Ah, so THAT'S how Machin Chaser becomes Rider Chaser. I figured Gou gets wasted and Chaser jacks his belt.

I do not like Mach Dead Heat at all, even in Full burst or whatever form. That helmet is fugly, and its just a lazy fucking mashup of Mach and Drive. terrible.

Okay, we get it, you don't like Dead Heat. Stop moaning about it all the time. Isn't this supposed to be an Episode Discussion thread?

I generally liked the episode a lot. Gou is my favorite character in the show at this point and I love how much effort was put into fleshing out his character and giving him some conflict. While I would have love to see an individual upgrade for him that surpasses even Dead Heat (because I though it was sad that he doesn't have an upgrade that's not related to Drive), I love the conclusion that he can grow strong without constantly getting new forms. I also like how Belt explained how different Gou and Shinnosuke are and why Drive is the one that constantly gets upgrades while Mach is in stagnation.
What I didn't like that much is the combined finisher. While it was cool that they fought together, I would have liked it more if Mach would've defeated the Roidmude of his own, as a proof of his new strength. But at least they made it so it didn't ruin the episode completely by making Gou actually adressing the issue and agreeing to the teamwork. That made it feel like his spotlight wasn't completely stolen.

I really hope that with the next bunch of episodes, Shinnosuke will get some more conflict and development though. He has become a bit boring, which is a pity, because I really like both him and the actor a lot.

Haven't watched it yet... But is Mach Deat hear full burst or mastered form of Dead Heat changed in terms of look? Or is it a inner power thing?

It's basically just the same look as when they entered the dead zone,
because the whole thing about it is that he fights after entering it.
http://i60.tinypic.com/msoqo6.png

Well, the preview for next episode shows that his identity becomes public. That, and I saw in episode summaries that Shinnosuke's father is the head of the 1st Division and that they're going to get into conflict with each other.

Take it with a grain of salt, though, because it could very well be wrong.

Pretty decent, by Drive's standards. I like Gou's new finisher - the whirlwind effect is very Showa.

I kind of like this episode, but any feeling of like is sort of over shadowed by disappointment that we didn't go more into "Destroying" vs "Saving" rider idea, which I hope we will get more details on in the future, still pretty good though
(also I actually am starting to like Mach dead heat, no idea why just am).

Edit: also how the destroying vs saving attitudes reflects he's low self-esteem/self-loathing, and if they (the self-esteem issues and the attitude) have been around since we first met him or are just arising now (they're probably just arising now)

Im only watching drive mostly because of chase.

Picked this show back up around Ep 22 (the end of Mashin Chaser and the rise of Kamen Rider Chaser) and it hasn't disappointed. If these types of episodes continue then Drive will become a favorite of mine. I love the direction they're taking the show in.