Upon seeing the preview clips for this episode I was a little concerned with the campiness that would come forth. However, I have to say that this episode was incredibly enjoyable as we move into a new story-arc! In this episode we are introduced to a powerful new enemy who immediately sees the error in her ways and begins to turn on Galvanax. Sarah gets a ton of focus and begins to cement herself as a powerful and humane Pink Ranger. The Zord footage was beautiful and Victor and Monty continue to delve deeper and deeper into mediocrity. Let’s take a look back at some of the more memorable moments of “The Royal Rival,” Be Prepared, I may gush about Princess Viera a bit 😀
Princess Viera: I simply fell in love with Viera as soon as she walked out onto the Galaxy Warrior’s stage! Her armor and awesome black lion cape were an iconic addition to her costume and I loved how the costume department decided to dress her as the Ruler of the Lion Galaxy. Ruby Love was giving me some serious “Divatox,” “Astronema” or “Camille” vibes in her acting and of course I am a sucker for those powerful Female roles!
With a new strong Female Character introduced in this episode I don’t think that she wavered in any way including how she stood up to Galvanax after Sarah saved her from the collapsing balcony. She learned at that moment that the Power Rangers themselves were not the true enemy and as soon as she found out this information she knew that Galvanax had not been truthful with her and stood up to him immediately. She showed no fear of him, unlike many of his lackeys, and spoke to him like an equal which was fantastic. Plus it was incredibly epic to see her command Drillion as her subordinate with just a simple placing of her fingers and he would do her bidding! What power, I simply love her!
Later, we see her befriend Sarah and chase down a boy she assumed was a thief. As she does this she transforms herself into a floating cloak and is able to catch up with him; Awesome!
(I wonder if her transformation skills are connected to something? hmmmm…)
Among more of her amazing attributes, during the ending sequence she takes control of her Lion Ship, after escaping from the Warrior Dome and Galvanax’s grasp, and swoops in to save the almost defeated Power Rangers and blasts away at her treacherous former lackey! Her strength and power exhibited at the helm/cockpit of the Lion Ship as she blasts away at Drillion as he screams “No Princess, Don’t!” amongst the darkened sky was one of the best moments in this episode and all of Ninja Steel so far!
I can’t wait to see what happens to her character in the next episode!
Sarah’s Business Lesson: As Princess Viera was a strong Female presence in this episode, Sarah showed strong lessons of humility and compassion in this episode as well. While Sarah had a focus episode that showcased her intelligence with “Hack Attack,” I feel that this episode more showcased her intelligence and compassion for others. This I feel is a much better demonstration for who she is as a character and I was happy that she got another episode to convey this.
For her school project, Sarah’s business was interesting, as she created a machine that mixes disgusting foods together and creates a delicious cookie! Sarah took her business to the streets, as it worked perfectly, and began serving people in the city. It was at this moment that Viera in disguise began to spy on her and the other Power Rangers. It was during this that Viera approaches her and tries one of her cookies, then a thief steals the box! Viera chases him and is able to catch him, but Sarah orders her to release him. Sarah hears that the reason the thief, Billy, is stealing is because his siblings are hungry. Then, In the goodness of her heart, Sarah offers to give her cookie business to Billy so that he doesn’t have to steal anymore and so that he can make money to feed his brothers and sisters. Later, it is revealed that Sarah would be taking an F for her project because she has done this. A total selfless act on her part.
Sarah Finds Out Who Viera Is: I don’t have much to say about this moment besides how awesome Sarah’s pose is here. I just simply love how badass Sarah has become so far this season. She is not only incredibly smart and compassionate but she is powerful and beautiful as well. She is becoming the embodiment of what a Pink Ranger is.
So far, she is overlapping in badassery over Mia and Emma for sure.
Drillion: Lord Drillion was the most formidable monster the Rangers have ever had to face to date with the power of drills and the ability to throw powerful saws! He was even able to snap the Ninja Star Blades in half and destroy several of the Ranger’s elemental Power Stars!
What made this monster very interesting to me was that in the beginning he was very loyal to his Princess, Viera, but as soon as she showed a glimpse of strength against Galvanax and support for the Rangers he regarded it as weakness and set out on his own path of treachery. Of course, Galvanax offered him rule over the Lion Galaxy should Viera be defeated.
What impressed me as well about this monster is that he not only destroyed many of the Rangers’ weapons but he also took on the Rangers’ new Megazord combination, the Fusion Zord and completely annihilated it to the point where the Rangers could not hold the combination anymore and were thrown from the cockpit sending their Zords flying! Epic Zord footage!
While he was chased away by Princess Viera in her Lion Ship for the time being, I see that he will most likely be a force to be reckoned with in the next episode as well.
Victor & Monty: Every week I wonder to myself: are kids actually laughing at this? I actually sit and watch the Victor and Monty scenes and think whether or not that this humor is even funny to children watching Power Rangers.
This week Victor and Monty decide to one-up Sarah’s business by selling Milk fresh from the source but Victor couldn’t figure out where the Milk actually came from…..Monty actually had to use his phone to find out where the Milk came from on a cow.
Of course, we get another of their messy moments where all of the milk splatters onto Victor in a scene which could disturb any adult Power Rangers viewer…..
To make matters even stranger, apparently Victor stole the cow because he thought the cow was wild (cause there are all kinds of wild cows around in Summer Cove….) and then later gets the two of them into trouble with the police. The two end up in a line up with some other thugs only to be identified by the, you guessed it, same cow they poached. I face-palmed, did you? Sigh.
While we do sometimes come upon filler episodes in Ninja Steel that make us scratch our heads and wonder why, this episode is not one of them. This episode is definitely one of my favorites out of the season so far. We got a powerful Female character who stood up to the Villains and befriended the Power Rangers at great personal risk to herself and to her kingdom. She also protected her new friends by coming in guns blazing to attempt to defeat her treacherous General with the new Powerful Lion Ship, which we all know will become the Rangers’ new Zord addition!
Sarah and Viera were the true stars of this episode and the Female power showed through in all aspects without Brody the Red Ranger having to steal any of the limelight. Bravo, on that. I simply enjoyed this episode and can’t wait to see the conclusion next week!