransik shoving Fatty aside, before Jen finds herself dealing with an ambush of Cyclobots. After a fairly well choreographed and creative foght, Fatty runs away, and Wes discovers Jen went out on her own. The other Rangers arrive in time for Jen to need saving from Ransik? somewhat redundantly, as his mutation disease flares up before he can land the final blow, with Ransik being helped to safety by Frax.

The next morning, a badly bandaged (for kids tv) Jen wakes up to find Wes has been sleeping with her all night. Meanwhile, Faty had realised Frax?s deception and try?s to shut him down? only for the regular villain to be saved by Jen reappearing to settle things with the monster of the week. But Wes notices her absence and alerts the others, with the 4 rushing to the scene just as she?s preparing to ?give (Fatty) the same mercy that Ransik gave Alex?.

Wes manages to get through to Jen by pointing out that while she?s justified in wanting to kill him, Alex wouldn?t have wanted it, causing her to decide to bring him in ?by the book? (kind of anticlimactic, but whatever). Fatty then recovers his courage, in time for Jen to deliver a sword strike to defeat him. But Fatty grows to giant size, with the Rangers summoning the Time Fliers and combining into Jet Mode to hit Fatty with the Cyclone Defence, before reforming as Mode Red. Wes gives Jen the honour of finishing off Fatty, allowing him to be recaptured.

Later, as Trip adds their latest prisoner to the freezer that is Tome Force?s Hotel California, we end on Wes and Jen having a heart to heart, with the latter admitting she like Wes because he isn?t Alex, resulting in a hug? and everyone else proving that the Scooby-Doo method of spying on people by stacking on top of one another sideways doesn?t really work in real life.

Next time: Frax steals a crystal powder that he uses to fuel a robot that defeats the Megazord, forcing Mr. Collins and a mysterious party to send out their own giant mecha.

But that?s going to be about two weeks off, since here?s where I announce a schedule change. To overcome the 10 episode difference in length between Timeranger and Time Force, I?ll be spending the next three weekends and the next two scheduled update days covering episodes 9-18 of Timeranger, before resuming the simul-review with episodes 19 of Timeranger and 9 of Time Force. If it proves sustainable, I might make that my new update model. But now, onto the final thoughts.

Final thoughts: Now I?m not saying this is a bad episode - it?s well acted, we get a bit of development for Frax, who up until now has been rather static (and no, that?s not a pun) and some development of the Wes/Jen ship.

But I will say that the title is rather misleading (what exactly is Jen taking revenge on Fatcatfish for? Mocking her? Because if so, her reaction is, as pointed out, rather overblown) and the resolution to the plot feels like they?d written themselves into a corner when working with the footage. Plus Jen getting angry and trying to murder a criminal had slightly less impact than when Yuri did it, because as Shi z Ranger pointed out, shouting is Erin Cahill?s default mode as Jen, whereas Mika Natsumura normally plays Yuri as stoic and business first, which made for a greater contrast.

So, it?s not an awful watch, but I feel it could?ve been made stronger. How, I don?t know, but it could?ve.

[DreamSword]

This is an episode that I can see being very necessary for younger viewers.

As it essentially answers the question of "Why is Jen in such a bad mood alot of times?" for those that didn't piece it together with the first two episodes.

And really, it is all about her personal vendetta in this entire war with Ransik that's been going on, and how desperate she is in seeking vengeance for Alex. It causes her to act out and put both herself and others in danger.

Not only does it make it very easy for Frax to lure her into a trap, but she almost ends up smoking a criminal into dust just through sheer guilt by association. Sure, it was also a criminal she'd arrested in the past, but given that opening where Ransik is on her mind, it was clear who she was really lashing out at.

It's a pretty solid character piece for our Pink Ranger, with some surprising development for Frax added to the mix too. That said, the most surprising thing to me on this rewatch was that the censors allowed Jen to be shown bloody and bruised; a very rare occurrence in the world of Power Rangers. Not to mention Jen's' use of the world "death" during the climax.

I liked it. Though it might've maybe been nice to see this episode slightly sooner in the lineup.