Season 21, Episode 8: Silver Lining, Part 2

"Silver Lining, Part 2"

Episode 8

Air Date: April 12th, 2014

WOW! A deeply tragic backstory for a ranger this season with an actor who is actually talented enough to pull it off!??? O_O  You see, this just goes to show that Super Megawhyevenbother?'s greatest offense was that the lack of care and concern for the story they are telling! Tzachor has never come off more than a hack than this season with absolutely no business running a writers room and should only be used from a technical standpoint.  When the writers actually put in effort, the show isn't bad at all and actor, Cameron Jebo actually gives a solid performance here during his various flashbacks as Orion tells the rangers of his planet Andresia being completely decimated after the armada attacked and his family being lost. You actually feel tremendously heartbroken and sorry for Orion, especially when he continues to tell the rangers how he came to land on Earth and what he had to do to begin his quest of revenge against the armada.  It shows Orion, even tho another humanoid alien, has a personality that is relatable and fueled by loss as well as selflessness considering he went to another planet just to save them from the same fate his planet went through,  Of course, even after meeting Gosei, he has nothing to add to the numerous questions we have about these Super Mega powers and the ranger keys as Orion tells him, Tensou and the rangers he just randomly found it on his planet.  Gosei makes it seem he always knew the key was on that planet but why not tell the other rangers of it??? We still have no backstory on these very limitless in power.....powers! that draws its power from every previous ranger team, not to mention rangers we've NEVER seen before. -_-

And of course, juxtaposed to Orion's heartfelt and painful mission to face the armada after they decimated his own planet as well as family, we get a very Disney channel/teen movie montage of Emma and Gia bringing Orion to the mall to give him a complete makeover with a haircut and quick changing through a series of fashion choices so he can better blend into society.  Meh! We've seen far worse on this show so....anyway, we continue the story with the armada finding out about Orion's arrival and that he survived one of the armada's attacks by sending out a monster named Osogain to led an new attack on Earth to draw him out.  All 6 rangers soon arrive and Orion once again shows how much of an ass kicker he is as well as learns from the other rangers how to active his legendary mode so he can transform into previous 6th rangers.  The first is Samurai and it's a pretty by the numbers fight, nothing special.  Ends with Orion going solo and defeating Osogain by himself (Seriously, who needs the rest of the team! :P) but Levira quickly making him grow.  ......Of course, Orion somehow unlocks these 6th ranger keys and Gosei tells Troy that so Orion can unlock his Q-Rex zord. Yay???

I mean it is cool that the zord comes from the future but it doesn't have ANYTHING on the original Q-Rex.  With it Orion can access new modes like the zord's dinosaur mode as well as its megazord mode which he uses to singlehandedly destroy Osogain and a couple of giant sized Bruisers while he's at it.  Then we end at Ernie's and some dumb FroYo hijinks but what can you do!? O_o  At least we got a great, in-depth sixth ranger reveal with a backstory that drives his character as well as his current state of mind.  Tho I find it humorous that Troy is worried Orion may sabotage their mission by not working as a team and focusing too much on revenge.  Ummmm....Troy......where's Robo Knight!??? O_O  SHUT UP!!! You horrible ranger! GAH! -_-  The best so far for both seasons! Not saying much but hey, I'll take genuine effort over what we've gotten so far. :)

Final Morph: A-