Summary: The 800th episode of the franchise explores the persistent Red Ranger/Sixth Ranger dynamic, plus a lot of farting.
Recap
Tyler gets jealous of Ivan’s constant perfection and how everyone is fawning over him. When he starts playing a game of one-upmanship with Ivan, Ivan plays back. It interferes with their Ranger duties when Wrench and the farting-fog monster Smokescreen attack. Unbeknownst to the Rangers, they planted a bomb in Tyler’s car, which is at a kids Fossil Day at the museum. The Rangers only discover the bomb when Smokescreen accidentally mentions it. Tyler and Ivan have to work together to fight the monster while the others work to move the bomb — which is only made harder when Sledge uses the Magna Beam to grow it and make it impossible to move. Tyler and Ivan form the Tri-Stego-Ptera Megazord formation together, which defeats the monster and allows them to carry the bomb into space and throw it at Sledge’s ship, which manages to mostly dodge the damage. Afterwards, Tyler and Ivan show off their newfound bond by taking a bunch of selfies together.
Review
“Sync or Swim” has been heavily promoted as the show’s milestone 800th episode — you know there’s big news in Power Rangers when outlets like Forbes and Entertainment Weekly are reporting on it. It’s not the intentional celebration of the show something like Dino Thunder‘s “Legacy of Power” was for episode 500, which is the only instance so far the show has explicitly celebrated a 100-episode mark in-show. “Sync or Swim,” instead, is a fairly run-of-the-mill episode of Dino Charge, perhaps even less consequential than most other episodes this season.
It’s on par with this season’s quality, though, and as such we get a half-hour of solid characterization and creativity. This is a tried-and-true Power Rangers story dating all the way back to the first season’s “Gung Ho” — the Red and Sixth Rangers get in a tiff, often the team leader being jealous of the new guy, and have to work it out. We’ve had variations of that story throughout the years — Super Megaforce played it with the Black/Green Ranger instead of Red, in one of that season’s best episodes, and Zeo cleverly pit Blue Ranger Rocky against Jason, the Ranger he replaced that he then thought was replacing him back. Dino Charge‘s take is very standard and straightforward, though — Tyler is jealous of Ivan, not because of any deep-seated conflict or love interest problems, but simply because it’s annoying when someone does everything cooler than you. There’s really not much more to it than that.
While the episode doesn’t subvert or deconstruct that story paradigm, it excels at exploring the Red Ranger/Sixth Ranger dynamic. It’s always been an interesting one, because Of all the Power Rangers fandom rivalries, the Jason vs. Tommy debate will rage on until the end of time. The reason is simple: the two archetypes have just enough comparative traits to make them attract the same fans, but they have enough subtle differences to make the schisms in opinions that much more defined. Both types of Rangers are natural leaders, they get the most meatiest storylines, they tend to have the love interests, they get all the power upgrades, and they’re the faces of their respective seasons. But the Red Ranger is typically the emotional core of the season, the one who has to fight the hardest and learn the most, and who functions as the glue for the team. The Sixth Ranger is the one who shakes things up, the ensemble darkhorse who kicks the season into high gear, who has the most unique suit designs and powers. Both of them are awesome, and it’s harder to determine who’s objectively “better” when they’re both really darn good.
Tyler and Ivan represent this in-universe for the most part. Now, admittedly, Tyler is more prompted by an affront to his ego while Ivan is mostly playing off that spite. But that, too, plays into the archetype; Ivan is practically perfection incarnate in Tyler’s eyes. The episode puts Ivan in a legitimate suit of armor (with an armored horse!) and throws in a hilarious tooth sparkle, “like something out a romance novel” as Shelby puts it, parodying the “Mary Sue” traits Sixth Rangers often have. So Tyler’s jealousy isn’t unfounded, and neither are people who get annoyed by the popularity of some Sixth Rangers. The thing is, though, that doesn’t diminish the fact that Ivan is still a great Ranger and a great guy in-universe. So, ultimately, the episode doesn’t really tell us who to root for. It shouldn’t, and that’s the point. Ivan’s line nicely summarizes the Red Ranger vs. Sixth Ranger rivalry that pervades in Power Rangers: “It’s true…I am the whole package. But you, sir, are the Red Ranger. How can I compare to that?”
It’s a fantastic quote, as it’s the Red Rangers/Sixth Ranger relationship in a nutshell — Sixth Rangers are totally rad and deserving of being a fan favorite, but that doesn’t take away the fact that the Red Ranger is the freakin’ Red Ranger, leader of the Power Rangers. That mutual respect is heartwarming, and even though the personal story takes up much less screentime than usual, it’s that emotional, character-driven core that keeps Dino Charge satisfying.
That’d be enough, but the Ranger action also plays up typical Dino Charge cleverness. Anytime there’s a story beyond just “a monster attacks” is automatically breaking formula, so the threat of the bomb appropriately shakes things up. It’s even better when Sledge uses his Magna Beam to make it grow, which is so genius on so many levels. That there might be enough to consider this episode a milestone. And, while I’m not a huge Megazord battle-lover, this particular extended battle — which stretches over a commercial break! — is one of the better choreographed and edited ones in a while. Then it’s made even better when the Rangers smartly throw the bomb right at Sledge’s ship. Like in “The Royal Rangers,” this team has proven to be one of the most proactive teams out there, much more than their predecessors in 1993.
Of course, this is also an episode where “fart” is said a bunch of times, and the monster of the week literally farts fog as his main power. Like the Dino Gas, it’s impressive how wholly unapologetic the show is about making a bunch of fart jokes. If this happened in Megaforce I’d be rolling my eyes, but Dino Charge has earned enough good will that throwing in fart jokes to make the kids (and kids inside) laugh is totally fine. This isn’t a show that’s supposed to be taken terribly seriously, at the end of the day, and that tonal awareness has been a big selling point for Dino Charge.
So with 800 episodes under its belt, “Sync or Swim” isn’t a bad way to commemorate the milestone. As kitchy and product-of-its-time the original Mighty Morphin was, it’s only appropriate that our 2015 season feature Tyler and Ivan taking selfies with duck face. It’s all going to look silly in ten or twenty years, but that’s part of its charm. As a whole, it addresses a 22-year-old dynamic, it celebrates the new things the current season is doing, and it doesn’t pretend it’s anything but a fun, goofy kids’ action show at its core. Not a bad representation of what this behemoth of a franchise is and why it rocks.
Odds & Ends
- Keeper update: He doesn’t even appear. Come on, dude!
- It’s cute how proud of his car Tyler is.
- I love how subtle things are done to make Tyler not look as good as Ivan in the coat, even subconsciously. His collar isn’t neat, it’s slightly too big on him, the slim fit jeans he’s wearing don’t go well with it, and Tyler moves around a lot more in it while Ivan generally walks more slowly and properly, giving the effect that Ivan “looks better” in it.
- The little relationship between Wrench and Smokescreen is cute, as the two argue over who’s a leader in a way that sort of parallels Tyler and Ivan’s rivalry. Smokescreen also jokingly says that “Being a leader is so lonely,” which could be a nod to what it’s like to be a Red Ranger and why it’s necessary to have that Sixth Ranger relationship, but that doesn’t really fit into what the episode is saying.
- This is very simple, but I appreciate that Shelby acknowledges the weirdness of the fog being red. Normally on Power Rangers they don’t even comment on details like that.
- Love Kendall’s awkwardness in dealing with children, especially having to do it alone.
- The shenanigans before the team morphs are on-point. “Put a little pizazz into it!”
- Davi Santos’ delivery on “And grilled cheese for the rest of you” gave me big “And none for Gretchen Wieners, bye!” vibes. Which is appropriate, since this episode aired on Mean Girls day.
- “But you said it looked fine!”
“It did…on the mannequin.” - “Hey, I’m in charge! I’ll fart when I want to!”
