Weekly Ranger Review: Dino Charge Episode 06, “The Tooth Hurts”

Make sure to tell us the tooth about your thoughts on Power Rangers Dino Charge’s sixth episode, “The Tooth Hurts”.

Synopsis

Riley, at a random track, is training in the only way he knows how, physically and mentally. Meanwhile on Sledge’s ship, a monster named Cavity has prepared a variety of wedding cakes for Poisandra. When he presents a cake that can cause toothaches, Sledge orders Cavity to unleash it upon the Rangers. Back at the base, Riley is doing his usual tennis ball sword training, claiming that Chase is distracting him. The two feud about training methods, Riley accusing Chase of never training and not caring.

Later at the cafe, the Rangers begin discussion on searching for Pteradactyl fossils to try and find the Gold Energem. Shelby serves up some cake to all the customers by demand from the chef, only to infect the entire cafe with the toothache. The Rangers chase after the monster after finding the actual cook tied up.

Riley and Chase track down Cavity, failing to defeat the monster due to their constant feuding. Back at the cafe, Riley and Kendall begin to collect data involving the remaining pieces of cake. Chase and Riley begin feuding yet again, so Kendall forces them out to sort their differences.

Riley begins sword practicing again while he assumes Chase to be goofing off skating. Keeper appears to lecture Riley, stating that it is possible for two paths to reach the same destination. After meeting with Poisandra, Cavity announces his loyalty to Sledge, shedding his coat and revealing a monstrous body. Chase finally finds Cavity, alerting the other Rangers. Chase gets hit by Cavity’s attack before the other Rangers arrive, causing intense pain in his teeth, but Chase fights through the pain and morphs with the Rangers.

During the fight, Chase and Riley sort out their differences, realizing they are just two different people. Riley uses Chase’s Para Charger in the Dino Saber to break Cavity’s teeth. Chase finishes the fight by using his Para Charger and Riley’s Raptor Charger together in the Dino Charge Morpher. The Rangers form the Dino Charge Megazord as Chase and Riley hop into the cockpit as well. The unity of the five Rangers causes the Stego Shield to turn into the Stego Saber. They use the new weapon to defeat Cavity once and for all.

Chase decides to join Riley for a run as the other three Rangers show up as well. Riley decides to lighten up and have fun during his practice. Hardcore parkour indeed.

Review

I have to hand it to the Dino Charge writers for being able to make an enjoyable episode out of a plot as simple as bringing about tooth aches. I went in expecting the worst, and was pleasantly surprised by the end of the episode.

The episode as a whole allowed us to jump into the worlds of Riley and Chase. While both characters are very determined to be the best and protect everyone, we find out that the two go about in two vastly different ways. Chase, as we learned from “Breaking Black” is a very laid back personality. He lacks focus, but is reliable when the time comes. Chase isn’t one to put a lot of practice into things. Riley on the other hand is a very focused individual that likes to remain cool and calculated. He doesn’t like going against his instincts, and likes to be prepared for everything. The two personalities were bound to duel.

Unfortunately, like most episodes of this type, the start and end of the feud felt rather rushed. Riley began feuding with Chase simply because his soda sipping noises disturbed him. While a feud this petty could be resolved quickly, the start to end just seemed to progress rather quickly. Despite the quick pace, the episode did a fantastic job of displaying how different the two characters are while reinforcing the idea there are multiple ways to go about a situation that could all lead to the same outcome. There’s no one way to go about a certain task.

Poisandra took center stage in this episode. While it was easy to guess, it is revealed her ambition for capturing the Rangers is simply to get the Energems so Sledge will stop the hunt and finally marry her. The poor girl just wants her wedding. Poisandra is a character who, in most seasons, would take a back seat. It is great to see her getting a dedicated attack episode, as rare as I assume they are going to be.

This episode marked the first appearance of the Stego Saber, a weapon that can only be used with the Dino Charge Megazord while all five Rangers are present in the Megazord. While the reveal was not really explained that well, it is a weapon we will see many times during the course of the season. The episode also marks the first time a secondary Dino Charger is used. In this case, Tyler used the Dino Blaze Charger while in the Dino Charge Megazord to unleash a flamethrower technique. I am surprised it has taken this long to touch upon the secondary Dino Chargers, and hope we see more of them soon.

The mention of the Gold Energem came as a bit of a surprise. With knowledge of Kyoryuger and how Power Rangers works in general, I know the reveal of the Gold Dino Charge Ranger is right around the corner, but it is rare for Power Rangers to set up the next Ranger so fluidly. Even though it was a quick mention, it is great to hear the steps are already being paved out for the Gold Ranger arc to begin in a few episodes.

VS. Kyoryuger

After having about five episodes where the adaptations were zero to none, “The Tooth Hurts” is finally an episode that very much resembles its Sentai counterpart, “Brave 05”. While the base plot is the same, the Dino Charge run removes one very large element.

In “Brave 05”, Ian (Black) and Souji (Green) begin feuding, stating they can not work with one another due to their conflicting personalities. However in Kyoryuger, the team meets up with a Kyoryuger of the past, Ramirez, the partner of the Zyudenryu Ankydon. They believe Ankydon’s rampage and pain is caused by Debo Batissier’s (Cavity’s) abilities. When they finally defeat Debo Batissier and Ankydon’s pain continues, the Kyoryugers’ learn the truth behind Ankydon’s pain.

“The Tooth Hurts” decided to omit the Anky Zord’s introduction another week, and instead take the episode to focus strictly on Riley and Chase’s interactions and personalities. While I am very eager to see the first appearance of the Anky Zord, I’m also really glad we got to spend more time in the episode dedicated to Riley and Chase’s character. While we knew a fair amount about Chase, our knowledge of Riley was pretty minimal.

Outside of the similar basic plot lines, the two episodes played out pretty much the same. The Kyoryuger episode has the edge of bleeding into the following weeks’ episode. However, that doesn’t stop the Dino Charge episode from coming in and being a very entertaining watch.

Next Week

Next week, in “Let Sleeping Zords Lie” the powerful Anky Zord gets stung by one of Sledge’s evil prisoners. It is up to Shelby and her dinosaur knowledge to tend to the Anky Zord and win its trust. This episode is an adaption of “Brave 06” from Kyoryuger.