Season 8 Episode 36: In The Limelight

"In the Limelight"
Episode 36
Air Date: November 14th, 2000

WOW....O_O....this may in fact be the worst episode of not only the season, but one of the worst episodes of the franchise, if not the absolute worst!!!  Now I know that's bold statement since this is only Season 8 and have like 16 more seasons to re-watch and critic but I'll find an episode hard to beat the complete character bastardizing the writers do here!!! O_O  I mean...WOW!!! Up to this point, Dana was probably the most boring ranger of this specific team but she was overall a tolerable character.  She was paramedic with dreams of becoming a doctor, she was a very faithful daughter of the team's mentor, she seemed constantly worried about Ryan since he left Lightspeed; showing her unconditional love for her brother, not to mention outside of her early issues with her father, she seemed like the one who needed the least development.  Sigh....so here....we have a completely disastrous that seems to forget what was previously established about Dana and instead forces some kind of bizarre and poorly developed characteristic in her personality. -_-

After a photographer captures photos of her saving a child's life during one of the team's typical rescues, a high fashion agent named....Coco Cashmere discover Dana while looking for her next big star aka a Glitz Girl.  After approaching Dana about being a supermodel, she's able to convince her by telling her she will give her enough money to afford to go to medical school......WHAT. A. F$%^IN'. MINUTE!!! O_O  Dana is a daughter of a Captain in the government and she STILL needs to pay for medical school? HUH???  I'm not saying she should get a free ride but between that and her connections as a paramedic, it shouldn't be THAT hard for her to become a doctor. -_-  But anyway, as Dana delves deeper into the world of fashion and fame, she begins to forget about her friends, ignore training, act like a complete stuck up snob and completely neglect her duties as a Power Ranger!?  I mean.....WHAAATTT!? O_O  Dana has NEVER before this shown ANY disregard as her position as a ranger.  I remember in the season premiere, she was honored to join the rangers as the last recruit and even stood up to her father by not taking her seriously as a Power Ranger in "A Matter of Trust"!! Now you're telling me, just cause of money, she forgets about what's truly important and does a complete 180 in her personality overnight??? O_o  Nope I don't believe it!  And this is the same show were rangers get cooked into giant pizzas and mermaids exist in the same universe!!! -_-

If that wasn't bad enough, the main plot is one of the worst of the season with Vipra wanting Jinxer to summon her some random monster to impress Queen Bansheera as she is "transforming".....yeah -_-.....  Anyway, Treevil....yes. TREEVIL is summoned to destroy the rangers and he throws nuts to destroy the rangers....moving back to Dana and her painfully idiotic plot.  Kelsey is the only one to truly call out Dana on her sh!t when she acts so out of character.  I mean, usually when a ranger would act this way, they would be brainwashed, under a spell, possessed or replaced by an imposer or something but nope!  It's just Dana coming off as a complete spoiled b!tch out of no where!! -_-  I loved how when Carter tells her the monster's still out there, she doesn't even give it a second thought to walk away from training to go to her fashion! Grrrrrr!!! Even worse?  When Joel asks why Captain Mitchell isn't stopping her, he just says some dumb sh!t about trusting her to make her own decisions when yes, you're her father and I understand that but DUDE, lives are stake!!! Give her an ultimatum! Either she fully commits to being a ranger or she's out! End of story!!

Yeah, of course, she has a last minute change of heart out of no where too and comes to help the other rangers at the end as being a ranger is more important, blah, blah, blah! But honestly, where did this revelation come from??? O_o  Where was the development or lesson in this before she realized what was truly the right thing to due!!! The thing is, Dana has always KNEW what was right and always was selfless before this.  It's like the writers had to severely undermine everything we knew about her just to get some forced lesson about responsibility vs. fame/fortune! EEHHHHHH!!!  This episode is complete embarrassment to the character, the writers and the integrity of the show!!! What a complete and utter mess! WOW!!! O_O

Final Morph: F-