Season 13, Episode 10: Stakeout

"Stakeout"
Episode 10
April 5th, 2005

Meh!  It's not that Stakeout is bad per say, it's just the moral of the story, not to mention the story itself harbingers on two characters of the team that don't exactly captivate onscreen.  I know, "it's Power Rangers! What the hell are you talking about?" O_0  I'm talking about the chemistry within individual pairs.  Jack and Z have this street kid origin/sibling relationship, Skye and Jack are always budding heads when it comes to authority and regulation, even Jack and Bridge have a hilarious relationship with Jack being so stoic and Bridge being so goofy.  But here, I just couldn't get into animosity and drama between Jack and Syd this episode.  Now don't get me wrong, I love them individually but when it came to them sharing the same plot and interacting with each other, it just fell flat to me.  Especially when you consider the theme of the episode is the importance of birthdays. O_o  Now while a plot based on that isn't automatically bad and it honestly could have worked if say, Jack revealed he never had a birthday and Syd of all people wanted to show jack that he needs to have a birthday and celebrate it; leading to Syd being so superficial about it and Jack being more anti-birthday because of it.  This would have made their scenes far more interesting as the story would work in favor of not only their own personalities but developing them by Syd learning the simplicity in which Jack chooses to do things juxtaposed to her extravagant way of living her life.  It would great that new bond between them that everyone else already has and it would feel not only genuine but very strong!

Honestly, the stakeout scenes just don't connect and actually kind of bore.  It doesn't help it's played more for laughs with Piggy stopping by to be...well... Piggy and the over the top shenanigans with them watching some Dr. who is in danger of getting kidnapped but the writers just shoehorn a moment between Jack and Dr. Rheas that just feels so forced and there simply to serve the plot out of desperation instead of making it better. -_- I guess I should talk about the other rangers and what they're up to during this episode??? O_o  Well, they are tracking down the whereabouts of an escaped fugitive named Sinuku (Not to be confused with Saduku :P) who was freed by Grumm's Krybots to finish a job he was doing for him before his imprisonment.  It has to do with some activator and some weapons used to incapacitate robots but I honestly didn't care.  Even the scenes between Broodwing and the monsters of the week are becoming tired: "Threaten monster, pay monster, monster continues with his plan, etc. wash, rinse, repeat!)  I mean I get it but Broodwing is seeming more one note in terms of his villainy so far.

Anyway, after a zord battle that Sinuku escapes from via holograms, he finally kidnaps the Dr. because of course, Jack and Syd just left Piggy to watch her....WHY!?? O_O  But luckily, Piggy confesses where he took her and Jack follows to stop him.  After an impressive one on one fight, the other rangers arrive to help Jack fight Sinuku; leading to yet another zord fight where Jack forms a plan to use Sinuku's newest weapons against him as he is able to send his attack back at him and even discover his real robot among the holograms.  After the robot is destroyed, the rangers soon use their morphers to judge him and capture him by using R.I.C.'s K9 cannon mode to do so.  The episode of course, concludes with Jack apologizing to Syd by giving her a surprise birthday party in the park because she never got to go to her party.  Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jack can now share his birthday with Syd since he never had one and Piggy is still uninvited and gross! :) All and All, "Stakeout" just feels like missed opportunity. It's ultimately a harmless filler but so much more could have been done with the plot, especially when establishing a new dynamic between two rangers.  Oh well. :(

Final Morph: C-