Season 23, Episode 15: Wings of Danger

"Wings of Danger"

Episode 15

Air Date: October 15th, 2016

WOW!!! Yet another story heavy episode but also one that focuses on our newest ranger, Zenowing, as we learn right off the bat that he was the one who created the zords so they could activate after bonding with someone.  While the rangers are amazed and eager to have Zenowing on their team, he clearly has a one track mind of now considering he bonded with the energem centuries ago but Doomwing still has it; meaning he must face him in battle to get it back.  While the rangers are puzzled by his coldness and need to work solo, Keeper says being trapped in Doomwing for so long definitely and deeply effected him to the point he needs some time to realize what's really important in terms of joining the rest of the team.  Meanwhile, Lord Arcanon has made his decision in whether to destroy Doomwing as when his forces plan to do away with him, Doomwing begs Arcanon for one last time as he has a plan to rejoin with Zenowing.  Doomwing immediately gets to work by luring Zenowing into a trap but when the other rangers arrive to handle it themselves, Riley ends up seriously hurt in battle by Doomwing when he saves Zenowing from being destroyed by him.  When Doomwing plans on finishing off the rangers, Keeper appears and teleports them away as Lord Arcanon is also present to meet Keeper and orders Doomwing to get rid of Zenowing immediately.

Back at the base, I love how angry the team is at Zenowing when he dismisses Riley's injury as his own fault when he ordered them to stay out of his fight against Doomwing.  It's once again one of those morally gray moments where we see a hero lose his way and not care about the lives that are threatened because of his serious need defeat an enemy on his own.  It kinda reminded me of the Magna Defender and how the other rangers tried so hard to make him understand his way of thinking is causing more hurt than helping his ultimate objective.  It makes Zenowing have a lot more depth to him already and his short talk with Keeper after enlightens and makes for an interesting revelation that maybe being trapped in his dark half for so long has made him more villain than hero. We also get some tremendous backstory on Zenowing's own bonding to the silver energem as well as how Doomwing and he came to share the same body.  Apparently while fighting Arcanon, Zenowing was captured by his shortly after bonding with it.  With the dark energem, he created Doomwing out of Zenowing to have a general become a ranger.  But it's not just Zenowing and Arcanon who we learn more about alongside the dark energem but Heckyl/Snide as well.  When Heckyl convinces Poisandra to set him free by making a deal with her, while he tries to escape, he overhears Arcanon and Singe talking about dark energem....which forces Heckyl to remember trying to keep that energem from Lord Arcanon during the destruction of his planet, Sentai!??? O_O  Yes, it seems Heckyl's homeworld was the one that stored the dark energem and he was the only survivor who tried to keep the dark energem from Arcanon.  But in doing so, the dark energem erased his memory and created Snide along with it; who began to survive Arcanon.

It's a very suspenseful turn of events, with great acting from Ryan Carter when Heckyl lashes out at Arcanon for being the one behind him wanting the energems and the clear trauma he has after his planet was destroyed.  Unfortunately, in his moment of pure emotional rage, Heckyl is recaptured....for the moment anyway.  Meanwhile, the rangers have to deal with a squad of old monsters that have been revived by Wrench's re-animator machine to keep them busy while Doomwing lures Zenowing into a trap.  After Zenowing visits Riley's bed side and some how connects with him to heal his injuries, Zenowing arrives to battle Doomwing but since it's a trap, he is easily captured as Singe and Fury arrive to grab him.  As Riley wakes up from a vision of Zenowing in trouble, he tells Ms. Morgan to tell the other rangers to meet him as he goes to save Zenowing.  After defeating several old monsters, the rest of the team meet up with Riley as he uses Zenowing's special prism slash from earlier in the episode to free him.  Apparently Riley now shares Zenowing's skill as Zenowing now shares Riley's heart!??? O_o  Awwwww, I would ship them if one wasn't a human and the other a giant bird creature with literal split personality issues!!! O_o  Anyway, as the ranger arrive to fight more old monsters, Tyler uses his Supercharge mode to try and stop Doomwing but it takes Zenowing finally getting the silver energem to do the job.  The Silver Ranger suit is definitely an upgrade compared to the usual suit designs.  Probably the best looking after the Gold Ranger, especially with the gold razor shoulder pad making that bizarre aesthetic look more pleasing to the eye. lol  

Wings of Danger is a truly expectional episode that focuses heavily on story and world building while also developing our new character and giving him a human connection to one of the rangers that feels natural. :)  There's only five episodes left and I love where the main arc is heading.  Why couldn't the season be like this throughout!??? *Facepalm*

Final Morph: A+