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So we kick things off at the Angel Grove Martial Arts Expo, a competition held in, of course, the Juice Bar. Jason is competing, naturally, but he's a little intimidated by his opponent, a new kid in school wearing green. No one from the group can identify who he is, but Kimberly immediately calls him "cute". Keep that in mind, it's important. We see our mysterious newcomer practice a bit and he looks pretty damn good, so we can tell why Jason is mildly concerned.
We move to the moon where Rita is watching the competition. She immediately takes an interest in this new character and proclaims him to be the perfect candidate for the Green Ranger. Goldar agrees, saying that the Rangers being beaten by another teenager is a perfect plan. This is the first time where Rita being vague in her plan really works. We don't know anything about another Ranger at this point, and them mentioning using another teenager to beat the other Rangers gets viewers' attention, and keeps it as they want to learn more.
We cut back to the Expo with the match between Jason and the other kid (who we learn from looking at the scoreboard that his name is Tommy) already in progress. The two are evenly matched, but Tommy manages to get ahead of Jason in points. With just a few seconds left, Jason manages to tie the scores up and end the match in a draw. The two gain immediate respect for one another, which will come into play later on. Jason's a little bummed that he didn't win, but the others manage to cheer him up. They separate, though Kimberly stays behind for a minute to ogle Tommy some more. Cheesy harp music plays to indicate just how gaga she is over this guy.
We cut to the school the next day where Kimberly is at her locker. Bulk and Skull show up and Skull hits on her, though he's quickly brushed off. Tommy walks over and tells the two to back off. They start to go after him, but he practices some more martial arts in front of them, which sends them running. I guess they wanted to get across that this guy is awesome, and in that aspect, they succeeded. He introduces himself to Kimberly, and she asks him to hang out with the others at the Juice Bar. He agrees, and we can see through his facial expressions and his awkward speaking that he reciprocates Kimberly's feelings a bit.
We head back to the moon where Rita proclaims that she'll turn Tommy evil through the power of the sixth Power Coin. Again, the kids watching this never knew that there was another Power Coin to begin with, so to have Rita possess it instantly grabs attention. Rita starts spouting off nonsense magical words in front of a crystal ball, as if to indicate she's getting serious with her magic.
We cut to an alley where Tommy is wandering alone. Which is pretty much asking for something to happen to you. Sure enough, Putties attack Tommy. After getting beaten for a few minutes, Tommy actually manages to beat the Putties. Now, keep in mind that at this point, the Rangers still had to fight the Putties as a group when they were demorphed. Sure, one Ranger might be able to beat one Putty alone, but they typically fought in a group. Yet here was a guy who managed to beat four Putties all by himself. This firmly established that Tommy was not only as good as the other Rangers, but possibly better. In that case, it may have worked a little too well, but we wouldn't see any indication of that until much later on. Tommy wonders why they attacked him as Rita proclaims that Tommy is the perfect candidate. She teleports down and captures Tommy, sending him to the moon.
Back at said moon, Tommy is encased in some sort of evil wax, which would itself become a plot point for later on, and Rita starts spouting more nonsense magic words. Tommy is now under Rita's control, and Rita explains the plan a bit more. As a Ranger, Tommy now has access to the Command Center, meaning he can destroy it and cut the Rangers off from Zordon, who's been helping them for so long. Then, because the Rangers are vulnerable, he can defeat them that much easier. This is Rita's best plan by far, and it would get better as we move along. Zordon has been the Rangers Mr. Exposition for pretty much the whole season, so to cut them off from him would leave them lost and confused. We see Zordon order Alpha to recharge his batteries while he goes into a meditative state, which will obviously make things easier for Tommy. Tommy's surrounded by green smoke and reappears as the Green Ranger, and the kids watching collectively crap themselves in shock. An evil Ranger?! How can the others possibly win?!
Tommy teleports to the Command Center and places a virus in Alpha, causing him to go haywire, though Tommy quickly disconnects him, shutting him down. One down, one to go. Zordon realizes what's going on and tells Tommy that he's being controlled by Rita. He offers to help him, but it's too late. Tommy just tears through the control system, ripping apart anything he can get his hands on. The end result is the Center being trashed and Zordon being cut off from the Rangers. For the second time, the kids watching crap their pants. Tommy soon teleports away from the Center, proclaiming the Power Rangers to be his next victims.
Rita is overjoyed that Zordon is out of the way, and initiates the next part of the plan. She sends Goldar down to Earth and makes him grow, setting a trap for the Rangers.
Speaking of said Rangers, we cut to Billy's garage where the group is cleaning up the Rad Bug. Kimberly's obviously bummed that Tommy didn't show up at the Juice Bar, but Zack just suggests that something came up. They get a call from Alpha, but it's a warbled mess and the communicators quickly shut off. Teleportation is down as well, so they have to take the Rad Bug to the Command Center. They see the aftermath of Tommy's attack and are shocked at the damage and Zordon's disappearance. Billy removes the virus from Alpha and he starts working again. He says that his memory banks are scrambled, and as such, he can't remember who attacked. Trini wonders how someone could've got in without a Power Coin. The group sees Goldar attacking and morphs to go after him.
The group fight off Putties for a bit in a satisfying battle scene of kickassery. The giant Goldar naturally makes things harder, so the Rangers summon the DinoZords. They quickly form the MegaZord and summon the Power Sword to fight Goldar. It's a pretty even fight, but Goldar quickly vanishes before the fight can go on for too long. The Rangers get a glimpse of the Green Ranger, but he soon gives them a better look when he enters the MegaZord and starts attacking the group! Third time the kids crap themselves. The group is thrown out of the MegaZord and Tommy follows them and takes them on. Not only that, but he beats all five Rangers solo, finishing them off with some green Hadoken that we never see again. Did I mention that this guy was awesome?
We cut back to the Command Center as Alpha tries and fails to find Zordon. The group returns, demanding answers. They explain what happened, but Alpha can't help them. A combination of damage from the virus as well as lack of energy from the recharge causes Alpha to shut down, just making things worse for the group. Jason says that this isn't the end, and that the Green Ranger will be back for another round. Sure enough, the Rangers see the Green Ranger proclaim that he'll destroy them all one by one, and the episode ends on that note, giving us our first cliffhanger of the series.
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For a first episode of a minisaga, this one did it's job and then some. We're introduced to a new character who surpasses the other Rangers in terms of fighting ability. He's then turned evil, turned into a new Ranger, wrecks the Command Center and cuts the Rangers off from Zordon, and then separates them from the MegaZord, and then beats all five of them in combat. People knew that this wasn't just some monster-of-the-week, but a serious threat that the Rangers had to overcome. And things were just going to get worse.
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Tommy Oliver, the new Ranger and the one who would be the most popular character of the series.
What can be said about the Green Ranger? He was just....cool. In fact, the gold chestplate helped establish that this guy was better than the other Rangers, which may have worked TOO well...
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