Season 7, Episode 4: Rookie In Red

"Rookie In Red"
Episode 4
Air Date: February 27th, 1999

It's always fun to have an episode where we see two types of personalities clashing.  Unlike say last season's "Red With Envy" where Andros and Zhane are at odds because Andros suddenly is jealous of him, we have two very defined characters so far which we know don't exactly get along already. Leo is a natural troublemaker, Kai has seen this first hand enough times not to trust him when he becomes the newest recruit for the GSA.  Kai, of course, is a "by the books" kind of guy, always doing what he's told and always following the rules.  When he's made to be Leo's trainer, he even puts the rules and regulations book right in front of him at one point. lol It's just great watching Leo and Kai being at odds because we know they are such polar opposites and that's very impressive considering this is only the 4th episode of the new season with brand new characters yet the audience already feels like they know these characters. Great job writers!!!

I also enjoyed Kendrix in this episode as when Kai complains to about Leo's lack of responsibility for the job, she immediately defends him, seeing while Leo obviously has flaws, at the end of the day, he is trustworthy and reliable as he just needs to be given a chance to prove himself.  It's actually kind of awesome that Kendrix already knows that about Leo as despite his troublesome exterior, she knows what's in his heart and why he does the things he does.  Once again, excellent characterization and continuing to show how greatly defined these new characters are. Anyway, after creating a lightning storm in the city dome, Kai once again gives Leo a hard time for breaking the rules and then realizes that weapons doom has been breached do to Leo forgetting to lock up.  The weapons have been stolen by Horn, a monster that Furio hires to get back into Scorpius' good graces since he has yet to obtain the Quasar Sabers from the rangers.

After Kai yells at Leo for the stolen weapons, Leo takes responsible for it and goes after solo, to Kai's worry.  After the rangers track down Leo and Horn, they arrive morphed to see Leo getting beaten up by Horn and some Sting Wingers.  After Kai demands he gives the weapons back, Horn of course declines and sends the Sting Wingers to attack them. After a well choreographed fight between the rangers and Sting Wingers, the rangers draw their Sabers to take down Horn but he eagerly blasts them and steals 4 of the Quasar Sabers.  When Leo refuses to let go of his, Horn to captures him and the Saber to the rangers' horror.  Kai of course is upset because he feels it was his fault Leo got captured and decides to go find him as the others join him. Next, Furio arrives with orders to destroy the Quasar Sabers which I think it's just dumb because why would Scorpius want to destroy such powerful weapons??? -_-  I guess so he can easily defeat the rangers but man, I'm not liking Scorpius as a villain so far. Also, I find it hard to believe a tube of lava could destroy the Sabers like that! Anyway, Horn of course is upset and steals one of the Sabers. When Furio tries to blasts him, it bounces off the Saber to free Leo who was in chains.  He jumps down grabs the Sabers and retreats as Furio orders them to go after him.

While Leo tries to escape, the other rangers arrive nearby looking for him.  As Leo ties the Sabers up in chains, he runs into Horn, who blasts him and takes back the Sabers.  Suddenly Horn wants them destroy too...O_O OK....so after Furio seemingly destroys the Sabers, we are also reintroduced to the Transdaggers, that Horn had collected. When Furio is about to destroy them, the rangers teleport again and grab them; only to reappear in front of them. Ok 1) How the hell did the rangers even KNOW about the transdagggers, let alone know that Horn had them??? 2) Apparently the Sabers that were just destroyed were fakes that were given to Leo by the other rangers???  Since when did they have time to make fake Quasar Sabers??? This episode was going REAL well until the writers decide to make no sense out of non-sense! -_- Anyway, with the Transdaggers, each ranger can now create their own individual weapon like Delta Daggers for Maya and Cosma Claw for Kai. They use the Transdaggers to defeat the Sting Wingers as well as create a Star Formation to blast Horn but he just grows right after that. Leo soon summons the Lion Galactabeast to help him as they combine forces again to destroy Horn! Oh we finally learn that mysterious daughter of Scorpius is named Trakeena. Leo resigns from the GSA as Kai apologizes for being such a hardass. All and All, a better episode than last but these random, unexplained conveniences are starting to get annoying. o_O

Final Morph: B-