Last episode would've been just somewhere in the middle, if the terrible child actor wasn't crammed down our throats so much that it made me want to break something over my head. Having said that, this one HAS to be better. Right? ...oh please God, let me be right.
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OK, now Tommy's out of the intro and the UltraZord is in. Odd.
The episode starts off with Zack teaching a traditional karate class. So, his "hip-hop-kido" thing is pretty much forgotten, I take it? Where's Robert Downey Jr. to sing a witty song when you need him? And son of a bitch, we're introduced to Cameron, a student in Zack's class and the child actor for this episode. Swear to God, I am on the verge of quitting right now. Apparently he's in a martial arts competition coming up, where he'll be facing Bulk and Skull's protege, another child actor named Biff. Michael J. Fox, save me now.
On the moon, Rita goes on about her newest monster, the Hatchasaurus, who is already on Earth courtesy of Finster. The plan is to use it to stop the DragonZord, thereby removing the Rangers' most important weapon. Uh, Titanus?
Back at the Juice Bar, Zack dismisses his class and gives Cameron a pep talk, assuring him that he'll be there to help him if he needs it. OK, Zack is starting to redeem himself in my eyes. We then move to the competition, and Zack continues to instill confidence in Cameron. I have to admit, Cameron's actor isn't that bad. Though that might be because he isn't saying much. Jason gets a call from Zordon concerning the monster, so the group has to leave. This, naturally, upsets Cameron, since he isn't confident enough to handle things without Zack's help. Please, Saban, don't screw this up, this is actually pretty good so far.
The Rangers arrive at the Command Center, where Zordon explains the situation and shows the Hatchasaurus, already giant. It's apparently controlled by a supercomputer called the Cardiatron, so they need to go into the monster and destroy it. The Rangers morph and summon the DinoZords and we're barely a quarter of the way through the episode. This does not bode well. They meet up with the Hatchasaurus and Jason uses the Dragon Dagger to summon the DragonZord. The DragonZord fights the Hatchasaurus alone for a short while before holding it down, allowing the other DinoZords to gang up on it and finish it off. Wow. That was a short episode. Oh, wait, Goldar explains that the monster isn't done yet.
To further explain this, Zordon brings the Rangers back to the Command Center and explains that they need to destroy Cardiatron to properly defeat Hatchasaurus. He then shows via the Viewing Globe (the thing that they watch for all the unused Sentai footage that I stupidly haven't mentioned until now) Hatchasaurus reforming. We then cut to the moon as Rita casts some spell that weakens the DragonZord, which just happened to be wandering about the barren countryside. OK.
We then see what Cardiatron is, a giant heart. Um...90's kid show, guys. The Rangers morph again (and by the way, they're wearing different outfits than before, for some reason) and head out to fight the revived Hatchasaurus. No repeat MegaZord sequence, it's just there. Rita prematurely declares victory, as the Hatchasaurus starts to gain the upper hand on the MegaZord. Somehow, the dinky spikes on its chest serve as its primary weapons. Sure, why not? Jason tries to summon the DragonZord again, but it's still weakened from Rita's spell, so it doesn't work. Plan B turns out to be summoning the Power Sword, which works for a short while. Of course, just as the MegaZord seemingly destroys Hatchasaurus, it just reforms, with more spikes on it to boot.
Guys, Zordon told you that you need to destroy Cardiatron to win! It's not that they haven't done it yet, but that they aren't even trying to that doesn't make any sense! If you know how to win, why don't you at least try to win? Obviously just hitting it with your sword like all the others isn't working, so do something about the giant glowing heart already!
Anyway, the DragonZord finally arrives, but it's still trapped in the spell, so it's just standing there doing nothing. The MegaZord gets smacked around by the powered-up Hatchasaurus, so Jason finally thinks "Hey, we should do what Zordon said and destroy that Cardiatron thing!". His plan is to jump out of the MegaZord and into Hatchasaurus's mouth. Which somehow leads to his heart. OK. Jason meets Cardiatron and discovers that it's not just a giant, glowing heart, but a giant, glowing, TALKING heart. With a creepy, high-pitched warbly voice to boot. Nice.
Jason gets smacked around by Cardiatron's tentacles while on the outside, the DragonZord falls over like an idiot as the MegaZord gets smacked around some more. Jason keeps trying to revive the DragonZord with the Dragon Dagger, before giving in and summoning Tommy's Green Ranger Shield, making him powerful enough to revive the DragonZord and break the spell. The DragonZord attacks Hatchasaurus, causing both Jason and Cardiatron to be ejected from him. Jason finishes Cardiatron off in a cool moment, using both his Power Sword and the Dragon Dagger to do so. He then returns to the MegaZord and summons Titanus to form the UltraZord. They fire everything at Hatchasaurus and finish it off once and for all. Of course, Rita is pissed.
Back at the Juice Bar, Cameron made it to the finals of the competition, and thankfully isn't too mad at Zack for leaving yesterday. We see the finals of the competition, which is, of course, Cameron versus Biff. Surprisingly, Cameron does the supposedly heel thing and sweeps the leg. Guess the Cobra Kai isn't all bad. Naturally, Cameron wins, which leads to a goofy moment with Biff kicking Bulk in the shin. Happy feelings all around and the episode ends.
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Surprisingly, this one wasn't that bad, but a bit rushed. With the little attention directed towards the subplot, the constant fights with Hatchasaurus/Cardiatron, and Jason using the Dragon Shield as a power-up, it seemed almost like they were trying to cram a two-parter into one episode. Thankfully, unlike the Island of Illusions debacle, this one wasn't so rushed that it detracted from the plot. Also, the child actors were OK this time, with Cameron being decent, and Biff not doing much besides growling and trying to act tough. Although, there was a bit of confusion as to who the main character of this episode was, considering both Jason and Zack had fairly big roles. Overall, not bad.
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You know, I don't really get the title of this episode when I look at the monster. Sure, Hatchasaurus looks bird-like, but from the name, I assumed he was some sort of dinosaur. It doesn't help that the Rangers use bird puns when referring to it.
I'm actually kind of surprised they were able to get away with using Cardiatron, considering it's a giant glowing heart and all. Then again, what kid knew that that's what an actual heart looked like at the time?
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