A Parting of the Ways

Power Rangers: Time Force, Episode 6

Original Airdate: 3-10-2001

Last Time: Lucas badly injured a man in a car accident, but he did for all of the right reasons...to save precious, precious money.

The Rangers are fighting a monster, who swiftly grows. Wes calls for the Time Force Megazord and shrinks him back into action figure mode. Show Ov-wait....Credits! Here? But the monster...

Wes is hanging out in the clock tower musing about the unpredictability of fate. Jen shows up and they do a little flirting. Er....are we absolutely sure the show isn't over? Later, Wes and Mr. Collins have a talk about Wes eventually taking over the family megacorporation. Some kids are playing baseball and accidentally ding Mr. Collins' limo. The plutocrat takes the ball as recompense. Wes protests, but Mr. Collins stands firm...and then gives the ball to Wes for disposal. This, of course, leads to Wes giving the ball back to the kids.

At Ransik's Playhouse, the big guy himself is trying to enjoy a message, but it turns out that Cyclobots suck at Shia-Tsu. Nadira walks in to announce a new plan, it involves kidnapping some one and holding them for ransom. She trots out the monster of the week, Tentaclaw, who once kidnapped some mayor in the year 3000.

Tentaclaw immediately kidnaps a busload of children...meh, it's not the worst idea I suppose. Circuit alerts the Rangers to the kidnapping and they head out. The Rangers use the Vector Cycles, but get picked off by Tentaclaw, who leaves behind a ransom note. Apparently a busload of kids is worth ten million dollars.

At stately Wes Manor, Mr. Collins is busy buying out companies when Wes shows up to request the ransom money. Mr. Collins, heartless cretin that he is, wants to call the police. What an asshole, shifting the burden of dealing with crime to the municipal agency expressly given the authority over such matters. Of course, it turns out that the companies that Mr. Collins are buying are worth exactly ten million dollars. This leads Wes to have a moronic conversation with the butler about "finding your own path" or some bullshit like that.

Elsewhere, Nadira is upset that the children are relatively worthless as hostages. Back at the mansion, Wes has an idea: Wire Fraud! He lies to the businessmen his dad was meeting with in order to get the check and then runs off. Er...unless the check was made out to cash, I don't think he's thought this plan through.

But, in fact, the check somehow clears, and Wes brings the money to meeting point. He hands over the cash to Nadira who promptly orders the children murdered. I think Mr. Collins may have been onto something when he suggested calling the police. Fortunately, the other Rangers are able to find the kids at that exact moment, and Wes is able to steal the money back from Nadira.

Wes rejoins the other Rangers and is able to fight off Tentaclaw and rescue the children. They eventually kill Tentaclaw, and that means I get to see the zord transformation sequence...for the second time this episode. On the plus side, Mode Blue actually works this time and Tentaclaw is sent back to the horrible, horrible future.

Later, Mr. Collins isn't thrilled that Wes stole ten million dollars from him. Some reporters show up and laud Mr. Collins for providing the money to ransom the children. Mr. Collins, realizing that it probably wouldn't help anyone to explain that his fuck-up of a son stole the money from other businessmen, decides to lie and say that it was his plan all along. Because, you know, the truth would probably result in a felony conviction for Wes. Ah, but Wes, being the supreme dick that he is, decides to announce that his father is donating the money to charity, and then decides to effectively cut himself off from his father's fortune. Wes then moves into the clock tower, because finding his own path apparently involves copying other people's paths.

Next Time: I'm going to go ahead and guess that another Ranger commits a serious crime, but since they're heroes, nothing comes of it.