Episode Title: Two for One
Original Airdate: October 24, 1994
Well, here we are, at the start of a new chapter in the history of the Power Rangers. We’re back to having six rangers with Tommy now leading the team as the White Ranger. It’s a big occasion, which means we need some sort of big terrifying monster from Lord Zedd. Luckily he has just the thing…not one but two monster inspired by the junk found in a ladies’ purse. You’ll be wondering where on earth they get this stuff with today’s episode, Two for One.
As we begin, love is in the air. Not only does Ritchie finally get the courage to ask Trini out for a study date, but Kimberly is all excited about her upcoming date with Tommy. Kimberly has even borrowed a special purse from her mom for the occasion and borrowed a new shade of lipstick from Trini. Now, when Lord Zedd sees this, he is inspired to use these items to create some new monsters. So, he sends some putties to interrupt Kimberly and Tommy’s big date. During the fight, a puttie manages to swipe the purse. Zedd then zaps the items to create Pursehead, which is a monster with…a purse for a head, go figure. He also uses the lipstick to create the strange Lipsyncher monster.
As soon as Pursehead shows up, he manages to freeze Kimberly and Tommy in their tracks. The other rangers are then summoned by Zordon and given their assignments. Jason is sent to deal with Lipsyncher, while Zack goes off to help Tommy and Kimberly. Billy and Trini are left in the command center to find a way to unfreeze their friends.
When Jason shows up on the scene, he very quickly needs to summon his zord to battle Lipsyncher, which has now grown to giant size. This monster is too much for one ranger to handle, though. Meanwhile, Zack is quickly frozen by Pursehead, as well. Luckily, Billy and Trini create the device needed to unfreeze everyone. With all the rangers active again, they come up with a new plan. Tommy will stay and take care of Purshead while the others go off to help Jason deal with the other monster.
Pursehead proves to be a bit of a challenge, especially when he whips out a giant container of laser dental floss. Yes, laser dental floss. Though this traps Tommy for a moment, the enchanted sword, Saba, comes to the rescue and Pursehead is quickly eliminated. As for the others, they unleash their zords on Lipsyncher, each of which displays some unique powers. They then finish off the creature with a unique propeller style attack.
This episode is pretty high on the crazy meter, but it’s a heck of a lot of fun. To start with, these two monsters are among the wackiest we’ve seen. I mean, can you imagine a writers room somewhere in Japan where on the day they were pitching ideas for new monsters someone says, “hey, what about a monster with a purse for a head?” The creature is a bit confusing, especially since it looks nothing like Kimberly’s purse which was supposedly used to create it. Other than being able to freeze people with it’s “compact ray,” Pursehead is not a terribly powerful baddie. His package of laser dental floss is amazing, though! I mean, of all the things one could pull out of a purse and turn into a weapon, the writers of this show go with dental floss! I don’t know what they were smoking, but whatever it is not even legal here in Colorado yet.
Deadly dental floss aside, Lipsyncher is a bit better villain. She reminds me a bit of Madame Woe from the first season. She’s got that same sort of creepy blank mask look. It’s also not as bulky of a costume as many of the other monsters, so the performer inside can pull off some impressive moves during the fights. The monster has some strange powers, though. For some reason it shoots musical notes out of its mouth and has some sort of sonic weapon that strangely is able to cause discomfort to giant robots…who clutch their ears despite the fact that they don’t actually have any. The most bizarre thing about Lipsyncher, though, is that this creature is a bit more sexualized than many of the other monsters we’ve had. Whoever designed this costume leaves no question that this is a female character, as certain body features are very much emphasized. In addition, the monster’s outfit sure makes it look like Lord Zedd had a gift card for Frederick’s of Hollywood. This is nothing, though, after you take a moment to examine the weapon Lipsyncher carries, an odd shaped sword. When held sideways it’s clear that this saber is meant to resemble a pair of female lips. Remember, this monster was created from a tube of lipstick. However, when held upright, which is the way a sword is usually held, it resembles another piece of the anatomy. You know, when I was a kid afternoon TV was reruns of Woody Woodpecker cartoons and this sort of thing never came up. Just sayin. Anyway, the battle with Lipsyncher is far more impressive than the one with Pursehead. I dare say the episode may have been better with just the one monster.
We should throw out a number of other bits of interest for this episode. The biggest is that we get to see the new thunder zords do some damage to the monster all on their own, without coming together to form something else. Lately it seems like all they do is jump right to creating the giant robot, but this time each individual zord actually unleashes an attack of its own, doing a fair amount of damage to the monster. Speaking of the monsters, this episode does see the return of the guy who used to make all the monster for Rita in the first season, Finster. He doesn’t have any lines, but for the first time since Lord Zedd took over we see him looking on in the background along with Squatt and Baboo. And, for what it’s worth, we do also get another new version of the opening credits starting with this episode. There are new clips used as well as a new triple image screen for each of the six main cast members as their credits are displayed.
Though this is an episode that in many ways represents a time of new beginnings, the evidence of changes on the way is also present. The dialogue of Jason, Zack, and Trini while in their ranger uniforms is very clearly not provided by the actual actors. It doesn’t dampen the mood too much, though. For the most part this is a fun episode that, though a bit crazy, doesn’t fail to satisfy. Next time we go from an evil purse to a monster magnet. Be with us then for Opposites Attract.
Channel: Superhero 