YOPR: 48. Plague of the Mantis
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.
One-sentence synopsis: Never trust a six-foot tall, talking insect.
Why it matters: It’s been a minute since Trini was the focus of an episode, and after a long gap we’re treated to … this. Trini the martial artist isn’t something that’s explicitly been touched upon outside of her familial connection to a world-renowned practitioner, so it’s easy to forget that — early in the show — it is something in which she shows an interest. The rediscovery of it here in service of a focus episode isn't a bad way to go, but the execution feels half-baked. It’s not unbelievable that Trini would feel compelled to focus on honor in her fighting — she’s, without a doubt, the most tender of MMPR’s six spandex-donners — but to be shamed by one of Rita’s monsters for daring to fight it as a team? There’s naivity, and then there’s whatever Trini displays here. It’d play better if it were one of MMPR’s first few episodes; after dozens of battles, it’s just difficult to swallow.
Episode MVP: Bug stuff. Two things — the callbacks to Zack’s hatred of bugs and Bulk’s scheme to create a new bug-themed martial art — provide levity in an episode that otherwise gets fairly dour. The Bulk stuff, in particular, is rather insightful: he scoffs at the idea of something like praying mantis technique — which, if you can believe it, is a real form of martial art — and figures he can carve out a piece of the instructional market if he finds a bug to model movements after. It’s cynical, exploitive and … totally how real-life people respond to things that they find mockable.
A good quote: “This could be tasty.” — Baboo
Rating: 2/5 cockroaches