Recap: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Episode 7 – “Winning is what winners do!”

Recap: Power Rangers Operation Overdrive, Episode 7 – At All Cost

Spencer is in a golf cart helping to encourage the Rangers with their jogging. Mack asks the others if they want to race, but only Ronny takes him up on the offer. And she easily runs to the mansion so far ahead of the others that she’s played a round of video games already.

Later, the Rangers play a board game and an over-competitive Ronny wins again. Rose asks if winning is that important to her. Ronny says of course and asks where Rose’s competitive spirit is.

“I usually check it at the door when I’m with my friends.”

Mr. Hartford and Mack come in to show them the new Blaster. They ask who wants to test it out with Mack. Rose has to test out some zord motherboards with Spencer, Will wants to take a nap and Dax wants to take some time for himself to get over losing his car to Ronny in the game.

That leaves a very excited Ronny joining Mack. Mack gives the Blaster a try first, but the recoil slams him into the rock wall. Ronny, eager to try it out and confident she can handle it, also gets slammed into the wall.

The Drill Blaster still seems to be too powerful, so Mr. Hartford has his company develop a stabilizer of some sort. But it needs something to power it up.

Meanwhile, the Rangers hurry out when they detect some activity from Moltor. He has his Lava Lizards fighting each other in some kind of experiment. When a winner emerges, Moltor gives him an upgrade into Volcan.

Moltor takes his new half-lizard, half-dragon creature back to his lair while they wait for something that can power Volcan up. And that thing will come from Andrew Hartford himself.

Back at the mansion, Hartford says they might need to find a dragon scale in order to power up their Blaster. Rose remembers reading about how a single dragon scale has enough power to light up the world. Will doesn’t believe dragons exist.

But Hartford heard reports of a dragon outside the city of Briarwood. He was able to purchase a dragon scale from a record store owner there who says the scale is from a dragon named Fireheart.

Hartford says once they get the scale, he would like Mack to try the Blaster first. Ronny says she can handle it better than Mack and has proven herself with her high scores. Hartford hesitates, but Mack says Ronny can go first.

Later, Ronny asks Mack if he wants to play foosball. Mack just wants to read a book. Ronny says it should be fun, but Mack bluntly says Ronny takes all the fun out of playing games.

Spencer comes in to tell Mack and Ronny that Mr. Hartford wants them to accompany the dragon scale from the warehouse to ensure its safety. As Mack leaves first, Ronny asks Spencer if she is fun to play with. “Like a moldy bag of rocks, miss,” Spencer replies.

Not exactly what she expected to hear, Ronny sadly walks out the room. Spencer wonders if he should’ve lied.

At the warehouse, Moltor and Volcan intercept the truck before the Rangers can arrive and they gain possession of the dragon scale.

When the Rangers do arrive, Volcan easily knocks them around. Mack is able to find Volcan’s weak spot on his back. The others shoot at it, but Moltor comes to Volcan’s aid, allowing them both to escape.

Moltor brings Volcan to a warehouse where he can have gases expand the dragon scale enough to engulf Volcan’s body, making him invincible.

The Rangers head back to the mansion to search for Moltor. Mr. Hartford asks Dax to call him “Andrew” instead as whenever he hears “Mr. Hartford,” he looks around for his father.

“Got it! You want us to think of you as someone young!”
“Ow!”

Upstairs, Ronny approaches Spencer to talk about her competitiveness and wanting to win. Spencer says wanting to win is not the problem, but rather wanting to win “at all cost.” Ronny says winning is fun, but Spencer says in his day, it was the playing that was fun. And winning is just something that happened to one of the participants.

Ronny gets a call from the others and thanks Spencer for his wise words before she leaves.

The Rangers find Moltor and they morph. Mack holds off Moltor while the others head inside to find Volcan.

Moltor leaps up onto the rooftop and says he’ll see himself off since he hates big noises. That gives Mack an idea and he asks Spencer to send the zords. The others join Mack in the Megazord and he summons the new #8 zord, the Cement Driver.

The Rangers will use the Cement Driver to limit the damage from the explosion when the temperature of the gas reaches its maximum point. Moltor is shocked when Volcan stumbles out of the rubble with no change.

Turns out the Rangers had swiped the dragon scale before they left. Rose hands the scale to Ronny who calls Hartford to send over the shield.

Ronny gives Mack the shield and scale. But Mack says Ronny deserves to use it. Ronny admits she’s been a “bonehead” about things lately.

Will interrupts them saying he like this “nice stuff,” but they’ve gotta blast Volcan already. Mack places the scale inside the shield and attaches it to his chest to activate the new Defender Vest.

With the new Vest, Mack is able to use the Blaster to finish off Volcan for good.

Later, Dax, Rose and Will are surprised when they arrive home after a movie and burgers to see Mack and Ronny still playing the same foosball game from before they left.

Mack manages to finally beat Ronny. The Rangers brace themselves for how Ronny may react to losing, but she just laughs and says it’s actually not so bad. She asks if anyone would like to play another round, but the Rangers say No.

Downstairs, Spencer has some tea for Hartford who says he’s found something.

“Hopefully it’s the papers to set me free from this indentured servitude.”
“No such luck my friend.”

Anyway, Hartford believes he’s found a clue about the hunt for the next jewel: the legendary Hou-ou bird.

Episode Thoughts

A pretty good episode. It was a simple Ronny-focus where we see her be overly competitive. It wasn’t a deep episode at all in the way they got Ronny to change for the better. I would’ve liked maybe a longer convo with Spencer. But she understood the point in the end and decided it’s alright to lose sometimes especially if you’re playing with friends.

Moltor’s plan with Volcan was also pretty good for a MOTW. And it tied in well with the debut of the Defender Vest.

The subtle callback to Mystic Force was also enjoyable. It was done in a way that felt off the cuff and not with big sirens announcing it like it was a big deal. A little nod to series continuity, but not really a major part of the episode or Operation Overdrive as a whole.

The little, very short scene of Hartford asking Dax to call him “Andrew” and then Dax’s unintended shade about Hartford’s age was very funny. It was an amusing, simple scene that didn’t involve bowel movements. Imagine that!

Same with Spencer’s “indentured servitude” comment later and wishing for a raise. Just simple scenes of amusing and funny one-liners that fit seamlessly with the rest of the episode.

And the rest of the episode was legitimately fun and exciting too.

Overall, a good, solid episode of OO.