“Now The Final Fury”

Seriously, that title could have used some revision.

Previously on Jungle Fury. Jarrod kicked Dai Shi out of his body. TO THE LEFT, TO THE LEFT! Camille joined forces with him and the Rangers to beat up on the Phantoms. Dai Shi’s gonna be maaaaad.

We begin with the formerly evil power couple. Jarrod wants to be alone, so he decides the best place to be is Pai Zhua. I guess everybody is still on vacation. And they’ve really let the underground room get dirty after Mao died. In any case, Jarrod’s not done sulking over his phailures. It’s at this point in the episode that I begin to reach for my razor blade.

Meanwhile, the Jungle Karma Kids are all training together, and the pizza wench is ready as always to give them some refreshing pizza… And I suddenly have to wonder how often she does this. I mean, if you work at a pizza place, do you really want to be eating pizza all day, every day?

Regardless, Dominic seems to like it. In fact, he likes it so much that he kisses Fran on the cheek. For Power Rangers, this is like a make-out session involving heavy petting, so I think it’s kind of a big deal. And Fran agrees.

But there are more important things to worry about. Like Jarrod taking Casey’s place as the Drama Queen of the show, and Dai Shi somehow getting stronger without him. When trouble strikes, RJ decides that all three Rangers should forget about saving people’s lives and go find Jarrod, while he and Dominic face the enemy alone.

The two face off against Scorch, but he’s in a mood, and quickly outclasses them. A giant explosion goes off just in time, and the Auxiliary Masters suddenly appear. Awwww shit!

Meanwhile, Camille tries her damndest to slap the emo out of him, but he’s just too pathetic to listen. Enter the Jungle Kids, who offer words of encouragement. I think he’s coming to his senses…

Jarrod: “… NO. I’m sorry. I’ll never call on my Lion Spirit again.”

UGH. Theo looks especially annoyed at this moment, and I don’t blame him. They came all this way just for Jarrod to tell them to piss off home. And after he was so agreeable with Master Casey in the last episode!

While Jarrod drowns in a pool of his own tears, the Rangers all gather to finish their fight against Dai Shi’s forces, with or without the Cowardly Lion’s help. They attack their enemies not with Jungle Master Mode, but with something much more fearsome. WITH CHEESY BATTLE DIALOGUE! YES!

“Time for some cheetah moves!”

“I’m so over you two!”

“Look out, Casey! (even though you’re ten miles away right now!!!)”

It appears that even Dai Shi’s warriors can’t fight against their passionate cries of goofy, and they seem to be winning. Scorch is finally destroyed!

And then Scorch is brought back 2.5 seconds later! Along with the most powerful enemies the Jungle Kids have ever faced. All the Phantom Generals. All the Overlords, all the Poison dudes, and a buttload of Rinshi warriors!

The Rangers are about to get creamed when suddenly a dramatic pause alerts us that something cool is about to happen. The Dead Masters have returned via the same portal from the Spirit World the bad guys came through. Masters Mao, Lope, Guin (SQUEE!), and Rilla have arrived to join the Auxiliary Masters, the Spirit Rangers (Yeah… they’re completely separate from the Masters… Really bakes your noodle, doesn’t it?), and the five core Rangers all stand together.

OH IT’S ON NOW!

Aside from the incredible awesomeness of all these badass kung fu fighters joining the fight at the end, what I like about this battle is that it’s actually thought out well. Master Swoop fights Carnisoar, the flying dude. Theo fights the guy that screwed up his awesome twin brother’s visit. Everyone faces one of their old enemies, instead of them just randomly picking someone out of the mob and kicking the shit out of them just because they’re there. Old scores are being settled in this massive monster melee.

Although, Casey just has to fight Scorch (again) with the Strike Rider cycle. PRINCE IS NOT PLEASED, CASEY! YOU REALLY WANNA PISS OFF THE ARTIST FORMERLY KNOWN AS?!?!

Not only that, but the seven Masters all come together and activate the full extent of their Master Powers to become… SUPER FURRIES!!!!

And with the might of all their animal fur combined, they light their enemies up like the Fourth of July.

Sadly, they don’t get to keep their spiffy new costumes for long, because Dai Shi is going to suck them off like he’s never sucked before. It’s a total suckfest, as Dai Shi drains their superpowers and uses it to complete his new body… KING GHIDORAH– er, ULTIMATE DAI SHI DRAGON THING!!!

Operation: Hairball has failed, and Dai Shi (who curiously decides to go out into the quarry instead of stay in the city with all the tasty humans) is ready to take his revenge against those pesky Rangers.

Back in the old Pai Zhua room, Jarrod continues sitting alone. Camille decides that she’s had enough of hanging around the Negative Nancy.

Camille: “The Yellow Ranger once told me that inside I was a good person… I’m going to prove she was right.”

With that, Camille walks out on her own, leaving Jarrod to stew in his suckiness alone. She arrives just in time to protect the kids from a hungry dragon head. But even after Dom and RJ attack in the zords, they’re still no match for Ultimate Dai Shi Dragon Thing. UNTIL…

Jarrod: “You told me I had the strength of a lion, but not the heart. But I’m here to show you you’re wrong. The heart of a lion is noble and good! I can be too!”

With that, Jarrod goes rushing at the dragon with full angry!face Zokato, and goes straight inside the monster’s body, where he powers up to Super Saiyan Three!

While Dai Shi is vulnerable, the three chosen Masters (ugh) activate their ultimate visual effects attack, which has never been used before “by student or master.” They combine their power into a giant fireball that destroys Dai Shi once and for all. There is absolutely nothing left after such an incredible explosion. Nothing! At all!…. Except Jarrod, who survived the homicidal attack and is just fine. Camille rushes to his side, just to make sure.

Camille: “Are you okay?”

Jarrod: “I’m better than okay… I’m good.”

Hahaha! That is the cheesiest line I’ve ever heard…. OMG, I loved that fucking line. O_O! This guy should have his own TV show.

With all the enemies defeated, it’s epilogue time, baby! To start things off, we’ve got MASTER CASEY!…. Egh….. Well… I guess I saw this coming. I mean, what else are they gonna do with him?

The good part comes when a small child asks human-looking Camille and Jarrod why they’re in the beginner’s class and they’re so repulsively old. “It’s never too late to start over,” Jarrod says. “So true,” Camille agrees.

Casey tells Jarrod to take over the rest of the class. Mao smiles at this. I choose to believe that he smiles because he’s glad Casey won’t be around those children for the rest of the day.

Back at the pizza shop, things have heated up between Lily and Theo. He’s grown himself a new pair of balls and has at last asked her out on a date, to which she accepts. And then Kelson Henderson runs into the room, claiming to be the human form of Flit, changed back by Camille off-screen. Now, call me crazy, but I think Human Flit has gained a few extra L.B.s since his shadowy flashback fight with Camille.

But it’s time to see Dominic off. He’s like the wind, ya see, always movin’ on. He’s gonna be backpacking through his Aryan homeland for a while, and everyone shows up to say goodbye. Fran looks like she’s going to burst into tears as she sits burying her head in a book as he walks out.

And then he walks back in, approaching Fran with a second plane ticket for her…. CREEPY. But Fran loves creepy, so she totally accepts. In fact, she’s so enthusiastic that she nearly works herself up into hyperventilating. The others tell her to breathe, and we fade to black for the last time. Jungle Fury has ended.

This was a really fun final episode, and it tied up a lot of loose ends, some of which I don’t think everyone were completely expecting. Bede Skinner and Holly Shanahan stole the show, with excellent performances. There was some extreme action, but still enough time to do some service to all the pertinent storylines and have a laugh at the end. Jarrod’s cliched “I’m not good enough” crap was the only thing keeping this from getting a “perfect” score. It gets an A.

Play on, playa.

-Dr. Tristan