The Last Race

Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 21

Original Airdate: 7-7-2001

Note: This episode's production number places it before the next episode, but it aired a couple of weeks later. Why? I don't know, and I don't particularly care, but I've decided to go by the order listed on wikipedia.

Last Time: I had the flu, and I proved that, yes, my recaps can get worse. But I'm feeling a bit better today.

The Rangers are driving through town...wait, where'd they get that car, I thought they had basically no money, also Lucas is driving, so I guess maiming a driving instructor didn't impede him from getting a license. The Rangers start fighting over donuts, and this leads to Lucas getting pulled over and sent to traffic school. Oh, come on! We already had a Lucas episode where he went to get his driver's license, and now this? Is the next Lucas episode centered around him needing to get his license renewed? Or buying a used car and needing to get new car title? Credits!

Frax is introducing the new monster of the week, apparently the monster blew up city hall and kidnapped the "global governor." Nadira interrupts and wants to unfreeze an evil race car driver in order to take her shopping. That's....and unconscionably stupid plan. Ransik agrees in an uncharacteristically subdued fashion. Even his evil laugh lacks a certain....elan.

Anyway, Nadira then robs a jewelry store in a sequence that appears to be half-created from existing Sentai footage...unless the cars in Silver Hills drive on the opposite side of the road as everyone else in America. Or maybe I'm just looking at it wrong. There's a high-speed chase and Nadira gets away.

The next day, the Rangers read about the incident in the newspaper. Er...aren't these exactly the sort of things that they should be foiling? The Rangers track down Nadira and the monster turns out to be Lucas' old friend Dash, who had been sent to prison for reasons that are unclear. He challenges Lucas to a race and drives off.

Back at the clock tower, Lucas reveals that Dash accidentally hurt some people in a street car race and got sent to the cryo-prison after Lucas testified against him. Yes, Lucas is an asshole and always has been. Dash ditches Nadira and heads off a diner where he enjoys a hearty lunch of banana with ketchup. Lucas, using his plot radar, shows up and agrees to the titular "Last Race" between the two. Oh, and Trip calls in to remind Lucas about traffic school. Great, can we do that off-screen?

Of course not, and Lucas gets in trouble with the teacher, who decides to make Lucas take an impromptu driving test. Oh, God, how many employees of the DMV will Lucas cripple before they learn their lesson? Elsewhere, Nadira robs another store and Dash is her getaway driver. And sure as the sun rises in the east, Lucas is once again forced to hijack the car he was using for his driving test and confront the monster. Christ, we just did this fucking plot sixteen episodes ago. What the hell? This time, at least, the driving instructor has the good sense to flee before he gets horribly injured.

So the race begins....and lasts for roughly ten seconds before Lucas is forced to knock into Dash's car to prevent him from hitting some kids. This instantly makes Dash remorseful and he agrees to call off the race and return to his frozen hell. Nadira, having just had to deal with a recalcitrant monster last episode, uses a device to turn Dash evil and orders him to attack the Rangers. They fight for a bit and then it's time for the decisive megazord showdown, which ends in Dash getting refrozen. This somehow leads to Lucas has some sort of spazzy flashback to Dash winning some race in the future.

The driving instructor shows up at the clock tower, now completely unhinged by his experiences with Lucas, and asks the Blue Ranger to teach him to be a race car driver. The man is wearing a scarf and old-time racing goggles, so it's kind of clear that he's no longer all there. Damn, Lucas, what did the DMV do to you? Show Over!

Next Time: Ransik discovers the Rangers' one weakness: Tits.