Season 24, Halloween Special: Grave Robber

"Grave Robber"

Halloween Special

Air Date: October 7th, 2017

Well, this was definitely a MUCH better than expected Halloween special.  You what I'vew noticed with this series/season??? "Ninja Steel" is actually not that bad when the weakest elements of the show aren't present.  There's no generic Galvanax who amounts to nothing when he appears and the biggest, most problematic one: Victor and Monty are no where to be found! Thank GOD!!! O_O  Seriously, it amazes me how much the show improves in quality when those to are hardly in or complete absent from an episode as the stronger elements of the show are on display.  The chemistry of this cast feels a lot strong when it's solely focusing on them and not the idiotic shenanigans that usually happen around them.  Yes, I really enjoyed seeing just the team interacting and just trying to find a way out of their situation by thinking outside the box; not even having Mick or Redbot there to help them and having to figure out how to beat Cosmo's game on their own despite him cheating.  It made the episode a lot more more entertaining and even have a bit more stakes than usual for a typical episode of this show.

Speaking of Cosmo Royal, this episode also highlights that HE should have been the main antagonist of the first season (we'll see with season two but.....) my goodness, Cosmo is so different from a typical PR villain with motives so beyond what we've seen before.  Just putting the rangers in constant dangerous situation just for the entertainment of an intergalactic game show is still such a brilliant idea for the show and like this episode, there are moments where that aspect of the show really shines because Cosmo being the main villain here makes the concept work so much better.  It makes more sense for him to be the main villain than Galvanax, who sounds and acts, nothing more than your basic monster of the week. -_-  The idea of Cosmo Royal's ongoing battle with the rangers just for entertainment across the universe is just such an awesome thematic opposition to the rangers' taking things more serious given their ninja calling and what's at stake if their power stars fall into the wrong hands.  Sigh....such missed opportunity is all I'm saying and this episode is a clear indication of why it was such a missed opportunity. :(

Meanwhile, Levi needs to learn a lesson about hanging out with people despite not liking what they are doing from Mick as always but I just don't get the point of the lesson.  Levi seemed uninterested but suddenly it turns out he doesn't want to hang out with them because of not some dumb board game but they don't want to do what he wants to do.  Not saying it's far fetched but it wasn't exactly the smartest way to keep Levi out of the action until the very end to force some stupid lesson about selfishness and friendship!!??? Ewwwwww....sigh....leave Power Rangers alone! You knew what you signed of for a long time ago.  Anyway, Levi joins the battle finally and helps his teammates beat Cosmo's game, blah, blah, blah.  Ummmm do high school students go trick or treating??? Last time I checked they didn't??? I know it's a kids show but be realistic at least here guys! lol Besides that, a very solid Halloween episode! :)

Final Morph: A-