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So we start off at the Juice Bar with Ernie posting the results of the Junior Soccer Team Tryouts. Oh dear God, I know what this means...
*dun dun DUN!*
BAD CHILD ACTOR!
Unfortunately, I'm right, as our subplot character for today is Roger, the kid who didn't get onto the team. He mopes about not getting on, so Ernie decides to have a second tryout for those who didn't get on. Because sports teams totally work like that.
On the moon, Rita actually thinks this issue with the soccer player is worth her attention, and gets Finster to work on the Socadillo monster. It's a 7-year old who wants to play soccer. Why is this so important?
We cut to the school where Tommy talks to Jason and Zack about the tryouts, and Zack says that, since Roger practiced with him and Jason, he should get in. You know, I really have to wonder why it's so goddamn important that this one kid get onto the team. I mean, how is it fair to all the kids who practiced hard and got on the team the first time if they're just going to let the runner-ups have another chance? What kind of message are you sending them? "Sorry kids, don't worry about practicing hard and actually putting effort into your game, just be buddies with the coach and you'll be fine." If I was a parent of one of those kids, I'd be pretty pissed.
Bulk and Skull arrive and they mess around with a soccer ball, kicking it past Ms. Appleby and sending it ricocheting all over the place. In the chaos, Tommy smacks his communicator against the wall, apparently damaging it. After the group breaks up and Bulk and Skull get detention, Tommy has a communication mishap with Zordon, so he decides to have Billy see if anything's wrong with his communicator. OK, I get that this is another reason to have Tommy arrive late, but...POWER SHORTAGE! Are we completely ignoring that plot point now?!
Oh, wait, the real reason Tommy will be late is because his communicator keeps going off in class, so Ms. Appleby confiscates it. Again, POWER SHORTAGE! We then cut to the park where Roger is practicing soccer with Jason and Zack. And he sucks. And Rita agrees with me. So why does he need to get on?! Rita sends down some Putties to fight the two, but Socadillo can't go because it needs to be charged, for some reason. Rita gets pissy and sends it down anyway, which turns out to be a grey boulder that the Putties kick around. For now, anyway. Trini, Billy, and Kim get contacted by Alpha and they teleport to the battlefield, Trini protecting Roger while the others fight off the Putties and Socadillo. After taking care of the Putties, Socadillo disappears, for the time being anyway.
We cut to the Command Center where Zordon fills them in on Socadillo and how it can change forms once it has enough energy. Alpha mentions trying to contact Tommy, but no luck. We then move to the school, where after an interlude of Bulk and Skull thumb wrestling (complete with Bulk and Skull faces on the thumbs), we learn that Ms. Appleby never returns anything she confiscates. I'm sure that'll change quickly. The Rangers morph and go to fight Socadillo.
We see Socadillo's true form and, it's what you expect. A giant armadillo monster. For some reason, this is another monster I remember pretty well from childhood. Not sure why. Maybe I had a toy of him too or something. Anyway, he smacks the Rangers around without taking any damage, supposedly because of his strong armor. After a clip of Tommy asking Ms. Appleby for his communicator, the Rangers try that pyramid-formation-thing with the Blade Blasters. Socadillo just curls up into his ball form and doesn't take any damage. He then rolls around into the Rangers, then uncurls and summons some Putties. They kick some clay balls at the Rangers, and follow that up with kicking a curled-up Socadillo at them.
Tommy somehow managed to get his communicator back (do I want to know why he's flicking his wrist like that?) and tries to contact the Command Center. After some problems, Alpha tells him what's going on and he morphs and joins the fight. Of course, since he's Tommy, he evens the odds immediately, leading to the Rangers kicking Socadillo's ass all over the place. Until Rita makes him grow, of course. So the Rangers summon the DinoZords and form the MegaZord while Tommy summons the DragonZord.
They brawl for a bit and...it just looks really clumsy. Of course, they can't really do anything while Socadillo is curled up, so Zack gets the oh so brilliant idea of "waiting for it to uncurl before attacking". No shit, Sherlock. As expected, it uncurls, they summon the Power Sword and finish it off. Rita wonders why she even bothers. You know, so do I.
Back at the Juice Bar, the group finds out that since everyone apparently did SO well, Ernie made a second soccer team, and Roger is the captain. *ahem* BULLSHIT. There is no way that Roger would've been THAT good after what we've seen of his "skills", or lack thereof. Bulk and Skull arrive, blah blah, you don't need to practice to be good, blah blah, yes you do, and then Skull gets some weird green stuff on the soccer ball and smacks himself in the face. Group laughs, episode ends.
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And we're back on track with bad filler episodes, I see. Besides Socadillo, which wasn't THAT great a monster, this episode was just bad. Mixed messages aplenty, bad child actors, unnecessary reasons to keep Tommy away that won't be brought up again (seriously, what did Tommy have to do to get his communicator back?), and Bulk and Skull just being unfunny. Just avoid altogether.
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I kind of feel sorry for Socadillo. He's a decent-looking monster, yet he's stuck in a crappy filler like this and has to deal with way too many soccer references. Poor guy.
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