Season 4, Episode 22: Trust In Me

"Trust In Me"
Episode 22
Air Date: September 10th, 1996

Oh great!  A Rocky focused episode!!! But for once, it's actually really good. Maybe because it doesn't focus on developing Rocky as a character. Yeah, I'm sure the writers gave up on that at this point. I mean Rocky (along with Adam) are just stand-in rangers who get very little focus and when they do, it doesn't help their cause. What I do LOVE about this episode is it introduces a plot we've never seen before: a monster who can possibly be good. Of course, this is the work of King Mondo and Klank but it's an interesting concept that has never been explored before and will be explored fully in In Space..

But before I get into that, I'll go back to the main plot with Rocky and him falling for another bitchy, guest female character. I mean I guess we now atleast know one characteristic about Rocky, he likes women who make him fill like crap! Wow! That must be great for the self esteem. But Penny turns out to be not only a master in martial arts despite being blind but she's great with kids and is actually very compassionate as well as understanding. It's Rocky who sees the best in her, leading him to apologize for something that he didn't to apologize for but it leads to a nice development between the two. It's a shame that Penny couldn't AT LEAST stay on the show to become a love interest for Rocky as he really doesn't do much like Adam. Having a love interest would have made him waaaayy more interesting instead of feeling like a cardboard cut out of charisma.

Anyway, I really loved the monster of the week plot as it made Mondo, especially Klank look very smart and deceptive by tricking the rangers into thinking his latest monster, Defector, was actually a good machine. It's not just him telling the rangers how good he is or begging him to believe him. He actually does good deeds like saving that little girl's dog and fighting off a group of Cogs when they attack him. I also love how the rangers are very skeptical about Defector and know that this could possibly be a trap. I love it when the writers are written not just competently but smart as sometimes they can be gullible and naive do to their goody good nature. They don't even believe in Defector until they see him getting attacked by Cogs. I have to say it was a really well thought out plan by Klank and Mondo. Since it's Rocky's episode, he gets to save the day fighting off Defector and destroying him with the Defender Wheel instead of Tommy. Anyway, "Trust In Me" is a fantastic episode, not because of Rocky again, but because of an excellent plot that makes both the villains and heroes look smart as the episode deals with trust and deception. Not to bad at all! :)

Final Morph: A-