Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Season 3, Episode 13: Stop the Hate Master, Part II

In the first part of this two-part Mighty Morphin Power Rangers story, Aisha was left out of a group of hateful Angel Grove teen girls.  They didn’t want her because her parents didn’t make enough money.  This tied into a Hate Master coming down to Earth.  The Hate Master attacked the town and the Power Rangers, while Aisha was visiting her grandmother.  It threw some hate dust at her friends and made them hate each other, all leading to an end where they quit the Power Rangers.  What would Aisha do to keep the world safe and snap her friends out of the hate?

That will all conclude with this episode.  Aisha will have to find a way to free her friends of the evil spell that was cast on them.  Bulk and Skull will keep trying to find whoever is putting graffiti on the Angel Grove Youth Centre.  And the Hate Master will be defeated once and for all.  That will all happen in…

Season 3, Episode 13: Stop the Hate Master, Part II

Aisha was in the Command Centre figuring out what to do about her friends.  As she brainstormed with Zordon and Alpha, the power to the Command Centre went out, causing Zordon to disappear.  Billy, the hateful guy that he now was, had disconnected the power.  He was done with the Power Rangers and was doing whatever he could to end the team.  Aisha devised a plan.  Alpha would route his power to the teleporter and send Aisha to the park so that she could figure things out.  She left her grandmother’s necklace with Alpha because the necklace had the power of love, which could conquer hate, then headed off to the park.

When Aisha got to the park, she was ambushed by the Tenga Warriors.  She fought them off, but the fight was only a distraction.  They were collecting dust that the Hate Master could turn into hate dust.  He tried to use it on her, but the power of love that Aisha’s grandmother had taught her kept her safe.  She escaped and got to the Youth Centre in time to stop Tommy from fighting Adam.  Her words of love broke the spell and the Power Rangers went after the Hate Master with their Zords.

Meanwhile, Bulk and Skull were still trying to find the graffiti artist.  They came up with a plan that included disguises.  While executing the plan, they ran into the Hate Master, who used his dust on them.  They only snapped out of the hate after Aisha’s words.  Then they finished their investigation and found out that Skull was doing the graffiti in his sleep.  Ernie forced them to wash all the paint off the wall.

There were two fights this episode and they were some of the best this season.  Aisha going against the Tenga Warriors by herself made for some fun action.  The fight started with her split kicking two warriors, then posing during the split kick to watch the other Tenga Warriors arrive.  She kick-ran over them, did some flips, and kicked butt all around.  It was a great time.  Then there was the Zord fight that finished things off.  Each Power Ranger got into their Zord and went after the giant Hate Master.  They didn’t combine into the Megazord, which was a refreshing change of pace.  Instead, they each attacked individually.  Rocky did his normal staff fighting.  Tommy shot missiles from his wings.  Kimberly, Aisha, and Billy all shot lasers at Hate Master.  Then there was Adam whose frog birthed a bunch of mini frogs.  The mini frogs jumped onto Hate Master, electrocuted him, and then the frog Zord used a flamethrower to burn him.  It was an all-out fight that even had Titanus show up for a bit.

The episode ended with Aisha getting into the popular girls’ club.  Apparently, only the leader hated her.  The other girls in the club found out she was excluding people based on their family’s income and asked her to resign.  They then brought Aisha and Kimberly into the club.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers does some of its best work in multiple episode stories.  Something about them strengthens the work that the writers do, which helps propel things to new heights.  The stories don’t feel as rushed, with the conflict and resolution all coming within an eighteen-minute span.  The events can breathe, allowing for better character development and better conflict.  The rock bottom that the characters end up in feels more immediate because there was more tension built to get there.  All around, the arcs work better than the self-contained episodes.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love a good self-contained Mighty Morphin Power Rangers episode with all their goofy fun, but if I want emotion and stakes, the multi-episode arcs are the way to go.

That doesn’t mean that the stories are perfect.  Stop the Hate Master still had the issue where the main reason that Hate Master was defeated was love.  He was stopped by the power of love.  It wasn’t some elaborate device made to stop him.  It wasn’t the weapons of the Power Rangers.  It wasn’t even the necklace that seemed like it would be key to lifting the effect of the hate dust.  Nope.  It was the fact that Aisha’s grandma loved her.  The love in Aisha kept her from feeling the effects of the hate dust.  Her love broke the power it had over everyone else.  The solution to hate was to love more than you hate.

Shifting gears, it was nice to see Kimberly come back outside of the fights and battles.  Amy Jo Johnson was absent from a lot of the third season after announcing that she was leaving.  The show did well in giving her a send-off, but that came after a good chunk of the season where she just wasn’t there.  The high school storylines didn’t involve her.  She was a key part in this episode, though, supporting Aisha’s storyline more than any other character.  She’s sure to play a key role in the rest of the season as the transition between Kimberly and Kat starts.

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers is at its best in the multiple episode stories and this was no different.  There were ups and downs to it, but all around, it was more tense and gripping than the standalone episodes.  There’s a balance that the show pulled off so far in the third season, going back and forth between longer stories and the self-contained episodes, that made it so you didn’t get tired of either.  Next episode, it’s the first of a few more standalone episodes before the big stories come in.  I’ll see you soon for another post.