Season 16, Episode 16: Friends Don't Fade Away

"Friends Don't Fade Away"

Episode 16

Air Date: June 16th, 2008

What makes this episode mostly work is once again our free loving, mellowed out mentor, RJ is at center stage and it unexpectedly leads to the debut of a new ranger!!! But before hand, we have to deal with RJ and his continued uncontrollable transformation into a Wolf Beast (Where's Max??? :P) or rather a Wereworlf while the villains are introduced to the mysterious last Overload that was hidden at the end of last episode.  Grizzaka (I really love that name for a villain! The main or prominent villains always get the best names while the monsters of the week get laughable puns for names on this show! lol) wastes no time in establishing himself as the new leader of them after seeing that Dai Shi now resides in the body of a human aka Jarrod.  Of course, Dai Shi won't have his throne easily taken away and gets into an intense fight with Grizzaka...which of course, ends with Dai Shi getting his ass kicked. O_O Apparently, while Dai Shi is powerful, Grizzaka has the power of Zocato (Staccato's cousin??? :P) which overpowers them all. As Camille tends to a defeated Dai Shi as usual (Just tell him you love him already gurl!! O_o), Grizzaka unleashes a new monkey themed monster, Monkeywi, so it can cause so much fear in the city that it will give him more power.  Hmmmm, fear seems to be a continued power source for these villains this season...hmmmm.  Also, one again, I love the underdog villain arc with Dai Shi.  Clearly by taking Jarrod's body, Dai Shi isn't being taken seriously as a leader and his powers are not where they once were thousands of years ago, hence the training!!!  It really does give this storyline with Dai Shi an original(ish) turn for a villain this season and keeps you definitely engrossed in his unique journey this season! Well done so far. :)

On the RJ side of the story, he seems to be transforming more and more into his wolf form as Fran begins to notice him missing more and being in pain.  Doesn't help that the recent news reports of a random monster in the city hurting people and clawing through the city is making RJ believe he maybe the culprit.  It leads him to want to leave for a while to protect everyone despite Fran coming to him and wanting him to stay so his friends can help him.  But RJ is persistent on leaving and inadvertently runs into Monekywi, who is the real culprit behind the attacks.  Tho it makes sense since I don't think RJ would hurt anyone and it made sense the twist would be it wasn't him.  Anyway, during his fight with the monster, the three rangers arrive to help but Monkeywi knocks them aside and continues to attack RJ until he turns back into his werewolf form.  As his three students are shocked by this, they try to restrain him while Monkeywi takes the opportunity to retreat and tells the Overloads of the rangers' master's problem; to their enjoyment and congratulating of Grizzaka, tho why I'm not sure but the guy is more powerful than the rest of them so I'd be singing non-deserving praises to him too.  After returning back to normal, the rangers bring RJ back to the loft where he tells them and Fran that since that last attack from Dai Shi, RJ is unable to control his animal spirit which is turning him his animal form.  But if he stays in that form for too long and doesn't regain control, he will be stuck as a werewolf forever....ummmm bummer! O_o  Unfortunately, the rangers must head back to the face Monkeywi while Fran stays to watch over RJ in the meantime....too bad he is losing control again.  As the three rangers struggle as all hell against the monster, Fran runs into Wolf RJ after bring him back some whatever.  Thinking she'll be mauled to death, Fran quickly tries to talk some sense into RJ and remind him of who is...before violently jumping on her and preparing to claw her face in.  Luckily, her heartwarming words of wisdom work and RJ manages to regain control completely and turn back?!!  Not that I don't love Fran coming to the rescue and even giving RJ some wonderful advice, but it does seem a bit too easy of a resolution for such a intense problem at hand.  But then again, it's Power Rangers and this has happened before where someone needs to be talked back into becoming normal again so..... :P

Also, I find it extremely random and weird that RJ happened to have a morpher for himself all along stashed away in a small dresser??? So what exactly inspired him to use it now and become a ranger??? Usually these 6th/extra ranger reveals are built up to or have a natural story progression that demands the new ranger to come onto the team.  The Gold Ranger, the Thunder Rangers, Zhane, he Shadow Ranger, hell even Tyzonn last season made for a convincing arc to become the last addition to the team but here....the debut of the Jungle Fury Wolf Ranger seems very superfluous and literally out of nowhere. 0_0  There's really no explanation as to when he built the morpher and why he's using it now??? Cause he regained control of his animal spirit??? Then why didn't he come to rangers aid before when Dai Shi was about to destroy them?? I mean he did, by why not morph then??? He had complete trust in the rangers' abilities to not be the fourth member so why now??? O_o  Either way, this is technically our first purple (or violet) ranger and of course, he's badass that handles the Rin Shi as well as Monkeywi like they were bunch of punks.  We also get the introduction of RJ's Wolf zord which attaches to the Jungle Pride Megazord when Lily's zord is too damaged.  So RJ's now a team member...tho once again, why now and what is the purpose of this newest member from a story/arc standpoint??? Tho I do love how at the end of the episode, a pissed off Dai Shi taps into that Zocato power for a second, showing he's already becoming more powerful than last time.  Nice! Overall, "Friend Don't Fade Away" isn't bad.  It's pretty strong and entertaining with great bits from the villain and the continued well use of Fran as the team's newest ally but RJ's debut as the Wolf Ranger seems to have no purpose behind it besides the writers deciding to use that footage and putting him alongside the team for that reason. Sigh....

Final Morph: A-