Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 30: Mirror of Regret

Previously on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Adam was bummed out because he didn’t have a date for the Vice-Versa dance.  He would soon meet a new girl at the school and take her out to the park.  She was revealed to be Scorpina, and the Power Rangers fought her once again.  They got the Ultra Thunderzord together to fight both Scorpina and Goldar, but the henchmen fled before they could be defeated.  The episode ended with Adam going to the dance alone, only to be approached by one of the female volleyball players.  He found the date he wanted.

Now we’re onto another episode with another adventure.  The episode is called Mirror of Regret, which makes me think it’s a Kimberly episode.  She’s the character that I would most expect to be associated with a mirror.  I hope it’s not though.  I would like it to be another episode where the non-fighting storyline is about one of the new characters.  Let’s get to know them a little better, you know?  Anyway, it’s time to find out in…

Season 2, Episode 30: Mirror of Regret

The episode began with Rocky and Adam teaching a children’s karate team at the Angel Grove Youth Centre.  One of the children wasn’t good and had no confidence in his abilities.  Adam sympathized with the kid, having grown up with confidence issues.  He took the kid for some special training and helped him become better at karate.  The child now had confidence and was the best on the team.

Adam’s confidence issues were the crux of Lord Zedd’s plan.  He sent Goldar to Earth with a mirror that would show Adam his childhood memories.  Adam was confronted in the park and relived moments where he was insulted and made fun of.  They began to break down his confidence.  Then a memory of the karate kid doing well appeared.  It reminded Adam how far he had come and broke the spell.

At the same time, Lord Zedd had created a monster out of a hyena picture.  It looked nothing like a hyena.  Its special power was that it would mock its opponents.  The Power Rangers fought a bunch of putties, and looked like they were going to lose.  They were all being knocked down and thrown around.  Then the Power Rangers came back and won the fight.  To defeat the hyena monster thing, they used a new weapon that Alpha-5 built, called the Power Cannon.

Bulk and Skull were scattered throughout the episode.  They were learning karate so that they could figure out who the Power Rangers were.  Somehow if they had the same skills as the Power Rangers, they would be able to do something.  I don’t know.  Anyway, they bumbled around and were shown up by the children at the end.

That episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was not a huge episode in terms of pushing the story forward, but it had one important addition.  The Power Cannon is a new weapon that the Power Rangers can use in battle as they fight more of Lord Zedd’s monsters.  It could come in handy for defeating monsters before they grow up to giant-sized.  That way, whole city blocks won’t be destroyed during fights.

Lord Zedd has managed to tap into Adam as a point of attack on the Power Rangers team.  Adam has so far been the most fleshed out of the newer three characters.  This episode and the one before it have shed a light on Adam’s confidence issues, which could make for some compelling character development as the series continues.  He was depressed because he didn’t have a date for the Vice-Versa dance, which showed a lack of confidence in his own social life prospects.  He was made fun of as a child and didn’t have confidence because of it, but worked hard to build both his confidence and his skills.  It might not be a great story arc, but this is the best character work that the show has had outside of Jason and Tommy.  It’s good stuff that I hope they work more on in future episodes.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is still going strong with the new characters added to the team.  The transition was fairly seamless.  Even more impressive is that the show has been getting more Japanese influence.  The way that Adam fought off the putties when the spell of the mirror was broken was an impressive example of the show’s inspirations coming to life in new footage.  It has moved beyond its roots of cheesy American kids show mixed with Japanese superhero show, and found its place as a Japanese inspired martial arts funfest.  It is less the cheesy messages (though they are still there sometimes, like with this episode) and more a throwback to fun martial arts films.  Though it would be nice to get to know the characters even better, for now, I’m having a good time watching the action, and that’s an important part of the show.  Next time, I’m hopefully going to get more crazy martial arts fun.  We’ll see.