Ugh, I'm REALLY getting sick of them debuting episodes early.
Im not. I like getting them early.
The episode was alright. The villains fighting at the end was a bit forced and a yawn fest.
The only real thing that bugged me in this episode was the forced team up with Kamdor and Flurious and the Fearcat betrayal. I really couldn't understand why Kamdor would team up with Flurious in the first place. If Kamdor could put the Mercury ranger out of commission, wouldn't it have benefitted him to follow Flurious and wait for him to attack the rangers then take the canon for this own in the scuffle? But they have to follow sentai so they cant do that. It just didnt seem like he really needed to be partnered with Flurious.
Flurious, because of the Fearcat betrayal, was useless in this episode again. Sure he had some random drivers that made the Fearcats better. Sure he made a giant robot. But he didnt pilot it and he didnt send the putties. In the end, he really didn't do anything more than Gaja had done. He's still useless. He has no monsters of his own and doesnt leave his throne room. He doesnt even let Norg do anything. You know, Norg could have been the one to slip the rangers the poison medals. Dressed up all comically and such. It didnt have to be Kamdor/Mira.
It just doesn't feel as though they're being creative with these episodes. The plot was very weak but I can't say anything bad about it because it's no less than what MMPR1 plots had done. I can imagine the narrator saying "Today! On Power Rangers! The Rangers are on TV! *clip to dax' nervousness and everyone laughing* But the evil Kamdor has other plans in mind (clip of him making the deal* and teams up with Flurious to poison the Mercury ranger! *clips of Mira slip laughing* With the Mercury Ranger down will our heroes be able to stop this deadly alliance? Find out next on the Mighty Overdrivin Power Rangers!"
So I shouldnt be so harsh. But the episode lacks a bit of the fun or the heart which makes such a simple plot so likeable. It needs more super-charged music getting you excited or cheerful. Hell, it needs better comedy. More Doug Sloan/MMPR type goofy ass comedy just to make you laugh because it's so wacky. And the personalities of the rangers just blend in together. Like they dont really have their own persona outside of their focus episodes. They're just there to take out the enemy and not provide anything. I kind of miss the dynamic character portayals. NS, DT, and SPD had amazing character styles. They had their personalities turned on 24-7 in the episodes. Were always in character, even if you didnt agree with them. They were themselves and nothing else. You knew what Dustin was all about in every episode and we didnt have to have a special episode to remind us. You knew Sky was a hard ass in every episode and that sometimes he chilled a bit but you always knew where he was coming from. We didnt have to have some random episode in the middle of the series to remind us of who he is.
And same with Conner. He was an asshat from day 1 and all the way through but you always knew what he was all about and how he was going to act, whether you hated him for it or loved him.
It's like the OO rangers really don't have distinct persona's or if they do, the writing team isnt doing a good job of allowing the characters to show it in the episodes. Because so much time is dedicated to the villains and other silly nuances that we really don't get enough time to let the rangers be themselves and talk amongst themselves.
Whens the last time we got a good scene where the rangers are at base and just doing recreation, talking amongst each other. I cant remember if we ever had one beyond the first episode. I guess what I'm saying is, what they're giving us is "ok" by previous season standards. However, there's nothing really grabbing you and making you smile as you watch. Even though MF had a terrible lack of focus episodes on the rangers (besides Nick), we still got time with all the rangers in each episode to know who they were and what they were all about. Even in Nick centric episodes, his friends were always in character, always had their personalities turned on and the writing allowed them to show that in the episode so we never forgot who they were and what they were all about.
Blah blah blah.
This is another "meh" episode.