Episode 310 - Stolen Beauty

I have been incredibly cranky for almost a week now, so I actually requested this episode. Why? Because if I'm going to be annoyed with something, I might as well be annoyed with something that deserves it. In case you can't tell, I do not like this episode. I could do a whole feminism 101 post and talk about the representation of women in media, but I really don't feel like it and you can google it anyway. The point is, I have a lot of feelings about this episode and everything is symbolizes, and I really fucking hate stealing beauty plots as if that is the only thing important about (cis) women. I am also not going to rant about beauty standards and what it is that beauty actually means, and especially whether we're talking about western ideals of beauty and seriously, everything about this is bullshit.

Disclaimer: I am going to try and talk about these things to the best of my ability, but if I screw up and say something ridiculous or offensive, please let me know and I will do my best to fix it.

So. Episode.

We open with Trakeena pulling an evil Queen from Snow White, and the mirror tells her that she's the most beautiful, except for a lot of other girls from Terra Venture, so she immediately orders the monster to steal all the beauty from the women (almost all white, thin and "conventionally attractive") which... makes their skin yellow and purple and turns the beauty into sand? There is really only so many times that I can loudly scream BULLSHIT, right?

The monster goes after some more women, and the Rangers show up to fight him, and I'm honestly spending most of this time ranting angrily because FEELINGS and RAGE. Also, I'm explaining to QR that this isn't a stealing inner beauty thing, this is basically all about physical appearances.

Trakeena is all happy that all the beauty has been stolen, but decides she will go see for herself. She turns herself into another thin white woman, and apparently she's so hot that all the men (because everyone on the station is straight apparently) can't control themselves and lose track of everything but how hot she is and just follow her around and this is SUPER DISTURBING AND WRONG, AND SHOW, WHAT SORT OF MESSAGE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE GIVING HERE.

Trakeena sees Mike and goes after him, and we see him in a bar which is apparently run by Bulk and the Professor. (Hey, they exist.) The two of them apparently got fired and now they're running a bar. Trakeena comes in and everyone immediately hits on her, and Mike appears to be the only one unaffected. Bulk gives Trakeena Mike's food, and she promptly puts a potion on it and returns it to him.

She flirts with him really badly, but he's also really bad at it. (Seriously, you live around here? On a space station? Worst ever.) He doesn't eat the burger because he's late to meet the others, but he invites her along. Back on Scorpius's ship, Scorpius is all excited about a cocoon that is being built for Trakeena.

Mike introduces Trakeena to the other rangers, and the boys are all immediately in love with her, but the girls are fine, because apparently there are no LGB people on Terra Venture. The boys are openly discussing how hot Trakeena is and the girls are clearly annoyed.

The monster shows back up, and starts to steal the beauty from the girls, but Trakeena is like "it's me, you idiot" so it only attacks Kendrix and Maya. Mike escorts Trakeena away, while the boys fight. Apparently losing their beauty has also made them unconscious.

Mike says he's escorting Trakeena home, but instead they go buy some drinks, and she spikes his.He drinks it and appears to pass out. The monster shows up and hands Trakeena the sand, but it turns out that Mike had switched the glasses when her back was turned, and the sand magically makes everyone white again.

FUCK THIS EPISODE. There are some serious unfortunate implications here, show. YOU ARE USUALLY BETTER ABOUT SUCH THINGS.

The Rangers all morph and fight. QR and I discuss how drunk we need to get to finish this episode. I'm seriously considering breaking out the vodka. And judging by the sentai footage, this was supposed to be an episode about Kendrix, so I can be cranky about how Kendrix should have had more to do as well. (So, in an episode about female beauty standards, all Kendrix and Maya have had to do are be annoyed with Trakeena and get knocked out. Whaaaaaaaaaaaat.) The fugly zords get summoned and they destroy the monster.

Later, Mike does a magic trick, and Damon is really impressed. Because it's all an illusion, like Trakeena's beauty, apparently. WAIT, IS THAT THE MORAL OF THIS STORY? And then the boys are horrified by the girls' beauty regimens.

Show. WE ARE GOING TO HAVE WORDS.

Trakeena doesn't want to get put into the cocoon because she doesn't want to be ugly. Instead, she runs away.

Fish: FIVE. I AM SO PISSED OFF. This is wrong on so many levels, and frankly, incredibly fucking disturbing, and I am going to have some vodka and strike this episode from my personal canon.