Season 16, Episode 11: Pushed to the Edge

 

"Pushed to the Edge"

Episode 11

Air Episode: May 5th, 2008

It's always nice to have an overarching narrative when the villain forces are put at odds and the in-fighting between them gets continually progressive. I really also enjoy the humanity within Camille, at least the compassion and loyal we see come out of her whenever Dai Shi is in need or in danger.  It reminds me of the Astronema/Ecliptor dynamic as well as Trakeena/Villimax but of course, we the reversed genders. Dai Shi is this ancient evil empire where Camille is his overzealous and faithful general who would do anything for him despite being incredibly naive about his true intentions.  Makes me wonder what made her so loyal and attached to him as their relationship seems almost like a romance/coupling than just a master and general type one. Wish we got some flashbacks to that during this season but what we're seeing here is definitely interesting enough.  Anyway, with Carnisoar being such a threat to Camille as Dai Shi is continuing to bend to his will and needlessly punishing her.  She decides to go and sulk about it until she gets the idea to turn into a blonde customer at the Jungle Karma Pizza.  One wonders why Camille was going there in the first place since I don't think her initial plan was to infiltrate the rangers' home/job bur whatever.  After being aggressively mean to Fran, Lily decides to takeover her customer and talk to Camille in disguise and actually getting through to her that she kinda tells her what her problem is.  Unfortunately, not sensing anything wrong and seeing the good in her, Lily mistakenly gives her an idea to "get a new boss" and takes one of the other two Overload bracelets to resurrect another. Meanwhile, Carnisoar has given the surviving Carden a chance to go after the rangers and seek revenge.

At the shores of Ocean Bluff, Camille goes into her monster form and dives into the waters to use one of the talons to resurrect the Sea Overload, Jellica (Of course!) since she is a jellyfish based monster.  She is clearly very powerful and thanks Camille for resurrecting her as Camille tells her she needs to be Dai Shi's new master. Back in the city, after an intense ground fight against the rangers, Carden grows and the rangers summon the Jungle Pride Megazord with Bat Power to destroy the monster for good.  Back at Dai Shi's palace, Jellica reveals herself to he and Carnisoar as a confident Camille arrives behind her.  Unfortunately, Jellica has other plans as she forces Camille to be her student by torturing Dai Shi in front of her; compelling her to tearfully accept her mentor-ship. Aaawwww! o_o  For her first lesson, Camille lures the three rangers into a trap where Jellica traps Theo and Casey in a forcefield over their feet while capturing Lily; forcing her to demorph.  After Jellica commands her to destroy Lily, Camille morphs into her monster form and tries to do so, but can't seem to do it.  Jellica completely upset by this, blasts Camille as Lily even goes by her side to see if she's ok.  Jellica declaring she's a worthless student plans to destroy her right there but a conflicted Dai Shi saves her and ends up in a fight against Jellica. WOW!!! 

I got to say this is all so unexpected yet entertaining, especially seeing Dai Shi suddenly show concern for Camille even through he quickly brushes it off later.  After proving to be a worthy opponent despite Jellica clearly being more powerful, she reveals this was all a test to see if Dai Shi was a worthy student to teach....hmmmm, ok, sudden plot twist there! O_o Also, Camille soon helps free the other rangers and reveals she was the customer as the pizza shop that Lily talked to and she's only repaying her for giving her the idea to summon Jellica.  She also tells Lily how much of a gullible fool she was to see the good in her; making Lily feel deeply insecure about her instincts as a person.  I love the scene she shares with Theo, driving their friendship storyline forward but also developing Lily a bit.  Nice!  I also enjoy the megazord fight against Jellica, even the jelly slimy thing she does was a cool effect, if not a little creepy much.  Ewwww!!! As a whole, I was thoroughly entertained! It moves the plot along in a pretty superb way while also focusing on Lily a bit to show her flaws as well as strengths as a character to move forward in her own personal arc this season.  Cool! :)

Final Morph: A-