Season 19, Episode 18: Evil Reborn

"Evil Reborn"

Episode 18

Air Date: November 12th, 2012

Well this episode packs a certain punch that's needed for this show and it's a shame it had to come at the tail end of the second season!  But i'll take as it has the most substance, suspense and surprisingly shocking twist (say that ten times fast! :P) that the show has ever had and for the most part, everything is handled really well despite some moments of being reminded who is running this show. Once again, Lauren is the saving grace of this show as Kimberly continues to show a maturity and wisdom that makes her more of a mentor to the rangers than Mentor Ji has been across two damn seasons! Her scenes with Kevin and Antonio were well handled, not to mention well acted by her.  Seriously, this girl belongs on a MUCH better written show than the crap she has to put up with.  But I loved her advice to Kevin in sending her to go after Jayden as well as wanting to get close to Antonio about knowing more about Jayden since they were childhood friends.  You can just see this genuine warmth yet heartbreaking desperation for her to connect with the other rangers; especially when she's never truly had a family and has been alone up until now. :(

As Jayden and Dekker, their last fight together is nothing short of epic, definitely feeling more at stakes worthy than any other fight this season or last.  It gives a lot of weight finally to their rivalry even if Dekker's motivations made no sense originally.  They both have something to prove, not to mention Dekker wanting so desperately to break him curse.  The ring of fire sequence at night is actually beautifully shot and the way Dekker's last stand plays against Jayden is superbly done....only to be outdone by the unforeseen event of Kevin coming out of nowhere to finish Dekker off with his spin sword! Ummmm, this in the Sentai and just translated because I can't imagine anyone on the writing team coming up with such an idea.  It's a lot more brutal and violent than the show has been; not to mention the other rangers being there and frantically trying to get to Jayden really helped build on the severity of the situation.  Of course, the morning after things are ok but the rangers are adamant about Jayden returning and they manage to finally convince him. Meanwhile, Dayu is so heartbroken over Dekker's death that she unleashes her own attack onto the city.

As Lauren and Antonio deal with the giant Moogers, Ji contacts the other rangers to join in the fight and meet up with them.  As the other four rangers arrive with Jayden not to far behind, Dayu becomes mad and Mia notices her as they decide to fight each other.  Too bad Dayu was only luring her into a trap as Mia's last strike to destroy her releases all the misery and sorrow within her harmonium that will now cover the Earth in dark clouds.  As the tornado of misery and pain is being unleashed upon the world, enough misery and sorrow is being spread to make the Sanzu river rise quickly in the Netherworld, not to mention, return Xandred to the human world where he confronts the rangers....to be continued. A nice episode with a terrific last set up but knowing Samurai/Super Samurai it won't last. So I'll take the good, even great where I can get it.

Final Morph: A-