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So we start off at the Juice Bar with Kim and Billy, Kim showing off a mirror she has. Turns out Tommy won the mirror for her at a carnival, which causes the two to mope about Tommy leaving the group. Geez, we just managed to do one episode without mentioning Tommy! One! It's like they don't want to write him out of the plot!
On the moon, Goldar mentions how the Rangers are distraught over Tommy's departure (geez, was he THAT important?), so Zedd decides on his next target. He chooses Kimberly, but he has a strange interest in her. He mentions that he's "intrigued" by her courage, so he chooses her to be his queen?! Whaaaaaaaaa?! Where did this come from?! Since when was Zedd even remotely interested in having a queen at all, let alone one of the Rangers?! I mean, yeah, Amy Jo Johnson is smoking hot, but this goes completely against Zedd's personality! It's almost like they toned down the seriousness of his character because some people were complaining that he was too scary for kids! I mean, it's just a hunch.
Back at the Juice Bar, Kimberly's still moping over Tommy, so she decides to see a fortune teller named Madam Swampy. Wow. It's like they weren't even trying with that name. By the way, I love how Billy tries to discredit fortune telling because he's a scientist and all. Yeah, monsters that grow to enormous sizes, an evil sorcerer who is looking for world domination, and a group of superheroes in multi-coloured outfits mentored by a floating head in a tube is perfectly believable, but fortune telling? Psssssssh. They leave and Bulk and Skull enter, Bulk getting the obvious idea of using the fortune teller to discover the identities of the Rangers, so they quickly head for wherever the fortune teller is.
Somehow, Bulk and Skull get there first. OK, whoever is playing Madam Swampy is instantly a better actor than the entire cast combined, solely because she was able to call herself Madam Swampy without bursting into hysterical laughter. That's talent. And her talent is wasted because her character is the subversion of the mystical fortune teller that's only out for money that's now become a stereotype in itself. Just let it die, guys. Let it die. Anyway, she gives them some map that will apparently lead them to something good, though what it is, I can only begin to guess.
After Zedd talks more about wanting Kim he sends Goldar down to turn her evil. He teleports down to Earth as Kimberly arrives at Madam Swampy's little hut. After Kim gets yanked around like a helpless damsel in distress and not at all like a Power Ranger, Goldar tosses some magic dust in her face that knocks her out, allowing Goldar to grab her and teleport away. Kim dropped her bag with the mirror during the fight, so Zedd decides to use the mirror for his latest monster, Mirror Maniac. Why does that sound like a bad comic book supervillain in itself?
We cut to Zack and Billy rollerblading in the park, the only important bit of dialogue being that Jason's fishing in the mountains with his uncle. K. Zordon contacts them and they meet up with Trini at the Command Center. Zordon fills them in on the plan to make Kim Zedd's queen, as well as they apparently can't break the spell, or track down the cave that Kim's being kept in. Well, nice knowing you, Kimberly. Hope you enjoy being the sex slave for a skinless sorcerer from Hell of another planet.
Zedd then sees the Rangers rollerblading, so he sends some Z-Putties down to fight them. Turns out the rollerbladers, however, are Curtis and Richie. Wait, so Zedd mistook these two for the Rangers? HOW?! He knows their secret identities and knew them from day one! How do you screw that up?! And did we really need to see these guys AGAIN?! Anyway, Zordon catches wind of what happens and the Rangers decide to split up, Billy and Trini going after Kim while Zack handles the Z-Putties. What about Jason, you ask? According to Zordon, they can't contact him because he's too far into the mountains.
....are you fucking SHITTING ME?! You mean to tell me that the LEADER of the motherfucking POWER RANGERS can't be contacted by a superpowerful Oz ripoff just because he's too high in the mountains?! Saban, are you purposely trying to piss people off with all these lapses in suspension of disbelief?! Or was this the best excuse you could make for why Austin St. John couldn't appear in this episode? Anyway, Billy and Trini morph and the three teleport away.
So, despite being unable to find the cave before, Billy and Trini find it no problem. At this point, I really don't care. They fight some Z-Putties near the cave while Zack takes care of the other Z-Putties unmorphed. Once that's done, Billy and Trini head in...oh son of a fuck, they switched Trini's voice too! And why did they purposely give Richie an open vest to wear?! Are they pretty much just giving up on him and letting him be eye candy for the girls?! Why is this episode pissing me off so much?!
We cut to the cave where Kimberly wakes up from the sleep dust, only to meet up with Goldar, Squat and Baboo. Yeah, remember when Squat and Baboo did stuff? Me neither. Goldar tells her that she will now be instructed on being an evil queen, and gives her an outfit to wear....that looks exactly like Rita's.
*a-he-hem* FOOOOOOOOOOOORESHADOWIIIIIIIIIING!
As it turns out, Goldar's spell didn't work in the slightest, but Kim decides to play along anyway. This leads to her doing a startlingly incredible Rita impersonation. Seriously, it's so accurate I would think she did the real voice, except I know she didn't. It's so good that Goldar even thinks he did the spell TOO well. Points to Amy Jo Johnson for being awesome. Billy and Trini arrive and...
.....what in the fuck is up with Trini's voice? Did they get the new voice actor to purposely sound Asian?! I don't know if you guys can tell from the few clips I've shown you, but Thuy Trang has no accent at all. So why did they make the voice actor have one? Saban, why are you making me question you?
Anyway, they escape and Zedd sends the Mirror Maniac down to attack the city. Alpha contacts the trio, explains that both Zack and Jason are already there, even though they couldn't contact Jason before, so Kim morphs and the rest join the fight. They fight some more Z-Putties while the Mirror Maniac...stands on the sidelines and critiques the fight. Wow. I have to admit, the fight is decent, but nothing special. Then again, I just came off of seeing The Protector starring Tony Jaa, so I may be a bit biased.
Anyway, Zedd makes the Mirror Maniac grow, which somehow breaks its center mirror, I don't even care anymore, so the Rangers summon the ThunderZords and form the Thunder MegaZord. They fight, Mirror Maniac doesn't do diddly dick, Thunder MegaZord finishes it off, please let this end. Zedd of course blames everyone except himself, whatever.
Back at the Juice Bar, Kim can't find her mirror, apparently not realizing she just fought it. You'd think she'd catch on, since Zedd turning important objects into monsters has become his M.O. Actually, it wasn't destroyed as Curtis returns it to her. Bulk and Skull arrive, having followed the map, and running right into the group. Ironically enough, they immediately believe Swampy to be a fraud, since there's no WAY these guys are the Power Rangers. As it turns out, the map was actually a cross-promotional bit between Swampy and the Juice Bar for free muffins or something. Group laughs, episode ends, thank the almighty LORD.
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So hey, I don't know if you can tell, but I HATE this episode! The plot made no sense when you consider Zedd's character, the fact that he couldn't tell the Rangers from two boring side characters is just stupid, the fact that they couldn't contact Jason because he was in the mountains is even MORE stupid, WHY DID THEY MAKE TRINI'S VOICE ACTOR SOUND ASIAN, and it was just overall bad. The only shining moment in this episode was Amy Jo Johnson's uncanny impression of Rita. Hunt down that one clip on YouTube or whatever, but otherwise, avoid this one at all costs.
So, hopefully the next episode will be better, tune in next time for...another two-parter?! Didn't we just finish with the last one?!
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Mirror Maniac actually makes me realize something: all of the Dairanger monsters so far have a theme with a singular eye. Why is that?
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