“Monkey Business” was another great entry into the Ninja Steel episodes, even though it happened to be filler. What got my attention first and foremost was that it was going to be a focus episode on both Hayley and Calvin! In this episode we got to see both of them in a new light which allowed them both to finally have a slight bit more of the spotlight. Tons of cute moments between the actors take place and if you blink you may just miss the many quirks in their faces. So watch closely; which is one reason why I love this cast, they are just so fun to watch!
We had a very interesting, if goofy, monster who had quite a diabolical plan to steal the Ninja Power Stars. My only complaint is that this week we returned to the standard messy foibles of the terrible two. Let’s look back at some of the moments that made up this episode.
Hayley and Calvin: We’ve seen them be emotionally attached and we’ve seen them hold hands and cuddle, but this episode we got to see a more in-depth look into Hayley and Calvin’s relationship. Nico Greetham and Zoe Robins truly have extreme chemistry on-screen together and I can easily see why these two were cast to be partners on the show. Each moment with them flows perfectly as if they are not only friends, but it is actually really believable that they are in a relationship. The silly, the romantic and the friendship are all evident in their scenes together and that’s exactly what is needed to make a television relationship believable.
The Election: I loved every second of the election moments between Hayley and Calvin. Each scene was a “one-up” moment for each of them. Hayley put up signs, so Calvin put up a bigger sign. Calvin handed out custom balloons, so Hayley somehow got her hands on a giant hot air balloon and gave away free rides. Where did she get the money for that, by the way?
Calvin took a little bit of a low blow, because they had seemed to have made amends with each other after a sweet kiss on the cheek. However, after that moment Calvin unveiled that he had used Hayley’s mother’s recipe for cupcakes and began to give them away to voters. But, luckily Hayley had something more up her sleeve and used her mother’s even more famous cake recipe to give away to her voters. Unfortunately, this was all cut short because of the food fight….
I loved all of these interactions between them especially in the beginning of the episode when Hayley kind of dissed Calvin saying that he was unreliable (because he had overslept earlier in the episode) and inspired him to run against her. But after Hayley heard Calvin give his speech about being just a simple Mechanic, being able to fix anything and that he’d want to do that for the school; she saw that he was just as fit to be President. Although, it was a little strange later on that she sort of went back on what she said when she told him that after he had proven himself to her as a worthy opponent he “didn’t need to run anymore”…. what the hell Hayley? They were both being very sweet but with a touch of shade at the same time.
However, the ending was perfect as both Hayley and Calvin congratulated each other that they were both fit to be president and that maybe neither of them should be in the first place. They both dropped out of the race, which in my opinion I didn’t really like. I loved that they forgave each other and admitted they were wrong and made up, but I wanted to see at least one of them take the role of President. Making Victor President by default to me is disgusting, and a little bit of a betrayal to the storyline.
But, I know they’re already working too hard being Power Rangers.
Phonepanzee: This little monkey monster was a pretty interesting idea. He was pretty stupid in the beginning of the episode (alerting the Rangers to his location immediately), but with a great idea. Plus his Sonic Boom with the use of the Rangers names was a pretty powerful and tricky attack! Tricking the Rangers with their very own voices is a pretty brilliant idea, especially in this day and age what with each of the Rangers having a cellphone. Also, where can I get that ringtone Brody has? 😀
He was able to trick almost all of the Rangers and obtain 3 of the Ninja Power Stars and keep 3 of the Rangers captive while his plan was in effect.
One thing that was pretty amazing though is that even when he had turned into the Rangers’ voices he never actually turned the Rangers against each other viciously. Sure, they may have been a little tiffed but their friendship was always in tact.
Mick’s Talk & Levi’s Call: After Hayley received a call from Brody telling her that Calvin had started the food fight she ran into Mick. Mick, always being the voice of reason to these crazy teens, wonders why all of a sudden that Calvin would start a food fight and why Brody would suddenly turn on him. Hello! It doesn’t make any sense, and this finally begins to bring some doubt into Hayley’s mind. Thanks Mick for being reason!
Later she runs into Levi who gets a call from Phonepanzee disguising his voice as Hayley…while Hayley is standing in front of him!
Hayley’s Badassery: As Calvin, Sarah and Brody have been kidnapped it’s up to Preston to save them. While he’s off doing sneaky Ninja business, Hayley and Levi are up to the task to take on Phonepanzee. I feel like the Sentai footage did not leave much for the White Ranger to shine alone in many episodes, but we did a pretty interesting scene with her and the Ninja Earth Attack as she began to make small holes all over the staircase to stop Phonepanzee. Finally, she got it into her head that it would be a better idea, instead of trapping him, to do a sneak attack. She uses the element star and flies up behind him and is able to steal back the 3 stolen Ninja Power Stars all by herself! Great Work Hayley!
She also got a few choice punches right into his monkey face!
The Combination Attacks: In order to defeat Phonepanzee all 6 of the Rangers got together to use their Battle Morphers! Preston and Sarah begin the attack with an Arrow Blast, Levi and Calvin help the blast along with a Rockstar Slash THEN to finish it off with a powerful orb of energy Hayley and Brody use Light Slash and take out Phonepanzee! BUT, Levi just has to take a selfie and everybody says Cheeseburger!
Beautiful Sentai footage as it continues to focus on Hayley as she teams up with Brody in the final strike!
The Megazord Battle: Of course, Cosmo and the viewers of Galaxy Warriors gave Phonepanzee another chance and he was Gigantified! The best line ever from Cosmo was spoken! “Make My Monkey Grow!’ which me made me literally laugh out loud.
But, this Megazord battle didn’t start out as normal. Before the Zords could combine into the Megazord, Phonepanzee was able to use his Sonic Boom and interfere with their Zords! But Hayley’s powerful episode was not over yet because she was able to use the Kodiak Zord’s Sonic Howl to stop Phonepanzee’s powerful Boom! After that, he was taken out by the Ninja Steel Megazord and the Bull Rider Megazord!
Victor & Monty: Well after a week off of their “She-NAHN-i-GAHNS” Victor and Monty are back to ruin everyone’s good time. As if the Ranger’s didn’t have enough to worry about with the monster of the week attempting to ruin their friendship and the school election, here comes Victor and Monty.
Victor is current sitting School President and instead of running a campaign against Hayley and Calvin (because apparently he must be too crappy of a President to win against them) he decides to sabotage them both so that they are disqualified and he stays President by default.
Victor and Monty pour hot sauce on Calvin’s cupcakes which causes most of the voters to freak out. Out of no where Victor decides to scream “Food Fight!” because that’s exactly what we need in this series right now. The food fight gets out of control, each side (Calvin and Hayley’s) blame each other and Principal Hastings warns that if there anymore shenanigans they would both be disqualified.
Later, as they were about to announce the winner of the vote, Victor and Monty plan to drop water balloons on the winner so that they’re both disqualified; so that Victor is named the winner. Not sure, how that works Victor but ok.
As I said earlier, Calvin and Hayley conceded the Race. Which means that Victor was the “winner” of the race by default, which means that he retained his position as President. As usual, Victor forgot what the hell he was doing and ran onto the stage. Monty was unable to hold up the water balloons by himself and, you guessed it, the water balloons fell all over Victor….
Beautiful moments between Calvin and Hayley, a goofy monster with a good plan & epic stand-alone moments for the White Ranger are what made this a great episode for me to watch and enjoy. The episode had a lot of funny moments, powerful moments and focus on Hayley that was most welcome. I know this was a severe issue with the Sentai as KiNinger didn’t get much focus if any, but I do wish we could see more Calvin focus in the future. The episode started off as even focus and Hayley sort of took over. Not that I am complaining about that because she deserves it, but I do want to see more Calvin balance.
As for the dunce-some duo, they were not an addition I welcomed back after a week off for the Halloween episode as they returned to doing what they do best; ruining the good moments, getting messy for some reason and just straight up being vile human beings. I mean are these characters ever going to have a redemption at all? Because at this point, they’ve stopped being funny and are continuing to be vicious, selfish and just plain jerks. I mean is it funny to you?