Power Rangers (Super) Samurai, Episode (7) 30 – He Ain’t Heavy Metal, He’s My Brother

Mike notices some awesome guitar music and they go outside to find a guy sitting on their porch playing. He introduces himself as Mia’s brother, Terry. They welcome him inside and tell him Mia’s out buying groceries.

“You’re not going to let her cook are you?”

He tells them he’s in town volunteering at the children’s hospital; partly because his parents think it’ll help get him into med school. But he also wants to ask Mia to sing with his band for a gig. The other Rangers are shocked to learn Mia can sing. Terry tells them about them promising to be in the “world’s greatest band.”

The alarm sounds and the Rangers head off. Emily apologizes for having to run off, but Terry says it’s okay, he’ll just “hang out with mentor, he seems cool.” (That better be sarcasm!)

After they finish off the Moogers, they tell Mia about her visitor and she appears a little surprised. The siblings reunite at home and he tells her about hoping she’d sing with them for their gig on Friday. She quickly drags him outside.

Mia tells him that he should be focusing on his future, not gigs. That he should be realistic since he has a better shot at med school than becoming a rock star. Terry is disappointed, you sound like mom and dad, he says. We’re only trying to look out for you, Mia responds.

“Well, thanks, but I can look out for myself. I’m sorry I even bothered coming here.”

As Terry leaves, Antonio arrives with his guitar and wants to jam with him. Sure, Terry says and they head to the theatre.

Meanwhile on the Sanzu, OOH-AH-OOH! Octoroo warns Serrator that the clock is ticking for him to get something done about the Rangers. Above ground, Bulk and Spike have a musical montage (what!?!) after seeing a flyer for The Rebel Rockers’ gig.

Turns out the Rebel Rockers is Terry’s band. They’re at the theatre rehearsing with Antonio and they seem to be doing very well. Later, Terry heads back to the Shiba manse. Emily answers the door and tells him Mia’s not home. But it’s okay, he just wanted to drop off the tickets to the show tonight.

Across town, for whatever reason, Bulk and Spike talk to some Hell’s Angels to get them to be their bodyguards to whisk them away from the crazy fans after their performance (!?). They offer $5. And for some reason, the guys accept.

On a bench at a shopping plaza, Mia wonders why Terry can’t focus on his future instead of his rock band. She flashbacks to them two singing together as kids and promising to be the world’s greatest band.

“Ooohhhh! I believe in you!!!”

Bulk & Spike are wandering around and Spike, enamored by pretty Mia, goes up to her just as her Samurizer goes off. She has to hurry, but Spike hands her a flyer for the Rebel Rockers show. She puts it in her pocket and runs off.

Serrator has lured the Rangers to a warehouse and Mia arrives just in time to save the day. Jayden tosses Mia the black box and she goes SUPER!!! They all embiggen as Mia takes the lead with the Megazord while Jayden pilots the Bullzord. Jayden initiates the Bull Megazord and together with Antonio, the three Megazords finish off Serrator’s thugs.

That night, Jayden, Kevin, Mike, and Emily are all dressed up ready to go to the show, but Mia’s not in the mood. They ask her why and she says she wishes her brother would focus on volunteering and not playing a gig. The other Rangers don’t really care about anything Mia just said and they just leave her alone in the kitchen while rolling their eyes and shaking their heads. (Seriously!?)

She takes a look at the flyer and sees that the concert is for charity, benefiting the Children’s Hospital.

At the venue, Spikey-spike and the Fresh Bulk take the stage with some Snoop-infused rap. The crowd (somehow) enjoys it, but before they can bask in the glory, the Hell’s bodyguards quickly usher… drag them out of the building.

It’s time for the Rebel Rockers to take the stage. OOH-OOH-YEAH! Antonio sings all about wanting to have fun fun fun (not just on Fridays though). The four Rangers arrive and sit all the way up in the last row (expect for Mike who doesn’t have a seat, but takes it upon himself to give a dance performance no one watches).

But an all dolled-up Mia arrives and smiles when she sees her brother rocking out on stage. Everyone is pleasantly surprised when Mia joins Antonio to sing the rest of the song and later pulls her brother next to her to finish off the performance.

The Rangers head backstage after the show to congratulate Antonio (yeah, just Antonio) and say he’s really good. Can’t beat fishing though, he says.

Mia and Terry share a moment.

“You could’ve told me the concert was for charity.”
“You could’ve asked.”

Mia apologizes and says while she wouldn’t trade saving the world for anything, she was a “teensy bit” jealous her brother was playing for the world’s greatest band.

Terry assures Mia he does want to be a doctor… but one that “seriously rocks.”

“That’s my baby brother!”

Episode Thoughts
Well darn! That could be my favorite Samurai episode yet! (OMG, what’s happening!?) Maybe it was finally getting a look at Mia’s background or maybe it was seeing a fresh face or maybe it was that Nickelodeon-approved iTunes ready song. Whatever it was, it was a fun, enjoyable episode.

When Mia gets up on stage at the end, that totally got me. It was a genuinely sweet little moment, seeing Mia performing with her brother, that’s been largely absent on a show that hasn’t really cared to instill any emotional connection this season (other than annoyance, amiright?).

Also, Jaever Santos who played Terry was awesome. Though the Samurai cast has slowly improved (though with still a long way to go), Jaever was pretty good and a lot more natural, which is definitely a little different for the show, yeah? Maybe he can be cast as the American (well, Kiwi) Alata for Power Rangers: Goseiger (if it ever happens?).

The childhood flashback of Mia and Terry was also probably the best one of the series. (I still cringe at the awkward, Kiwi-fied younger Jayden and Antonio). I hate Glee, but it was amusing to have the show put Steven Skyler’s musical talent to use on Power Rangers.

I did wish there was a little more action though. And what is it with Mia being the butt of jokes, even more than Kevin? Plus them just abandoning her to go to the concert and basically not caring about what she was feeling. That was probably the only negative this episode. For a show that promotes teamwork and all that, that was the opposite of being a good friend.

How Much Better Was Sentai Than Power Rangers?
Corresponding Shinkenger Episode: Act 34 – Fatherly Love, Girlish Innocence

Maybe the biggest reason I loved this episode was that it was basically an overhauled version of its Shinkenger counterpart. Samurai merely used the fight and mecha battle scenes, but completely rewrote everything else.

Shinkenger‘s episode, also a Mako/Pink Ranger focus ep, was far more dramatic and emotional centering on Mako’s strained relationship with her parents, specifically her feeling of abandonment when her father took her mother to Hawaii to recover from the huge toll the (last) final battle with Doukoku took on her.

The Shinkenger episode was actually pretty busy with a lot of action, danger, kidnapping children as well as more on the Sanzu and some scenes with Juzo and Dayuu, while there was almost none of that on Samurai. Which was okay considering the main focus of the Samurai episode, though I think they could’ve still maintained a sense of Mia becoming empowered with a renewed resolve to fight to make her one-on-one with Serrator more meaningful. (In Shinkenger, the scene between Mako and Akumaru came after she has an emotional back and forth with her father about being a Samurai.)

Which episode do I prefer? I’d take Shinkenger‘s episode just for how well it was written. The final scene of Mako and her mother (in a wheelchair) seeing each other for the first time in some 15-20 years was a certified MaGMCM. It’s emotional, sincere scenes like that that make Shinkenger such a great season.

But for Samurai, this episode was great for a completely different reason; for being creative, but most of all original. This was an American, Power Rangers story through and though, not a translated or adapted Sentai episode.

And to think if more episodes were like this…


Power Rangers is on DVD!
Want to own Power Rangers Samurai? The entire season available at
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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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