Season 8, Episode 18: A Face From The Past

"A Face from the Past"
Episode 18
Air Date: August 26th, 2000

I think what I like more about this episode than anything else is it finally feels like this season has found its place among the franchise aka starting to feel more natural.  Don't get me wrong, it hasn't been a fun ride until this point since mostly everything is rather average, painfully so but outside the last run of episodes, it feels like this season has been running on auto-pilot compared to the last couple.  Luckily, this episode has a point to it and a moving one at that as when Captain Mitchell gives the rangers a day off for once (I mean they could have checked to see if there were any dangers lurking around the city first but hey, even superheroes need a break right?), we get to explore him and his relationship with Carter.  Like I said before in earlier reviews, Captain Mitchell has come off as such a mediocre mentor so far.  Always giving orders and expecting the rangers to do what he says without letting them know why he is giving such an order.  Here, when the rest of the rangers decide to have fun on their day off, Carter naturally wants to continue training and Captain Mitchell uses it as an opportunity to once again get close to the leader of the team he formed.

I like the everlasting growth in these two men's relationship.  They have already come a long way since the beginning of the season and I really liked seeing them bond here.  Carter is naturally a work-a-holic, always wanting to improve as a ranger which makes Captain Mitchell reminisce about being Carter's age and having the same mentality.  But he reminds him it's ok to not always work so hard and it's ok to have a life outside of his duties as a ranger.  Carter, of course, tells Mitchell about the firefighter from his childhood he is still trying to emulate and even before the big twist, it was soooo obvious it was Captain Mitchell.  I mean it would explain a lot and it actually gives Carter's arc some serious depth as well as an emotional connection between him and his mentor.  I really liked seeing the build up of not only their relationship, but that predictable revelation as well.  It's because of Captain Mitchell saving Carter's life as a child that he saw his potential and eventually made him the Red Ranger.  I also loved his speech at the end about Carter returning the favor by the numerous people he saves as a ranger.  Really well done writing for once this season in terms of character for Captain Mitchell especially! O_O

In monster of the week news, the demons send another monster named Shockatron to destroy two major Power Plants in the city to render the Aqua Base useless to the rangers.  Not a bad plan all things considered and the action between all 6 rangers and Shockatron was done well between American and Sentai footage.  But the only major annoyance was the shoehorned sub-plot of some little girl getting trapped in one of the plants on a school trip because she just COULDN'T LEAVE HER TEDDY BEAR BEHIND!!! -_-  Seriously, what is up with the idiocy of the children on this show?! O_o  Your life is at stake and you risk it for a teddy bear!? Nope, I don't buy it! -_-  No kid would be THAT dumb!!! Anyway, once the monster is destroyed, we get to see Captain Mitchell aid the other firefighters and save the day.  It's what leads to touching final scene and Carters character growth to lighten up more often.  Oh also, there's some planetary alignment the demons are waiting for to bring back Queen Bansheera, only Olympius has plans of his own!  Anyway, this was a great episode despite the stupid sub-plot with the little girl.  Dare I say, Lightspeed Rescue is finally coming together nicely as its own self contained story! :)

Final Morph: A-