This Saturday will see the two-part series finale of RPM, but in many ways, “End Game” functions as the beginning of that final story. Or at least as a nice prologue. And in many ways, it reminds me of the SPD episode, “Resurrection.” Both episodes happened to be set directly before the season finale. Each one had a sense of rising tension, leading us into the events of the last episodes. Each one did a great job of setting up what promised to be a massive send-off for their respective shows. But they also had the issue of juggling what might have felt like two different episodes all rolled into one.

The first half of “End Game” is a fairly banal action story relating to a monster that we all know is bound to lose. Not that it wasn’t amusing to hear the latest sound effects that took the place of the monster’s dialogue (which I loved, by the way) but it was clear that this particular enemy wasn’t going to be the thing that breaks the team.      

Dillon is struck with a haunting dream about the possibility of being overcome by the Venjix virus. While the sequence itself is sufficiently creepy, and a great piece of foreshadowing of things to come, I couldn’t help but think “OMG, Dillon’s about to get tentacle-raped!” 

Meanwhile, Kilobyte is hard at work on his latest project, which Venjix is so deliciously disinterested in. I know it’s an old whore of an idea to have so much infighting between the villains at this stage, but I do so enjoy the irony of how Kilobyte and Tenaya’s roles on the show have completely reversed since he first showed up. In many ways, it’s Kilobyte’s own fault for being seen as obsolete, after he brought Tenaya back to be upgraded. 

So, after a long battle, they finally get the random monster out of the way, and Dillon is sluggish enough to prompt another scan from Doctor K. The Dillon/Ziggy interaction in this episode was awesome. They’ve been a consistently fun duo for the duration of the series, and Dillon’s reaction to Ziggy’s buffoonery (some of which is intentional, because he knows how to make people smile) was priceless. 

Dillon is understandably freaked about the possibility of losing his battle with the virus. But he doesn’t have to feel TOO bad because Doctor K has apparently been working on a cure for a long time now… Great… It would have been nice to hear about this an episode or two before it became so imminently needed for the current plot, but at least they didn’t wait five minutes before they injected the thing into him. It’s also a nice bit of extra jeopardy that it could end up killing him instead of healing him. I can only assume that they’re going to mass produce the antidote and put it through the air vents or weather system or something to cure everyone else in the finale. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit. 

In Kilobyte’s attempt to be relevant again, he activates one of the many hybrids who have been living in Corinth the entire time. I absolutely love the fact that the first hybrid to be identified is Hicks. I’ve loved him all season long as the bumbling assistant of Colonel Truman, who just can’t catch a break, no matter how much abuse he’s subjected to. For Power Rangers at least, it was extremely disorienting to see him just walk into the command center and open fire on Truman, with a completely emotionless expression on his face. (Also, Scott’s spinning kick move to stop him was pretty badass, now that I think about it.) 

This is one of the reasons RPM is among the best seasons Power Rangers has ever had. It’s still very much a kids show, but it approaches the storytelling in ways that few other shows of this type ever would attempt. There’s emotional complexity, difficult situations that don’t always have the perfect solution for the characters to use. Ultimately, whether the Rangers save the city or not, the rest of the world is still destroyed and will most likely stay that way until they can rebuild. If the finale stays true to these ideas, then it will mark one of the few times when the show proves that a hopeful message doesn’t necessarily have to be couched in sunshine and rainbows in order to get the overall positivity of victory across. 

As more hybrids are revealed all over the city, slowly being activated by Tenaya’s pulse device, tension begins to rise with great effect. I like that Mason and Scott were both arguing over what to do, and that neither side was completely wrong in what they were fighting for. Mason wanted to protect the city, but Scott felt a bolder, more dangerous course of action was the right one. And then the revelation of active hybrids forces them to go with Scott’s plan because there suddenly is no other alternative. They’re backed into a corner, rather than simply deciding to try something new. 

That was one of the problems I had during the Ninja Storm finale. It felt as though they had just randomly decided to finally seek out Lothor’s ship and save all their friends, who had been sitting there all season long, with the main characters hardly ever even thinking about them, let alone bringing them up in daily conversation. There was almost nothing motivating them to actually go save them, except that the plot demanded that it finally happen because the show was ending. In RPM’s case, they’re motivated to change their strategy by the very real fear that they’ll all be wiped out if they don’t. 

Scott tells his father that he needs every available guard that isn’t infected in order to pull off his last-ditch effort to save them. I love this line, because it’s smart and just plain cool. What is not smart or cool is that, within two minutes of that moment, Vasquez is pointing a gun at Truman because she’s a hybrid and apparently nobody scanned her. 

The only way I can excuse this is to assume that whoever’s doing the scanning has found ways to trick the sensors, or mess up their readings so that they give a false positive. I suppose that’s as good an explanation as any. And really, I do so love the idea that the heroes think they’ve eliminated the threat by apprehending Hicks, only to find that Vasquez is just as dangerous. It’s a great moment, dramatically. Though I wish there was a little more explanation as to how she could operate undetected like this. 

And finally, Venjix himself steps into the base. “You work for me now.” 

Awesome. I just hope he’s not going to take Truman back to his living ship to meet his not-dead wife with dreadlocks next week. 

“End Game” gets a B+. 

 

-Dr. Tristan of HeroPower.