Power Rangers: Wild Force, Episode 35
Original Airdate: 10-19-2002
Last Time: All of the past Red Rangers returned! I was happy to see....most of them.
Mandilok is upset the Rangers getting their zords back and fires Toxica and Jindrax for their incompetence. Fortunately, he finds a replacement in Onikage, some sort of Ninja Org. By the way, I hope you guys like implausible ninjas, because we're only a few episodes away from being inundated with them.
Outside the lair, Toxica and Jindrax are bummed about getting fired by Mandilok...again. Onikage offers the two a chance to redeem themselves, by capturing Shayla. Jindrax, being slightly more sensible, realizes that going to the place where the zords live can't be good for your long-term health. Onikage claims to have a way to sneak in undetected, and that's good enough for Jindrax. Toxica reluctantly agrees.
That night on the Animarium, the flaws in the plan become even more clear as the Rangers all sleep within fifty yards of Shayla. The plan fails almost immediately as Toxica touches the magic pool and gets badly hurt as a result. Onikage shows up to make fun of the Rangers' pajamas and Jindrax helps out by mocking Danny's teddy bear. The villains are all wearing ninja outfits, which Onikage claims allows them to sneak anywhere undetected. I guess I'll have to take his word for it. The villains then leave.
Mandilok is unpleased by Toxica's failure and double-fires her. Onikage realizes that Toxica could still be useful as some sort of Trojan Horse. Elsewhere, Jindrax is trying to comfort Toxica, who is afraid that Mandilok will never trust her again. In fairness, he probably should have stopped trusting her several episodes ago. Onikage shows up to offer Toxica another last chance to redeem herself.
The Rangers, meanwhile, are concerned about Animarium security, but have their discussion interrupted by a whole passel of dead Orgs that have come back to life. They turn out to be phantoms, though, and the Rangers aren't quite clever enough to figure out that this is all a diversion.
Anyway, back on the Animarium, Shayla is hiding in the pool until Merrick shows up to protect her....and then she immediately sends him to go help the other Rangers. Merrick immediately finds Onikage and blasts him, making the phantom monsters going away. Shayla cheers him on and then notices that Merrick, or rather a Merrick, is still on the Animarium. It takes Shayla entirely too long to comprehend that the Merrick standing right next to her is fake, and she gets captured.
Down at the fight, Onikage claims that this was all part of his master plan. Shayla calls them to inform them that she's being captured and needs help. The fake Merrick is actually Toxica, which is particularly threatening. Even more so when Shayla starts kicking her ass. The Rangers try to make their way back to the Animarium, but are forced to fight Jindrax and some Putrids first. Onikage looks on from a distance and his pleased with the progress of his plan.
Shayla and Toxica tussle some more, and Toxica claims that Shayla is just like her. Not quite sure where that came out of. Toxica reveals that she actually doesn't know why exactly Mandilok wants to capture Shayla. For whatever reason, this inspires Shayla to taunt Toxica for her lack of moral agency. They grapple for a bit more, and Shayla ends up dunking Toxica in the magic pool, which once again appears to hurt her badly, until she reveals that her horn is fake.
You see, Onikage had told Toxica that if she cut off her horn, she would be able to withstand the waters of the magic pool. Toxica was concerned, but Onikage explained that Duke Orgs like Toxica can grow their horns back, which Toxica didn't know. Shayla tries to explain that Toxica is blindly following the orders of others to her detriment, but that doesn't stop Toxica from finally capturing her.
Back at the Putrid battle, Onikage starts firing indiscrimately into the melee with some sort of ninja bazooka. Jindrax almost gets blown up and decides to stop fighting and retreat in disgust. Cole tries to kill him, but it turns out to be a decoy.
Elsewhere, Toxica shows up with Shayla and presents her to Mandilok and Jindrax. Toxica seems rather hurt, and Jindrax notices that she lost her horn. Toxica explains that it will grow back, and Jindrax doesn't believe it and asks Mandilok for confirmation. Turns out Onikage was lying, and Toxica is going to die as a result of cutting off her horn. Shayla decides to scold Mandilok. who doesn't really care. Jindrax starts freaking out that his bosses have probably killed his best friend and would probably kill him too, given the chance.
The Rangers show up and set up the Jungle Blaster to kill Mandilok, who is smart enough to use Toxica as a Org shield. This causes Toxica to slowly vaporize and both the Jindrax and the Rangers are rather surprised at the turn of events. Mandilok orders Jindrax to take Shayla back to the Org base, and Jindrax agrees, what with Mandilok proving that he's definitely willing to get rid of Orgs who displease him.
Onikage then grows, because, well, it's time for the megazord fight, even if this particular episode hasn't actually portrayed the story beats that typically proceed such a battle. The Rangers call on the Isis Megazord, and the fight starts up.
Meanwhile, Merrick has decided to hunt down an Org and pretty much defeats Onikage by accident. Back at the Animarium, the Rangers are depressed about losing Shayla because....well, I guess they're just kind of obligated to feel bad about their mentor being captured, even if she didn't serve much of a purpose or provide helpful guidance. To Be Continued!
Next Time: Another new megazord, because it's never too late in the season to sell new toys!
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