Power Rangers RPM – 7: Ranger Red

The episode opens as a mother is singing to her baby in the park when out of nowhere, grinders appear. Just as suddenly Scott and Ziggy appear. “Shh… you’ll wake the baby,” Scott says. Ziggy then chimes in with his own version of a one-liner, but fails.

They commence fighting off the grinders and Ziggy, still fresh from first getting his morpher does his best trying to get the mother to safety.
Meanwhile, Scott uses the baby in his stroller as a weapon of grinder destruction, swinging it around taking out a bunch of grinders, with the baby, fine all strapped in, wide-eyed the whole time.

As soon as the mother and child are safe, we go across town where the other three Rangers are fighting off some grinders of their own. They all morph and Dr. K sends them coordinates to an attack bot traveling underground.

Dr. K sends them the Croc zord which bursts up from the ground, malfunctions and flies towards Corinth’s electric tower, knocking out power and sending the pieces down to the civilians.

Summer says they have to help the people, but Dr. K says they must continue pursuit of the attack bot. Dillon asks their fearless leader what to do.

Flashback… Scott fails a simulation and says it wasn’t fair. His father replies, “If you want fair son, you’re in the wrong business.”

Outside, the three men are walking together, Scott asks the other guy how he was able to defeat the simulation, the only one to do so. “With style” he replies, and we learn this guy is Marcus Truman, Scott’s older brother and Eagle Squadron leader.

Col. Truman gives Marcus evaluation papers that will decide whether or not Scott will become part of Eagle Squadron. Scott walks the hallways and sees a photo of his father and older brother on the wall.

Suddenly, a sort of missile hits the base and Marcus tells Scott to head to the hangar. They’ll be flying dark.

Back to the present, Scott tells the Rangers to follow him and they head to the electrical tower to help the people there. In doing so, Dr. K says, they’ve let the attack bot escape.

Back at the garage, Dr. K is telling Ziggy that she miscalculated the required energy levels needed to power the zord. Ziggy runs with the fact that she made a mistake and she tells him she’s made mistakes before… once.

Later, Dr. K tells the Rangers, including a sleeping Ziggy, that they’ll need a Remote Flux Overthruster Coreactor to power the zord. And the only person who knows where to find one is Scott.

Flashback to Scott during the first Venjix attacks. Marcus is telling his squad about the Flux Overthruster being installed into the nose of his bird as they head out. He has no idea what it is, but he knows it can help. It’ll increase maneuverability and speed, so it’s important they all stay close to him.

Their mission is to secure the sector long enough for people to be able to make inside Corinth before the shields are raised the next day.

Marcus asks for questions and Scott has one. What is their exit plan? How are they going to get back into Corinth after the shields are raised? Marcus responds, “What’s the matter little brother? You want to live forever?”

After the briefing, as everyone else leaves to get ready, Col. Truman stops his son.
He tells Scott he wants him to keep out of lead formation, cover the squad six and stay out of his brother’s way.

“No, but Dad I can do this, I’m ready!” Scott protests, but all Col. Truman can say is “I’m sorry Lieutenant, that’s an order.”

We hear Scott say “With respect sir, I don’t take orders from you… not anymore sir.”
Back to the present, “Oh really, then why are you saluting,” Col. Truman asks.

Scott tells his father he needs the coordinates of the squad’s last known radar position so he can obtain the Flux Overthruster. Col. Truman says Venjix will detect their bio signatures three steps into the wasteland. Not if he keeps the bio signature small enough, meaning he’ll go alone.

Col. Truman won’t have it, they’ll stay and defend the city. He hands the disc with the coordinates to Hicks and tells Scott he knows he’s not ready for this kind of thing. “I know it, and Marcus knew it too,” he says. Scott leaves dejected, but spots Hicks leaving the disc on a control panel and he takes it.

The garage is dark and the alarm sounds. Dillon, Summer, Ziggy, and Flynn run downstairs and see an outbound signal. Summer realizes Scott isn’t with them and Dr. K comes out of her lab to tell them that Scott is the signal being picked up from outside the dome. He’s gone alone to get the Overthruster.

“And you just let him go? All by himself?” Dillon asks strongly. “He’s team leader, it was his call,” Dr. K replies.

As Scott makes his way into the wasteland, Dillon tells the team they should go after him. Dr. K tells them that going after him will only increase the chances of “Ranger Red” being detected and terminated by Venjix forces.

“Scott! His name is Scott!” Dillon says to which Dr. K replies, “And this is relevant how?” as she inserts a disc into the computer and begins playing air defense radio transmission of Eagle Squad during the Battle of Corinth.

The squad is drawing heavy fire. Scott, Eagle 2, asks his brother, Eagle 1, permission to engage. Marcus tells him to stay the course and says he’s trying to draw fire away from the delta. He then says he’s hit, “This is Eagle 1’s last transmission” and to Scott’s left side, his brother’s fighter jet explodes in midair. Scott is distraught, but only for a second as he himself is hit. He’s going down, but ejects before impact.

Daytime in the wasteland and Scott is struggling through until someone on a motorcycle comes towards him.

It’s Summer. She introduces herself, ties a sling around his arm and gets him onto the bike. They see explosions littering the landscape around Corinth and Scott says they’ll never make it. “Wanna bet?” Summer says and they are off.

Back to the present, Scott finds the wreckage of his brother’s jet and in the sand, the envelope with his evaluation Marcus was supposed to write. Before he can begin reading it, an attack bot and a group of grinders appear on the horizon.

Scott pockets the envelope, goes to the wreckage, pulls out the Overthruster, grabs a small missile and runs towards Corinth.

Dr. K tells the Rangers that Ranger Red has been compromised and the grinders are in hot pursuit of Scott.  He throws the missile at them, buying him some time but is quickly surrounded by more. Suddenly, the grinders are blasted at and Scott turns around to see his father and troops being the ones firing at the grinders. Col. Truman motions Scott over and the speed back into the domed city. He realizes they won’t get the shields back up in time.

As the grinders and the attack bot enter Corinth, Scott tells his father to take the Overthruster back to Dr. K while he’ll handle the attacking forces at the gates.  Col. Truman begins to reprimand his son, “This was wreckless and dangerous, if Marcus were here…”

Scott interrupts, “If Marcus were here, he would’ve done it himself.”  Col. Truman nods for him to go and Scott morphs, quickly joined by the other Rangers.  Venjix sends in the drones, but Dr. K sends Dillon and Ziggy with the new zords, now fully functional to fight them and the enlarged attack bot off.  After it has quieted down a little, Col. Truman sits and reads Scott’s evaluation. Marcus gives a resounding seal of approval and Col. Truman reflects on photos of his two sons.

Episode Thoughts
A powerful episode and strong overall.

A line I never thought would be heard in any shape or form on Power Rangers, “What’s the matter the little brother? You want to live forever?”

That line is just another example of how different RPM has been and will be, it seems. Scott saw his brother get blown to bits right next to him. Not only that, there seems to be some issues in the family.

While Ziggy’s episode last week was interesting and added a new dimension to his character, Scott’s did the same, but in a completely different way. Definitely a more dramatic backstory, and something we really haven’t seen on Power Rangers in a long time, if ever.

Plus, it was pretty awesome seeing a scene that called back to the pilot. I have a feeling it won’t be the last time.

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