Summary: Another formulaic episode is enhanced by solid character development for its Green Ranger, showing why this season works so well.
Recap
Poisandra is trying out cake flavors for her upcoming wedding with Sledge, and asks the monster Cavity to make her a cake filled with horrible decay. They decide to use Cavity’s cake on Earth, giving free samples out at the museum to spread the decay around, causing tooth pain in everyone who eats it. Meanwhile, Riley tries to train the move he failed at when he first faced Fury, and gets annoyed that Chase doesn’t seem to have the same work ethic despite being a member of the team. That creates conflict when they investigate the tooth decay, and Riley blows up on Chase for not being focused or caring about the mission. Chase finds Cavity on his own, but is struck by the tooth decay, unable to fully fight. Riley protects him, and the two switch Chargers to double their power and take out the monster. After defeating Cavity with the Megazord, Riley apologizes to Chase — who has headphones in and doesn’t hear it — and the team trains together without a strict regiment, instead going the Chase route of trying new and different thinks to build their adaptability.
Review
A key element of a good Power Rangers season is a team that jibes well, but realistically conflicts. The cast should be charming and full of likeable heroes, but the show isn’t terribly interesting when they’re all best friends and get along 100% of the time (see: classic Mighty Morphin and Megaforce.) It’s not a make-or-break for a season, because even the best may have a weak link in the cast or focus too much on the plot. But it’s the element that makes “filler” episodes bearable. Or even better, it makes sure they aren’t filler at all — it makes them necessary character development. It’s also important for a season to split its focus among the ensemble in order to make these conflicts more realistic. Riley has been mostly underserved this season, already appearing in one less episode after being introduced an episode late. So it’s imperative that we get some focus on him before the season’s plot really kicks in, lest he suffer the same kind of infamous lack-of-screentime Madison received in Mystic Force.
“The Tooth Hurts” is a total throwaway plot that would only work in Power Rangers, and only barely does as it is. A “cavity monster” (?) makes cake that gives people painful teeth that, while clearly awful, isn’t totally unbearable since Chase can still fight a little with it. It’s also shown by a big purple glow, and while a plot point involves the team trying to scientifically determine an antidote, they never do, instead just destroying the monster like usual. These are words that could only be put together in a paragraph about Power Rangers.
It’s the type of absurdly silly monster and plot that would have fit right in with Megaforce‘s weakest episodes. But it’s the details that make it work this time around — particularly, as stated before, the character work. The Dino Charge characters aren’t terribly complex right now, but there’s already been a promising trajectory with revealing more about them. Every episode we learn something new. Organically incorporating those little bits into the story in ways that not only tie into the monster story, but actually supplement it, is important. For a comparison, let’s bring up the Megaforce episode “Dream Snatcher,” which had an absurd “dream-stealing” monster that supposedly gave us insight into Emma as a character. What we got was Emma’s “dream” to…get a photo of a plant, something made up for the episode and never mentioned again. A “character beat” in that episode was seeing a character do a specific thing that didn’t really infer anything about her overall. Ergo, it didn’t have any effect on anything or our understanding of anything outside of the episode.
I don’t mean to be downing on Megaforce so much — it really did have a wonderfully charming cast, just one that was wasted on the material, at least in its first season. But it makes relating to Dino Charge very easy when there’s a comparison. Because in “The Tooth Hurts,” we have another monster with a weirdly specific power, but we don’t get a completely out-of-the-blue motivation for Riley to be at the center. The easy route would be coming up with a fear of the dentist Riley just developed, or maybe Chase having a love of sweets that Riley scolds him about. That episode practically writes itself, actually, and could easily fill out the half-hour without those traits ever being mentioned again. It’d be an episode of Power Rangers in the same vein as Megaforce, and it’d work for what it is. But…well, it’d be a crappy episode.
And this here is why Dino Charge, even without doing much particularly new or extraordinary, is still excelling as a season. An easy throwaway episode is vital as a character story, tying back to things we know about Riley from his introduction and fight with Fury, tying in things we learned about Chase’s inner hero beneath the slacker exterior last week, and moving the Rangers to a new stage for the future. It’s not an easy story, because tying Riley and Chase’s realistic conflict of lifestyles into an absurd tooth decay plot requires some level of narrative acrobatics. But it works wonders.
Part of why it works is because their conflict is completely realistic. Riley is kind of a stuck up tool throughout the episode, but in a way that we’ve all dealt with in a work or school group project environment. There are just those people that seem to get by in life without working very hard, despite how much you push yourself, and the tinge of jealousy that causes only adds to the frustration. Chase notably isn’t all that annoying in the episode; the biggest causes of Riley’s anger is that he…cleans up cake and sips on a soda too loudly. So Riley is totally unjustified in blowing up on the otherwise oblivious Chase when he does, but it makes sense. Any time you’re forced to spend substantial time around someone who conflicts with your worldview, their little ticks or mannerisms are going to be magnified and become more grating. Chase is the easy-going, go-with-the-flow cool cat, while Riley is strict, focused, and follows a rigid form. Of course Riley is going to get annoyed with having to closely work with someone who’s his complete opposite.
The “lesson” of all this is pretty standard, in that Riley learns to tolerate and then embrace Chase’s style even when he doesn’t totally understand it. But that lesson doesn’t feel solely tacked on for kids, because it marks a change in the relationship. Riley learns to be less rigid and more adaptable, and hopefully, that there are other views out there that are just as valid as his. These are teachable ideas that work as well for kids as they do as adults, so bonus points that they fit in perfectly with the characters as they’ve been drawn. This episode even has some fun with subverting the lesson stuff, because Chase seems completely obvious that he sparks such a big change in Riley throughout it. It culminates in a very funny ending where Riley has a heartfelt monologue to Chase…who has headphones in and doesn’t hear a word of it. In this case, it wasn’t about the two teammates learning to work together, but Riley learning to shed the attitude and not assume the worst about his new friends.
Like last week, there isn’t much to talk about outside of the character story just yet. The plot has settled into the Power Rangers formula, which is fine for the time being. But there are details within that make this season unique — like the monster plot spawning from Poisandra doing cake testing for her wedding, which I guess she’s expecting may happen soon now that they’re back at Earth. Or that Keeper, who has some substantial words of wisdom, is still a huge enigma, his post-dinosaur era backstory and relevance to the plot completely unrevealed. Dino Charge has a lot of material to work with over these next two seasons thanks to what’s been set up, but the important part is that it’s already nailing the character work thus far.
Odds and Ends
- Seriously, though, a monster that creates tooth pain, while not world shattering or anything, is really horrifying if you think about it.
- Michael Taber does the best smug, accomplished face after Riley yells “You can’t skate in here!” to Chase, as if he made the ultimate burn. It’s made even funnier by Kendall immediately shooting an annoyed look at him. It’s subtle, but probably the funniest bit in the episode.
- The antics of the bad guys are a lot of fun, with Fury and Poisandra also having conflicting methods, but not resolving them at all because, you know, evil. Also dig how Fury just cuts right through Poisandra’s floating heart thing.
- I didn’t notice it last week, but Chase totally has a kiwi on his skateboard, which is adorable.
- Love the subversion when the team tries to do their roll call, but is interrupted by Chase’s tooth pain.
- Not sure exactly why all five Rangers needed to be in the cockpit for the Megazord that only used three Zords and how that somehow means it will give them more power, but it’s cool seeing them all together, so it’s forgiveable.
- Where do they sell Riley’s neon green windbreaker so I can buy it right now?
- “Oh sprinkles and frosting,I wanted cake.” – Poisandra is so cute.
- “You always need to analyze things!”
“…Yes!”
