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So we start off at the Juice Bar with Jason practicing for yet another martial arts tournament. Seriously, how many of these does he need to partake in? He tries to practice but is distracted by something. Zack assumes that he misses Tommy, but, in a nice bit of continuity, we find out that Jason blames himself for Tommy losing his powers back in the Green Candle saga. If Tommy hadn't lost his powers then, they wouldn't have had to worry about them decreasing now, and he'd still be a Ranger. Zack tries to reassure Jason that there was no choice in the matter, but it doesn't work.
This minor bout of depression is the perfect inspiration for Zedd's next plan. He's made candles for each of the Rangers save for Jason, and he plans to torture Jason some more by using them to drain the Rangers' powers as well. Yes, I'm going to start nitpicking here, so brace yourself...HOW?! How in the world were these candles even made?! The original Green Candle worked because it was made from the wax that Tommy was encased in to first become the Green Ranger. Therefore, it makes sense that it would have a connection to his powers. How does the same apply to these candles?! Were the other Rangers encased in wax to first gain their powers and Zedd somehow stole it? If so, it seems like a pretty important thing to leave out! And why was there no Red Candle made? Why make these candles to give a big middle finger to Jason and not just go ahead and drain his powers too?! I get the drama behind this plan and I do like it, but it still doesn't make a lot of sense!
Back at the Juice Bar, Zack, Billy, and Kim are discussing Jason's problem. Thuy Trang is still on injury, so we won't be seeing her much. Kim decides that they should go find Tommy so he can help cheer Jason up. Kim explains that he sometimes goes up to his uncle's cabin, so they decide to head there. Bulk and Skull overhear them, and hearing Kimberly mention "Ranger", assume that they're trying to find the Rangers' identities as well. So they grab Bulk's aunt's cab and follow them.
The Rangers pull over (and just to clarify, yes, they picked up Trini along the way) to consult their map. This is the opportunity needed for Goldar to appear, causing the Rangers to morph. While Goldar is monologuing, as he so often does, Bulk and Skull try to take a picture of him and the Rangers. How this will uncover their identities is a mystery. A nest of eggs falls on them, which means they failed, somehow. Goldar then teleports the Rangers to Zedd's Dimension of Doom, which is the same dungeon area from when Jason fought Tommy while he was evil and where the Green Candle was kept. With the Rangers trapped behind bars, Goldar uses the remnants of the Green Candle to light the other candles for each Rangers. I'm sure some would consider that as an explanation as to how the candles would work, but I still have my doubts.
At the Command Center, Zordon fills Jason in on the Rangers' disappearance, as well as why they left Jason at the Juice Bar. Alpha starts scanning for any sign of them, while Jason mentions that there's no point in winning the upcoming tournament if the others can't be there to share it with him. Awwww. Zedd sees the trophy for the tournament and decides to use it for his next monster, transforming it into Pipebrain. Er....OK.
Back at the Command Center, Zordon catches wind of Pipebrain, and Alpha finds the Rangers. Once they learn of the candle scenario, Jason is PISSED. Zordon tries to calm him down and gives a speech about how leaders need to make tough decisions, etc etc. Of course, Jason decides to save the others, which can only be done by defeating Pipebrain. Of course. Jason morphs and goes out to battle.
And here we have a problem. With the appearance of Pipebrain, we're finally using the Gosei Sentai Dairanger footage for monsters. Which means that there won't be any choppy Zord battles anymore! Instead, we get choppy Ranger battles! ....great. Sure, they bring in some Z-Putties to help, but it doesn't really work. And Jason sounds different! Great, now there's the voicing issues again. After some fighting for a bit, Zedd makes Pipebrain grow, thank God, so Jason summons his Red Dragon ThunderZord and fights it alone.
The Red Dragon Zord turns into its Warrior Mode and I gotta say, the Zord battles are MUCH better now. It's a solid back and forth battle and the Red Dragon is pretty agile, unlike the MegaZords which were pretty bulky and slow. The Red Dragon Zord mainly uses its bo staff to fight, even doing the Matrix spinning kick. You know, when Neo sticks that pipe in the ground and spins around on it? Basically that, except it's done to only one guy. He finishes Pipebrain off by spinning his bo staff around like helicopter blades and hitting him with it. Cool.
Back in the "Dimension of Doom", Goldar gloats some more about how the Rangers will lose and such. A nice effect here is this weird flame like effect on the Rangers, making it look like they're burning away. It's hard to describe, but it fits really well. Jason arrive and fights Goldar, eventually causing him to retreat. This scene would be pretty cool if Austin St. John was actually doing the voice here. He gets the Rangers' Power Coins and uses them with his own to restore their dying powers. OK, whatever. He frees the others and they escape, even with Goldar spontaneously coming back to try and stop them. OK.
The Rangers arrive at the Command Center after some minor drama with Jason possibly not getting out. They locate Tommy who's writing a letter to the group. By the way, a nice touch here is that Tommy is no longer wearing green, indicating the loss of his powers. In his letter, he talks about how he misses the guys, but he needs some time to himself to get things straight. He also says that he obviously doesn't blame Jason for what happened and reminds him that the team needs him. This gives Jason the confidence he needs to go back to the tournament.
At said tournament, Bulk and Skull try to prove that they met the Rangers, but the pictures they took were just of the eggs falling on the camera, of course. Jason enters the tournament and of course he wins, what else would happen? He dedicates the obvious win to Tommy as the episode ends.
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This episode is kind of iffy. As an epilogue to Tommy's departure, it's alright, and it's a nice callback to what caused him to go down this path in the first place. Still, issues both in continuity and from a technical standpoint weigh this one down a bit. Not to mention we still don't really know how the episodes from here on will play out, since this was still wrapping up the Green No More storyline. If you feel you have to, then give this one a watch, but it's really not that important.
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Incidentally, he got the name "Pipebrain" from the trophy name, which was called the Golden Pipe Trophy. That is a really stupid name for a really stupid-looking trophy.
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