[Locke]

Gokaiger 07. Just another episode to add to the long list of evidence for the case file of why Noah really should have been Green. I would have loved to have seen this episode focussed on Noah using the Legendary Database to seek out a Master to help him compete with Jake, Gia and Troy.

What are the chances I see Spirit of the Tiger and this just a few hours apart? And wow Spirit of the Tiger was just a really watered down, poor man's version of this episode. I mean this episode just had so much more emotion, imagination, humour. I LOVE this show so much so far, and it only hurts further that Super Megaforce is such a pile of shit.

I will say though that both this, AND Spirit of the Tiger both deserved to be a two parter with the amount both episodes tries to tackle in such a short space of time. It's by no means as utterly disappointing a tribute as Spirit of the Tiger was, but it was very rushed at points.

After last weeks episode, I was really glad to see a more competent villain this time. His design really was great as well. Sadly as the villain got better the heroes got worse. The Gokai changes are really inconsistent in this show. For every episode that treats every change like a high concept fanfare moment, there is another like this one which makes the changes feel really uninspired and lacklustre. Those Sun Vulcan suits sure are pretty though.

Plus I know we've already gone through this but the lack of continuity between the heights of the suit actors and character actors is still really distracting for me.

I still love this rag tag bunch of goofs though - the scene of Joe in shadow and completely still in the headscarf was HILARIOUS. Absolutely in love with the Gokai girls especially, Ahim is just gorgeous and although Luka is less so it's like every moment she's on set she's having the time of her life and never holds back showing that through her performance. That is something Megaforce lacks, if the Rangers have the emotion of a tombstone how the hell can we have fun watching their adventures? Here however it's like I'm swept up in a whirlwind of energy and passion for what they are doing and I love it.

Not to mention, I find the way Gokaiger tackles characters fascinating. They're pretty much fully developed from the start, and then the show slowly reverse engineers them so we can learn how they got to the point they are now step by step. The show really sells this well, and like I say, it makes a nice change for the usual blank slates we get in sentai who don't really find their true beats until like half way through the show.

Plus I really like how differently their "become hero" arc is handled as well. Every sentai is about a bunch of people becoming heroes, but they are usually set up to be heroes from the very start to varying degrees. They never once try to establish the Gokaiger as straight heroes, and even when they do something heroic they always add a grain of salt to remind you that they AREN'T paladins.

Not only that, but their "become hero" character arc is so much bigger than others, as they aren't just becoming heroes but etching themselves into the echelon of the sentai legacy, it makes their growth in this regard all the more fascinating. And the stakes and immediacy seem all that greater.