Season 12, Episode 35: House of Cards

"House of Cards"
Episode 35
Air Episode: October 30th, 2004

As the season draws itself to a close, the plot begins to move at a rapid pace again when all the secrets and betrayal bubbling under the past 10 episodes or so of the second half of the show finally come to light and like most of this season, it's both entertaining as hell and emotionally riveting at times.  The episode begins with Devin and Ethan of all people playing a duel card game while Cassidy and Kira surprisingly agree how childish they are being playing such a kid's game.  Hey!!! Lots of really smart guys LOVE childish games like bummer cards, collecting toys and watching a 25+ year old franchise about multi-colored superheroes saving the world from rubber suited monsters, so chilll!!! :P Anyway, Principal Randell soon show up to take away their cards but it couldn't come at a worse time as Ethan has found out he has the very precious and rare Ruby Dragon card that is so unbeatable.  Gotta love tho how Ethan tries to charm her into letting him keep his cards while she makes fun of him as even Connor wasn't smooth enough to make that work! lol Really awesome comedic bits this season as usual! :) As Principal Randell takes the cards, she secretly and menacingly plans to use the Ruby Card to create a new monster. As Ethan mopes about losing his card in class, Tommy decides to confront Principal Randell about giving it back...and discovers she is Elsa as she transforms in plain sight! Gasp!!! O_O Though, I'm so glad the writers really acknowledge how stupid they were for not realizing they were both the same person.  I mean, Ethan mentions the whole Clark Kent/Superman disguise being good enough to fool people but Clark Kent was a gullible, bubbling nerd while Superman was so charming and commanding while both Elsa and Randell were evil spawns of hell in both forms...so.....huh....??? o_o

I just love how Randell and Tommy take their fight outside to reveal to the school she was a villain all along while Ethan quickly tells the other rangers watching that Randell is Elsa.  After Elsa escapes, Tommy plans to go to the school board to get Reefside a new Principal while Trent gets an idea to get the card back before Elsa continues her plan with it.  While the other rangers wonder what's up with Trent, he makes his way to Mesagog's castle to confront Elsa and another fights ensues after Elsa threatens Trent about him keeping his secret from the rangers about Mesagog and his father.  It's another awesome fight with great stunt work but Trent is unable to stop her as the Geo-Re Animator activates during their fight and creates Ruby Dragon monster that quickly takes orders from Elsa and knocks him out.  Soon the Ruby Dragon confronts the other rangers while they wait for Trent and morph to fend him off while Anton arrives to find his son and tells him to go quickly help his friends before he transforms into Mesagog...sigh...I really feel terrible for Trent again!  I get the inner conflict here since what he's doing is wrong technically but he's just protecting his dad and following his orders, Jesus!  I feel even worse during the fight when Trent finally arrives to help the others but Ruby Dragon and especially Elsa  forced Trent into a wall as they reveal to the other rangers he has a secret.  Even after Connor disposes of the Tyrannodrones, the other rangers practically interrogate Trent to tell them the truth but Trent just tells them he just found a way to Mesagog's Castle to get the card himself.  While the guys give a break, I love how Kira feels he still isn't telling the whole truth while he takes off feeling light headed after being knocked out by Ruby Dragon.

But sooner rather than later, Ruby Dragon returns and the four rangers head off against him without Trent as he needs to recover.  Meanwhile, Trent finally arrives during the fight again to aid his friends as Kira and Ethan once again summon the Triassic powers to make Connor the Triassic Ranger as well as calling on his battlizer.  Seriously, Connor has like two power ups on top of his Super Dino Mode and all Ethan has is a Hover Cycle....jeeze! :P  After the five rangers defeat him with the Z-Rex Blaster, Elsa makes the Ruby Dragon grow and for the first time we get to see all three megazords working to fight a fully grown monster.  Unfortunately, it lasts about a lost as a Lost Galaxy zord fight and Ruby Dragon is destroyed in seconds really thanks to the combined power of all three. Anti...CLIMATIC!? -_-  As Mesagog tells Elsa one last time how his patience for her failure is done, Elsa quickly thinks of a way to get back at Mesagog and uses the Ruby Dragon card to out Anton to the other rangers in front of Trent.  Honestly, it's a really intense moment from the rangers realizing Anton and Mesagog are the same to the rangers looking at Trent with such disappointment knowing he betrayed them.  A saddening yet superb cliffhanger to an episode that near expertly sets up the final trio of episodes this season.  :)

Final Morph: A-