Power Rangers Super Megaforce #2.12 “United As One” Review

Summary: Yet another comedic installment is a fun slapstick adventure, but a missed opportunity to do something with the characters.

If you have not seen this episode yet and don’t wish to be spoiled, don’t continue reading. It’s not like we’re MEGAFORCEing you to, or anything.

Recap

Prince Vekar is sick with human germs, and Levira deduces that the only cure is human happiness. They send a monster with size-changing power down with a staff that can steal human happiness; when it attacks, its size-changing antics severely damage the Megazord. While most of the team works to fix the Megazord, Emma and Orion try to track down the monster to get his staff by feigning happiness in a wedding (where they blow off his size-change belt) and as a cheerleader. When those don’t work, they simply try to steal it from the monster, disguised as paramedics and police officers. The monster sees through them, but during the fight, Emma is able to get the staff away and break it. The others fix the Megazord and come down for battle, but Emma stays behind to help a nearby kid–who was afflicted by the happy-sapping staff–fly his kite. The Rangers use the Legendary Dino Thunder powers against the monster, and when they master them, they are able to combine the Q-Rex with the Legendary Megazord to defeat him. Afterwards, Emma gets a kite for Orion to fly, as he’s never flown one before. Gia comments that Emma always knows how to make people happy.

Review

Pretty much in line with the preceding episodes, there’s not much to “United As One.” There’s a new Megazord transformation, which surprisingly isn’t as creative as the Zords have otherwise been this season. But otherwise, nothing of much consequence really goes on. And yet, I find myself strangely enjoying the episode, at least for what it is. And what it is surely isn’t much of anything, but there is plenty of nonsensical fun to be had. This whole episode would probably stand up well if as a breather in the context of a more serialized season; there’s certainly fanservice, and had to be fun for the actors to film.

Look, the ridiculousness of Emma and Orion trying to get the monster’s staff through Looney Tunes antics makes no sense. But you know what? It works! Power Rangers has always had a slapstick side to it; sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Emma and Orion going from bride and groom to cheerleader to paramedics to police officers is almost a complete non-sequitur in the episode. There’s nothing particularly funny about it, but it’s so weird and fast that just its very existence is funny, if not in a “haha” way but in a “what is even happening?” kind of way. How does a high school student have access to a police car and an ambulance? There was literally one example of the monster stealing happiness when she came up with the plan, so why did she think it would work? Why would a morpher come equipped with a phone camera with swipe and touchscreen technology? It’s so stupid, but it’s the kind of stupid that Power Rangers has excelled at in the past, indulging in the silliness because it can and it’s fun. Like Orion says, “Man, Emma, this plan is pretty elaborate.” We haven’t tapped into the Disney era’s penchant for meta-comedy since, well, the end of the Disney era, so it’s nice to get some delicious self-awareness, even in a throwaway line. Also, any episode where a Pink Ranger gets to be a badass like Emma is when she fights solo for that staff is a-ok in my book.

The wedding bit is sufficiently weird, but the awkwardness of the situation–particularly Orion’s unwillingness to kiss Emma–is actually pretty funny, and Cameron Jebo has some solid comedic timing. There’s also the coolness of Emma shooting the monster with a blaster from a wedding dress while being held in Orion’s arms, which is definitely not something seen on many other shows. Considering the chemistry Jebo and Christina Masterson have, it’s a little astounding that there’s no potential spark for an actual Emma/Orion romance. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of the idea that every woman in a show needs to be paired up with a guy; but considering the slog the Jake/Gia stuff has become, and that any new dynamic would make a world of difference in this season, it might be worth it. And let’s be real, Emma and mystical alien boy falling for each other would not only be adorable, but it would actually make a weird amount of sense. Emma seems to have her head in the clouds much of the time, and also doesn’t seem very judge-y, so someone a little weird and off-beat would probably be her type. It’s a missed opportunity, clearly.

This week’s size-changing monster leads to some unique material right from the get-go. The structure of the episode is markedly different thanks to the early Megazord battle, which is a major reason why this episode seems a bit more engaging than the previous two installments. The battle within the Megazords is creative, and it’s rare to peek that extensively inside the hulking machines–or fighting outside of them! If Super Megaforce has done one thing right, it’s making the Zord battles much more interesting, and “United As One” is a perfect example of that. Granted, it’s odd that the “major damage” that needs repairing is a relatively small hole in its body. Surely there’s been more damage done to these Zords before, and it would have made more sense to focus on the Rangers shooting all over their screen in the cockpit. (From my understanding, the episode’s Japanese counterpart–which this is rather closely adapted from–had them repairing the cockpit, not the hole.) But then again, we also have the shrunken monster flying into Jake’s costume, which is pretty great.

There’s also a bit where Emma noticeably abandons her Ranger duties to help a kid fly a kite. It’s blatantly obvious that this based on a restriction from the Sentai source, plus Dino Thunder only had five Rangers to turn into anyway. But while it definitely screams of Super Megaforce‘s typical laziness, at least we get to see a Power Card again. We haven’t seen those used since season one, and a reminder that those Megaforce powers exist. They still aren’t useful enough to exist at this stage, though, considering their use so far has literally only been to help a child fly a kite. But at least it’s kind of a character beat for Emma, right?

Excusing the typical problems and viewing “United As One” as mindless pleasure is probably the only way to enjoy it. That’s not fair, really, because that’s not always a bad thing–Power Rangers has done plenty of silly comedy episodes before. The main reason it doesn’t work is the context of the season; Super Megaforce basically plateaued before it hit its midpoint, and has been riding the same line for a while: silliness mixed with some cool action sequences, and then it ends with nothing changed. Even the most flat of Mighty Morphin‘s early days at least had a Ranger learn a lesson or something new about themselves. I’ll give “United As One” some credit, because technically Emma’s ability and drive to make people happy is a character beat. It fits with what we’ve seen of her before, and we get numerous examples of it throughout. The problem is that, well, we have seen it before. Gia’s statement at the end reinforces something we, Emma, and everyone around Emma already knew. There wasn’t any sort of arc here, even a tiny one, so all we get is a restating of something that everyone knows. There’s no point to it and no consequence, the same problem Super Megaforce has faced over and over and over again.

The first handful of episodes were able to rely on the novelty of Legendary Mode and some guest stars to keep it feeling fresh and exciting. But this post-hiatus run, “Power of Six” aside, has unfortunately slipped back to the first season’s level of blandness. The cast is more comfortable in their roles, so it’s a bit more fun than any Megaforce episode, but it’s not particularly good. Frustrating as it may be, it’s perfectly understandable that production costs and schedule caused any guest appearances throughout the season to be whittled down to a couple at the beginning. But that means there’s plenty of time to be spent with this current cast–so why not actually get to know them and give them real challenges, even this late in the game? Don’t just spell out how Emma makes people happy, which we’ve already seen. Make her question it and discover how to make people happy or why she makes people happy. Let her learn something new.

But sadly, what we see is what we get with Super Megaforce. So, at least what we get is still silly, even slightly self-aware fun. It would be nice if it all seemed to be leading to something–especially since the only potential ongoing plots, Troy’s dreams and missing Robo Knight, were dropped at the top of the season–but as of now, it’s a forgettable little vacation from week-to-week. Perhaps it’s time to come to terms with that, because at least it’s never boring.

Odds & Ends

• This is now three iterations in a row–RPM, Samurai, and Megaforce–where the Rangers trick the bad guy by going undercover in wedding attire. Is there some deeper theme going on here?
• Many props to the set design crew for recreating the interior Megazord set used from Gokaiger. Considering the time gap between that show and this season, I’m guessing it all had to be rebuilt from scratch. That’s quite a feat considering its size, and Power Rangers‘ less-than-good track record with that kind of stuff.
• At least the show is getting a little bit of mileage out of Orion’s fish-out-of-water scenario. They don’t do much with it, but teaching him what a wedding is and how to flight a kite are small details that make Super Megaforce a teeny tiny bit more fleshed out.
• I got big flashbacks to Ninja Storm and Mighty Morphin season 3 with the ninja-like ripping-off-clothes effect for Emma and Orion’s costume change.
• How did sucking out children’s happiness make a moon bounce deflate?
• What’s with Troy’s declarations of their Legendary Mode weakening? They established early on that the modes don’t hold for long, so we know that. And it didn’t even need to be stated in this context; they defeated the monster before they changed back anyway.
• Levira wearing the face mask to prevent getting Vekar’s germs is pretty funny.
• Interesting to see Troy, Gia and Jake without their jackets while they’re working…considering under their jackets, they’re just wearing boring old plain colored t-shirts.
• “We want you to get better, too. Because we’re sick of all your whining.”