Power Rangers Super Megaforce: Emperor Mavro review

This Power Rangers Super Megaforce review contains spoilers.

I don’t know what happened in the Power Rangers Super Megaforce writers room the day this episode was written. They had just come off a two parter that, while amazing, was more of a finale to Megaforce than an episode of Super Megaforce. So they come back and just decide, “You know what? Let’s actually do something awesome. Let’s show the characters out of suit doing things. Let’s have not only unmorphed fighting but helmetless fighting as well. Let’s have some real stakes. We may make a few cheats along the way, but we’re going all out this week.”

Is this episode perfect? No. Far from it. It actually has a lot of little things that when you add them all up becomes a big pile of, “Wait… What? How… Why?” I can forgive nitpicks like that however when we finally get what I’ve been asking for since the start of Megaforce. Character moments that tie into the action.  (Okay but really quickly, how did they all pull their guns out when they aren’t morphed? How did Troy partially morph? SO MANY QUESTIONS!)

We start off with a fight that the Rangers easily win and they all celebrate by giving each other piggyback rides, Orion even offering one to Troy, which was too adorable for words. Not only that, but Troy buys tickets to a Rock Concert and Orion has no idea what that even is. “I worked in a rock quarry. We had quartz, limestone…” It’s little bits like that that endear me these characters. It fleshes them out a bit. Gives them a bit of dimension and helps me connect to later action when they’re fighting for their lives.

We also have the Rangers talking about what’s been going on with the Armada, thinking that by defeating Vekar and Vrak the worst is over. Oh how wrong they are. Damaras escapes and quickly makes short work of the Rangers, forcing them to demorph. Jake tries to protect Troy but isn’t able to muster enough strength and Troy is taken to the ship.

Putting aside the fact that by having not only an original suit for Emperor Mavro, but a perfect recreation of the original set they should have done more with, Troy being held by the villains is nothing short of brilliant. It adds real stakes. Sure, Orion was held by Vrak last week but he was asleep the whole time. He never seemed like he was in danger. Here, Troy is blindfolded and was badly beat up in the fight earlier.

Before we get to the climax, can we take just a brief moment to say the music wasn’t godawful this week? The incidental music the past four years has been some of the worst in Power Rangers history. It’s unmemorable and inspires nothing in the audience. This week however we get what sounded like a funeral march mixed with an organ. Thanks Noam Kaniel, you tried this week!

Jake tries to attend to the other Rangers while Gosei offers no help (good on winning the award for worst mentor ever Gosei). Seeing the whole team messed up like this is a refreshing change of pace, especially when we see them in the cave. Meanwhile, Troy is strung up in front of everyone in the city (with a blindfold that apparently hides his secret identity.) We even get a reaction shot from Ernie! Look at that Super Megaforce, using your side characters to up those stakes.

Jake runs to save Troy (again with his gun while unmorphed) to distract Damaras while Tensu of all people frees Troy (and doing more than Gosei ever has.) The Rangers morph, use their toys to defeat Damaras and when he cries out, “How did these puny rangers defeat me?” and the team responds with, “TOGETHER!” It works! It works because we’ve seen them all working together to support each other this episode. It isn’t hollow like when they defeated Vekar because they were “chosen to be Rangers” or whatever.

The episode ends with the Rangers heading to a concert of stock footage with Mia and Antonio from Super Samurai because…. I won’t even try to figure it out. At least we get to see Orion having some fun.

So for all of the “Why?!” in this episode we get some genuine fun moments with Troy, Orion, and Jake. Especially with Orion being out of action for the past two parter it was great to see him get a little focus. Also, we’re two episodes away from the finale! At least they’re building up some tension for it finally, so hopefully we’ll get some payoff. Oh also, Antonio and Mia were in town but did nothing about the attack. THANKS.

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