Power Rangers Jungle Fury: Pizza Slice of Life

Welcome back to The Jungle everyone. Last time, The Rangers continued to pick off the Five Fingers of Poison managing to take out two of them with a combination of sweet dance moves and a Huge Mother Fucking Cannon.

Our episode opens at Jungle Karma Pizza where we learn that RJ is about to leave for a fishing trip. Well, actually, RJ is an animal rights activist so he himself won’t be fishing he’ll… you know what, what RJ’s actually doing is really stupid, let’s just call it a fishing trip and leave it at that. The relevant point here is that with RJ gone, someone needs to be in charge. Theo volunteers, but RJ hands the responsibility to Casey. Well, Casey doesn’t want the responsibility and puts each member of the team in charge of a different aspect of running the restaurant. Except Fran, she’s just the floater.

Over at Dai Shi’s castle, Naja isn’t too happy that all of his comrades have been destroyed and has begun to question his master’s authority. The snake feels that if they’re going to be successful in defeating the humans, Dai Shi must be overthrown. Camille is not interested in committing treason and engages Naja in combat. Camille blasts Naja with some poison of her own, but Naja appears to sacrifice one of his own claws to heal himself. The two monsters confirm their battle until they reach the courtyard. Naja subdues Camille and is enraged that this battle has forced him to use up one of his “life talons.” Naja offers Camille one last chance to join with him against Dai Shi, insisting that he does not care about her, but Camille remains loyal to her master.

Back at Jungle Karma, things have already gone to shit as none of the team seems to agree on how to run things and Fran is dressed as a giant pizza slice for some reason. You know what, I’m counting that. That’s four times Rangers, and that rant is coming.

Back with the villains, Camille continues to pursue Naja through the forest outside Ocean Bluff. The two continue to have a pretty impressive fight, especially considering the fact that those suits can’t be easy to move around in. Eventually, Naja manages to lose Camille by firing an energy blast and knocking her off a cliff. As an injured Camille wallows at the bottom of the cliff, she is met by Dai Shi himself, who is displeased that she has yet to dispose of the traitorous snake. Camille mentions how Naja said Dai Shi didn’t care about her, and Dai Shi seems to hesitate before reassuring Camille that she’s his favorite, but if she wants to stay that way, she’s going to have to get back up there and kick Naja’s ass, suggesting a strategy that could would help her defeat the Cobra, but could destroy her in the process, a risk that any loyal follower of Dai Shi would be willing to take.

Back at the restaurant, things continue to go to hell because the Ranges suck at their jobs.

Anywho, Naja is still dead set on overthrowing Dai Shi, but can’t do it alone. Using two of his life Talons, Naja resurrects Rantipede and Gakko, but not Toadie or Stingerella. Naja only has so many life Talons and now that he only has three left, he wants to use them as sparingly as he can.

Back at Jungle Karma, things have now descended even further into hell and worse yet, the alarm goes off and the Rangers spring into action, once again leaving Fran to run the place on her own. It’s taking a lot of willpower not to bust out my rant here and now, but it is not yet the opportune moment. Just know, that makes five!

Our heroes Morph and head out to face Camille, who has called out the Rangers in the hopes of stealing their powers. Camille is formidable, but even she is no match for the Rangers in a three on one fight, especially not when they bust out the Huge Mother Fucking Cannon! Taking Dai Shi’s advice, Camille absorbs the blasts from the Huge Mother Fucking Canon in order to increase her power. Camille retreats, now believing that she has the power to take down Naja.

Back at Jungle Karma, our heroes suddenly return, startling Fran and causing her to accidentally hit Theo in the face with a pizza. Theo then asks Fran if he did something terrible to her in a past life. Seriously Theo… YOU HAVE DONE SEVERAL TERRIBLE THINGS TO THIS POOR WOMAN IN THIS LIFE YOU TINY ASSHOLE… no, no… it’s not time yet... breathe. Besides, Fran seems to finally have had enough and quits right there on the spot. This causes Casey to finally realize that he fucked up. If he had accepted the responsibility, at least there would have been one definitive game plan, like when they’re Rangers. Casey officially takes back his responsibility and says that his first official act as acting restaurant manager is to hire Fran back.

Back at Dai Shi’s castle, Rantipede, Naja and Gakko sneak into Dai Shi’s throne room while the master appears to be asleep. Fortunately, an invisible Camille was waiting in the room and together, she and Dai Shi battle the remaining fingers of Poison. Dai Shi vaporizes Rantipede and Gakko runs for his life, leaving Naja to face Camille alone.

Back at Jungle Karma, our heroes all apologize to Fran and Casey hires her back at triple her original hourly rate. I’m not sure if Casey is authorized to do that without first consulting RJ, but regardless, Fran accepts, and just in time to, since the alarm goes off and The Rangers have to leave Fran to run the place by herself yet again, bringing the count up to six.

It seems that after Gakko fled Dai Shi’s castle, he decided to try terrorizing Ocean Bluff again, only to be met by the Rangers and blown up with the Huge Mother Fucking Cannon.

Meanwhile, Camille and Naja continue their fight, Camille using the power she absorbed from the Rangers to deflect Naja’s blast. Naja makes one last desperate attempt to convert Camille to his cause, but Camille refuses to betray her master and destroys Naja. And so our episode ends with Camille presenting Naja’s remaining Life Talons to Dai Shi, who refuses to so much as thank Camille as loyalty is what he expects.

Pizza Slice of Life is definitely a unique episode in that its primary focus is on our villains rather than the Rangers themselves, sure we have that subplot about Casey learning a lesson about the responsibility of leadership and Fran finally getting a much deserved raise and apology, but the real star of the show this time was Camille. First things first, Camille’s duel with Naja was a definite stand out, even by this show’s already high standards, but more than that, this episode gives us some insight into Camille’s character as well as her dynamic with Dai Shi. Naja continues to tell Camille that Dai Shi does not value her, and his refusal to thank her seems to be evidence of that, causing Camille, perhaps for the first time in her life, to question her devotion to her master, even if only briefly. The dynamic between the two is very interesting and at times almost feels like an abusive relationship. However, despite refusing to thank her, Dai Shi does still call Camille his favorite and even gives her a way to defeat Naja. So what’s going on here? Does Dai Shi truly care for Camille and is just unwilling to show it, or are these moments of affection perhaps more of Jarrod’s personality shining through. It’s difficult to say, but perhaps we’ll learn next time in Way of the Master. Until then, May The Power Protect You.