Power Rangers Super Megaforce #2.20 “Legendary Battle” Review

Summary: The long anniversary series comes to its highly-anticipated end, with a stuffed episode that couldn’t possibly live up to the hype, but still delivers the fun.

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

In the aftermath of Emperor Mavro’s assault, civilians are rescued by various Rangers from the past. The Megaforce Rangers regroup as Orion crash lands back on Earth, and Troy comes up with an idea to infiltrate the Armada and destroy Mavro directly. Troy and Orion fly in Orion’s ship to the Armada base while the remaining Rangers fight the monsters on Earth. Troy manages to take out the fleet with Mavro’s own weapons, and he and Orion destroy Mavro with their Super Mega strikes. They return to Earth and join the rest of the Rangers thinking they’ve won, only to realize there are still thousands of X-Borgs approaching them on the horizon. Then, every Power Ranger ever appears, offering to fight by their side in the final battle. The army of hundreds of Rangers are able to destroy the X-Borgs, and the Megaforce Rangers realize it’s finally over.

Review

“It’s finally over” could be either a sigh of relief or proclamation of sadness for Power Rangers Super Megaforce and its much-anticipated finale. These couple of years have been grueling at times, with its oft-talked about lack of plot or characterization, but there has always been a sliver of potential within that the show could surprise us. The actors clearly loved being part of the franchise and seemed willing to do more than the scripts gave them, and actors like Andrew Gray grew exponentially over the course of it. There would be hope spots for what the anniversary season could be, with successful episodes like “Samurai Surprise” and “Spirit of the Tiger.” Then it showed off some late-in-the-game narrative momentum and pathos with the “Vrak is Back” two-parter. And, of course, the show never hid the oncoming titular Legendary Battle that Troy dreamed of literally the first second of the first episode of Power Rangers Megaforce in February 2013. It’s a safe bet that the hope that these sparse spots of potential could coalesce into a satisfying finale is what’s kept many coming back this season.

So, does “Legendary Battle” live up to it? Well…kind of, actually. No, it’s not worth two full years of hype, and it’d be impossible to justify the myriad bad decisions this pair of seasons have made. But it’s also not nearly as disappointing as some might expect, at least if you know what you’re getting yourselves into. The thing is, there isn’t much riding on “Legendary Battle,” just because this season hasn’t built up anything that needs closure. All the finale needs to do is defeat the bad guy and deliver that Legendary Battle, and that’s it. The lack of character and plot has been the season’s biggest detriment, but it’s a strength in “Legendary Battle,” oddly enough, because it means there’s way less the episode needs to get done in its half-hour runtime.

If anything, “Legendary Battle” has a whole slew of disparate scenes and moments that work phenomenally well on their own. The problem is more how they’re rather haphazardly slapped together; there’s little transition from Troy and Orion’s assault, to the Megaforce Rangers regrouping, to the army of X-Borgs, to the Legendary Battle, to the fade to black. These things just jump from one plot point to another without room to breathe, and while the fast pace is much appreciated, it doesn’t feel like a cohesive whole so much as a checklist for the episode to get through.

The apparent extended cut of the episode that will air on Monday night may mediate this, but since we don’t know exactly what that extra fifteen minutes is for, who knows. This episode really does feel like it’s missing some scenes, just in how rushed it all is. It’s somewhat understandable that some of these returning Ranger actors don’t get any lines–the objective here was definitely quantity of fanservice rather than quality–but it’s still weird that the Samurai Rangers don’t even get a precursor scene and barely a close-up. It’s nice that we get focus on some of the better (and in the mainstream, underrated) actors like Patricia Ja Lee, Allison McInnis, and Danny Slavin, who get the most lines aside from Jason David Frank. But it’s also weird to get a taste of some others only to have their roles amount to nothing more than staring heroically. If we see more of them all in the extended cut–even just having some voiceover interactions with the Rangers in-suit during the battle–it will be a big improvement. But until then, this is what we’ve got.

The opening minutes of the episode are some of the best and most cohesive. In what feels like an homage to In Space‘s stellar finale, “Countdown to Destruction,” the Rangers are defeated in their ravaged city, with civilians wondering if the Power Rangers are gone for good. Interspersed are scenes of veteran Rangers making appearances and saving people, and it’s to great effect. As with Jayden and Casey’s returns, this season has suggested that the Rangers are always around, sometimes wandering nomads, constantly helping people in a time of need even in their every day life. It makes the world and scale of the assault feel much bigger, in a way even “Countdown to Destruction” couldn’t totally nail because of its budgetary limits. So by having Dana give medical help, or TJ and Cassie rescue people from an elevator, or Tommy grab a kid from a falling car with Saba (!!!), it’s incredibly optimistic that there are so many of these guys around, living everyday lives and helping when needed. As much as Super Megaforce failed at telling a good story or doing good tributes to individual seasons, it has definitely excelled at making the Legendary Rangers feel Legendary, whether they were our personal favorites or not.

Something this episode unexpectedly does right, oddly enough, is servicing the current team. With the way the marketing honed in on Tommy returning to fight with the Rangers, there was a fear that it may have been a cheap send-off for the Megaforce Rangers to have veterans swoop in and steal their glory. Maybe that’s a stupid fear, because it would certainly require paying the veterans lots of cash and shooting more scenes outside of the source footage, but it was a fear nevertheless. But “Legendary Battle” doesn’t forget that this is still the finale of Super Megaforce, and makes it a point to give the current team some good moments.

As such, the middle section of the episode is prime Super Megaforce action in the best way. Troy and Orion’s assault on Mavro is totally vicious, and it’s a bit different from usual because of the enclosed space they have to battle him in. But for once they get to use wit instead of just brute force, as Troy outsmarts Mavro by turning his own weapons against his fleet. It’s a clever way to get rid of a chunk of the Armada without undermining their power, and it’s a satisfying finale defeat, especially given that Orion finally gets his vengeance for Andrasia. The Rangers on the ground get a solid moment, too; the monster gets a little genre savvy on them and fires just as the Rangers are preparing their blaster, but all it does is let them be badass in their Super Mega Modes one more time. This season has done multiple moments of the Rangers casting their biggest blows in human form, so it’s only right that they get to do it one last time here, hammering in this season’s idea that their humanity is their greatest strength. Again, the closest thing to character work has been teaching the Rangers to never surrender, and, well, they certainly don’t. There’s nothing relevatory going on, but there wasn’t anything set-up to be relevatory either, so defeating the monster in an epic moment is about all that’s required.

Then there’s the Legendary Battle itself, which admittedly happens way too quickly. Honestly, Troy’s dreams of the battle may have been a detriment more than anything; they whet our appetite two years ago, but they also spoiled some great fight footage that we’re simply seeing repeated here. That said, there’s just a certain cool feeling that it’s actually, finally, truly happening on screen in Power Rangers. And the lead-up to it is easily the best part of the episode; no matter how cynical about all this you are, you have to get chills when those Ranger teams pop up on the cliffside. Or even better, when the returning Rangers take off their helmets and do a heroic slow-mo walk to the greatest guitar melody this show has used in years. It feels as triumphant in the episode as it did when watching the official preview clip days before, and I’m still giddy thinking about it now.

Anti-climactic as it may be, there are tons of rewatchable bits in the short battle sequence, like all ninja-themed Rangers attacking together. Kudos to the clever editing done to erase Tommy’s Zeo and Dino Thunder forms from the Rangers’ clifftop arrival, plus the exciting insertion of the Titanium Ranger. They do miss other doubled-up forms like Red Turbo/Blue In Space or Yellow Zeo/Turbo/In Space, but perhaps that’s getting too nitpicky here. It’s not without the typical Super Megaforce weirdness, of course, as we also get Robo Knight’s totally random and inexplicable reappearance. Is this his spirit or ghost helping them along? Or is it simply trying to keep some weird sense of continuity with Troy’s dreams, which did feature Robo Knight? Eh, it’s Super Megaforce, so that might be something we ought to just let slide in the same way we let Kendrix’s appearance at the end of Lost Galaxy slide. Or we can assume all these Rangers are dead based on Robo Knight’s post-mortem appearance. Who knows?

As weird as it is that Gosei, Tensou, Mr. Burley, and Ernie don’t appear in the finale at all, it’s also not that bad, because they were barely characters to begin with. Super Megaforce did a poor job servicing most characters in general, but at least “Legendary Battle” recognizes exactly what the story needs to focus on: closing out the current team, and showing off the Legendary Battle. That also plays into the actual ending of the season, which is admittedly very abrupt: there’s nothing else for the season to say. There’s definitely a sense of “That’s it?!” in its closing shot, but after mulling it over for a bit, it makes a lot of sense. These aren’t characters that need an epilogue or anything, because their character arcs have been squarely focused on being Power Rangers and being in High School. They finished the battle, so they’re just going to go back to High School. Seriously, there’s nothing else to say.

That’s been extremely frustrating throughout the season, that the Rangers just don’t really do anything other than be Power Rangers and have fun. But “Legendary Battle” recognizes this and doesn’t try to force in belated character beats. The Rangers defeat the bad guys, and in a truly inspired moment, completely collapse on the ground in exhaustion. I mean, that totally makes sense after such a drawn-out battle, right? And then Emma ruminates on the sky being blue, which is exactly what we’d expect. And as much as I harped on how awful the Jake/Gia stuff has been, Gia getting with him isn’t totally the worst, because at least she makes the choice without a single complaint from him all episode. (It’s still been handled badly and it’s gross, but whatever, it’s not like it wasn’t going to happen.) And then the Rangers run off to have fun again, because that’s pretty much all they do. There’s nothing else to tell about this current team of Rangers once the battle is won, and as much as that’s a sign of terrible writing, “Legendary Battle” deserves credit for totally owning up to it. The teens running off with the Super Mega Saber in the foreground is a nice note to end on, implying that they’ve left their mark on the franchise and it’s just onto the next.

However an episode like this is structured, it’s just a joy to celebrate this franchise’s longevity. Super Megaforce is not a good season of Power Rangers by a mile, and “Legendary Battle” is a letdown in terms of having to live up to two years of hype, teases, and expectations. But I can only say that critically, because I still got more excited watching this episode than I have in a very, very long time. Chalk it up to nostalgia and cheap attempts to capture it, but sometimes, maybe that’s all we really need. We’re willing to forgive the CGI toy commercial climax of “Forever Red” because everything else about it is so fun and awesome and nostalgic. Super Megaforce fails as a season, and “Legendary Battle” is a weak finale, but its mere presence and collection of various elements, even if they don’t all jibe perfectly together, still make it really damn fun. And as much as I’d like Power Rangers to be smart, intuitive, and imaginative, the most important aspect is that it be fun. “Legendary Battle” is fun. Let’s leave it at that.

Odds & Ends

• This episode popped up on Netflix this morning before the airing of the episode. Guess we couldn’t finish off Super Megaforce without some kind of nonsensical business decision.
• It’s weird which details this season will focus on sometimes. For example, I love how some of the veteran Rangers retain their original outfits; Carter and Dana are easy, since they really just need the Lightspeed jackets. But Karone is wearing her leather, Leo is wearing his denim overshirt, and Damon is even still wearing that freakin’ Terra Venture mechanic outfit (and it even visiblly says Terra Venture on it!) Again, these are simple little details that make all this work, and those little nods would have worked wonders throughout Super Megaforce.
• Dana determines that guy’s health solely with the use of her stethoscope. What a doctor.
• Cute moment of Leo commenting that the kid’s name, Danny, is a good name. Wish the dog had been named Mike, though.
• I’m floored by how good pretty much all these actors look 10-15 years later, but special note goes to Jason Faunt, who has not aged a day. Good on you, man.
• Did Melody Perkins really not get a single line? I mean, I can forgive not giving every returning actor a line. But this lady was Astronema and a Pink Ranger in a really good season. Come on.
• Love the bit with Troy and Orion helmetless in the ship. And everyone’s reactions when they think Troy and Orion went down with the ship are great. Man, these actors deserved so much better, because they’re all really good.
• Dig Noah shooting at the monster while laying on the ground. Dude’s such a badass.
• For the last Legendary Transformation ever, those Space Ranger and Galaxy Glider moves were awesome. Good stuff.
• That hundreds of Rangers teleporting away creates a shockwave so big that it knocks the Megaforce Rangers off their feet is kind of hilarious.
• Troy talked incessantly in “Spirit of the Tiger” that “A Ranger never lets go of his weapon.” In the end, he lets go of his. Symbolism? Dramatic parallels? Sure, why not.
• “Power is destiny, and your’s is to lose.” – What does that even mean?
• “I’m so pumped, I don’t even need to power up!” – I don’t really care, honestly. It’s not even worthy of a nitpick.
• So, you guys ready for Dino Charge?! I’m planning to review it next season, since these reviews are super popular in our stats (even though they sorely lack in comments, for some reason…share your thoughts, guys!) Also, I’d like to review a season I actually really really like, and Dino Charge has potential. Thanks Rangercrew for uploading the trailer!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ebu9oPWZ7WE