RECAP: POWER RANGERS RPM #16- “IN OR OUT”

AKA: “SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!!”

Previously on RPM. Dillon’s robo-brain led the team into the wastelands, where Venjix nearly blew them all to kingdom come. But speaking of explosions, Gem and Gemma arrived just in time to save them, and blasted the hell out of every enemy in sight. The two were taken back to RPM HQ, where the other Rangers were stunned to realize that Dr. K not only knows these two crazy kids, but she’s brought to tears when she sees them. Ziggy must feel so un-loved right now.

We begin after a short time has passed since last week, where Dr. K briefly explains to the team that Gem and Gemma have been fighting on their own in the wastelands ever since the “think tank” they grew up in was destroyed by Venjix. Gem starts: “We like to shoot first and–” Gemma finishes: “–ask questions later.” Yeah… They do that.

Let me just take a moment to say in no uncertain terms. I LOVE Gem and Gemma. They talk and act like they are on some of the most amazing drugs you’ve ever taken, and they love to blow shit up and act reckless as all hell in the face of danger. Not only that, but they’re not afraid to tell you how much your plan sucks if they disagree. They’re literally crazy, and there’s actually a reason behind it. Their experiences being trapped inside a creepy government facility since presumably childhood, and then forced to survive on their own has serious screwed with their heads. They’re not just kooky for no reason. (I’m looking at you, DAX!) Plus, their twin-speak is actually performed pretty well, considering. There are plenty actors who couldn’t pull that off half as well.

Anyway, after Gem and Gemma make sound effects and childlike re-enactments of explosions they like to create, Dr. K states that she realizes that sometimes she may come off as cold and detached with the Rangers. The great thing is that she doesn’t at all realize just how true this is, or that the Rangers are being slightly sarcastic in how they try to downplay this fact to her. This is gold. (Especially when you consider that “What’s it like being stupid?” line that was debated so fiercely several weeks back.)

Dr. K then proceeds to do something amazing. She goes through the team one by one, giving them all compliments. They all squirm at the forced earnestness. Dillon turns around and tries to make a run for it, but Flynn turns him back around. I think my favorite compliment is how Dr. K tells Summer she likes her, and that’s why she’s not secretly trying to sabotage her from getting more attention from “the males.”

Oh, and she gives all of them super-awkward hugs. SO FRIGGIN CUTE!

But when she comes to Ziggy, she just looks at him for a second and says “… You too, Ranger Green.” DENIED.

Somewhere in here, Tenaya just kinda walks right into the city somehow, along with The Gold One and The White One. The gist of the scene is that Tenaya suggests they take away something humans need to survive: oxygen. Yay for intelligent plans! Sort of!

So they arrive at Random Factory, which controls the city’s air supply, and start trashing the place. The Gold One and The White One spray each other with air-tubes like kids with Super Soakers. No comment. But the Rangers show up just in time to have a fight sequence. One in which they each use their individualized special abilities (time-manipulation, teleportation, forcefield, etc.). There’s a specific reason why I love that they do this here, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Tenaya flips a switch, which causes a giant fan at the other end of the room to start spinning, which is amazingly powerful enough to pull people right off of the ground and yank them back. A bunch of foot soldiers get grinded up in extremely awesome fashion. I swear, the Grinders get killed in more creative ways than any foot soldiers ever. I love it.

In any case, the Rangers are getting sucked off as well. Particularly Ziggy, who loses his grip on whatever he was holding onto and goes flying. Now would be a great time to teleport to a safe distance, Ziggy! But wait! That would mean the Speed Twins wouldn’t be able to come and rescue you just in the nick of time!

Enter Rangers Gold and Silver, kicking ass and taking names. And slashing the controls to shut off the fan right before Ziggy gets chopped to bits. Ziggy then becomes the victim of one of the few failed jokes he’s ever been apart of. In cartoon fashion, his body suddenly just stops in mid-air, and he says “I wasn’t worried,” before gravity decides to get off its lazy ass and pull him to the ground again. It’s the thought that counts, I guess…

So, the bad guys make a “tactical retreat” after their defeat, but it is quickly revealed that Venjix wasn’t expecting his minions to succeed in the first place, and the REAL plan was about to begin… Seriously, it took me a while, but I actually really like Venjix as a villain. He actually thinks his plans through, and has back-ups within contingency plans, wrapped up in traps.

In any case, it seems Colonel Truman is about to play right into Venjix’s hands, as he states that they should maximize the power output on the city’s shields to fortify their defenses in preparation for a massive robot attack. I love the way Gem and Gemma disagree with Truman here. They practically laugh in his face for having such a stupid plan. They show no deference toward him whatsoever, wheras everyone else (especially Corporal Hicks) is practically on egg shells whenever they deem his orders questionable.

The best thing ever occurs here as Gem and Gemma decide to just walk away and go outside the city to take on the enemy alone. Truman informs them that, once the city’s shield is charged beyond its limits, they won’t be able to open the gates for several hours. Gem’s response is one word……….

“Meh.”

… God I love this show.
At some point, Venjix unveils his latest creation- the ridiculous-looking Vaccume-Bot, who will suck off the air from the dome once the shields are maximized, leaving the suffocated humans trapped inside. I think The Gold One says something here, but let’s be honest: No one cares.

Meanwhile, Ziggy is still not feeling the love from Dr. K, and would like to offer her another opportunity to tell him how amazing he is. She sees Scott and Summer working on something and practically makes a mad dash over to them to help out. Poor Ziggy.

Scott concludes that Gem and Gemma are going to strike at a Venjix outpost in the wastelands, which just happens to have an underground line that leads straight into the city. Oh snap. The Speed Twins were right. They’re gonna suck up the city’s air from the outpost and with the shields up, they’re all as good as dead!

Scott rushes out to one of the city gates to stop his father from maxing out the shield, but Daddy Truman has made up his mind. Corporal Hicks reminds them that they’re “losing optimal air.” And I have to take note here that this is the first time in a while that Corporal Hicks doesn’t get abused. He doesn’t knock anything over, or have anyone force him to handle some uncomfortable business. He’s actually doing a damn fine job this week. Of course, every tiny little thing like that stands out in a season like this. Go Hicks!

Scott knows his father’s making a mistake. So he runs out of the city just as the doors are closed and the shields basically seal it shut, leaving Truman to stew in his own failure. Sucks to be him.

Scott catches up to the Speed Twins shortly after they discover the Venjix outpost. He fills them in on the plan, and suggests they split up to take this place down. The twins tell him that they don’t ever split up (so creepily sad), but Scott’s not taking no for an answer. Clearly, ole Scotty wants some alone-time with his Asian Sensation, Gemma.

As Scott and Gemma stealthily infiltrate the entrance, Gem just runs out with a laugh and starts killing foot soldiers. I love how eager they are to destroy things. He takes on The White One and The Gold One as Gemma just runs out into the open, despite Scott’s warning. She shoots the high-pressure suction device, which creates an explosion large enough to make Koichi Sakamoto burst into tears.

Scott barely tackles Gemma out of the way as the whole place explodes, launching the Vaccume-Bot out of the cave.

Meanwhile, the other Rangers have concluded that the Speed Twins were right all along, and the only way out of the city is through the dangerous flame-spewing vent system device thingy. And this is where the use of their individual powers earlier in the episode becomes cool.
See, the Rangers use their powers to get through the gate without being scorched by the flames shooting out from the vents. The time-manipulation burst freezes the flames for Flynn to get through. Summer uses her hadoken blast to create an avenue of escape (And she actually makes me fangasm when she refers to it as a “chi energy burst.”). Dillon runs through with his forcefield. And Ziggy teleports through.

Far too often on this show, things just happen randomly with no prior setup or build. In this case, they re-establish the powers of the team, so that when they do use them the second time, we can enjoy their use of it in smart situations. Rather than just endlessly using them to fight bad guys, which just gets tiresome if that’s all they’re good for.

Back at the outpost, Scott and Gemma are battling it out with Vaccume-Bot. Scott whips out his sword and shouts “Suck on this!” I’m sorry, but I love the innuendo on this show, intentional or otherwise. It’s just an amusing little aspect of the last few seasons that just never gets old for me and my twelve-year-old brain.

Scott slashes the robot with his freakinshly large, wobbly sword. Gem asks Tenaya and the other baddies if they could hold on while he walks off and joins Scott and Gemma, because that’s how cool he is. He and Gemma then shout in twin-speak: “Let’s send this SUCKER back to the junkyard!” Both innuendo and bad punning in the same line of dialogue. These twins!

Scott, Gem, and Gemma combine their weapon attacks to finish off the robot… until he grows to giant-size. Another cool shot comes up where the Megazord appears, with a bunch of smaller zords riding in just beneath it, and everything is all nicely recolored to look like the outer wasteland. It’s just a nice visual moment.

Anyway, the Vaccume-Bot is owning the Megazord, until Gold and Silver’s zords show up to help out. They suggest combining with the Megazord, and thus create an ugly new formation where the Gold and Silver zords just replace the Megazord’s original arms. The ensuing battle lasts an epic twelve seconds, but it’s probably for the best. That thing looks terrible. And anyone who’s watched the japanese version know that it gets much, much worse from here on out…

Later on, Dr. K has decided that she should let them all know, in case they didn’t get enough of it the first time, how much they all mean to her. She goes down the list, telling everyone what a great job they’ve done in the recent conflict with Venjix. She even tells Gem and Gemma how proud she is of them. And then she turns to Ziggy. Surprisingly, she has an incredibly warm smile on her face.

“And you,” Dr. K says, with a long pause. Ziggy looks like he might pass out from the anticipation. SO FRIGGIN CUTE!

She is just about to tell him what she has to say when an alarm sounds, and the other Rangers scramble to rush off into action. Dr. K quickly exits, leaving Ziggy all alone, pleading with her to finish whatever she was going to say. She doesn’t.

So… basically, I loved the crap out of this episode. I realize some people are divided about Gem and Gemma, but I honestly love them. I feel genuinely bad for everything they’ve had to go through, which has clearly screwed them up. And I think their attitude toward the others is actually pretty snarky and amusing. Also, if Dr. K doesn’t jump on Ziggy and begin passionately making out in the middle of the garage with everyone else staring in stunned silence, I will not be happy. You know it’s coming. Or at least it needs to be…

“In Or Out” gets a sugar-soaked, caffeine-addicted, speed-balling A. And wow, even the episode title’s got innuendo this week. Awesome!

-Dr. Tristan