Season 9, Episode 12: World Aparts

"Worlds Apart"
Episode 12
Air Date: April 14th, 2001

After rather lousy and almost insulting character centered episode, we get back to business with the stellar character moments and exciting plot movement as well as being introduced to one of the most douchebag characters of the show.  But before we get to that, we get a hilarious moment of Wes, Katie and Lucas desperately trying to stay awake during one of Jen's playbacks of their previous fight.  She's being too serious and quite hard on them for no reason as they sneak some popcorn in between them. Lol  Luckily, Trip comes in and tells them they have a new job to clean up some trash.  While Jen is hesitant, the other rangers are excited to do ANYTHING besides listening to her rambling and they eventually leave; forcing her to come too.  As the rangers clean trash, I can't help but point out Lucas mentioning their Time Force training compared to this. See!!! -_-  Anyway, Wes' father in nearby and sees him with the others as he tells the driver to pull over next to him.  Looks like both men are still at odds as Wes' father is so disapproving of Wes' new life; even calling him disappointing as he tells his driver to leave....DAMN!!! O_O

Meanwhile, nearby, Nadira and the Cyclobots are being confronted by a bunch of men in uniform, glasses and hats who draw and prepare their weapons.  The leader of them tells them they are the Silver Guardians and are under arrest.  Nadira, of course, doesn't stand down and they fire; as the rangers hear the blasts and run towards the fight.  After the Cyclobots are beaten, Nadira teleports away with the rest of them as the Silver Guardians are thanked by the shop owner who says they were worth every penny.  The rangers watching this go down as suddenly approached by one of the Silver Guardians named Eric.   Oh Eric....what a likeable assh@le!!! :)  That about sums him up for me.  When Wes recognizes him, he tries to shake his hand but clearly Eric's not about that life.  As the leader yells for him come with him, Eric tells Wes it was good to see him and he will see him again.  I like how Katie notices Eric makes Jen look cool headed! lol

Turns out as the rangers return to the Clock tower, the Silver Guardians are Wes' father's doing as he is using them to better his business by protecting the city and profiting off of those who can pay for their services.  While the other rangers are convinced Mr. Collins might be truly wanting to help, Wes shuts that sh!t down by saying his father is only out for money and only Time Force can handle Ransik.  It's a really great scene thanks to Jason Faunt's performance and I like how we also get some backstory his relationship with Eric.  They use to be prep school classmates but the day Eric left and Wes hasn't seen him since that day.  We also get a glimpse into Eric's point of view as he's clearly envious of Wes' wealth and power but feels Wes is wasting it now that he left his father's home.  Eric right off the bat just seems like such a complex and frustratingly interesting character.  But more on him and his personal arc as it comes! :)  Anyway, Frax is at it again and wants robots to rule the world eventually as he releases another mutant from the X-Fault onto the city.  Univolt is pretty indestructible; able to walk through the rangers and their attacks like it's nothing.  Eventually the Silver Guardians get involved and despite Wes' best efforts to warn them about how dangerous he is, they brush him off and fire.  As Univolt owns the Silver Guardians, Wes jumps in front of one of his blasts to save the leader of the Guardians, causing his helmet to be severely damaged.

It amazes me how people can recognize the rangers' identities just by seeing their eyes through their visors.  I mean I guess I can understand Eric maybe but Mr. Collins is a good few feet away....in his car.....-_-  Anyway, both men try to stop Wes but he stands his ground and tells his father he's following his own path now.  Once again, its an awesome character moment in Wes' arc as well as his father's.  After running off to help the other rangers, they combine forces with the Vortex Blaster to finally revert him back to an action figure.  I like how Mr. Collins and Eric watches as Wes leaves with the other rangers; its like this great sense of envy from the both of them.  The episode ends with Frax quickly hiding the key to the X-Vault as Ransik and Nadira begin asking questions.  Shame they both think robots are naturally useless because it's just giving Frax more leeway to continue his plans as well as vengeful.  We also get a touching last scene between Wes and his father with Wes once again showing that his new path is a noble one not one for profit as his dad wants him to use his ranger powers for Bio-Lab.  I really like where this story is going with these characters and it's being handled sooooo extremely well.  Excellent episode and probably one of my favs this season among many already! :)

Final Morph: A+