Time For The Legend of the Clock Tower

I imagine this episode finds itself on "Worst Of" lists. The superhero action is reserved for the final minute of the episode, and half of that is Timeranger footage that's already been used in episode 5.

I'll give this episode credit, at least, for utilizing the time travel theme. It's Quantum Leap meets Back to the Future meets Somewhere in Time as Katie, upon feeling strong emotions after hearing Wes' downer of a story regarding the original owner of the clock tower, finds herself transported back to the owner's time. She meets the man, a timid guy who's always bullied and stepped on, and helps him find his confidence to stand up to his abusers and finally admit his love to the girl he likes. When Katie sets these things right, she awakens back in the present. When she's later talking to Wes about the man, Wes' account is now changed to reflect the changes Katie made in the past. So was it a dream? A spiritual journey? Did she somehow transport back in time? It's a mystery.

I see what the episode was going for, but it just doesn't work, and it just feels disconnected from everything else. While Katie's likable and cool and needed her own focus episode, she mostly takes a backseat to the guests we don't know or care to invest in. With Katie so moved by hearing what a sad life the guy led, didn't it seem like a more romantic scenario was being set up? Did they chicken out of that? I'll commend them for avoiding an easy and predictable romance angle, and with Katie being the good-hearted strongwoman of the group, it's easy to believe she feels so strongly and is so adamant about protecting and looking out for the little folks. But a romance would have given her more emotional attachment, made this episode seem a little more important as Katie's first focus.

And maybe the episode should have somehow tied into the Time Force's mission? Like, maybe Jen and Katie, in 2001, were going through case files and discovered that some mutant once slipped into the past, and Katie was sent to bring him in, only to discover he's not a bad mutant, and he's just laying low and trying to live his life? She could have sympathized with him and tried to improve his life and all that and it wouldn't feel so damn disconnected from everything else. This episode is basically like that Agito episode Yasuko Kobayashi wrote -- the one that's shot on video and at a full-frame ratio, and it's just about Ryou hanging out with some kid. It's not the worst episode in the world, but it doesn't really tie into anything and is just a big ol' sore thumb.