Power Rangers Dino Charge: Knight After Knights Review

After last week’s impressive outing of Power Rangers Dino Charge, “Knight After Knights” had a lot to live up to. While it mostly delivers, I feel as though it comes up a bit short. Ivan should have been the main focus, but we get a somewhat needless B-plot that only takes time away from what could have been a truly memorable outing. It starts slowly with Sledge punishing Fury and sending a monster down to Earth.

These opening scenes with Sledge are becoming rather common and while they nicely set up the monster of the week, I would really like to see Sledge do something instead of constantly give Fury grief. How about, you know, give some more focus to Curio and Poisandra?

We move to the lab where Tyler is giving a Ryan Steele monologue to his Dad which, while appreciated by yours truly, really dragged the episode to a halt. In fact, this scene and the whole first fight really didn’t do much for this installment.

Ivan upstages the other Rangers, which they quickly forget about when they’re attacked by Sledge’s monster and their courage is removed. It’s fun to see all the guys running around like sacredly cats, which the cast, as always, totally sells. But it takes away from the real star of the episode: Ivan.

While this wasn’t the exact kind of fish out of water humor I wanted, I loved everything to do with Ivan searching for a new team to work with. The fact he goes after the least likely candidates ups the comedy, and the moment I saw him approach the old women I was dying. I just wish we had gotten to see more of this little band and how he recruited them all. We have all this set up with Shelby wanting Ivan to join the team, but it never goes anywhere.

Maybe Shelby could have stuck by Ivan while Kendall solely dealt with the guys? Or we could have just started the episode with the fight, so we’d have more time with Ivan. Davi Santos is absolutely crushing it in the role, and I want more of him. He’s got a fun character to play and he’s hamming it up. He knows exactly the kind of show Power Rangers is and isn’t holding back.

While the B-plot isn’t anything to write home about, I enjoy how much focus the show gives Shelby with her as the only female Ranger (for now, anyway). She’s constantly shown to be on top of things, and the more I see her prove herself, the more I feel as though she should be the one running the team over Tyler.

Meanwhile, Ivan brings his self-titled, “Knights of Amber Beach” to fight Poisandra and the other monsters. They include the previously mentioned old woman on a scooter, a magician, a crossing guard, a tuba player, and a referee. They even do a pose! Get this team to Power Morphicon ASAP. Get them their own show. I would kill for a season with a cast this diverse in terms of age. Could use more women, but that’s ALWAYS a complaint with Power Rangers.

Regardless, the team quickly disbands, and the other Rangers come to save Ivan after some helpful words from Keeper.

After defeating the monster, we get yet another flashback to Ivan finding the Gold Energem, this time showing how he bonded to it. I get they finally wanted to show how Fury absorbed him, but we get it. This flashback has been beaten into the ground. What I want more of? Show us what it was like inside Fury for so long! Ivan off-handedly remarks that he dealt with “800 years of darkness” but he doesn’t seem all that effected by this. Why? Was he not awake? Or was he aware the whole time and just trying to cover it up with humor?

One of the things I actually liked about Power Rangers Super Megaforce was the character of Orion. He had a tragic backstory but was still a slightly goofy character. Same with Dex from Masked Rider. Their tragic backstory only helped to elevate the comedic situations they ended up in. Okay, I’m reading way too much into Masked Rider, but you get the idea. As much as I want Ivan to be wacky, I do want some gravitas with this guy. Maybe he’s using his flippant over the top attitude to mask the pain? Or maybe it’s just Power Rangers, and he’ll be super mega wacky. Only time will tell!

Stray Thoughts:

-Nice to see that they not only updated the intro to include Ivan but also the prologue.

-I’m surprised they let Ivan use his actual sword as much as they have. PR tends to stay away from any weapon that looks too real.

-The hotshot lines in reference to Chase need to stop. We’re getting one a week, and it’s starting to get annoying.

-Keeper hasn’t done anything significant in a while. When is he going to kick some ass?

-What is with the coloring on the Gold Ranger’s suit in American footage?

-The music this season hasn’t been amazing but whatever cue was used for the Knights of Amber Beach intro? That was solid.