Season 1, Episode 18: Green With Evil, Part 2

"Green With Evil, Part 2"
Episode 18
Air Date: October 6, 1993

Well, the sh!t has hit the fan as the rangers struggle to fix Alpha and the Command Center. Luckily, Billy manages to get Alpha back online and Rita decides to send Tommy back to Earth; to keep his identity a secret...for now!!! Though using his glowing green eye powers to through Bulk and Skull into a dumpster doesn't do that but we need some comedic relief given how tense things are now.  Jason is frustrated about who the Green Ranger is and for some reason Zack comes to the conclusion that Rita's behind their new foe....ummm...considering before he knocked you guys out of your megazord, he yelled "Long Live Empress Rita!" I'm pretty sure she is, Zack! The hell!!! O_o

I have to say my favorite part of the episode is cold confrontation between Tommy and Kimberly. Kimberly of course has a crush on him but Evil Tommy just makes her feel like dirt. Ha!! Another annoyance I had with this episode is the introduction with the sword of Darkness that Tommy must earn by defeating a squad of Putties! Ummm...he did that last episode and proved he was worthy to become the Green Ranger, WTF!?? Such an unneeded and contrived plot development just to prolong the arc and show more action of Tommy kicking the foot soldiers' butts!

What I do LOVE about the episode and makes up for that is that now Jason is taken out the picture and for the first time, we see that other dimension cage the rangers will get trapped in again and again! I like the tension here between Jason and Goldar. Goldar actually comes off menacing here, taunting and making fun of Jason as he has his morpher. Watching Jason fight him unmorphed is just awesome; especially when Goldar chokes holds him against the wall and Jason realizes he screwed.

Meanwhile, the other 4 rangers regroup and for the first time have to fight without their leader, which is another refreshing development. The 4 rangers morph into action and get their a$$es handed to them by Tommy to the point where they have to summon the freakin' megazord to force him into retreat. This of course, breaks Zordon's rule again of escalating a battle but given how powerful the Green Ranger is and Zordon being gone at the moment screw it. I love seeing Tommy try to attack the megazord and the megazord using the Mastodon shield for the first time to deflect the attack back at him. More unique and superb action sequences!  Back at the Command Center, Alpha tries to get a hold of Zordom again and almost does but the communication fails. Back in the other dimension Goldar is just being cruel by dropping Jason's morpher and forcing him to get it. Looks like Jason is about get kil....I mean destroyed before another great cliffhanger!

Another strong episode from this arc, outside of my problems with it. Tommy/The Green Ranger is proving to be the best villain yet for the rangers. He mentally messes with Kimberly and continues to own the rangers with every new fight. Taking Jason out of the picture was another great move as it continues to make the team very vulnerable and ups the stakes of this particular situation. On to Part 3!!! :) :) :)

Final Morph: A-