I haven't been doing episode reviews lately. Sorry about that. Pictures thanks to Fury Diamond on Samuraicast.com: http://www.samuraicast.com/gallery/thumbnails.php?album=547
Episode Summary:
Jayden receives a letter that will soon reveal his secret to his friends. Dayu and Ocotroo conduct a plan to fight back on Jayden. She attacks the Rangers and especially Jayden, targeting him. Extending the fire within him so he will burst. He takes the monster on his own to a temple and destroys the monster. Octoroo figures out he is not the head of the Shiba Family. Jayden is hurt and gives the Black Box to Kevin and they form the Megazord to fight the monster. All the zords come loose. In the shadows, Jayden sees a girl coming towards him. She says she will handle it. She takes out a pen-like morpher and there is a red flash. The Rangers are in their individual zords when the Lion Zord pops out and fights the monster.
The Rangers see Jayden on the floor and wonder who it is. We hear a female voice inside the Lion Zord. A female Red Ranger in Mega Mode defeats the monster on her own with the Lion Zord. The unmorphed Rangers go to Jayden's aid. They carry him when a Red Ranger approaches them. She de-morphs and Jayden explains she is Lauren, his big sister. She comes to him and touches his face. They ask her a bunch of questions. Mia welcomes Lauren to the Rangers. She says that she imagined this day for a long time. (SO DID WE! We have been waiting for her)
Jii explains that in the last invasion, the Nighlok overwhelmed the Samurai Rangers. Jii took Lauren into hiding so she could fully master the sealing symbol. Jayden had to fight the Nighlok. Jayden and Lauren's dad used the symbol to seal Xandred so Lauren had more time to perfect the symbol. Jayden had to keep the secret for years and the Rangers face this fact. Jii says she has finally mastered the sealing power. Octoroo is mad about Red being an imposter.
Back with Lauren and Jayden, Lauren says he has grown into a true samurai. She figures he felt alone like she did. He says he has trusted his friends. He said the teammates were like brothers and sisters. She hopes she could be part of the family, fight together. Jayden says that can't happen, that there has to be ONE red ranger.
That they are too loyal to him, mistakes will be made, so he must leave. Lauren sheds a tear in a regal manner. The Rangers have a barbeque and Lauren is given a burger. Mike likes her morpher and Lauren worries about it. He says he could write Kanji like a master. Emily says he has 'Kanji Issues.' (Meme! I called it!) She explains that the morpher belonged to her father. Emily wants a girls day out and says it is great to have another girl on the team.
Later Jii cleans dishes and thinks to himself. All the six rangers miss Jayden. Antonio says he is going after Jayden since he is not a true Samurai. Close-up of Lauren at the end.
Review:
I had seen most of the new episodes that aired earlier on Nickelodeon of Latin America except for this one as it was not available online for a while. Anyway, I love Kimberely Crossman's portrayal of Lauren Shiba and found her stern and cold in the last episodes and a little more cheery in this one. Other than the original Japanese episode, where the female Red Ranger shows up at the very end... in this episode, we have no Xandred or Deker. Also, Lauren shows up half way through the episode and the monster is defeated rather quickly to make way for lots of exposition. I feel the exposition is like dumbing down of Shinkenger's explanation of the true head of Shiba, spelling it all out for the American kids. Anyway the scene where Jayden leaves is an emotional scene and all the castmembers did a good job. Maybe Jii was too reserved. But thumbs up to Kimberely, Alex, Brittany, Hector, Steven, Erika and Najee.
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