Sunday 4 March 2012

Power Rangers Samurai Episode Commentary #8


Episode 8: There Go the Brides
Written by: Jill Donnellan and Jonathan Rosenthal
Directed by: Peter Salmon

Nighloks are kidnapping brides on their wedding days and the Samurai Rangers are the only ones that can stop it happening! Why are the Nighloks kidnapping brides? How many terrible wedding based puns can the writers squeeze in? Will Bulk get squirted in the face again? Are the Rangers really smart enough to come up with the scheme that leads them to victory? To find the answers to these questions and more read on!


Just what the fudge is going on? We kick off in a church with Mia about to marry Jayden?!?! They’re apparently not popular as they’re only joined by the gang from Samurai HQ (Emily looks lovely but Ji has made no effort to dress up at all). It’s obviously quite an emotional ceremony as there’s a tear in Ji’s eye and even Kevin is crying like a little girl. Mike’s not impressed. I am though, it’s nice to see a man who isn’t afraid to show his emotions. Brave Kevin- bravo! Mike’s really not feeling it. Elsewhere the Moogers are out and about and heading to a church. Could it be the same church the Rangers are in? Apparently not. They’ve snatched another bride. Ji’s just got a call to let him know. Looks like this was all a plot to capture those pesky Moogers, but it hasn’t worked! Damnit! The Moogers are taking their kidnapped bride off to some dark dimension passing Bulk and Spike who are training in the park.


Back at HQ we learn that five brides have been kidnapped, and Mike’s spotted a pattern. The places these brides have been snatched from form a star on a map. Kevin’s impressed and wonders if Mike has undertaken any sort of police training but he hasn’t, he just watches a lot of cop shows. We do, however, learn that humans can’t survive long in the Sanzu River. No one knows what’s going on and there are so many weddings, making their fake wedding seem less appealing to the Moogers. Jayden has an idea though and I’m sure it’ll be a corker but we don’t find out what it is just yet. We do find out who’s been responsible for snatching these brides; it’s only bloomin’ Dayu! It’s all about tears filling the Sanzu River. These Nighloks have one thing on their mind. Dayu’s making a wedding dress for herself apparently; I guess even monsters want to feel loved. According to Master Xandred, Dayu’s soul is in pain. Awwww, now I feel bad! She’s not a monster, she has a soul! Perhaps there’s some sort of tragic back story we’re not currently aware of… Octoroo has been looking through gaps and on one occasion he saw the mysterious Deker, the cursed warrior, the Nighlok who was watching the Rangers with much interest in the last episode. Deker is looking for a worthy opponent in battle and he seems to have decided it’ll be a Samurai Ranger.


Jayden’s been warning everyone that getting married ain’t a good idea at the moment. All weddings in town have been cancelled with one exception, and that’s the wedding our heroes need to hijack. Looks like Mia will be playing the bride again. The plan is that Mia gets kidnapped and then she can contact the rest of the Rangers with the locations of the missing brides. Elsewhere Dayu is raging that she once wore a wedding dress and had her happiness ripped away from her, and now she’s punishing these human women for it. That’s really not the attitude you should have is it? It shows a real lack of personal growth. You can’t blame others for your own problems kids, it gets you nowhere in life. Anyway she’s sending the Mooger off to get another bride to help flood the Sanzu River. Luckily the Rangers have got there first and they’re pulling a good old fashioned switcheroo! They’ve ruined this wedding but at least it’s for a good cause. Apparently the crowd don’t really care who’s getting married as no one mentions how the bride’s changed race and the groom looks like he’s been carved from wood. The important thing is that the Moogers have arrived and they’ve taken Mia. I was very disappointed to see that the Moogers were using a wheel chair to transport her. There’s some poor disabled person out there who is stuck because of these selfish monsters. I hope they’re very ashamed of themselves. They pass Bulk and Spike on the way and Bulk says what we’re thinking. There really have been a lot of weddings recently.


Jayden’s convinced their plan has succeeded but he maybe a bit too confident on this occasion. Mia, for some reason, feels the need to explain just who Dayu is because we’re all really thick apparently. Anyway Dayu is well aware of who Mia is. The Nighloks have been watching the Rangers (a bit creepy). The Nighloks have also managed to snatch the real bride. But that means the Rangers have been foiled! To make things even worse Dayu is forcing Mia to lead the Rangers into a trap. Oh my god things are just so awful! How on earth will our heroes survive this encounter? The Rangers are heading to an ambush! They’ve been captured! There’s a bomb! It’s gone off! It’s all over. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!


Dayu is about to finish Mia off and bring an end to the Samurai Rangers when something amazing happens. The Rangers aren’t dead! They’ve arrived in the nick of time to save Mia. To be fair to him Jayden looks pretty good in a suit. But how is this possible? We quite clearly saw the Rangers go into a warehouse and get blown up. Good lord when they pulled the old switcheroo earlier they actually managed to squeeze in another one and switched Emily with the real bride. It’s great that Emily gets a go at playing the bride, and quite a stunning bride she makes, but what about the warehouse? Apparently the Rangers can create doubles of themselves using symbol powers and had the intelligence to make a double of Emily too. Now I’m not being funny, but when I watched the Shinkenger original I believed they could come up with such a clever scheme. But when I think of the Samurai Rangers I just see…


So yeah it’s kinda hard to believe they’d be able to come up with something like this. But they did and who am I to complain? And Emily looks incredibly hot in a wedding dress carrying a sword, which probably says all sorts of things about me. Anyway it’s time to suit up and kick some Nighlok bottom. It’s time for a Mooger battle! Moogers are like ants at a picnic apparently. After the Moogers the Rangers have to deal with Dayu, who is apparently quite a tough opponent. She makes light work of Kevin and Mia and only united do the Rangers stand a chance against her. They’re just about to defeat her with the five disc beetle canon when Deker jumps in and saves her. He’s chosen Jayden as opponent for the ultimate duel. But today is not the day for such things and Deker escapes with Dayu before summoning giant Moogers. I guess that means I don’t really need to use my traditional “Make my monster grow” picture and it looks like Bulk won’t be getting squirted in the face. Way to mess with the formula writers! The Megazord’s out and he’s wearing his Beetle hat today. But the Beetle hat ain’t no good against this giant Moogers so it’s time to switch to the Swordfish hat instead. He’s got a sword attached to his head. I’m afraid to say this makes me laugh far too much. Yes I can be immature at times. I apologise. It’s not the most exciting Megazord battle but it gets the job done and the Moogers are defeated.


Bulk and Spike are in the bakery, teasing me with the hope that Bulk might get hit in the face with some sort of gooey delight. But no such luck. The Rangers are in a reflective mood. Mia is focusing on Dayu and her motivations for her behaviour and Jayden’s thinking about Deker and the duel that awaits him. The Rangers are heading to the bakery too and we get a very rare on screen meeting of the Rangers and Bulk and Spike! Ah well that’s it for another episode of Power Rangers Samurai. Sorry this is possibly the weakest review of the series so far.


Next time: I’ve Got A Spell On Blue

Photos as ever taken from the Samurai Power Rangers Gateway

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