In the Skull Cavern, Demonite, Falkar and Thunderon report back to Diabolico, but the demon sends the three of them back out, telling them not to worry about the Titanium Ranger, and giving Demonite a small mirror. Meanwhile, Captain Mitchell is showing Ryan through the Aquabase. He tells Ryan how proud he is of his son, before walking away. Ryan takes off his shirt and looks at the cobra tattoo in the mirror, remembering how Diabolico gave him the tattoo. Just then, Carter comes along, and sees the tattoo without Ryan realising it. As Carter takes Ryan to tour the training facility, the alarm sounds.
The Rangers grab their jackets and head downtown, where the three monsters are causing widespread destruction. The Lightspeed teens morph and double-team the monsters. Chad and Kelsey fight Falkar, Dana and Joel take on Thunderon, while Ryan and Carter battle Demonite. However, mid-battle, the cobra tattoo begins to move, and Ryan collapses in pain. The team regroup, and Demonite throws down the mirror - a clone of Demonite emerges from the mirror.
The clone fights Ryan, while the three monsters draw the Rangers to a shipping yard. The Rangers use their V-Lancers, but as usual, that doesn’t help them. Meanwhile, because of the cobra tattoo, Ryan is unable to fight the clone. Dana realises that Ryan is in trouble, and Carter remembers that, before when he fired at Demonite, the clone got hit as well - they can fight and destroy both Demonite and the clone at the same time. The Rangers lure the monsters into a container yard, and the monsters follow. Suddenly, Carter ambushes the monsters, freezing Demonite on the spot with both the Unilaser and his own V-Lancer (booster mode), threatening to destroy the monster. Falkar calls Carter’s bluff, saying that, at that close range, the explosion would kill Carter as well. Carter decides not to fire, and turns to leave and save Ryan. However, Demonite launches an attack, and Carter spins around and fires.
A huge explosion rocks the container yard, destroying many containers and sending Falkar and Thunderon crashing. In Mariner Bay, the clone is destroyed in a spectacular explosion, saving Ryan’s life. The Rangers think that Carter was killed, but the Red Ranger emerges from the debris, seriously wounded, but alive. Watching the battle, Diabolico makes Demonite grow, and the Rangers bring out the Lightspeed Megazord. They have a very impressive zord battle, before Carter leaves mid-battle and returns piloting the Super Train Megazord. Both zords beat up Demonite, before the Lightspeed Megazord ignites its sabre, and totally destroys the monster.
Back at Lightspeed, Carter enters Ryan’s quarters, and tells him that he saw the cobra tattoo. Ryan explains that everytime he morphs, the tattoo will move up his back until it reaches his neck and destroys him, and doesn’t want to tell Mitchell about it because the Captain won’t let Ryan morph. Overhearing the conversation, Captain Mitchell enters the room, asks to see the tattoo, then flat-out forbids Ryan from morphing, telling his son that he lost him once - he won’t lose him again.
Lightspeed Rescue episodes keep up an astonishingly high standard, presenting us with some action-packed, exciting and tense storylines. The continuing story regarding Ryan’s defection to Lightspeed is one of the best extended storylines we’ve seen so far, and this episode does not let us down. There was some wonderful interaction between Ryan and Carter, not to mention the scenes between Ryan and Captain Mitchell at the beginning and end of the episode.
And of course, I have to mention how much I love episodes which are just one long extended fight scene. The battles between the Rangers and the monsters, particularly in the container yard, were unreal, as was the zord battle. It was great seeing the Super Train Megazord blasting the living daylights out of Demonite. Also, during the zord battle, the Super Train Megazord towers over both Demonite and the Lightspeed Megazord, keeping their relative sizes consistant from previous episodes. Finally, ‘Curse of the Cobra’ wins extra points for not including any useless Batling fights, and no Vypra either. Yay! All in all, a top effort.
I’m definitely awarding this one to Carter, for his line while talking to Ryan about the cobra tattoo - “If your dad doesn’t stop you, that cobra will.” Good words there from our favourite Red Ranger, and Ryan, for goodness sake, listen to him!