“Going Viral” was another great episode and I pretty much only have good things to say with a little random comments to slide in there. This episode was centered upon Noah and Jake’s friendship, but mostly upon Noah having the need to believe in himself more. It takes his best friend to give him the strength he needs in order to not only master the Snake Ax but overpower the Monster of the Week, Virox. Plus, we are already getting new Megazords and Mechazords! Let’s take a look at what happened in this episode and how it progresses the story.
The episode opens with Noah talking to Gia and Emma over webcam basically explaining to them that he has finished work on the school’s new social network. The girls seem excited and as Jake enters the room he tries to take over the cam in order to see Gia. Sadly, it’s too late and Gia is gone. One thing that can be said for Jake, besides his massive need for approval from Gia, is that he attempts to show off for everyone else with not only his muscles but with his skills with weapons. In this scene, Jake decides to drop down and do push-ups after he fails to see Gia. Noah doesn’t seem to notice but it seemed a little off to me in this scene. Yes, we are establishing his jock personality, but to me it seemed as if he had to show off to Noah for some reason.
Jake decides it’s a good idea to bring his Snake Ax into the school, again showing off to Noah his ability to swing the Ax freely. (And nearly cutting off Noah’s head). The Ax is a little off-balance and he asks Noah to use his tech expertise to tweak it. In the first quarter of the episode it seems as if Noah is just Jake’s lackey as he dips out of the room leaving him with all the work.
Before we move onto the villains plan for the week, can we just talk about this quick snap? This is Noah’s Harwood County Highschool Profile. Notice anything extremely sad about it? Now, of course the social network is new, but man! He as no friends, 1 message and all the status updates are from him. Yes, I know that it’s new but I found this kinda sad for the person who created the network. This definitely foreshadows Noah’s character in this episode.
Back to the story, WarStar this week decides it’s a good idea to call upon a new monster with the power to spread a virus that would turn all of the humans into Loogies and thus creating an army for them. Hmmm….could be a good plan.
After Noah finishes the coding on the social network he wonders if he can work on Jake’s Ax now. He reaches for it and it becomes so heavy that he is unable to lift it! Noah laments that he will never be as strong as Jake is, who lifts the Ax with extreme ease. He reveals to himself that he may not be cut out for the hero thing, but thinks it may be a good idea to work out like Jake so that he can keep up with the others.
Jake walks in on Noah attempting to do push ups and almost laughs at him. Noah gets more down on himself and tells Jake he’ll never be strong enough. Jake has always been the “gung-ho guy” while Noah has always been the “slightly nerdy type”
Even though Jake attempts to make a joke out the situation, which is one thing I love about his personality, he redeems himself on giving Noah a really fantastic pep-talk that believing in yourself is the key to achieving anything.
Oh Gia. In this scene before all hell breaks loose, Emma decides to ask Gia if she thinks Jake may have a crush on her. To which she replied, “Didn’t notice.” Meanwhile, Troy is being anti-social not saying a word to either of the girls. Why was he even in this scene? He did nothing for the development of the characters or himself. He was just there because the Sentai footage called for the Red Ranger. Step it up Troy!
Gia, Emma and Troy stumble upon the citizens turning into Loogies and call Tensou to alert him of the disturbance. The virus is spreading and the other Rangers get called. Jake forgets his Ax and has to leave Noah. Pink, Yellow and Red Morph and realize that they cannot harm the transformed Loogies.
Noah arrives on the scene and as she spots the monster he knows he has to attempt to believe in himself to take him on.
He morphs as well.
Noah stumbles upon Virox attempting to blast an innocent citizen and dives in at the last moment and saves her. Then, she asks him the dumbest question you could think of. “Are you some kind of super-hero?”
No lady. He’s not. He’s just in Blue Spandex with a huge crossbow and just bounced in at the last-minute to save you. Guh.
Noah attempts to use the Shark Bowgun and blast Virox but he uses this mouth shield to stop his attacks.
When it seems like Noah would be finished, Jake comes out of no where and lands a powerful blast with his Snake Ax against Virox.
Jake wants to head out and attack right away but Noah knows they need a plan first.
But as they land more attacks, Virox disappears.
Gia, Emma and Troy attempt to lead the Loogie infected to another location and land themselves atop a storage bin.
Now that Jake and Noah are free, they call them to find out where they are.
Jake doesn’t seem to notice that he is crushing Noah’s foot beneath his Ax and as the others try to find a solution to the Loogie problem, Noah suggests that a quarantine is the best idea!
Jake and Noah haven’t arrived yet but the others decide it is a good idea to tire the Loogies out before they can quarantine them!
Troy calls Jake and Noah to tell them they are tiring out the Loogies to wrangle them up and quarantine, but they can’t help just yet because Virox has show up once more!
Jake takes a huge blast from Virox and gets blown out-of-the-way and this time Noah rescues him. Jake realizes that Virox’s weak spot is his chest and Noah goes for it. But Noah decides to pick up Jake’s Ax and attempt to use it himself, at first it’s too heavy but Noah remembers Jake’s words. He can do anything!
Noah summons the power and lifts the Ax running towards Virox and landing several amazing blows!
The others arrive on the scene and reveal they took care of the Loogies by using the Twistornado attack!
They trapped them all inside of this!
After all explanations are in order and attacks from all their weapons, the Rangers use the Megaforce Blaster and destroy Virox!
Noah full of courage uses Jake’s Ax once more and slashes the newly healed citizens!
Noah thanks Jake for believing in him and making him believe in himself!
Vrak makes Virox grow and the Rangers call upon the Gosei Great Megazord.
It is a tough fight at first, his armor is rather strong and Virox even steals the Dragon Sword and uses it against the Megazord!
Noah’s Shark grabs the sword back and Noah shouts that the battle isn’t about muscles, it’s about believing in yourself!
With that belief you can do anything!
His words awaken a great deal of power to unlock a new Power Card and the Sea Brothers are unlocked!
Noah calls upon the Sea Brothers using his new card and the Hammer Head, Saw Shark and Manta are added to the Mechazord Arsenal!
The Sea Brothers combine with the Gosei Great Megazord and become either the Sea Megazord or Sea Gosei Great, both of which are used in some capacity. This is getting confusing, are we using our own names or the Japanese names…..I am confuse.
After making short work of his armor, Noah uses the Victory Charge card and Virox was no more!
At the back-end of the episode, Noah has finished the tweaks on the Snake Ax, which should make it easier to handle. Jake seems to think it’ll take a bit of getting used to because it is quite a bit more nimble. Leaving Jake feeling inadequate instead of Noah. Interesting.
Final Thoughts:
This episode was really good in my opinion. It established Noah’s character and got us to know him and Jake’s friendship moreover than we have before. The introduction of the Sea Brothers and new Megazord Combination seemed flawless. I loved the footage used, but like I said I am getting confused as to what we are calling the Zords and Megazords. They seem to have two different names.
This episode make my love for Jake and Noah grow even more than before! I gained quite a bit of liking for Noah and his actor John Mark Loudermilk. Too me, he is just adorable and so far I like where all the characters are headed.
I will have to say that Troy is losing my interest, his character seems to be just in the background and really not bonding with the other four. He just seems to be in the background for decoration. I am hoping that soon he will have better focus and grow as a Red Ranger and not just be the dude in the Red shirt.
Episode Scores
Story: 8.5/10
Action: 9/10
Monster: 8/10
All Together: 9/10
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