Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 2, Episode 34: Where There's Smoke, There's Fire

Previously, on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, the Power Rangers were on television to tell the world how important education was.  Their appearance on the Harvey Garvey talk show was cut short as Lord Zedd turned one of the cameras into a monster.  They quickly subdued the monster and kept Angel Grove safe.  Bulk and Skull missed their chance to unmask the Power Rangers because of the fight.

The next episode seems like it will be, as the kids say, lit.  That’s because it has something to do with fire.  Get it?  Lit?  Fire?  Anyway, hopefully it will alleviate some of the burning curiosity I have about the characters’ backgrounds.  We’re far enough into the series that they should be able to flesh out the characters and make the audience care about them.  Let’s get into the episode.

Season 2, Episode 34: Where There’s Smoke, There’s Fire

Angel Grove High School chose Aisha as the new school fire chief.  She took the job too seriously, becoming bossy and obsessive.  Tommy said he could drop of flyers at the mall and Aisha told him to go to the gas station and library as well.  Ernie said he would fix potential fire hazards within the week and she demanded he do it right away.

The bossiness seeped into the Power Rangers side of the story as well.  Tommy, Adam, and Rocky were in the park fighting putties.  They fought some before the monster showed up, and then morphed up to fight some when the monster started lighting the park on fire.  When Aisha, Kimberly, and Billy were called to help, Aisha told the other two to stay in the Command Centre and went off by herself.  She started fighting the putties alone while Adam, Rocky, and Tommy stood by wondering what she was doing.

Zordon teleported everyone back to the Command Centre and told Aisha that she had to be a team player.  She couldn’t do everything alone, and she couldn’t just boss people around.  He then sent everyone into battle where they Zorded up and fought the giant-sized fire monster.  They beat it pretty quickly with their sword.

Bulk and Skull, meanwhile, were trying to find a fire.  They thought that the Power Rangers would arrive wherever there was a fire.  When they found a fire, the two teens were so scared that they ran into the lake.  That got them kicked out of the Wannabe Firefighters.

The fights were fairly entertaining, particularly when Aisha tried to take over.  Every time one of the other Power Rangers was fighting, she would jump in and kick the putties away from the Power Ranger and fight on her own.  It involved some interesting choreography.  The other fights weren’t much, but that one brought the episode up.  There was still entertainment in the other two fights, they just didn’t have the same kind of memorable moments.

This wasn’t the most important episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, but it did give insight into Aisha’s personality.  The problem with Zack and Trini in the earlier episodes was that they didn’t have flaws.  There were no problems with the character’s personalities unless the bad guys had caused them.  Trini was always nice and pleasant.  Zack was always the cool best friend.  They had no reason to grow.  With the new characters, the writers have introduced negative aspects to their personalities.  Adam has confidence issues, which have been shown in multiple episodes.  Now Aisha gets her flaw of being obsessive.  She will overdo things just to prove that she can do them right.  She’ll push other people away in order to accomplish her tasks.  It’s something that the show hasn’t shown so much, and it’s refreshing to see these complications come up.

That’s not to say that they feel completely natural.  There was no real transition from Aisha’s normal, fairly pleasant personality.  It was like flicking a switch between her being friends with everyone and her bossing everyone around.  The show is definitely improving in the character work, but still needs to find a way to pace out the writing.  The audience needs to be eased into the flaws so that they can relate to what is happening or sympathize with the characters’ growth.  It is a show aimed at children.  It should feel real when it comes to the emotions so that the kids are better able to learn the morals of overcoming the issues.

Another episode of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers has come to a close, and so has this post.  Aisha learned an important lesson about letting other people help her.  Now we’re going into another episode that might lead to some more important Power Rangers material.  Either that or it will be another standalone episode that will give a new layer to the characters.  We’ll find out next time.