The Rangers hold a Question-And-Answer session with some school kids, but this causes Summer to recall some of her past. Now, she must overcome her previous lifestyle and the regrets thereof to foil Venjix's latest plan.
Tropes
- Amusing Injuries: The slapstick Andrews faces at Summer's hands while she dictates how she's planning her "surprise" birthday party is Played for Laughs, including the bandaged head and hand cast sling he has when he lets Summer's friends in.
- Bad Boss: In Summer's flashbacks, she was absolutely horrible to Andrews, her butler (and father figure in place of her serially absent parents)!
- Break the Cutie: This episode details the Trauma Conga Line that initial breaks the Spoiled Brat Summer down, prior to the events that would later build her up into the self-sufficient Power Ranger that she is in the present day.
- First, she plans out the perfect "surprise" birthday party for herself, via Andrews, all in preparation for her parents' promised arrival.
- Next, her heart is dashed when it's revealed that her parents reneged on their promise, dropped off the Landsdown Black Diamond as a birthday gift, using a delivery helicopter no less, and remained in Paris doing whatever. Though she tries shrugging it off to her friends, this actually leaves her devastated.
- Now crying in her room, alone and away from the other party goers, a missile strike goes off nearby and a frantic Brie plays a radio broadcast about Venjix's now-ongoing assault against humanity. When a fearful Summer calls out for Andrews, she gets no response other than from Brie telling her that the servants have all fled. Summer protests that Andrews would never do that, but with her next call as unanswered as the first, she takes her birthday gift and vacates the room with Brie, all while the strikes get louder, closer, and more frequent...
- Out in the open with Brie and the other party friends, they and Summer try to flag down passing vehicles who are fleeing the area. They miss one, but they manage to stop another that was right behind it. However, all of Summer's party friends, Brie included, get on first, leaving no room for Summer. When Summer tries to jump into the back of the now moving vehicle, Brie callously pushes Summer out and onto the ground, leaving her behind to run for the vehicle in vain as a Grinder Drone soars and losses fire nearby.
- And all that was just in Part 1. Part 2 continues this exploration.
- Fair-Weather Friend: Summer's "best friend", Brie, shoves her out of the truck they were escaping in when it becomes clear that it was at capacity from Brie and Summer's other party friends, just because Summer had the misfortune of being at the back of the line.
- Fallen Princess: Summer is revealed to be one.
- From Bad to Worse: In the flashback, Summer's parents not showing up for her birthday was bad enough, but then Venjix began his attack later that same day.
- Like Parent, Unlike Child: It becomes very clear that the Summer Landsdown of the present day has nothing in common with either her parents or the Summer Landsdown pre-Venjix's assault on humanity.
- Old Retainer: Andrews, the Landsdown's gentleman butler, and the chief person who saw to Summer's ever need, including emotionally, in the absence of her parents.
- No Social Skills: Dr. K is particularly cringeworthy when handling a field trip full of middle-school kids!
- Parental Neglect: A big point is made about Mr. and Mrs. Landsdown's neglectful behavior, prioritizing their own endeavors over raising or even visiting their only child on her birthday. This has clearly been a point of contempt for Summer throughout her life, who threw her perfect birthday party in anticipation for their arrival, leaving her crying alone in her bedroom when it's made clear they're not showing up even after promising they'd do so. The fact that they do show up in the present day when they want something of her, interrupting her life at a very inopportune time, makes the situation all the more incredulous.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Summer's staff abandoned her and her friends when Venjix began his attack. Only Andrews remained, a fact not revealed until next episode.
- Surprise Party: During one of her flashbacks, Summer, by way of Andrews, plans her own surprise birthday party. She makes it clear to Andrews that she wants everything to be perfect. Later on, during the party, she distraughtly tells Andrews that she planned this perfect party for her parents, who have just revealed they weren't going to make it like they had originally promised, only dropping off her gift via helicopter delivery.
- Wham Line: As revealed at the end of the episode, in exchange for being given some space, Summer promised her parents that she'd get married.
- Who You Are In The Dark: A running theme throughout Summer's flashbacks is who "the real Summer" is, which is juxtaposed against who Summer is in the present day. Before she was interrupted by the tantalizing arrival of her parents' gift that didn't include her parents' presence, she was even going to toast to her party friends who "know and love the real me", before it becomes tacitly apparent that they do not in fact know who Summer really is, even at that point in her life. This exploration continues in the following episode.
