This is not a tribute. This is an anti-tribute! If you are a fan of Najee De-Tiege aka Kevin Douglas the Blue Ranger, then you should look for a different article on a different site. However please remember this is just my opinion and you are welcome to yours too. Today I'm going to talk about my very least favorite Blue Power Ranger. Oy! Okay in the first episode this guy abandons his swim-team. Seriously? A magical Samurai arrow is launched to tell him to join the fight against the Nighloks. However he's abandoning his sports team! What kind of message is this show sending? The world is in danger, okay sure but you could at least tell someone you're leaving, but nope. Kevin literally leaves the scene to join the Power Rangers. I do not see this as a good message, I really don't! Kevin is kind of a jerk. He brags about how he trains night and day and how he lives the life of the model Samurai. When the Rangers got their day off in episode six, he assumed it was cover for a secret mission, was this supposed to be funny? Cause it wasn't! Evantually we got Kevin's first solo mission episode. Kevin was assigned with retriviving the Legendary Swordfish zord which was hidden in a lake. A fisherman appeared at the lake. Okay maybe you could make Kevin more likable if he made an outside friend? Nope didn't work- all they did was get the fish zord, there was no bonding, no chemistry, nothing to build on! Very lackluster! Kevin goes on a mission with Mia. Mia is the Pink Ranger. He pretends to eat the dinner she made for him and actually throws it in the dirt. He tries to use this clip to make us gain sympathy for him in the Christmas special. Over time he did lighten up but his character is still very hollow, I just find him very unappealing!
Kevin uses a magical Samurai bow and arrow in battle. He has two zords a Dragon and a Swordfish. Over the course of the later episodes he comes off a little less jerk-like but he doesn't have the heart. He often talks about about his great Samurai training and shows way too much ego. Then came the episode where his swim-team is back in town for another event. Kevin feels guilty for leaving the team. This episode was dragged out, way too slow. They tried to make it look like he might switch-back. Only for him to come right back to the Rangers. Sure it was the right thing to do, but he still comes off very self-absorbed, like the swim-team barely matters to him. He saved the life of the team's new leader but then leaves quickly once again! True heroes bring hope, and leave a message that lasts. Kevin's messages don't have much substance. He eats healthy but it's not pleasant to watch this one guy eating a carrot-stick while his friends are all eating ice cream. It just looks weird. Also I don't think that's promoting healthy eating. Who wants what the jerk is having? Okay last big Kevin episode. Kevin and Mike (green ranger) have their arms glued together by a monster. The truth is I rarely like Mike a whole lot either and this episode felt kinda flat for me. Mike seems to really want to be the center of attention a lot. Mike's skills are different but he too thinks he's the best. They come to accept that their skills work best together but they still come off kind of jerk-like. Mike and Emily bonded over time and I started to cheer for them. Their chemistry worked, Kevin and Mia's didn't! Then Jayden leaves, gets into a big fight with Deker, and Kevin has to save him. Oy again! It was overly dramatic and the truth is I like Deker more. Deker has great mystery and allure as a character, and he has true struggles. I would rather have seen Deker destroy Kevin. Not the other way around. I am not here to attack Najee De-tiege as an actor, he did an okay job. However he's just my least favorite Blue Power Ranger! It's as simple as that. Samurai is a hard series for me anyways. I covered many problems with it in the article- The Highs and Lows of Samurai. However I think I would've enjoyed this series more with more Deker (Ricardo Medina) (look for more info on him in Thoughts on RMJ) and a whole lot less Kevin. Also I'm a big Blue Ranger person but this guy's just one I can't back up. I'm not sure how much I'll talk about Samurai in the future. We'll see! Thanks for reading!
A bit repetitious saying over and over you do not like Kevin. But the reasons you do not like him make sense, so I do not like him either. Great essay, but a bit long. You might try to edit it the day after you write it, and cut out all redundancy.