Mindnet

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Kilbane apparently is inside and trying to use the Mindnet. Sorry Ryker, but I think you have to HAVE a mind to net. Shane kicks in the door and they run to Kilbane, who cackles and reveals both himself and the Mindnet on his head to be a fake. Metal walls crash down, trapping the Rangers. Then the floor opens beneath them. When they land, they're in the Ranger Uniforms, the discarded disguises strewn about. Kilbane cackles and greets them. The Queen is there as well, and reveals she'd planted the images in Niko's mind to draw her here! Uh-oh! I underestimated you, Queen!

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Kilbane and Gooseman have their own sort of bizarre brotherly reunion. Kilbane gloats that the "Runt" is "still a loser." Shane calmly retorts that he's still the man that Kilbane never beat. The Queen however is having enough of this and wants the rest of Mindnet. If they won't give it to her, she'll burn their minds out of them. The Mindnet starts to glow, and the men start groaning and recoiling, but Niko taps her badge. The other rangers quickly put their hands together to lend her their power. The Queen's got another attack though, and she blasts them apart.

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Goose has an ace in the hole though. Because the only thing more powerful than Mindnet in this room is Kilbane's ego. He challenges him to a one-on-one fight "like the old days." With the winner getting both halves of Mindnet. Niko protests, and the Queen is offended by the defiance. But Kilbane is intrigued. It takes one accusation of fear, and Kilbane's ego wins out. The Queen vetos, but Kilbane points out that she has them either way. So he wants to fight. I want them to fight too. A super-soldier...sorry "Supertrooper" vs. "Supertrooper" fight ought to be a blast. Even if "Supertrooper" still sounds silly and makes me start singing Abba. The Queen decides that this looks interesting after all, and we soon see why, as the two genetically engineered fighters stand shirtless in the middle of a big room. I'd judge, but I'd totally make men do that if I had the power to. She tells them that there are weapons in the room, if they can reach them.

[[File: |upright=.8|left]]	In the arena, Gooseman wants to know about the other Supertroopers: "Gravestone, Dark Star and the rest." Supertroopers have weird names. Kilbane retorts that Goose shouldn't worry. They'll live longer than him. Looking at them side by side, Kilbane appears to have a slight size advantage. He's kind of pasty though.

Kilbane attacks first with his halitosis attack. Goose counters via badge, and goes kind of lizardy. Kilbane pops his claws. Goose gets a good hit in, but it enables Kilbane to grab a weapon first and shoot him. But then that's what bio-defenses are for, and now he's an ARMORED lizard-bug thing. Kilbane rambles about Goose being the weakest and not being good enough to be a Supertrooper, while Niko watches with concern. Aw. Goose reverts and from the peanut gallery, Zach mutters at him not to use his charge up.

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The two characters have very different fighting styles, interestingly. Kilbane's more of a brawler, I think. Using brute force and strength. Shane's style has more gymnastics and skill. Kilbane is not without transformative ability though, and when Shane challenges why he's the one backing away, Kilbane uses it to get all scary and ogre-y. He dives at Goose, who leaps out of the way, and kind of headfirsts himself into the wall, reverting back to Kilbane in the process. Heh. Both get their hands on weapons, which quickly run out of charge, but not of knives to poke out of the top! Awesome!

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It's funny that the others keep urging he save his charge, but except for the first time, Goose really isn't making any move toward his badge. It brings to mind what I said about what New Frontier indicated about their use of their abilities. Doc and Niko (and now Zach) use their abilities as tools, so naturally, they expect in this situation, Goose to be using the charge for an advantage. But Goose has never been like that with his abilities. As far back as New Frontier, we've seen that his use of his power is automatic and fairly unconscious. But it also only tends to be when he NEEDS to use it. Otherwise, he's perfectly fine with using the multitude of other destructive skills at his disposal. They're projecting their own tendencies onto him.

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Anyway, Kilbane's technique doesn't work very well for blade fighting, and despite a halitosis attempt, our man Goose is victorious. Shane urges Kilbane that "it doesn't have to end this way" and "we can help you." "And be like you? A slave?" Kilbane retorts. The Queen's had enough of vague homoeroticism and puts an end to it, by claiming the Mindnet back, as they never made the bargain with HER. Niko agrees. She can have it if she lets them free. Of course, she has a plan. The Queen agrees.

When the Queen's presented with the other half of Mindnet, the Rangers are freed (sadly, Kilbane and Goose are clothed again), and Niko warns cheerfully that she should use the low setting. The Queen is not inclined to listen, and as she places the Mindnet on her head, the Rangers gather around and share power, so Niko can shield them. Meanwhile, the Queen and Kilbane, both in the range of the Mindnet, get a glimpse of the other's thoughts. Naturally they intend to double cross the other, while even the robots are having issues of ambition. The Queen and Kilbane begin fighting over the cylinder component of Mindnet as the robots fight too.

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The Rangers watch and then fight. Doc gets to punch two out, while Niko gets a fun somersault kick on another. Zach punches out a slaver lord, which must be cathartic. Shane, for his part, faces Kilbane, who's in the midst of a number of robots. Kilbane cryptically announces that "WE know you're coming after us, and I'll be waiting for you." With a surprising guttural scream, Goose attacks the robots. Kilbane escapes though. Niko tries to stop the Queen, but gets grabbed by a Slaver Lord. Fortunately, Buzzwang (the robot) saves her ass by swiping Mindnet and whamming the evil robot with it. Yay, Buzzwang!

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But I'm distracted by Shane and Kilbane, as Shane tells him to WARN the others. He's not a supertrooper anymore and won't be again. Kilbane demands then to know what he is, if he's not human NOR a supertrooper. Gooseman, of course, answers that he's a Galaxy Ranger! Yay!	[[Image:|upright=.8|right]]

[[File: |upright=.8|left]]	Back at Longshot, it's revealed that the Mindnet was damaged when Buzzwang saved Niko with it. Zach doesn't necessarily think this is a bad thing though. The Doctor says they won't experiment again without better safeguards. Walsh is just happy that the Board had to recognize Goose's innocence.

[[File: |upright=.8|left]]	The Doctor points out that a lot of Longshot's inventions could use "unusual people" to test them. Shane likes the idea of an inside hook-up to more things to blow up. Doc is more skeptical, but is open to the idea of useful inventions like "stunt clones" and video for robots. Everyone laughs and the episode ends.

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I love frame-up episodes. I admit it. There's nothing like seeing the team band together to save one of their own from injustice. :-) It really emphasizes the all-for-one/one-for-all element and it's really the best wish-fulfillment part of being on a team like this. Someone's always got your back!

I'm enjoying that the show has FINALLY figured out what they want to do with Niko. The fainting psychic thing did make a brief return here, but was overpowered by general awesomeness such as outwitting the queen and kicking people in the face.

I guess that the Queen using the Mindnet helmet also explains away the stupidity of bringing the half of the device she doesn't already have straight to her. Which makes me feel a little better about that.

We also learn that the Rangers can lend power to one another via Implants. Well, at least, we know they can feed power to Niko. It remains to be seen if it can work in any other direction.

I spent most of the episode trying to figure out if this episode possibly should have been BEFORE Traash, but the damaging at the end pretty much settles the issue. I suppose Walsh had to explain what the Mindnet did just to remind the audience why we care. It's just a bit odd, because normally they're really good about things like that.

Of course, the biggest part of the episode was the appearance of Ryker Kilbane and the tidbits of information about the Supertroopers.

Before this episode, all we really knew about the Supertroopers came from Shane's comment about genetic engineering (Chained), that the program had been shut down a few years back and DNA was still being smuggled out (Smuggler's Gambit), and that apparently Supertroopers are known for their temper. (One Million Emotions.)

Now we know a bit more. And it's all pretty ominous.

The most ominous part is probably that whole emphasis on the surviving Supertroopers. That's never a good choice of words. At all. Moreover, we learn that certain people on the Board of Leaders are very leery of Supertroopers, Goose included.

This episode does seem to explain a lot of the mixed feelings that Shane appears to have about the whole Supertrooper thing. Especially if, as the end implied, the majority of the surviving Supertroopers have more in common with Kilbane than they do with Goose.

Actually, it looks as though Shane is specifically set AGAINST the other Supertroopers. Kilbane doesn't say "We know you're coming FOR us." He says, "We know you're coming AFTER us." Which is a completely different implication entirely. Especially considering that he wants Kilbane to WARN them. But at the same time he does appear genuinely concerned/worried for them. And even after being set up, he tries to convince Kilbane that they can HELP him.

Whatever happened to the Supertrooper program must have been one heck of a doozy. But it does indicate that for all that Goose insists he's not a Supertrooper anymore, he does still feel a connection.

And we have a few more questions: Are the Supertroopers considered human or not? And what did he mean by being made into a slave? What IS the deal with Gooseman and the Galaxy Rangers? (He certainly doesn't seem at all reluctant or forced to be there...) Hopefully, we'll find these out as the series continues.

As a dark mirror to Goose, Ryker Kilbane is an interesting character. They have the same powers, but they use it differently. As mentioned before, Shane uses his powers unconsciously or automatically. Kilbane, in contrast, flaunts his powers. It's one of the many giveaways that the Shane Gooseman we see at the very beginning of the episode is an impostor.

It's pretty awesome actually that it IS so apparent that the impostor is fake. He might LOOK like Shane Gooseman, but he talks differently (as I mentioned previously, he SOUNDS like a baritone trying to force himself into tenor range), he gets angry differently (Shane growls, he doesn't shout), he even walks differently (Kilbane-as-Shane has more of a swagger) and then there's the GRINNING!

We also get the impression that Goose, at least, spends a fair bit of time in Longshot. Long enough at any rate, that while the doctors and security chief may or may not seem to know him well, (to be fair, they did intend to test him further), the dolphin-minders definitely do.

And I love that they're just randomly all "Oh, look. Your dolphin friends!" Of COURSE Goose would have dolphin friends that just get gratuitously pointed out in this episode!

I love this show.

But anyway, Kilbane's definitely interesting as a contrast. He's loud, crazy, ego-driven and at the same time, incredibly insecure. I suppose that's not really surprising though, because if you consider Kilbane as super-soldier type material, he fails miserably.

Granted, he has POWERS and is clearly physically strong. But he cares only for his own self-interest, doesn't follow orders, and is, to put it bluntly, pretty stupid. And since this is not a show that tends to dumb down its villains, that means something. Where Goose himself is a fairly good indicator of how scary a functioning Supertrooper could be (Powers + intelligence and the capacity for subtlety), Kilbane's like a rabid animal. Dangerous, but not all that scary. At least for now.

I definitely enjoyed the shirtless fighting though. :-)