YOPR: 53. Fowl Play

On April 19, MIGHTY MORPHIN POWER RANGERS: ONCE AND ALWAYS premieres on Netflix. I’m writing about all 60 episodes of MMPR’s first season in the lead-up to that premiere. 

If you’d like to follow along on this rewatch, entirety of MMPR’s first season is available for free (with ads) on YouTube.

53. Fowl Play

One-sentence synopsis: Brains over brawn.

Why it matters: Aside from an obvious frustration – Zack and Angela’s most recent encounter going completely unmentioned in an episode where she shows plenty of affection – there’s so much good slice-of-life stuff at work here that so greatly demonstrates why Mighty Morphin Power Rangers works. If this was your first encounter with the show, you’d come away impressed by the suits and fights, sure, but the human interactions between the aforementioned characters, their peers and the kids they’re helping would immediately ground you in the world they inhabit. If you’re a series vet, all those elements are informed and enriched by what you’ve watched previously; when Angela remarks on how good Zack is with kids, you’re beaming with pride as much as he is because you’ve watched him teach hip-hop kiddo in the park and boost the self-confidence of youngsters lacking in that department. When he tricks Bulk into calling himself a goon, it comes across more playful than mean-spirited because you know that’s who Zack is. He’s a child at heart, probably more than any of the heroes, and was the perfect choice to have at the center of “Fowl Play.”

Episode MVP: Ernie. What I most enjoy about this episode is that its overarching story is confined to a single location, the Juice Bar. Sometimes that can be a limiting factor, but here it’s used cleverly, in coordination with stage-show magic, to help Zack explain away an extended absence amid a Ranger ordeal. There’s a moment leading up to that where Ernie specifically calls out for Zack to look at the TV screen, where a news report shows Rita’s latest monster wreaking havoc. It’s probably nothing – Ernie just being caught off guard by the latest attack on Angel Grove, or a throwaway line in a script – but I like to think that Ernie knows – or at least strongly believes – Zack (and his friends) are the Power Rangers, and chooses to never acknowledge it directly. He, more than anybody, watches them come and go en masse, and more than any regular citizen praises out loud the feats of his city’s heroes. Inadvertently or intently, Ernie’s always on their side.

A good quote: “I’ll do everything within my power to show you what a real peck on the cheek feels like.” – Rita

Rating: 4/5 dodgeball balloons