Recap

Chase faces down Gou as Shinnosuke and company desperately race to solve the mystery of the bank murder and uncover the true identity of 001.

Zigg’s Thoughts

As has been its habit for a while now, Drive crams an awful lot into this one episode. Fortunately though, all that stuff merely makes this episode feel even more packed with punch rather than clogging stuff up. All the plot threads here pull towards one common end goal. That’s refreshing for a show which started out as rather aimless and confused in its purpose. I’ve said it before, but one of the advantages of the extremely long form serial that tokusatsu tends to take is that you can really live with the characters. What that means is that when we get big moments like this episode, they feel that much bigger in comparison.

What’s especially satisfying in this episode is that the big moments aren’t just set piece fights or battles, but instead real and genuine character development. Shinnosuke perhaps lays his ‘we’re here to protect people’ schtick on a little thick, but it’s a valid moral point to make. The advance we see here over lesser episodes is the way this stance dovetails nicely with the gears that are turning in the other parts of the plot. Kiriko’s frenzied harassment is totally out of character but it makes perfect sense considering the emotional stress she’s under regarding Gou. And Yukari’s decision to help the crew isn’t the sudden about face of most reluctant witnesses in this show, but instead a gradual process that the heroes have to earn through their bravery. There’s some cracking dialogue scenes here, particularly the quiet discussion between Shinnosuke, Kiriko, and Yukari’s mother. It’s an episode with an unusual amount of emotional depth, and that’s always a notable achievement in the paper-thin world of Kamen Rider.

Of course, let’s not sell the action short. Chase’s awesome rumble with Gou might be the best fight in the show yet, and it’s an important bit of character development too. In this episode we see him embrace his role as a hero like he hasn’t before, operating as a hero independently of the others and even hanging out in the police station. There’s definitely real impact to all of the clashes and watching back especially the final fight it’s clear how far the action direction and editing has come. We’re back to the classic Japanese smash-mouth style, blessedly largely free from extreme close ups and fast cuts.

There’s also the bombshell the episode ends on. No, not the revelation of 001’s identity to our heroes, which was bound to happen eventually. I’m surprised it was this early, but there’s some great potential for a ‘fight within the system’ style underdog story, so it could be good. No, what was truly shocking was Chase’s point-blank lie to Kiriko about Gou’s condition. He’d so firmly established himself as a hero, so why is he turning back to the dark side? One tantalising prospect is the idea that he wants Gou out of the way of his relationship, as undeveloped as it is, with Kiriko. Whatever it leads to, it was a memorable bullet point to a scintillating episode.

Random observations

• Rider Kick versus Rider Kick will never not be awesome.
• The sudden spam of early power-ups at the end smacks of ‘Don’t forget these older toys!’
• I loved the way the show handled the ‘Open’ power last week but having the chains this week was the very definition of cheating.