This Power Rangers Beast Morphers review contains spoilers.
Power Rangers Beast Morphers Episode 11
Just as the Rangers set up a Gigadrone detector in this episode, I think I’ve figured out a way to detect if a Power Rangers Beast Morphers story will be above average. The key thing to watch out for? How Ben and Betty are utilized. If they’re only there for jokes, including pie in the face style gags? Probably not amazing. If they’re integrated into the plot and contribute something worthwhile? There’s a good shot it’ll be good, like this one!
The moment those two showed up with the broken VR headset and Zoey covered for them, I knew ‘Tools of the Betrayed’ would be something different. Sure, Ben and Betty still got up to shenanigans but it helped further the main plot. They didn’t just appear in two scenes for laughs, they helped develop the story between Zoey and Devon. Ben and Betty have a lot of charm when used correctly and I was very pleased to see that here. You can see why the Rangers think of them as friends and I hope we’ll see more of this kind of interaction in the future.
Thanks to them, Zoey isn’t just lying to Devon because the story needs it to be that way. It tells us something about her, that she thinks her friendship with Devon is strong enough to withstand a small lie. It’s the right time to tell a story like this, testing the characters bonds with each other just as they’ve seemingly gotten comfortable with the status quo. The whole disagreement was well done, especially for Power Rangers as of late that seems to avoid too much conflict. Devon discovers the lie not at the end of the episode but in the middle, letting the repercussions play out.
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When it’s all resolved at the end of the episode we get Zoey admitting that being dishonest made it hard for Devon to trust her and Devon does acknowledge she was trying to do something nice. Crucially he doesn’t totally absolve her actions but he’s willing to accept them. The whole arc of this plot was delightfully well paced, which has been another problem that’s plagued Power Rangers for a while. The fights usually feel tacked on but here they were engaging thanks to the set up of Zoey’s lie and the threat of the monster.
read more: Power Rangers: A Guide To The Multiverse
Is being able to take apart a morpher at will the most powerful weapon a monster has ever had in Power Rangers? Probably! The monster even threatens to dissemble Steel! That’s threatening as all hell and makes the fights with it far more memorable than any other monster we’ve seen this season.
Overall this episode felt like everything on Beast Morphers was taking a step up. Even the music, which has often felt like an albatross around the series’ neck, stood out in the opening scene. The villain plot still doesn’t feel all that engaging and the notion you can just make a new morpher with ease feels a bit cheap, but this is still an above average entry for Beast Morphers. Hopefully the rest of the season involves Ben and Betty like they did here. If they do, we should have a great rest of the season to look forward to.
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Shamus Kelley is a pop culture/television writer and official Power Rangers expert. Follow him on Twitter! Read more articles by him here!