Episode 26- Rita's Pita: This one's a goofy little filler that has a cult following for its ridiculous plot. Essentially, Rita and Zedd put a tapeworm monster inside Tommy, which forces him to eat a whole bunch of junk food. Two things about this episode stuck out to me. The first is seeing Kat use her powers for the first time. She's able to harness the power of the Pink Ranger, but is definitely boosted by her powers in a battle. She needs to rely on them for the time being, but can definitely improve in her martial arts skills over time. The second thing is that you really get a sense of how preachy these teens are when you watch an episode like this. Maybe it's the name of the kid Tommy's talking to or the "bad habit" that he's teaching about, but hearing Tommy tell Danny about how eating a cheeseburger and fries is disrespectful to your body just made me want to send a monster down to Earth and beat up the White Ranger. For one of the first times on this show, I have sided with Zedd and Rita for the course of an episode.
Episode 29- Master Vile and the Metallic Armor Part 1: In Part 1 of this 3-parter, we get the introduction of a new villain and some new power ups. The villain is Master Vile, Rita and Rito's father and the power up is a new metallic armor for the Rangers. Don't get too excited, it's just glitter on their suits. Anyways, the Rangers get Ninjor back when Rito accidentally sets them free, prompting Vile to take over with a new scheme, involving a mysterious Zeo Crystal. Zeo?!?! Eh, it's probably one-off source of power that we'll never hear from ever again. Anyways, Kat and Tommy devise a plan to get the crystal by heading to Rita and Zedd's, Kat pretending that she wants to be evil again.
Episode 30- Master Vile and the Metallic Armor Part 2: In Part 2, Tommy attempts to take the Zeo crystal and get Kat out of trouble before she's turned evil again. The Rangers get the upper hand, at first, but Vile's monster proves to be pretty powerful, forcing the Rangers to retreat without their Zords. Evil has won by the end of Part 2, but of course everything will be made good by the end of Part 3.
Episode 31- Master Vile and the Metallic Armor Part 3: What a surprise, everything is made good by the end of Part 3. In retrospect, I think the sour grapes for this multi-parter can be chalked up to the disappointing metallic armor. Would it have killed them to use the suits from the movie that the show never mentions? Anyways, they save the day, separate the Zeo Crystal into 5 pieces, and scatter them in different places. That Zeo Crystal would've made an interesting power supply for them. It's a shame they had to go and get rid of it, what with it being a one-off power and all. Oh well, it's not like we're ever gonna hear from it again.
Episode 33- Rangers in Reverse: As far as the "final" episode of this season goes, it's a good cliffhanger to get the viewer interested in what could happen next. Master Vile plans to use a mystical orb to turn back time and change the Rangers into kids. It's been done before, but something about not erasing their memories as Rangers makes them feel more helpless. Plus, the ending visual of giant Zedd, Rita, Goldar, and Rito really makes us feel like the Rangers have finally been beat for good. It guarantees you'll tune in to see what happens next.
Character Spotlight: Katherine Hillard, played by Catherine Sutherland
After she turned good, Kat was simply under the character trait of being the new Power Ranger. I don't think she got nearly enough time with the team before they decided to give us a storyline that would lead to the eventual destruction of the original Ranger aesthetics. When I look at that costume, all I can picture behind the helmet is Kimberly. Kat doesn't even come into my mind once. She's not bad in the role, just wasn't given enough time to make it her own. And then there's the relationship with Tommy. At this point, since Kimberly is still in the picture and Kat is no longer evil, she doesn't step on any toes and has a platonic relationship with Tommy...for now.Season Spotlight: New Characters
A lot of new characters were thrown our way this Season besides Kat. The only major supporting character on the side of good is Lt. Stone, who serves as a great authority figure and comedic foil for Bulk and Skull on their mission to become police officers. On the villain side of things, Rito Revolto is a funny side villain that bickers with the other villains. The Tengas are nowhere near as enjoyable foot soldiers as the Putties were. Maybe it's because we had 2 seasons of Putties and 1 season of Tengas, but they just stick out like a sore thumb. And finally, Master Vile had a lot of build up to him as a serious threat, but doesn't stay around as long as I'd like in order to make an impact. Having a being that was so powerful and evil, while also having some success that Zedd couldn't have, plus being Rita and Rito's father. It just made for a unique villain, but his run in terms of episode numbers is a little disappointing, as you will see.With the Rangers turned into children again and the villains reigning supreme, is there any hope left for good to triumph over evil? We'll find out in Part 5, the final chapter in my retrospective on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers...
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and images are copyrighted by Saban Entertainment
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