Season 9, Episode 23: Full Exposure

"Full Exposure"
Episode 23
Air Date: July 14th, 2001

I always really liked this episode and how it addresses a certain topic that has never been put to the forefront of an episode before: the rangers' identities being exposed.  It's funny because we're use to the villains already knowing what the rangers look like demorphed and yes, if I have to bring it up again, Bulk and Skull's arc for Season 2 of MMPR was trying to find out the rangers' identities so they could be famous.  But there was never really a lesson developed around the concept and why the rangers' secret identities are so important.  Here, we meet Peter Park....I mean Mitch, a young photographer who's been secretly taking pictures of the rangers for a gossip column on a newspaper called the Inquisitor.  Turns out his boss, J. Jonna Jame....I mean, random boss of a newspaper tells him he needs to get pictures of the rangers' faces or he'll be fired.  Mitch decides to get an assistant to help with his extensive equipment for his film shooting and goes to the Nick of Time Odd Jobs.  I love how the rangers are reading the Inquisitor and laughing at the absurdity of the paper's stories before Mitch arrives.  lol

I also LOVE how they chose to put Katie at the center of the storyline and after she figures out that Mitch is trying to expose the rangers to the public, he trying to protect the team while also trying to convince Mitch to stop his assignment.  It leads to a nice scene of them bonding and Katie trying to make him see he should go after the photos he wants to take instead of revealing the rangers' identities.  BUT during an another attack nearby, while Katie sneaks off to join the other rangers to fight Artillicon, Mitch manages to get there soon after and snags some pictures of the rangers after they demorph because of a massive blast the mutant sends back at them.  We see Katie soon confronting Mitch after he develops the pics and tells him how dangerous it will be for them if their identities are exposed but Mitch is adamant about furthering his career and refuses to not give his boss the pictures.  Next, what follows is a random rescuing sequence when Katie has to save Mitch when he gets trapped in an elevator when Artillicon attacks the building.  I mean, the sequence of Katie stopping the elevator with her strength is just ridiculous considering her hands should have been severely damaged by holding the metal wire to it but Power Rangers! Real world logic doesn't exist here!!! -_-  Anyway, after Katie saves him, Mitch is shocked she did considering how he is about to out the rangers but Katie reminds him how selfless she is and runs on to help the other rangers.

We get some terrific cuts of Sentai footage of the Time Force Rangers battling the Cyclobots before turning their attention to Artillicon.  They manage to combine their Chrono Sabers and V-Weapons to defeat him, but he just reveals his mutant DNA and grows! Circuit summons the Time Flyers and the rangers use both Mode Blue and Red of the megazord to defeat him.  The episode concludes with Mitch returning the pictures to Katie and letting the rangers know he had a change of heart.  It's a nice quota on the episode and it's kind of amazing how believable Mitch's turn around is.  I think it's because both actors had good chemistry as I could see the blossoming friendship built between Katie and Mitch in such a short time. Really well done!  A spectacular episode all around, even if Katie's hands just be seriously messed up! lol

Final Morph: A