Season 9, Episode 29: Fight Against Fate

"Fight Against Fate"
Episode 29
Air Date: August 25th, 2001

Well, this middle section of this remarkable three parter doesn't let up as Alex's miraculous return is short lived as while Jen and the other rangers have MANY questions, he tells them there is no time and they must follow him.  Gotta love Wes' reaction in particular to all this, literally running into his descendant from 1,000 years into the future. Turns out Alex arrived in a Time Ship...which doesn't make sense since in the 3rd episode, Captain Logan said they can't send any recruits because there's only ONE Time Ship...but...ok??? O_o  Maybe because of the shifts in the timeline from the Time Force Rangers being in the past things are changing but I honestly don't get it.  Even when Trip asks about how the future is being changed after Alex yells at them for causing them, he doesn't even tell them what those changes are???!! O_o  Alex's personality has seemed to have changed because of the drastic changes in the timeline apparently as he wastes no time in bossing and ordering the rangers in a very condescending way.  He even goes as far as to tell them he's taking back the Red Ranger powers from Wes and talks down to Wes harshly as he tells him his destiny that he will inherit his father's company since Mr. Collins will die tomorrow.  DAMMMNNN!!! O_O  Wes takes it hard as well as the rest of the team who try to defend him before he gives Alex the Chrono Morpher and runs off to see his father.  Wes also makes a quick reference to this season's overarching theme about making your own destiny...but when Eric contacts him about his father being in the hospital and it's real bad....more on that later.

Meanwhile, Mr. Collins is being operated on as Eric waits to see how he's doing.  We over hear two board members of Bio-Lab discussing the future of the company in the meantime while Mr. Collins is hurt.  Eric tries to interject since this isn't the right time to talk about business matters but one of them stops him and tells him it's pretty much none of his business.  Ouch! As Eric takes off, Wes arrives to see his father unconscious and badly beaten.  One of the business men of course comes over at the worst possible time to tell Wes that Bio-Lab needs him to take over in father's absence.  Remembering the foreshadowing from Alex, he accepts.  Meanwhile, Alex continues to be a MAJOR dick to the rest of the rangers; ordering them to change back into their uniforms instead of their "ridiculous" attire. It's clear jealousy is fueling his drastic change in behavior as he makes a passive aggressive to Jen about the team "taking their job seriously" after seeing a pic of Wes kissing her.  Turns out Alex has no time to explain how he survived and why he didn't contact the other rangers to let them know as Frax's super machine flies down to crash land in the ocean near Silver Hills.  Alex leads the rangers there and they are hesitant to morph at first but they eventually do so after Jen tells them to.  As Frax's super machine rises from the ocean, the rangers are shocked by it's size and appearance.  Dragotron is soon welcomed by Frax as he tells it to destroy the rangers but Alex soon tells Circuit to summon the zords and he does so.  As the rangers form and enter the Shadow Force Megazord Mode Blue, Eric is in a meeting with the board members of Bio-Lab as Wes enters after being introduced by one of the board members.  I love how Eric is just uncomfortable by all of this as the rangers face off with Dragotron.  Turns out, he is pretty indestructible accept for the spot on it's back but even that could cause the rangers to destroy themselves if they don't hit it just right.

Luckily, Eric arrives soon after to help the rangers fight Dragotron with the Q-Rex but even with the combined strength of both megazords, Dragotron is more than a match for both of them.  Even as the rangers struggle to battle Dragotron, Wes is struggling with his decision to run Bio-Lab and visit his father after the meeting.  I even LOVE the after effect of seeing the rangers struggle in one of Wes' eyes.  Luckily, the Q-Rex manages to destroy one of Dragotron's arm before it instantly repairs and Frax orders it to retreat to assess its damages.  But one moment that sticks out before that is Jen mistaking Alex for Wes during the rangers' distress.  It's a shocking moment with subtle emotional resonance as Jen clearly is feeling more for Wes now than she did for Alex.  It shows as after the brutal battle, Alex yells at the team and the rest of them wonder what she saw in him as well as missing Wes.  The end of the episode ends on a very somber note as Wes watches over his dying father as the memory of Alex's prophecy echos through his head. Man, what a superb run of episodes so far and I can't wait for the final chapter of this three part emotional epic! :)

Final Morph: A+