Recap: Power Rangers Beast Morphers (Season 2), Episode 29 (9) – The Evox Snare
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Commander Shaw addresses the city to announce that because Evox may have infiltrated the network, they will be shutting down all Morph-X Towers and returning to the old power system for now. They will return all Morph-X to the Morphing Grid in the hopes that Evox gets locked in as well.
Nate and Zoey have completely figured out that Evox has weakened while living in Mayor Daniels’ body and needs Morph-X to survive. So with no more Morph-X in the city, they want to lure him out into the open so they can shoot him with a HyperFreeze Arrow using the Beast-X Ultra Canon.
Zoey tests it out on a mannequin which freezes it in a block of diamond ice.
The Burke Sibs are shocked that their dad’s wedding tux, which is on the mannequin they rolled out, is now stuck in the block. So Ben tries to drill it open, instead drilling a hole in the floor. Betty of course decides to fall in as well for maximum comedic effect.
Devon asks how they’ll save his father after they freeze Evox. But Nate has no clue. Commander Shaw says their focus is to stop Evox. They can deal with saving the mayor later.
That doesn’t sound right for a worried Devon and expresses that. An upset Nate snaps at him for worrying about his father. So Devon decides to save his father himself. He looks through old news clippings of his father and begins a mini-clip show of all the moments he’s had with him during the season.
Cruise arrives with Ranger records Devon ordered him to collect. Ravi walks in to check in with Devon.
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Devon shows Ravi information on a mysterious scientist named Dr. K who was able to stop a Black Ranger from turning into an evil cyborg. Devon tries to find a way to contact her, but no one’s heard from her since Saban Brands ruined regained control of the franchise.
Unlike Nate snapping earlier, Ravi calmly explains to Devon that if they can’t find another alternative, they’ll just have to freeze Evox until they can.
Commander Shaw calls to say it’s #GameTime so the Rangers come together to go out and play with Bulldozer Tron, Blaze and Roxy.
After a while the others go take care of the Gigadrone, while Devon hurries back to speak with Dr. K who has promptly returned his call because she actually wants to be of as much help as she can. Unlike other people.
Dr. K tells Devon that what happened to Ranger Black is completely different to what is happening to Mayor Daniels. So the technology she has might not be useful.
Devon begs her for anything. Because of her vast knowledge, Dr. K does remember something from Dino Charge and says it could help separate Evox and the mayor.
Devon finds the others who are about to leave to capture Evox. But he asks Nate about digging into the Ranger Vault for some Dino Charge props they’ll be able to use. Commander Shaw calls them to stop dilly-dallying and move.
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The others ignore Devon and promptly leave, so he asks Ben and Betty to help him look for the Split Emitters in the Ranger Vault instead. Ben and Betty marvel at all the old Bandai toys inside the room until they find what they’re looking for.
Devon explains to Ben and Betty what they have to do.
Over at Tower 5, Evox arrives for some Morph-X drink. Nate shoots his arrow at him, but Evox easily stops it and sends it back at them.
Devon arrives, but Evox morphs back into his father to try and manipulate him. But this is also part of Devon’s plan. Ben and Betty teleport the Split Emitters over and Devon activates them.
Evox and Mayor Daniels are officially separated in the most unclimactic way. And later, the Morph-X Towers are filled back up.
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At GBHQ, Mayor Daniels recaps the midseason finale before acknowledging his son’s heroic deeds.
The Burkes play around with the Dino Charge props for one final scene of comic relief.
Episode Thoughts
So, basically two things to take away from this episode.
First, I kind of feel like this was a very underwhelming climax for the Mayor Daniels/Evox arc. Like what was the point of the whole thing? I might be forgetting what happened months ago. But what came out of the story? Obviously Evox and Friends didn’t do anything to further their plans. And we didn’t even get any drama between Devon and his father. It all feels very pointless. Especially when the solution to it all was to do a callback to Dino Charge. Which apparently is a Hasbro mandate, that is, to put in as many Easter eggs for adult fans as possible.
Now, I know full well what’s ahead for the final episodes of Beast Morphers. I don’t avoid spoilers for Power Rangers like I do for Sentai or Kamen Rider. (Read about my growing apathy to Power Rangers here.
So I can see how the “Ranger Vault” and seeing Dr. K again is setting up what’s ahead.
Anyway, seeing the awesome Olivia Tennet back as Dr. K is definitely a (the only?) highlight. Beast Morphers is certainly not the RPM sequel I originally envisioned when Go-Busters was airing. (Though I wouldn’t want that anymore seeing what Saban Brands and now Hasbro has done with the series.) But just seeing some great old friends is nice. Even if the story and writing to support the appearances leaves much to be desired.
Otherwise, the whole episode was predictable and slow. Which is usual for Beast Morphers, after all.
I’m back after months of hiatus!
A wise decision for Commander Shaw, to shut down all the Morph-X tower til problem is solved.
Didn’t expect Ultra Blaster and Bow to combine Ultra Cannon. How nice; even though Frozen Arrow proven to be ineffective at the end.
Nice to see Olivia Tennet reprise her role as Dr. K, who hasn’t seen since RPM season finale (11 years!).
I like reference of past season, where she mentioned Zenowing and Doomwing separation from Split Emitters (Dino Supercharge).
It’s interesting that Grid Battleforce had vault that is filled with equipment and weapons for past rangers, even though it begs a question of when and how they got all those stuffs (including Split Emitters), and it was never mentioned before.
Nice to see Enetan (Green Frog) in background, who was summer movie exclusive robot.
I did not expect Mayor Daniels and Evox to be split on this episode, since I was expecting it to happen in final 2~3 episodes; though, it’s still better than dragging too long, I guess.
Ben and Betty were probably the most useful in this season, since had it not for their timing for Split Emitters, they would have not succeeded the split. Their ice block/father’s suit gag worked fine as well.
Overall, a solid return after the hiatus with nice cameo and throwbacks to past seasons.
Consider how the episode ended, I kind of wished this aired BEFORE the hiatus though.
Still, I’m looking forward to see how the season is going to end, now that Evox is split from Mayor Daniels, rangers can focus on defeating Evox and Cybervillains once and for all!
BTW, I will also comment on your commentary regarding your apathy towards franchise.
It was very nice to see Olivia Tennet back. It was done in a pretty good way.
We’ll see if the Ranger Vault becomes a part of the story or if it’s just something for fans to enjoy.
Thanks to the vault, I think it just confirms my theory I’ve have since the first episode. According to Zoey’s mother and mayor Daniels in that episode, the PR are know to the common people, and also the many different dimensions. So Nate could have been done some reverse engineering to all that stuff to finally gain access to the Morphing Grid himself and that way he created the Beast Morphers Rangers.
Hmm. Very interesting. They’re really trying hard to connect it to the past.