Power Rangers Season 27 Overview (Beast Morphers)

Power Rangers Season 27 (Beast Morphers Season 2)

Average episode rating: 6.4/10 (holding steady from Season 26, Beast Morphers' debut, with 6.3/10)

The Hasbro era of Power Rangers has gotten off to a solid start with two seasons of Beast Morphers. At least some of the goodwill toward this team might be due to where we just came from. The Neo-Saban era is unequivocally the worst in the show's long history; Dino Charge is the only genuinely good incarnation it produced, with the follow-up Ninja Steel slipping on a banana peel week after week. But even divorcing Beast Morphers from the context of looking good by comparison, it still stands out with its attention to detail, mostly solid character development, bursts of creativity, and an on-point cast.

Its second season, Power Rangers' 27th overall, also made the fan-pleasing decision to embrace more continuity. So main villain Evox was revealed to be a mutation of RPM baddie Venjix, Doctor K showed up as a guest mentor a couple times, and of course, a dinosaur-themed team-up event made a huge noise even if it sacrificed some elegance to do so.

At the end of Season 26, the original digital avatars of Roxy and Blaze were defeated, freeing their human selves from comas. Going into Season 27, the potential of these characters seemed limitless. Here were two people who had been intensively trained to be the Yellow and Red Rangers. They could assist the team in any number of ways, including in unmorphed fights or even, if the show felt ambitious, as sixth and seventh Rangers.

But that is not even close to the direction the show took, to its cost. Roxy and Blaze were retained as robot villains in addition to their human bodies. I get it. Colby Strong, and especially Liana Ramirez, give excellent arch-villain performances. But human Blaze, whose spiky personality caused friction at the outset of this team, had a personality lobotomy that made him 100% docile and inoffensive, to the point where Blaze evincing a dissenting opinion meant he must be the robot in disguise. The gaping missed opportunity of using human Roxy and Blaze as secondary team members or Grid Battleforce allies is the single biggest demerit on this season.

But evil or not, Roxy and Blaze are assets in this cast. Ben and Betty were sometimes assets as well, and sometimes victim to the same Wile E. Coyote logic that animated, God help us, Victor and Monty in Ninja Steel.

One area in which this cast excels is roles for women. There is a female Ranger (Zoey), a formidable mentor (Commander Shaw), a deliciously evil villain (Roxy), and broad comic relief (Betty), all appealing. That's all four quadrants! The only other season to match it in all four "quadrants" is Dino Thunder: Ranger (Kira), mentor (Hayley), villain (Elsa), comic relief (Cassidy).

While still prone to wonky Saturday morning logic at times, Season 27 is a success, and Beast Morphers overall is a hopeful sign that the Neo-Saban era's low standards are banished. Next on Power Rangers: Dino Fury.