REVIEW: Dino Supercharge 12 "Catching Some Rays"
While no one likes a gloater, I’m afraid I’m going to have to do some gloating myself, because this episode confirmed something for me to a certain extent. It wasn’t exactly a great ep, and I wasn’t sure what to expect from it last week just from the title. I think I may have been overthinking it, because in a sense it was literally the episode description. Still, I can’t hate on it for one main reason: it seems like my prediction may have been right. So without further ado...
I’ll say this right off the bat: this is a pretty fillery filler episode. Even in-universe it seems a bit like filler. It is basically what was once a common misconception about LOST: 9/10ths of an episode about nothing plus five minutes advancing the plot. On LOST, they would generally devote that time to character study regarding aspects of a person’s life that would come into play later in the episode or series. Here, it’s just preachy nonsense about respect for one’s elders. Before I continue, just in case it’s not clear, I have no problem with respecting my elders. On the other hand, I don’t think the phrase is synonymous with “obey people solely due to the fact that they’re old.” So I take issue with the idea that Koda’s grandfather or Betty (Morgan?) should just have been arbitrarily obeyed; it’s especially a broken Aesop considering that Betty was kind of annoyingly passive-aggressive.
On a somewhat related note, it seems that this season has made the effort to really expand the world of Amber Beach. Dino Charge was very much about the Dino Charge rangers almost exclusively, but Dino Supercharge has had a random civilian with focus for at least every episode since the hiatus ended, and possibly every episode of the season. I’m not sure how I feel about the execution, but quite a bit of worldbuilding has been done. In comparison with some of the recent seasons where there have really only been a couple of other characters that get a handful of scenes, I dig it. Of course, almost every single one of them has had severe boundary issues and can’t take no for an answer. I don’t know what that says about the writing.
You’ll notice that this week’s plot hasn’t really gotten that much word-space devoted to it yet, and there’s a pretty good reason why. It’s probably the weakest part of the episode. The setup is actually quite good, since Betty brings an artifact from Koda’s tribe to the museum with her. Because Koda disregards his grandfather’s warning regarding going into a secret room of his cave, the Rangers accidentally release Leisure, a monster with the power to convert the sun into a beam of energy that makes people lazy. While this seems like a lame power on the surface, Koda explains that his entire tribe was in danger of starvation because no one wanted to work or hunt. I’m pretty impressed with this, simply because it’s actually a really terrifying and devastating power to have. Imagine starving to death, while being aware of it, and completely unable to do anything to save yourself because you just can’t bring yourself to care. Also, sweet shippy moments: Koda saves Kendall, while Tyler attempts to save Shelby. *heart eyes*
However, the actual plot of the episode, funny as it is, is lacking. So a monster is hidden behind a wall of a cave...somehow, and the only protection over the door (made of stone and a mammoth bone) is a line of tiny rocks in the dirt? And somehow the tribe managed to capture and contain Leisure, despite her being several times more powerful than a human and able to fly into space, where she could cast rays of laziness at will? HOW DID THIS HAPPEN. Additionally, the moral of this story seems to be “listen to what your parents or authority figures tell you,” which is just the sort of overly simplistic thing you’d expect for a kids’ show, but then it’s undercut by the fact that Koda (if anyone) is actually the best person to break this rule set by his grandfather. Consider that Leisure was looming just beyond a wall held up by a bone. If anyone other than the Power Rangers had come upon her, it would be the end of humanity. And given the end of the episode...well, I wouldn't exactly come away from this extolling the virtues of blind trust in authority figures.
As I said, however, the episode is a fun one. The five Rangers who aren’t this week’s morality puppets--er, focus Rangers are affected by Leisure’s powers and decide to just relax and have fun. As explained by Leisure’s twin brother Loafer, the aliens are conveniently unaffected by the sun. So they take the opportunity to attempt to steal the Rangers’ Energems, because that’s still the plot of this season for some reason. What follows is a musical montage of the Rangers foiling Poisandra’s, Curio’s and even Fury’s attempts purely by accident and happenstance, set to the jaunty tunes of the N-Zed Boys. I found it funny that despite Chase’s earlier attitude toward Shelby’s favorite boy band, he was happily singing along, knowing all the words as well. I guess I can rationalize this away (and Chase would probably do the same if asked) by saying that they were just so ubiquitous in New Zealand that it was impossible to live there for any length of time and not know their songs. Alternatively, maybe Chloe’s a fan.
Anyway, Kendall and Koda find out that the artifact Betty found is a special lens that neutralizes Leisure’s powers. Kind of simultaneously, Koda has to attempt to hold off Loafer and Fury from getting to the other Rangers (who at some point don grass skirts and do the hula, because of course). We get a nice enough fight where Kendall fights Leisure in the Plesio Charge Megazord, showing that even without pre-filmed footage of the Purple Ranger, they can use her intelligently. For some reason it always rubs me the wrong way when Kendall doesn’t get involved to any appreciable degree in a fight, especially since they have many scenes where the Rangers are just in a random cockpit. Thankfully, once Koda and Tyler take down Loafer using a caveman strength-fueled Tyranno Supercharge attack, we’re not subjected to another zord fight after the one with Leisure. I don’t think that zord battles are as a rule boring, but this season doesn’t seem to have many that are particularly interesting.
Speaking of interesting, the ending gives us the part of the plot I actually find worth dwelling on: the Silver Ranger’s potential duplicity. It absolutely sounds like a con when he mentions an evil Energem and the need to destroy it pronto. Keeper confirms that the evil Energem exists, but I can’t help but wonder if Silver’s already in possession of it when he compels the Rangers to send him data on their zords and weapons. This guy is shady as heck. I think it’s fantastic to have a possibly evil Ranger; I can’t even remember when the last one we had was. I think it was the Spirit Rangers of Jungle Fury. Unlike them, however, Silver seems like a genuinely untrustworthy and sinister guy all on his own, and I still think that Singe is his instrument. I have to say I’m absolutely pumped to see what “Recipe for Disaster” has in store. The existence of an unknown Energem injects some new life into the season overplot, despite my feeling that it kind of comes out of nowhere. I can't help but think the Silver Ranger might be the biggest threat the Rangers face this season.
