Season 23, Episode 5: Roar of the Red Ranger

"Roar of the Red Ranger"

Episode 5

Air Date: February 27th, 2016

......Huh!? o_o.......Not exactly the wrap up I was expecting for such a major storyline that began at the start of last season up until this point! I don't know.....something feels so painfully anti-climatic throughout "Roar of the Red Ranger" and instead of getting that rewarding feeling of when one of the main story arcs of the season(s) concluded, Tyler finally reuniting with his dad is about as unsatisfying as it gets unfortunately.  The episode starts off strong with Tyler showing the rest of the rangers an old time capsule that has things he bonded with his father while Singe plots a sinister new plan involving a powerful new monster.  But as soon as the episode gets to Tyler talking to Shelby about looking for his dad in the same cave area that Rusty told him about is where the episode quickly fumbles toward a heavily mediocre finish.  Tyler becomes so out of character; becoming almost obsessive about his father's disappearance that he'd risk his own life to try to find him while Shelby needs to calm him down to remind him that his father may or may not have made aka he wouldn't want his son risking his life for him.  Suddenly, Tyler lashes out at Shelby, tells her "she doesn't know him" and runs off like some pathetic entitled brat....ummmm WHAT!??? It just utterly bizarre and poorly written when up to this point, Tyler has been so level headed about his ranger duties and finding his dad at the same time.  There was always this nice balance with Tyler's character and his personal story arc....but now the writers play on some unnecessary and borderline laughable melodrama just to up the stakes when things get even worse once Tyler get infected by Singe's virus. -_-  Yeah....speaking of that virus.....

So Singe's plan....what exactly was the point of it!??  Not to mention, it creates one of the strangest and goofiest dilemmas a ranger team has gone up against.  So he sends his monster, Ninja (Ummmm these monster names have been very basic these two seasons, what happened to the puns???! O_o :P) to infect the rangers' tech aka when Kendall has finished the new T-Rex Supercharge mode for Tyler to try out.  How convenient they don't notice the virus when the infection takes place but even more absurd what happens when the virus infects the supercharge battery.  Tyler turns into a T-Rex and no....not an actual T-Rex but mentally he starts acting like a T-Rex which leads to his helmet growling and roaring while he attacks the rest of the team and escapes.  Ok one, what's up with the hilarious, cartoonish visual of Tyler's helmet coming to life when it would have been MUCH more believable without such an effect. Two, how the hell was this a great plan when it turns Tyler out of control, yet after his plan works, he apparently has left Tyler vulnerable for them to destroy.....ummmm WHAT!??? How bout NO! -_- Three, how come Kendall's hypno charger didn't work on T-Rex Tyler??? Four, man was some of the dialogue clunky and dumb as hell in this episode.  "Angritized him???" Really?!! -_-  But honestly the biggest letdown is the final reveal of Tyler's father as the Aqua Ranger.

I just don't get why he decided to reveal himself to Tyler now of all moments when he's known the Dino Charge Rangers have been active heroes for like over a year now!!! Why did he and Rusty keep it a secret from Tyler???  Why did he keep away from his family for 10 years without even letting them know he was at least okay and survived!??? O_O  It's just all so jarring from the Aqua Ranger demorphing to reveal himself to be Tyler's father to the horrific ADR over his actor's dialogue.  I guessing the actor just couldn't pull off a convincing  American accent but it just makes every time Tyler's father talks look absolutely fake, even phoned in.  So unnatural and distracting! O_O  Oh and the tawdry resolution at the end between Tyler and Shelby makes no sense.  Once again, Tyler's character was seriously so odd and frustrating this episode; becoming almost immediately unlikable because of it.  Even when he and his dad are playing that game of catch they were suppose to ten years ago, you're left with more....way more questions than this touching moment tries to convey. Oh and Tyler gets his new T-Rex Supercharge mode which he uses to beat Ninja on his own in battle.  Finally, the Supercharge in the title makes sense.....only it STILL doesn't cause only Tyler gets the upgrade not the rest of the team so every time they do their roll call and say "Dino Supercharge" it's becoming infuriatingly nonsensical!!!! -_- Yay!??? As you can see....I didn't like this episode and how it handled the climax of such a strong, promising story arc for Tyler with how detached the rest of the episode feels from what was set up before.  It's not the worst thing, but man was a huge clunk of a dud on one of this season's ongoing plots.

Final Morph: D