Season 18, Episode 13: Unexpected Arrival

 

"Unexpected Arrival"

Episode 13

Air Date: April 30th, 2011

Ohhhh boy!!! Hahahahahaha!!! Ohhhh Antonio!!! I just......I don't know what's worse, this episode in general or the infamous homoerotic ending where Antonio tells a semi-excited Jayden that "I'm back baby and I'm ready for action!" as the camera zooms toward Jayden looking more turned on than young boy looking up ex for the first time on the internet. I honestly just tilt my head and wonder if the writers, crew, etc. are just making fun of the show and not taking this seriously at. all! I mean it has shown so far this season with the embarrassing translating of Samurai's Sentai counterpart instead of telling a truly engrossing story that will transport the kids to a place of excitement, dread and fun loving adventure.  But here we have...THIS!!! -_-  One of, if not the most atrocious, 6th ranger introduction of the franchise.  Antonio's introduction feels like the most random and inconsequential things I have seen from this show so far and that's saying A LOT since this is Season 18! But nothing about him resembles anything like a real character, just a live action Diego, who yells "fantastico" all the time and makes a fool of himself....yet is still a badass even tho he isn't a trained Samurai like the rest of the team.  No it turns out that Antonio is just Jayden's old best friend from his childhood who promised Jayden he'd be back when he and the rangers were Samurai....because! He also gives him the Octo-Zord, a squid/octopus type zord.....for some reason...to remember him by, how did Mentor Ji even allow that to happen??? O_o

The thing is, we barely know who Jayden is outside of his Samurai calling....actually we don't know ANYTHING about Jayden outside his Samurai calling. So now comes a character that's associated with him who's all excitable, goofy and over the top when Jayden is literally a blank stale of emotions.  He's a caricature, NOT a character and the fact that he was friends with someone like Antonio is beyond laughable considering.  Suddenly, Jayden is ready to have fun and play fight with his friend while the other rangers look on in complete disbelief.  Meanwhile, early in the episode, Jayden is all paranoid, being stalked by a Nighlok watching him and almost literally cuts Emily's head off.  Can you guys just choose one tone throughout the episode???  Apparently, this Nighlok, Vulpes, is after Jayden to see if he has mastered the sealing symbol but eventually gets outmatched and tricked into revealing himself to Jayden.  Oh and what are the rangers doing??? Running into Antonio who just arrived in the city and is selling fish after he shot an arrow with a message vague message on it.  Then comes one of the most.......idiotic sequences of the series on par with that unbelievably dumb baby stroller chase in Season 2!!! -_- I can't even fathom the ridiculousness of it and the fact like Antonio can just out run 4 trained ranger is just embarrassing beyond comprehension.  Not to mention, once again, the dialogue is just preschool level insulting.  Lines like "He's so fast" and "He's so sparkly" being uttered by Emily like she's a 6 year old all the time.  Seriously, what's up with that??? Isn't the Nickelodeon demographic at least 7-12?? O_o

But here we have the reveal of Antonio as this powerful new Gold Ranger and it's honestly one of the longest 6th ranger introductions.  The dialogue is beyond terrible, the fight scene goes on for too long with the rangers making senseless commentary about him when he should just be badass and left alone like the other introductions (Everything just NEEDS to be spelled out on this show apparently! -_-)  I just don't understand the way this show is just being handled with such laziness and over the top foolishness with no context behind it.  Sure, Power Rangers is usually gimmicky, silly and cheesy, but this is on a whole other level of absurd humor between action scenes and dialogue that feels completely forced and unnatural.  Not to mention, yet another horrendous actor added to the cast in Steven Skyler.....who isn't even Hispanic by the way...yet they make him into walking stereotype based on a Nick Jr. show.  Then again, this IS Nickelodeon! O_O

Final Morph: F