Season 18, Episode 17: The Tengen Gate

 

"The Tengen Gate"

Episode 17

Air Date: May 28th, 2011

I guess I should give credit where credit is due??? "The Tengen Gate" at least move the plot along at a nice pace and sets some things up for the final 3 episodes ahead of the first season. I did enjoy that the episode starts right in the action as while Xandred is busy gaining even more power (some type of ritual or enhancement whatever), Octoroo and Dayu are talking about while the Master is busy, other Nighlok might try to rise and take his place as leader.  We soon see giant Nighlok arriving in the city and this is no simple attack as there is destruction and chaos everywhere; til the point where the Sanzu River begins leaking into their world.  The 6 rangers immediately summon their zords and form the Battle Wing Megazord and Claw Zord Battle Mode. It's a pretty epic fight sequence that goes on alot longer than the usual zord fight as the ranger take out an army of giant foot soldiers.  It's all Sentai action of course, but it's great action none the less that we have come to expect from this show.  From there the episode goes straight into the rangers' latest issue since the Sanzu River is visibly beginning to rise in our world.  This leads Mentor Ji to mention the ancient Black Box, that would give the rangers enough of a boost of symbol power to hopefully counteract the flooding and trap Xandred there for good.  Oh and what is Antonio doing??? Oh he's ummm....serving Deker some of his fish!!! 

Yes, because apparently Antonio STILL doesn't know about him and we have to get some slapstick humor between them....uhhh huh...funny! More "Moy fantastico!" Ehhhhhhhhhh!!!! -_- Anyway, Octoroo begins planning against the rangers, just as a spider Niglok monster named Archnitor rises to threaten him into helping him take over Xandred's throne and destroy the rangers.  Back in the real world, the rangers arrive at the sacred Tengen Gate which apparently is very special Samurai monument to the Samurai Rangers who foot on those grounds and beat the Nighlok.  We also get a cool returning actor from the PR franchise aka Grant McFarland who played Luthor and Sensei Watanabe in Ninja Storm.  Here he plays Daisuke, one of the guardians of the Tengen Gate.  He invites them in and shows them the black box as well as telling the ancient story of the original Nighlok battle....which Mia notices one illustration in particular reminds her of someone....hmmmm, more on that later! ;) Anyway, Octoroo manages to poison the rangers tea (tho one would think they would have protected the monument with power symbols or some kind of magic like the Shiba House just in case! O_o)  Luckily, only Jayden manages to get poison as Archnitor and a squad of Moogers attack the Tengen Gate as well.  While Daisuke tries to protect Jayden, especially when Octoroo arrives to know of the sealing symbol, the rest of the team morphs and fights off Archnitor and his forces.  Unfortunately, the battle doesn't go well and they call on Antonio for reinforcements....letting Deker know as well where the battle is now that Xandred in temporarily out of the way. Uhhh ohh.....

As the rangers continue fighting, Octoroo corners Jayden who is crawling away......oh boy! lol I know this is serious but it's just funny the way it's played.  Anyway, Antonio arrives to help the four rangers but Kevin just tells them to help Jayden instead.  Even the monster is baffled at why they would do that while he defeats them.  Soon Antonio arrives and morphs to fight Octoroo who shows he is more than capable of handling himself in battle despite being so short and slow moving. During the fight, Deker arrives to reveal himself aka Antonio finally knows who he is and a Nighlok as he takes Jayden.  As Antonio tries and fails to get Jayden back, Xandred returns after finishing his restoration to drag Archintor back into the Netherworld to punish him for betraying him and trying to steal his throne.  Of course, Octoroo is pardoned because Xandred doesn't think he would try to betray him....uhh huh! With the rangers terribly defeated, Deker carries Jayden with him through waters in preparation for their ultimate duel! Like I said, not bad! There's been so much worse this season and at least there is some decent plot movement here without the very annoying aspects of the show ruining it too much.

Final Morph: B-