Power Rangers Beast Morphers: Crunch Time Review

PRBM "Crunch Time"

All this season, I've wanted the human Roxy and Blaze to take on a bigger role. "Crunch Time" features Blaze creating drama within the show and contributing to the fight, but the episode pulls the rug out from under this and reveals it was the Robot Blaze pretending to be the human all along. So "Crunch Time" is an episode that cruelly and annoyingly gives me half of what I want, before revealing it was all a fake-out.

Robot Blaze (apparently having gotten his hair dye reversed by unseen interdimensional stylists) constructively critiques Devon's leadership decisions as the Red Ranger, helps out during a monster fight, and points out that the Ranger team minus Ravi have had it easy, skipping the rigorous cadet training stages. While his abrasiveness should've been toned down if this was the human Blaze, this is exactly what I would want out of that character. But then it all gets undermined, and Zoey says the line:

"No wonder Blaze was acting like such a jerk! It wasn't the real Blaze!"

...

Yes, because human Blaze has been neutered of any personality beyond bland support of the Rangers. This plotline casts a somewhat poor light on Devon too, who's so easily manipulated by an outside agent. Especially because Blaze's more hardline approach to leadership so clearly throws Cruise under the bus. Dial down Blaze's attitude a bit, and this could've been dramatic gold. If only Power Rangers didn't take the possession/imposter route like it so often does.

The climax of the episode is unique, a zord fight inside Grid Battleforce's hangar. From a storytelling standpoint it's chaotic, from a plot standpoint, dangerous. In the end, Evox's personally piloted Omega Gigadrone self-destructs, and Evox is captured in a force field. But maybe, like Loki, Raoul Silva, and so many other villains before him, Evox is exactly where he wants to be.

"Crunch Time" is frustrating because the bones of what it presents have so much potential. It's almost like the writers know that they can't do the drama with Blaze for real, so they couch it in whatever half-measure they can. At least Scrozzle gets a decent joke on the failing Railtron: "I thought trains were supposed to run on time!" 5/10.