A Face from the Past
I mentioned this earlier, but I've really been enjoying the recurring motif of supporting characters and/or civilians having a large part to play in the stories of this season, which sets it apart from other seasons in the franchise in a rather unique way and makes it feel very much like a 'mainstream' dramatic series, and it was nice to see said motif return for this episode, especially since it gave us some nice character development in the process.
I've really been enjoying the role that Ron Rogge's Captain Mitchell plays in the season; it's very similar to the role that Colonel Truman has in RPM, but with Mitchell being a little more 'open' and interactive with the Lightspeed Rangers than Truman was with his son's team.
Carter not wanting to take a day off from training reminded me very much of what happened with Jayden in Day Off, with the added bonus that it led directly to the big discovery of the episode, which is that Mitchell was the firefighter who saved him when he was a child.
Speaking of said discovery, I really liked the way that Carter put the pieces together and sussed it out.
On the villains side of the coin, I continue to really enjoy Olympius' character, and love that there's continued tension between him, Vypra, and Loki.
The Queen's Return
This episode reminded me very much of The Master's Last Stand from Wild Force, both in terms of its story and its structure, with both episodes featuring a lot of individual Ranger action interspersed with some pretty important story advancement.
The continued tension between Olympius, Vypra, and Loki continues to delight me, although I do think Olympius gave in a bit too easily after Loki ordered him around. The plus of that is that it let Vypra and Loki be the ones solely responsible for the state that Bansheera ends up in, making it all that much more easy for Olympius to assert himself by being the one to try and fix what their incompetence - and the Rangers' interference - wrought.
I really enjoyed Ryan's role in this episode; I thought it was great that not only was he able to provide insight into what Olympius and Co. were planning to do, but that he was also able to ruin Bansheera's return by prematurely stopping the ceremony. It also made perfect sense that he'd want to go off on his own to figure out a way to stop her and the other demons once and for all, allowing him to be temporarily written out of storylines while also keeping the door open for his return later on.
It would've been interesting to see Bansheera in all of her fully corporeal glory, but I actually like her deformed appearance design-wise, and would be interested in knowing whether or not it was original or if it came from the season's Sentai counterpart.
The Omega Project
Traditionally, episodes that introduce brand-new Zord sets have been somewhat hit-or-miss quality-wise; sometimes they're really good, and sometimes they fall totally flat and end up being a complete mess.
Thankfully, The Omega Project qualifies as a success, because it would've sucked to see an otherwise awesome episode dragged down by a crappy Zord rollout.
Since, as noted twice already, I've been really enjoying the season's motif of making supporting characters and/or civilians an integral part of the storytelling, I really liked Simon's role in this episode, especially since it took some quick thinking on his part to get first Joel and then Ms. Fairweather to pay attention to him and the information he'd uncovered. I also really enjoyed the twist they put on the continuing saga of Joel's interest in Ms. F by having Simon 'one-up' him by asking her to go out with him as opposed to Joel.
I really like the Omega Zords, design-wise, and am glad to finally see them introduced in the show itself after having been present in the end credits since the season started (which was kind of an interesting choice, IMO). I also liked that we got to see them used individually before circumstances forced the Rangers to initiate Megazord mode.
Going back to Joel once again striking out with Ms. Fairweather and getting one-upped by Simon, it not only made for some nice humor, but also helps lead rather nicely into his behavior in Trakeena's Revenge.
Trakeena's Revenge, Parts 1 and 2
This episode has been largely panned by fans as being extremely poor, but, as with Samurai's Clash of the Red Rangers, I honestly think it's a team-up special whose quality is entirely dependent on when and how it's viewed within the larger framework of the season's ongoing story arc.
I also think it holds up quite well in spite of the behind-the-scenes chaos that plagued its production, especially since it gives us our first real chance to see the Omega Megazord in action, provides some nice opportunity for Olympius to assert himself, gives Joel a chance to be the charming, charismatic 'ladies man' he fancies himself as, and continues the motif of civilians and/or supporting characters playing a crucial role in driving storylines forward.
Carter's bonding with Heather throughout the 2-parter reminded me a lot of the way that Ryan's encounter with the two kids he ran into in Ryan's Destiny ended up driving that story forward, and made for some rather fun scenes, although I do have to question the wisdom of telling her to pull the fire alarm in P2 in order to evacuate the building where Triskull and Trakeena were conducting their experiments to restore her powers.
I do wish we'd seen a little bit more setup for Trakeena and the Galaxy Rangers' involvement in the story, as well as more of an explanation as to how and why they and the Lightspeed Rangers were aware of one another, but that's really only a minor nitpick.
I do find myself wondering why Olympius' voice was so different throughout the episode in comparison to the rest of his prior appearances, but that's really neither here nor there, although it did make me appreciate that the new actress they cast as Trakeena at least tried to approximate Amy Miller's voice for the role more than I probably would've otherwise.
All in all, I think this two-parter succeeded in doing what it was trying to do, which was give us a story that allowed the Lightspeed and Galaxy Rangers to team up while also somewhat driving the storyline of Lightspeed Rescue forward and continuing its unique motifs and style of storytelling, even if there were some behind-the-scenes wrinkles associated with its production and even if it was ultimately aired entirely out of sequence, thus contributing to a poor fandom opinion of it.
