Rush Zone S2 E24: "Wildcard 32, Guardians 0"

## Plot

Once again, we see Matt encounter a fog on the road. He stops the truck and tries backing up, but is stopped by BlitzBotz. We see that Wildcard is still alive, and just as evil as ever. Matt radios that he's under attack from Wildcard, and jumps out of the truck. At the HoK, RZ and the kids have heard about it. They can't do anything, because Matt's location is classified. All they know is that he was transporting a top secret device. It sounds like something Wildcard would do, but everyone thought that he had perished when the lair under Lake Erie exploded. Matt arrives and says that Wildcard didn't die. His arm is sprained. It would've been a lot worse if he hadn't jumped. Ish is relieved to see that he's okay. They ask him about Wildcard and his cargo, which was one of the military's most powerful new weapons. RZ is disappointed that after everything they had gone through in the past few weeks, he still hasn't changed. Meanwhile, Wildcard isn't doing so well on the sanity side of things with only silent robots for company. The device can drain power, and Wildcard has been waiting for it to be completed for months now. It's placed in what's left of the Siphon BlitzBot. It's stronger than ever before. Now Wildcard can steal so much power, he'll never have to recharge again. Back at the HoK, Matt is telling everyone about the device, code named RED, a reverse energy device. It removes energy and stores it, like the Siphon BlitzBot, but far more powerful. It could take out a whole city. Whoever controls the power controls the world. Wildcard is after more than just megacores now. Speaking of which, he's at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, home to the Giants and the Jets. When they get there, he's already drained the megacore, and is literally glowing with power. Then they hear about Wildcard also draining the Jets megacore from Soar, their Rusher. They wonder how he can be in two places at once. They split up to deal with both problems. The one Ish, Ash, and Marty were fighting disappears through a screen. Oh. Was it a hard light hologram? And before that, a blast from Ish went through it. The same thing happens to the one the others are fighting, with Tua going through it. He drains all the power from New York City. It turns out that both Wildcards were tactile holograms sent to collect energy. The real Wildcard is in his submarine. Well, that explains the glow. There's an international series game between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the 49ers in London. Wait, another country plays gridiron football? Why would it be held in London if the U.S. is the only country that plays/cares about/is way too invested in the sport, especially with only U.S. teams playing against each other? Is it a good will and understanding political traditional ceremonial thing? Because if it is, it sounds really dumb. Wildcard is now in Tampa. He starts taking the energy of the Buccaneers' megacore. His tactile holograms are also in the process of stealing the energy from the megacores in Dallas, Kansas City, and Seattle. At the HoK, RZ gives everyone their assignment. Ish will head to Philadelphia, Ricky will go to Dallas, Ash is sent to Tampa, Tua goes to Kansas City, Troy leaves for Seattle, and Marty heads for Cleveland. Ash says that they already know that they can't stop him, at least, not without help. Shandra and Matt arrive. Shandra gives them a new app for their NFL-Rs. It gives them digital DNA sampling powers. The clones are leaving residual energy on everything they touch. If they can get Shandra samples of it, she might be able to figure out what they're up against. Ish tries to stop a clone from draining the energy of the Steelers megacore, but fails. The same goes for Ricky in Dallas with the Cowboys'. And Ash in Tampa Bay. However, they're just trying to get samples for Shandra at the moment. Ash meets Josh Freeman, a quarterback for the Buccaneers. Also, she's fighting the real Wildcard. It's getting hard to keep track. Tua fights the clone in Kansas City. Troy handles the one in Seattle, and Marty takes care of the one in Cleveland. Back at the HoK, the kids are informed that power is out all over the country. They wonder how they still have power. They have a backup generator. And what, no one else does? I thought the answer had to do with the fact that the Core is literally underneath their feet. The Safe Zone is running on reserve power, which is the only reason they haven't been attacked yet. But it won't last forever. There's only two megacores left, the ones for the teams playing in the London game mentioned earlier. They want to go, but they need a plan. Shandra has run the equation over and over again, but she can't figure it out. Quantifying power from the Core is almost impossible. There's one computer that's done it before though: Drop Kick. If they had access to his memory banks, they might be able to figure out Wildcard's plan. They point out that Ish destroyed him, but he points out that Wildcard survived, so Drop Kick might have too. Ish and Ash go back to the lair to look around. I still ship it. The others head to London. They meet Maurice Jones Drew at the stadium. He's a running back for the Jacksonville Jaguars. All of the Wildcard clones show up. The real Wildcard is there, and succeeds in draining the energy of the last two megacores, and all of London. Ish and Ash find Drop Kick's body. They get a message about what happened in London. Now they *really* need a Hail Mary. It turns out that Drop Kick is still functioning. The entire lair collapses, and they barely escape. At the HoK, Drop Kick says that he can't help them. Can't or won't, it makes no difference to him. He says that it's impossible for Wildcard to succeed. This is because the power of the Core can't be contained, and even if it could, he'd never have it all, because some of it is in them. No human could contain all that power. Wildcard's suit would overload. The Safe Zone goes down, and he shows up in the HoK. He blasts everyone back with a wave of power, and grows giant size. RZ disappears. Drop Kick says that if he gets any more power, he'll explode. Ish steps forward and taunts Wildcard, saying that he'll never have all the power as long as part of the Core is in him. Wildcard takes his piece of the Core, but it's too much to handle, and a bright white light fills the area. Ish wakes up. Warren is still alive. The force of the blast freed him from his exosuit. He's finally free, but because of all the crimes he committed, it'll be a long time before he can enjoy that freedom. Poetic justice prevails! As for Drop Kick, he can be repaired and reprogrammed. All of the power is back where it belongs. Well, *almost* all of it. Ish saved the world, but he sacrificed his power to do it. He's not a guardian anymore. Everyone attends the game in London. Ish insists that it was a team effort. RZ is trying to find a way to restore his powers. Ricky tells him that no matter what happens, he'll always be one of them. Everything seems great, but there's another threat just beyond the horizon, who says that Ish is the one.

## Review

Overall, is this show childish and cheesy? Oh my gosh, yes, absolutely. But some of the actors are pretty big or at least well known names in the voice acting industry, even if they just have bit roles, and besides, *Power Rangers* is another incredibly childish and cheesy franchise, and it's been around since 1993. If the comic book internet reviewer Linkara can make an entire retrospective review series of every single season of that show, then I don't see why I can't do the same and apply the same serious analysis and thought to similar children's shows.