Season 15, Episode 5: Dogged

"Dogged"
Episode 5
Air Date: February 25th, 2005

Well, this was a cute little episode; sure there isn't much in terms of substance and plot movement of any sort but it's nice to see a bit character development from the rangers' most vain and self absorbed member, Syde, while also getting a chance to see her get close to something like R.I.C.K. aka the K9 A.I. of the academy when is seems he is getting out of date.  Of course, everyone is gung ho! (oh Season 1!)  about R.I.C.K. being destroyed, especially Syde, as he is getting out of control and just can't function properly.  Meanwhile, Grumm and his crew continue to intrigue and entertain, especially his bizarre relationship with little Mora.  I loved how Grumm, Mora and Broodwing just have a tea party just so Grumm can hear her new plan against the rangers.  Broodwing being so angry about doing something so ridiculous yet Grum threatening him to do it. LOL I already kind of like the villains and their dynamic with each other; it's proving to be entertaining so far.

As for Piggy, our resident alien sleazeball; he's helping Grumm's newest monster, Rhinx (.....not a bad pun given this show's history!) O_o by giving him the ingredients to turn people into slime....yeah!  Of course, it doesn't work on Piggy for some reason but he is able to begin turning the citizens of New Tech City in slime as some kind of alternate power source for Grumm.....ummm...ok?! o_o Anyway, while Syde is investigating the various disappearances around the city as R.I.C. can't help but tag along, they soon run into Rhinx who orders a group of Krybots to stop them.  During the fight tho, R.I.C. gets badly damaged trying to protect Syde; leaving her in a state of rage to finish our Rhinx's forces before he takes off.  Back at SPD, Krueger and Kat have unfortunately sent R.I.C. to the scrap hip but after a hilarious scene with a cadet, Syde brings the damaged beyond repair A.I. dog to Bridge and Boom to fix.  They do so, tho R.I.C. 2.0 can't help randomly smash through walls trying to detect a clue to the missing people.  R.I.C. leads the rangers to an abandoned field where he smells some under the ground.  While the other rangers are highly skeptical, especially Bridge reminding Syde that R.I.C. 2.0 hasn't been tested and he could still be damaged, Syde decides to believe in her robotic hero and dig while the other regroup at the academy.

Soon Syde falls underground and finds the people who have been transformed into slime.  Soon Rhinx arrives and Syde, being all dirty and messy, isn't in the mood.  She morphs and faces off against him on her own but he is too powerful for her.  Back at SPD, the other rangers are alerted to the attack as R.I.C. immediately heads out to rescue her.  While fighting Rhinx, Syde finds the strength to fight back and gain the advantage thanks to how much she believed in R.I.C. when no one else did.  The rangers soon arrived morphed after R.I.C. comes in to save her from Rhinox. With all 5 rangers present, they use the new mode for R.I.C. 2.0 aka the K9 Cannon to fire and capture Rhinx. Soon all the people turned into slime are returned back to normal.  The episode wraps with Syd not R.I.C. for granted again while some worry about the old R.I.C. being gone.  But we soon see as R.I.C. 2.0 pees on Cruger that a little bit of the old dog is still there.....awwww....ehhhhh! O_o All and All, "Dogged" is a decent episode that shows a less self involved side of Syd which helps in developing her character in terms of her own personal arc this season of being more than a vapid princess.

Final Morph: C+