Rush Zone S1 E22 "Guardians of the Core"

This episode is technically a television movie, showing every episode leading up to this one. Because of that, it is also the only episode of season 1 to have a running time longer than five and a half minutes.

## Plot

The episode starts with Ish coming onto the field. Ash yells for Ish to run. Sudden Death halts the attack because he wants to hear what Ish has to say. Ish, the teams, and all the Rusherz run a play. They're shaped like a goal post, which is what the Playbook showed Ish. He stomps his foot on the ground, and a circular wave of green energy sweeps over the stadium. This turns the goal posts into guardian bots! They fight off the BlitzBotz. The final Shard is revealed to be hidden in the big screen. Sudden Death appears on the field, Core in hand. He takes the last Shard. Ish takes out his sunglasses… only for them to be vaporized by Sudden Death. Everyone on the field rushes towards him, but he takes his double sided ax and tosses them aside, saying that this is between him and Ish. He offers Ish the chance to join him, but then Ish's dad Matt appears, wearing an army uniform. Some of the dialogue at this point got really confusing. It sounded like Sudden Death and Matt knew each other, and like Sudden Death had turned Matt evil at one point, like he had turned Ash evil. This came way out of left field. It's the season 1 finale for crying out loud! This is just getting mentioned now? And no, as far as I know, this is never brought up again. Ever. Thanks for that totally useless plot footnote. How did Matt even get here if he's in the army? Then again, I guess it makes sense to get the military involved when aliens invade Earth. In my head that entire conversation is non-canon, because I honestly can't come up with any explanation whatsoever. Plot holes and canon issues aside, Ish enters the Rush Zone and sees a big green X appear right on Sudden Death. Cue live action shot of tackling. Sudden Death puts the final Shard in place, but nothing happens. Ash shows up behind him, holding the real Shard. This is all that is needed in universe and in my mind to redeem herself, along with this taunt. "Looking for this? You don't know the first thing about us. You really think Jerry Jones would hide the Shard behind his new big screens? Please, he knew that's the first place you'd look." Sudden Death is naturally very ticked off. He tries firing a laser shot at her with his ax, but it bounces off the Shard and hits the ax, sending it flying. The teams and the Rusherz rush him again, now that he's unarmed. Ish catches the ax. He aims it and enters the Rush Zone. The live action shows passes over insane distances. Ish throws the ax right at Sudden Death. It hits the green X and seemingly *tears Sudden Death in half.* (Excuse me for a moment while I go barf at that imagery, all while being grateful that the show isn't super gory or detailed). Sudden Death isn't dead though. He tells Ish that it's not over and that he hasn't seen the last of him. He says they'll meet again. The Rusherz that were taken are uncorrupted and freed. A lone flying BlitzBot takes what's left of Sudden Death. Everyone celebrates, complete with confetti. Ash hands Ish the final Shard, and they reassemble the Core. Cue live action of teams celebrating when they won their Super Bowls. It intertwines with Ish and Ash holding up the Core like a trophy. Epilogue: At school, Ish is picking the players for football. He has a variety of choices, but he picks a small kid. Season 1 ends with Ish putting on new Guardian sunglasses.

## Review

Okay, that took a while to describe the plot. The guardian bots and the fact that Ish can do that came out of nowhere, but hey, it's the season finale, they can do whatever they want. I loved the fact that they thought ahead and switched out the real Shard with a fake. It's always nice to see someone think outside the box and be proactive. It's great to see season 1 come full circle. In the beginning, Ish was the small kid who wasn't picked for football. Now, he's the one picking players, and he chooses someone who reminds him of himself. This was a great episode and a great way to end season 1. See you next time for season 2!