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Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Power Rangers Dino Force Brave King 9: I'll show you! The Largest Combination of the Strongest! - Summary/Review


 

That time of the week again for your Korean Toku fix. Only 4 episodes left, time to click "read more" and see if this season can increase the stakes in it all.



Analysis



This episode picks up where the previous one left off with Giga Bragigas released but possessed and on a rampage. Some Giant Zorimas are also summoned just to make the situation worse for the Rangers. 




The Rangers quickly summon their Zords and start destroying the Zorima one by one. However, just as the Zords begin throwing themselves at Giga Bragigas, Candelira calls the Rangers back to the spirit base saying they should leave the Zords to deal with Giga Bragigas while they plan their next move. Torin says he cannot awaken Giga Bragigas while Jinaric (the supposed immortal villain that was sealing Giga Bragigas) is blocking him. Sechang points out there is a small amount of time between Jinaric's destruction and resurrections, so the plan is to have Torin step in during that small window of time. That was a really rushed couple of scenes.

Elsewhere, Wahab and a small group of Zorima go after Juhyeok in another attempt to steal the Dino King Power. He begins an unmorphed fight as the other 5 Rangers show up. Juhyeok tells them to focus on Junaric and Juyong agrees, so they head off.

That was really weird. I get the idea of the scene, let the lone wolf handle the small fight while the main cast tackle the big issue, but there was no explanation as to why the other 5 even showed up. Juhyeok was not with them before this little fight so it was like the Rangers just coincidentally ran into Juhyeok on their way to Junaric. Never has just a couple minutes of footage made me wonder about so many unimportant details. 

Jeon and Sechang hesitate a moment before reaching Junaric, implying they are worried about Gold Dino, but they do not turn around. Random. Now, 2 Ranger battles are happening at once, Gold Dino vs Wahab and the 5 core Rangers against Junaric.






The episode cuts between the 2 fights a couple times before Juhyeok attempts his finishing move only to have it reflected back at him. Toku cliché 101, never use a finisher early or when losing because it will always backfire. Juhyeok is down, his Dino King mark begins to fade, the other Rangers see the explosion in the distance, and Juhyeok speaks his brothers name before collapsing. Gold Dino's Zord, Pteravolt, shows up to pick up Juyong




The other 4 Rangers encourage Juyong to go help his brother while they deal with Junaric. So, Pteravolt takes Juyong to aid his brother. He arrives just as Wahab is questioning why the Dino King birth mark disappeared. 




However, something is wrong. It was obvious that Juhyeok was going to disapprove, but the way he talks is cryptic, like Juyong's arrival messed up a plan. Wahab launches another attack the Juyong takes head on only to be saved by what appears to be the Dino King's power now in him. Upon seeing this, Wahab tries to retreat in order to report only for Juhyeok to launch his finisher again and destroy him with his back turned. 




That may be the first time I saw a Ranger get a dirty kill on one of the main villains. 

Back to Junaric, the 4 other Rangers win their fight that was mostly fought off screen and execute their plan. Before Junaric can revive himself, Torin free's Giga Bragigas with the snap of his fingers. Junaric is outraged and grows himself, but Torin decides to take this fight.




Sadly, despite what it looks like, there is no appearance of Silver Dino. Torin remotely takes control of Giga Bragigas; it one shots 3 Giant Zorima's then transforms into Brave Gigant Bragio King.

I know Torin becoming the Silver Ranger again would have been a continuity error, but what a tease. I was really bummed that Gray, Cyan, Violet, and Silver were not going to appear in this series.






Big big!

Junaric is easily dispatched by this new giant Megazord and is defeated with no explanation as to why he cannot revive himself anymore. My theory is he chose not too because of the futility of the situation.

The episode ends with a shock. Back with Juyong and Juhyeok, the two brothers exchange some words about debt and being rescued before Juhyeok states that this will be the last time they fight together. He says goodbye to his little brother then slashes him with his sword. TO BE CONTINUED!

Final Thoughts


This episode had good elements, but as a whole was kind of a mess. The first half of it flew past really quickly, and the cliffhanger story with Giga Bragigas was done mostly off screen. There is only a few seconds where they are actually fighting the possessed Giga Bragigas. Junaric was an unworthy enemy for the role. He sealed Giga Bragigas, then possessed it, and could revive himself after being defeated, but none of that made a difference. It would have been so easy to fix the plot hole of how to defeat an immortal enemy, maybe while sealing and possessing Giga Bragigas he was able to draw power from it to revive himself. Way too much in too little time with much of that happening offscreen.

On the other half of things, Gold Dino's storyline was actually done pretty well. Fight scenes were not great, but the Dino King storyline was continued fairly well and at least left the episode on an ending that made me want to keep watching which is really the goal of any mid season episode. 3/5

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