REVIEW: Dino Charge 20 "One More Energem"
Well, it’s been quite a year. I think it’s safe to say that this season saved Power Rangers for me, after the sad showings of the past four years. I’ll get into this more in my article about the season as a whole, but I’m really glad that the team on both sides of the camera was really able to come together and pull out the stops. This episode and the events therein have been a long time in coming, so let’s get wild with the final Dino Charge review.
I have to say that I was particularly surprised to realize that the title actually refers to Sledge’s promise to Poisandra, made because she senses that he can’t commit. Going into the episode I assumed that the Rangers would be thinking of the Purple Energem as the “one more,” but it’s actually Sledge saying he’ll only go after one more before finally getting married after 65 million years. I’ve enjoyed the villain interactions this year, and this episode is no exception. From Wrench’s fussy fretting to Poisandra’s diva tantrums to Fury’s unbridled rage to Curio’s silly goofiness, they’ve had a great energy between them, and Sledge in the middle of it has made a much better main villain than I assumed he would be. One thing I feel is lost this episode is Fury’s perspective, though I think the episode is better for focusing on Sledge. As far as the villains go, this is very much his episode.
On the Ranger side of things, our heroes prepare to place a robotic device called Get-Bot on Sledge’s ship to find the Purple Energem. When I watched the episode a second time I noticed that they test it using Tyler’s energem, which is interesting foreshadowing as that’s the energem it gets used on later in the episode. Since these are huge stakes, it’s all hands on deck as all 7 Rangers are present for the first time since Phillip’s departure. Even Keeper eventually shows up when the Rangers minus Ivan are all frozen by Sledge’s power. I appreciate that there’s a non-contrived reason to have Sledge and Keeper fight directly that didn’t seem shoehorned, because we haven’t gotten to see Keeper fight since the premiere.
For Sledge, it’s personal, and armed with the Purple Energem his power is enough to momentarily defeat and capture Keeper. He manages to steal Tyler’s energem--he just rips it right out of him--and Kendall has to go undercover since she’s the only one who can. I liked this for two reasons. First of all, on the heroes’ side Kendall hasn’t gotten to get in on the action all that often, mostly being hero support. Given the events that occur later in the episode it seems important to show that she has what it takes. But also, if the episode was just “Rangers fight Sledge, get back the Purple Energem” then it would be super lame. They have to lose a second one for it to be a really exciting finale.
Tyler and Shelby decide to follow Sledge in the Plesio Zord since it’s spacefaring. The other Rangers have to fight Greenzilla, who for monster purposes is pretty much just there. I think this was the right choice; he’s not intended to do much but hold off the other Rangers. Giving him a character or a gimmick would have been a mistake, considering how much this episode has to do. He’s just a strong monster. There was a bit of contrivance in which the monsters were handling dangerous chemicals early in the episode, providing both a) a convenient disguise for Kendall so she can steal the Purple Energem back and b) a Chekhov’s gun for her to use in order to escape with Keeper by burning through the floor using said chemicals. However, it foreshadows Kendall’s plot nicely by giving her an “inside-the-helmet” shot while she’s disguised, which allows me to get to the main accomplishment of the episode: making Kendall the Purple Ranger.
There’s been quite a bit of foreshadowing to this development in the past few episodes. In “Wishing for a Hero,” Kendall used a purple pen to write her wish, and in “Race to Rescue Christmas” Kendall’s present was wrapped with a purple ribbon while everyone else’s ribbon corresponded with their Ranger colors. While this could have been guessed (and in fairness was probably known by a good section of the adult fandom for practically the whole year) it was nice to see them put in these little clues here and there for those in the audience that don’t spoil themselves with info. There’s precedent for an energem resisting bonding with its ultimate holder in the form of Phillip, which is another reason why it was useful to have him around as a reminder so it doesn’t seem pulled out of nowhere. So of course it is only once Kendall steps in to defend Keeper from some Spikeballs that the Purple Energem bestows its power on her. This is really well done here, and I have to admit I had chills while watching it. It’s also notable that she allows the Rangers to call her Kendall rather than Ms. Morgan once she becomes the Purple Ranger. I’m thinking that’s a combo of her thawing toward them and the fact that she’s their teammate now, not just their boss.
Tyler gets separated from the group when he hears Sledge’s plans for the Red Energem: he’s going to power up the Magna Beam to be able to destroy the Megazord in a single shot. I almost wish we’d have been able to see something like that, but I understand when funding isn’t there. There’s a great moment where Tyler and Shelby are divided by the ship’s doors as they go on lockdown while they’re having a disagreement over what to do next about the Red Energem. It’s both very good imagery and a great suspenseful moment because there’s a lot unsaid between them. This episode actually does a lot of those artsy parallels every now and again; there are many callbacks to the premiere sprinkled throughout.
But when Tyler manages to stop Sledge from using the Red Energem to blast the Plesio Zord, their fighting inadvertently busts up the ship, causing it to crash to Earth. There’s no choice for Tyler but to jump out of the exploding craft from low orbit, and it should be noted that he’s aware of his slim chances of surviving. Sledge and the gang are trapped in their tin can of death as it finally hits the ground, with Poisandra calling Sledge out one last time for being a greedy moron. I don’t know if we’ll see Sledge and Poisandra next year; if they did bite it (unlikely) then this is a good enough send-off for them. While the crash seems pretty deadly to anyone not locked up in solitary confinement, Sledge also survived a bomb exploding in his face in the premiere, so who knows?
The combined might of all 8 Rangers plus the new Megazord formation is way too much for Greenzilla. With that, Sledge’s threat is over, so Keeper disbands the Rangers to live their lives. I was actually a bit iffy on this. The episode made the point of having Kendall and later Keeper, Shelby and Tyler looking at the cages full of alien criminals, so they know there were a lot of bad dudes onboard. The fact that they all assume that they’ve all been destroyed is a bit premature for me. Nonetheless, Ivan, Kendall and Koda will still be around at the museum helping Keeper find the remaining two energems, so perhaps they just figure that the three of them can handle pretty much any dregs that may have escaped. Tyler and Shelby head off in search of Tyler’s dad, stopping to give Riley a lift again. Chase heads back to New Zealand and Phillip to his kingdom of Zandar. But unknown to them all, a mysterious entity in solitary confinement has survived the crash. Smart money’s on Heckyl, since he did pledge to have his day in the sun eventually.
This has been a wild ride. I really enjoyed how the finale worked to bring the threads of various storylines to a close while leaving others open and starting new ones. Kendall’s emergence as the Purple Ranger is really well done, as is Sledge and the gang’s fate due to their inability to work together and put aside their petty nonsense. There was a lot that this episode had to do, and in some ways it may have been a teensy bit rushed. But it feels like a finale, unlike Samurai, and it resolves stories playing through the season unlike Megaforce. Going into the Super season we’ll have a lot to chew on and go over, and I’ll go in depth a bit further with the seasonal themes and stories as a whole in a later article. I for one enjoyed this season a bunch, and I almost wish that Samurai and Megaforce weren’t so bad because the title of best Neo-Saban season goes without saying, it doesn’t feel like an adequate accolade. I’m already excited for next year; February can’t come fast enough.
