We join the rangers having a bit of a picnic at Angel Grove Beach. Carlos and Justin are throwing around a football, TJ and Ashley are doing a bit of sunbathing and Cassie is having a game of frisbee with her dog, a big golden labrador by the name of Jetson. That little periscope pops out of an ice-box, and we shift to the Space Base. Elgar is in the process of fixing his zord (with a welder? This guy has an IQ of a sea urchin, and Divatox trusts him with heavy machinery?) and making a racket - Divatox tells him to be quiet then listens as Porto introduces his latest monster, Mr Goorific, who carries with him a tube of goo that turns who it hits into little animals.
We return to the beach - the rangers are about to start eating when Goo and a bunch of piranhatrons show up. Once the people have all left the area, the rangers leap into action - cue fight scene. Jetson, meanwhile, is tied to one of the chairs, and barks repeatedly as Cassie fights - she is about to get gooed but Mr Goo misses and hits a piranhatron. The others come to her aid, but Goo flees (wuss). The rangers then head off to the Youth Centre, where Bulk and Skull are trying to find jobs, using a month-old newspaper. Cassie tells them that Jetson can get them today’s newspaper. She sends the dog out, and he soon returns, newspaper in mouth and change in one paw.
Soon later, back on the beach, Cassie is talking to Jetson, wishing that he was a real person. She leaves the beach and is walking through a park when Goo shows up. She morphs and tries to fight him, but Jetson runs away from her and attacks the monster all by himself. We see goo come shooting out of Goo’s tube - the next thing you know, Goo and Jetson have fallen over a steep cliff and have rolled to the bottom. Cassie de-morphs and runs to the edge - she sees Goo, fleeing the area (again. Gee, you’d think by now Divatox would have loaded this guy into one of the torpedo tubes and shot him out of the Solar System) but she can’t see Jetson and leaves. The camera soon focuses on Jetson’s leash - we see an unconscious blond teenage boy attached to the leash with Jetson’s collar around his neck. The boy soon wakes up and, obviously Jetson, he realises that he’s become human. Seeing that he’s naked, he then steals some clothes.
Cassie returns to the Youth Centre, and tells them that she lost Jetson (neglicting to them about the monster attack, oddly enough). Everyone, including Bulk and Skull, go out to find the dog. Carlos puts up a few ‘lost dog’ posters, one of which is read by Jetson, leash still in hand. He goes to find Cassie, introducing himself as ‘Jethro’, and realises that Cassie doesn’t recognise him in human form. Seeing the leash, she asks him to take him to where he found the leash. Justin comes too.
They all go back to the park near the beach where Cassie lost him in the first place. They split up - Cassie and Justin find Jethro playing around with the other dogs. Not finding Jetson, Justin decides to check the other side of the lake, and Cassie and Jethro leave. On the way back, they bump into Bulk and Skull, who have got the dog on the poster - only thing is, it was a poster for a hot-dog place, and they caught a little lost sausage dog. Jethro communicators with the little dog, and the dog seemingly ‘tells’ him where he lives - they then take the dog back to its owner. Along the way, Cassie and Jethro are really getting along well, and Jethro almost tells Cassie who he really is, but Cassie walks away before he gets the chance.
They go back past the beach, stopping to grab some hamburgers, and Jethro and Cassie (who is feeling pretty sad by now) have a game of frisbee, which makes her happy. Back on the Space Base, the Terror Zord is almost fixed, but the noise is driving Divatox mad. Meanwhile, Cassie and Jethro reach the Youth Centre, but Jethro sends Cassie inside with Ashley and Carlos, saying that he has to call his dad. The reason - his hands are now paws - he’s turning back into a dog. He goes inside, hands in pockets, and tells her that he has to go. Cassie gets quite sad, then gives him a hug. Jethro tells her that she’ll always be his only best friend, before leaving.
Goo attacks Justin and TJ, so Cassie, Carlos and Ashley morph and go battle the monster. Doing pretty badly, Cassie decides to take out Goo’s goo tube - she fails, and is about to be gooed when Jetson suddenly reappears, leaping into the fray and mauling Goo (now this was a good scene). Jetson returns to Cassie, and everyone’s happy. However, right at that moment, Elgar and the Terror Zord touch down in Angel Grove. Cue mammoth zord battle (yay!). The rangers call on their Rescue Zords, form the Rescue Megazord, and battle the Terror Zord. They have a good little battle, then Divatox fires the torpedoes on Goo - he joins in, and the Rescue Megazord starts to lose. Then, onto the scene comes the Blue Senturian and the Robo Racer (yay!). The Terror Zord takes on the Robo Racer, and Goo battles the Megazord. Goo is about to goo the Megazord, when the rangers point the goo tube at the Terror Zord - the Terror Zord is subsequently turned into a camel. The rangers then call on artillery fire, and in one of the biggest explosions yet, Goo is nuked.
Back in the Youth Centre, Cassie, Justin and Jetson are having a conversation about Jethro, Jetson all the while looking innocent and adorable. Cassie is talking about the similarities between Jetson and Jethro, and although she dismisses the idea, she can’t help but find them a little odd.
What a fun episode. Although it didn’t immediately leap into my top five favourite PR eps ever, it was one of the good ones, proving that Power Rangers Turbo has been consistantly improving. And improving well. ‘Cassie’s Best Friend’ was good fun, with a villain who chewed out the scenery, some great fight scenes and some plain ol’ feel-good-ness that has been missing from the show since the first season.
First and foremost, kudos to the unnamed actor who played Jethro/Jetson. This guy was great. Let’s face it, he could have done better, but he could have done a heck of a lot worse, and for that we must be grateful. His surprise at turning human, and then his horror at turning back into a dog, were well done. The obvious chemistry between him and Cassie never ever crossed past the line of friendship, and it would have been so easy to do so. The build-up of their friendship, and then the dismay that both expressed over having to part, was well done too.
And really, the whole point of the episode was about friendship. Really, the whole point to almost every episode is friendship. Still, Cassie played her part well, and watching her slowly draw suspicions about Jethro’s real identity was fun. The other rangers were hardly even mentioned, but that’s easily forgivable, since any less on the Jethro/Jetson/Cassie thing would have been too little. And you just had to love the character of Jetson. Disappointed at her not recognising him, then becoming friends, and then, after he’d turned back into a dog, he came to Cassie’s rescue by taking on Goo. I enjoyed it all.
The villains were typically disfunctional. Divatox is screaming at Elgar, the monster is a bit of a loony and the evil plan of the day just isn’t going to plan. And we all lost the Terror Zord. By having it turned into a camel, rather than having it blown into orbit. Well, whatever, it was just as fun. Particularly good was Elgar’s little display on top of the camel. “Someone, get me off this thing, ahhh!”
I’m still not sure about the side plot with Bulk and Skull. But it adds continuity, having them reprise the detective role, and I loved Cassie’s reaction to their getting the wrong dog. I think she wanted to borrow Divatox’s torpedo tubes and fire Bulk and Skull at Jupiter as well.
It's fairly safe to say that Jetson knew about Cassie's secret identity, both as a dog and as a human. After all, he takes on a monster for her, and then the dog runs to her and she pets him. Not to mention the fact that she morphed right behind him as he was running towards Goo. How long he'd known is a different matter entirely. Had Jetson known that Cassie was a Power Ranger before the episode, or had he discovered it during the whole adventure?
But as much as I liked the episode, there were a couple of slight problems. Firstly, the buildings in Angel Grove are remarkably fire-proof. I mean, check out the massive explosion that takes out Goo - that whole city should have burnt to the ground after that, darn tooting. And also, I'm willing to believe that Jetson could understand some pretty complex commands ("Take this money, go out and buy today's newspaper") but that he brought the change back in his paw?
Anyway, signing off, I just have to say that the end zord battle was also terrific. Although not one of the best, it was still fun. And hey, any episode with a good zord battle is a good episode. :-)
There weren’t that many overly funny lines in this ep. That’s not a bad thing, mind you, it just goes to show that the episode wasn’t focussed on comedy. However, there were a few good ones. So, for ‘Cassie’s Best Friend’, I have to give it to Jethro, for when he said, “You’ll always be my only best friend.” His last line in human form, when next we see him, he’s attacking a monster all on his own to protect Cassie. Now that, dear reader, is courage and loyalty.