Aside from a few missteps, the first-half continued to improve from the Neo Saban years. Kid focus episodes usually don't turn out that good but "TUBA TRIUMPH" pulled it off pretty well with Joey jumping in the battle to help stop Tubatron with the soundwave. The Rangers believing the were the characters they dressed up as, and
Devon (not being into Halloween) snapping them out of it via some clips, made for a pretty fun Halloween episode. Plus Jackie Scislowski
totally nailed overplaying the viking which I thought was great.
"SOUND AND FURY" was one of the most surprising episodes PR has ever done with GB employee Megan going so far as to blackmail Zoey to get a new position as Nate's lab assistant. Past seasons would never have a character like that who is just a bad person. The Nate/Zoey crush was cute even though it never went anywhere. This was also when we got the debut of the battlizer with Devon using Fury Mode on Tubatron 2.0. He soon starts acting like a jerk as the fury cells slowly turn him evil. Of course they take the easy way out with the last cell depleted, quickly changing Devon back, but it was pretty awesome how close he got to killing Ravi. This was a pretty good, different take on the battlizer from older seasons, being a two-episode plotline.
"GORILLA ART" was a decent Ravi/Smash focus adapted around the GoBusters episode counterpart - the kind of episode I hope we see more of this year. I liked the focus of Zoey and her mom but it felt like something we get about every year with the Rangers identities nearly being exposed. This wasn't the best execution of it, plus how that memory card was able to be fixed was pretty silly.
"REWRITING HISTORY" wasn't quite what I hoped for when the memory pulsator made everyone but Steel think Blaze and Roxy were Rangers. Aside from a nice callback to the premiere, I really wanted to see more of them in GB, not just getting a device. Also, the memory pulsator continuously sending waves to keep up the ruse was a weird way to go about it and kind of gave me Neo Saban flashbacks. Aside from that, this was still a good start of a three-part finale, plus Steel with his plant was great. His comedic personality and learning to adapt to society really makes Ben & Betty's slapstick feel unneeded.
I liked how Ravi destroyed avatar Roxy for good and the real on woke up and told the team Evox's plan. I would've liked more foreshadowing to Scrozzle making a new body for him. Major Daniels going to the Cyber Dimension with the Rangers and having the heart-to-heart with Devon was pretty cool. Loved the helmetless scene and including Steel with his robot head. Avatar Blaze defeat wasn't nearly as good as Roxy's and the line about the zords being destroyed felt cheap. Evox's monster form barely even got much use but I'll let that slide since it'll be back this season. Despite the flaws, this was easily a better first-half finale than anything from Samurai-Ninja Steel. The Cyber Dimension was destroyed and everyone thinks Evox is gone but things were left open enough like not taking their powers, while somethings up with Major Daniels. I expect this year will stay around the same level with potential for some well earned 5's. It'll be interesting to see how some of these plotlines develop (like Blaze & Roxy getting evil new powers), how the dino teamup turns out and RPM somehow being brought into the fold.
- 3/5 "RANGER REVEAL"
- 4/5 "TUBA TRIUMPH," "HYPNOTIC HALLOWEEN," "SOUND AND FURY," "GORILLA ART," "REWRITING HISTORY," "TARGET: TOWER" and "SCROZZLE'S REVENGE"
- 5/5 "SEEING RED" and "EVOX: UPGRADED"
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