Power Rangers Samurai, Episode 9 – Test of the Leader

Octoroo brings up the fact that Xandred has not been going after the Red Ranger with as much passion as Decker is. His research has found that the power that sealed him down on the Sanzu River has always rested in the Shiba family headed up by the Red Ranger.

Xandred gets so angry he sends a nonstop bunch of moogers up to through the crevices. After more unnecessary Bulk and Spike, the Rangers arrive to take care of the moogers.

During the fight, Xandred manages to call out from the Sanzu to happily warn Jayden he’s in trouble. When he takes care of the rest of the moogers, Jayden tells the other Rangers that the voice coming out of the gaps was Master Xandred, king of the nighloks.

Xandred has a couple of bottles of soju and Octoroo and Dayu discuss the power of the new set of Rangers as the furry sootballs pop down from the ceiling.

After another throw away scene with Bulk and Spike, we find the Rangers wondering why Xandred was only interested in Jayden. Mentor/Jii/Whatever they call him this week asks Jayden, maybe Xandred knows. Mike wants to know if they’re keeping secrets, but Mentor/Jii covers who knows what says there is a secret symbol power that is able to trap Xandred. He recounts the story of the last attack by Xandred in which Jayden’s father was able to use that symbol to seal him away.

Only members of the Shiba family can use that symbol power, so now, it is up to Jayden Shiba (Shiba!?!) to summon that symbol power to finish Xandred once and for all. This motivates the other Rangers to focus on protecting Jayden so he can summon the strength to seal Xandred for ever. Jayden hears them and is annoyed/angry (guilty?). He wants them to focus on protecting themselves.

With Xandred plastered, Octoroo summons a Scottish Nighlok to finish off Jayden. The Rangers go meet him, but Jayden takes him on alone as the others fight off moogers.

Emily and Kevin rush over and absorb the blast intended for Jayden. They demorph and they’re down for the count. Mike and Mia go to help but Decker pops in to protect his opponent for the greatest duel evah.

Mia and Mike watch as Jayden takes on both Decker and the Scot. The Scot dries up so he leaves for a refill. That leaves Jayden and Decker to fight it out, but a weak Jayden is not much of an opponent for Decker and his sword Uramasa who wants to be able to fight the best. He’ll be back when Jayden is stronger he says and jumps up to a cliff and demorphs.

Mike and Mia recognize Decker from Wild Force a VH1 reality show from that day at the quarry.

They take Kevin and Emily home, badly injured from the huge blast they took.
But in the middle of the night, Jayden decides to leave home, not wanting to put the others in danger like that ever again. He says he’ll deal with it his own way.

To Be Continued.

Nitpicks of the Week Episode Thoughts
What would’ve been a strong plot-driven episode was dragged down by the wooden and forced acting. It was either lack of emotion or the over exaggeration of emotion that failed to make you care about any of the exposition.

OO AH OO!

Pointless Bulk and Spike is a given.
But the horrible dialogue and the hollow acting took a lot out of what should’ve been more meaningful scenes both between the Rangers and on the Sanzu with Octoroo (OO AH OO!), Dayu and Xandred.

OO AH OO! So it’s Jayden SHIBA is it? The American branch of the Shiba family tree I suppose. Or it could be overly-obvious setup for the twists later on in the series.

And it was pretty fun to see Saban basically cutting and pasting the Kevin, Emily, Mike, and Mia stunt doubles over the original Japanese footage. OO AH OO!

Sentai or Power Rangers?: Sentai by a mile
Corresponding Shinkenger Episode: Act 11 – A Threefold Strife
OO AH OO!
The Shinkenger episode was big in terms of story. We were beginning to get more about Takeru’s possible secrets and the relationships of the Shinkengers.

Samurai lacked all of that emotional heft. The dialogue and acting really sort of diluted the episode which again, directly translated save for mentions of the Red Ranger being a lord and the other four his “retainers.” Still, the episode was more silly than dramatic even though it should have plenty of oomph (AH OO!) in terms of long term story.

Power Rangers is on DVD!
Want to own Power Rangers Samurai? The first two volumes are available on
.

And you can finally own the first seven seasons of Power Rangers, from Mighty Morphin to Lost Galaxy by ordering now:

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