Season 17, Episode 25: Key to the Past

"Key to the Past"

Episode 25

Air Date: September 26th, 2009

....And here's where our secondary arc for the season finally makes its major reveal and I just can't help but notice that this arc is even more painfully a redux of the Andros/Astronema storyline from In Space it almost seems insulting. O_O  Doesn't help that Judd Lynn is the new show runner during this half of the season; making fans speculate to this day if this was his doing instead of actually being a progression of Eddie's original plan for the rest of the season.  But I find it hard NOT to blame Judd when the story, not to mention revelation follows the same beats:  Evil supervillianess turns out to be ranger's long lost sister, he as well as she discover this based on a locket (or stop watch), supervillainess doesn't believe it at first, antagonist toward her brother until there is clear proof he's right, supervillainess still conflicted, brother tries desperately to reach out to his sister despite her confusion, sister turns good in the end and remembers but disappears until she decides she wants to help the rangers.  The thing is this plot development didn't have to be stretched out for more than 20 episodes or so when it seemed pretty inevitable that things would end up here with Dillon's sister storyline as well as the more recent discovery that there is a huge secret behind Tenaya's origins.  Hey not to say "Key to the Past" is bad or even mediocre, it's just if you are a long term fan of the franchise, this storyline has been "said and done".

Not to say the storyline isn't just as well acted as In Space's sister search arc as both Daniel Ewing and especially Adelaide Kane who definitely bring a lot of emotion and depth to the discovery that they are not only siblings but that Tenaya is also half human thanks to Venjix's programming.  Also, some of the dialogue is surprisingly graphic for the show, with Tenaya's delivery of Dillon "bleeding" when he gets damaged as well as the shocking sight of Tenaya bleeding after she attacks Dillon in the wasteland.  Also, I am really thoroughly enjoying Kilobyte.  He hasn't done much in terms of battling the rangers and more antagonizing  of Tenaya, but his sly, sneaky and cunning nature is just fun to watch as he has sooooo much personality for a machine.  Also, after he walks in on Tenaya after for seeing for herself that her and Dillon are registered in Venjix's system is just well played and directed; seemingly manipulating her now that she's know she is also human and NOT just machine.  Not to mention, I really enjoyed how Tenaya sabotaged General Shifter's latest creation to get him to thrown out of Venjix's palace.  It's a nice set up for a General to strike out on his own and make his own battle against the rangers to earn his place back in Venjix's army.  The Hyperbot looks to be an impressive new match for the rangers, especially since the episode concludes with it running a muck within the city.

The more in depth flashbacks were also well directed and acted as we see Tenaya remembering the horrifying moment her and Dillon were attacked by Venjix's forces when they tried to escape his lair.  Turns out Kilobyte led the charge in stopping their escape as the Grinder recaptured Tenaya and through her into one of Venjix's machine to begin reconstruction and Dillon's memories were wiped after because of that bizarre looking bot that we learned took his memories in "Blitz".  But like I said, the main plot with the sibling reunion isn't anything new despite being performed as well the first time.  Tenaya coming at the very last scene to reveal herself and wanting to help the rangers seemed a bit too fast, even a bit rushed.  Even Astronema was given an episode or two to really struggle with her revelation of being Andros' sister before making the natural choice to follow her brother and do good.  But like I said, not a bad episode by any means....it's just the storyline could have went in a much more inventive way.  Sigh.....:(

Final Morph: C+