Season 5, Episode 14: A Drive To Win

"A Drive To Win"
Episode 14
Air Date: May 19th, 1997

Wow!!! Another decent episode??? And one that actually moves the plot forward by continuing the plot of "The Millennium Message" by introducing two new characters in Carlos and Ashley.  Carlos is a stubborn, cocky young player on the Angel Grove High Soccer team that Adam is coaching.  He's having problems being a team player and is always hogging the soccer ball for himself.  First, Adam tries to teach him about the importance of team work, then it's Ashley.  Ashley is the head cheerleader for Angel Grove High and finds an interest in Carlos.  I love their scenes together as there is an immediate chemistry between the two actors.  I'm glad it was Ashley who finally made Carlos realize the importance of teamwork and sharing the glory with his teammates.  In the end, he passes the ball to a fellow teammate; helping the team to score and win the game.  Isn't it sad that Carlos and Ashley has been on screen for only a handle full of minutes and their character development comes off so much stronger than what we've seen from the rangers so far this season. Just so sad.  But it's nice that these characters were introduced a couple of episodes early before the mid-season cast switch as there are many reasons for it.

Divatox has been quiet apparently, making the rangers wonder what she is up to.  Apparently, she's been working on stopping the Millennium Message from coming to pass and when she sees Carlos and Ashley, she immediately sends a squad of Piranathron to attack them.  This is some nice foreshadowing as clearly Carlos and Ashley are apart of that message that Divatox say.  But what could they have to do with the millennium message you say??? Well, we'll find out next season!!! :)  But I have to say this is the smartest thing Divatox has done so far this season by just forgetting about the "current" rangers and worrying about the "future" rangers that stand in her way.  It's a surprising bit of excellent writing in a season so full of incompetent writing so far.  Even the rangers wondering why she would randomly attack the soccer practice was a nice scene as we the audience know what is going on.

The monster of the week plot though is superfluous at best.  Elgar and a latest monster, Electrovolt are sent to distract the Turbo rangers while Divatox has a detonator planted at the soccer game to blow Carlos and Ashley up.  Also, once again, the Sentai footage is just overly bizarre with Adam continuously spinning endless and having the Blue Senturion randomly come in to help.  The zord fight is also pretty quick with the Robo Racer and Turbo Megazord quickly combining forces to destroy the monster once and for all. Either way, "A Drive To Win" is a surprisingly excellent episode and the best so far this season.  I liked the continuation of exploring the plot point made in the last episode by introducing two new interesting characters that will play a much bigger role this season in the next few episodes. :)

Final Morph: A-