Season 14, Episode 25: The Hunter

"The Hunter"
Episode 25
Air Date: August 20th, 2006

Now, this episode pretty much confirms how this new "Nick is the greatest wizard/The Light" is taking the original narrative of the series and completely shoehorns Nick into the main character by leaving the rest of the rangers as just supporting characters instead of these destined magical warriors meant to drive the darkness back into the underworld.  I mean, it seems like this wasn't really planned out very well and I find it hard to believe this all of sudden.  If Nick/Bowen was meant to be the greatest wizard/The Light, then why would Udonna give up so easily on her son's survival??? Why didn't the Xenotome tell her what they needed to know??? What is the point of the Mystic Force rangers if Nick can solely destroy the darkness himself???  It just doesn't make sense to me all of this information about Nick is being thrown at us when it seemed this wasn't even a plan to begin with and kinda contradicts the existence of the Mystic Force itself.  Anyway, the remaining 9 Terrors once again use that damn stone to select which one of them goes after the rangers next.  Oculous is chosen and gleefully heads to the surface world while some Terrors like Mega Horn and Serpentina are outraged by the utter stupidity of these rules/game they have to obey by while the others defend it.  Honestly, I can't agree more with those two as it seriously limits the Terror as the legitimate threat when they can only fight the rangers one at a time like this. -_-  Just imagine in In Space, if the Psycho Rangers did the same thing against the rangers, would they really have been that scary and intimidating as they are shown as a group obsessed with destroying the rangers considering how powerful they were as a unite.  Sure their obsessions got the best of them but they still manage to work together enough to pose one of the greatest threat a team of rangers has faced.  The Ten Terrors could easily defeat and destroy the rangers in a matter of seconds but are severely limited because they have to follow the rules of evil....I'm sorry....WHAT??!! This whole evil honor crap is REALLY insufferable at this point and Koragg isn't even here anymore!!! O_O

Anyway, Oculous confronts the rangers and sets up the rules of the new game as if at least one of the rangers is standing at the end, he will lose but if they don't, he wins and captures the Light aka Nicky.  Oculous pretty much goes into an alternate dimension and begins firing at the rangers as they are desperate to protect Nick who is suddenly injured by one of the blasts. Ehhhh, they just spend the majority of the episode getting picked off one by one as they HAVE to protect Nick since he's so damn important and detrimental now but Oculous is too powerful and manages to de-materialize every ranger until Nick is the last one standing.  Sigh...ohhh and Clare decided to follow Udonna...you know...the now powerless and human mentor (no really) who thinks she can find her possibly dead husband on her own when she can easily be attacked and destroyed! -_-  I'm just saying, it's not saying much about Udonna as a character when Clare is suddenly the voice of rationality and reason. O_o Seriously, Udonna is being wasted, mishandled and severely underused as mentor/character. More on that disappointment later! O_o  Meanwhile, Mega Horn and Serpentina are deciding to play rogue when Mega Horn goes to attack Daggeron and Jenji in the Opeck Dimension. As Necroli witnesses this after she followed Megahorn, she tells the other Terrors in the underworld (Geeze, Queen of the Snitches too huh Necroli??? O_o) about Megahorn attacking Daggeron and one of them named Itassis goes after him while Serpentina makes her way off for her own plans.  Whatever they may be at the moment... O_o  Meanwhile, Nick decides to give himself up to save his friends but it's Phineas of all people   or creatures, that saves him again. After saving him, Phineas gives Nick the idea to save the others by some cryptic advice Daggeron suddenly gives to Nick about his connection with Fire Heart....you mean poor CGI Dragon has a point??? O_o Yeah, and it's just yet another opportunity for a battlizer introduction aka the Red Dragon Fire Ranger......sigh.... Now Nick is of course overpowered and defeats an army of Hidiacs with ease as well as destroys Oculous with an overabundance of Kalishplosions as usual for this era of the show. I just....

Anyway, Itassis manages to inadvertently save Solaris Knight as she forces Megahorn to return to underworld or the Master will destroy them for disobeying the rules...WHAT A BUNCH OF...!!! -_-  I thought the point of being evil was having no order aka no rules so this is just so stupid and pointless to me.  You have the incredible means to defeat your enemy in a mere matter of seconds and takeover the world but the only things stopping you are a bunch of rules....God, these villains are...WOW! o_o  Honestly, I'd say the only decent plotline of the episode were the rangers giving Leelee a hard time about working at the Rock Porium and you can't be mad at them for hating her guts since the last time they saw her she wanted them as pets for eternity! O_o  Not surprised Tobey would suddenly give her Nick's Employee of the Month award at the end...but seriously, what is up with Leelee??? She's suddenly infiltrating the rangers and now she wants to be good all of sudden?? There's absolutely no explanation why she suddenly wants to switch sides besides maybe her mom caring more about taking over the world than her own daughter but why would Leelee even care about having friends if she's evil??? Where's the reason for her strange moral ambiguity??? She's just another character that's whatever the writers want her to be but is painfully unneeded on this show at this point. -_-  "The Hunter" isn't bad on paper but the clear misdirection this show is now on is annoying and more frustrating than ever.  Nick is suddenly this all powerful wizard that must be protected and is the key to destroying their villains, the Ten Terrors are being too confined to the writers using the Sentai footage when they can be sooo much more memorable and thought provoking baddies and Udonna is useless but the writers are giving her a random, hopeless story arc which is making her look more moronic than brave.  This season....I just......*Headdesk*

Final Morph: D+