Season 22, Episode 18: Deep Down Under

"Deep Down Under"

Episode 18

Air Date: November 21st, 2015

Ah! An episode about being severely disappointed when meeting your idols....tho I must first ask how weird this episode starts.  By the end of last episode, the rangers were on their way to catch a plane back to Amber Beach yet they were told to stay in New Zealand because they need to find the Plesio Zord now???  O_o Just seems all too weird how that was brushed over.  Did they leave and come back to New Zealand??? When Shelby was talking to her idol, she mentioned talking to him over the phone at the Museum.....yeah, I don't get it.  Feels like two different writers and they didn't talk to each other about the transition between both episodes.  But honestly, it's only a minor complaint as the rest of the episode does a fine job in terms of exploring Shelby's character like I said, when she meets her idol Dr. Runga, a renowned paleontologist who has been her biggest inspiration is studying dinosaurs.  

Of course as this story usually goes, he turns out ot be more into the fame and money aspect of the job instead of the adventure and discovery....especially when Fury threatens him to find more information of the Plesio Zord so he can destroy it for Sledge!  Shelby in turn confronts him, especially when finding out he some how e-mailed the video she took of the zord to himself to share with the world.  She gives him a piece of her mind despite Dr. Runga's reasoning and pretty much tells him he's nothing like the man she admire before storming off.  It's a great moment for the character and while it doesn't build on Shelby's character, it does show how much she is willing to even prove herself to her idol, which is one of the themes of her character arc this season.

Meanwhile, the rangers use the purple energem to track down the Plesio Zord only Dr. Runga has also followed and led Fury there.  As the rangers fight and morph fend off Fury, a revived Meteor and the Vivix, Dr. Runga makes his way into the cave as well as Shelby after him to get the purple energem to the zord.  But when Meteor stops her, she gets Dr. Runga to do something right for a change and throw the energem to the zord.  The Plesio Zord is actually cool looking, like some kind of dino jet or in this case spaceship, as the rangers use their newest zord to transform it into the Plesio Charge Megazord which is probably the best looking megazord this season for me at least.  I also like the space theme of it and how the first battle takes place there.  Just brings me back to those In Space days of course.  Anyway, the episode as a whole is pretty good just seems a bit bizarre in its set up given how last episode ended.  It's a usual tale of finding out who your heroes really are but it's nice to see Shelby inspiring Dr. Runga in return for how he inspired her to study dinosaurs. :)

Final Morph: B-