I'm not surprised Mary was secretly a scumbag.

But enough of a scumbag to make Buffa ditch him is a double whammy for him. Not much to really say about this episode but it's nice to see some more background on our Rider cast, mainly Buffa and Mary. Also, some closure about the defeated Riders not being perma-dead, but just lose their memories and are no longer allowed to return (how much you wanna bet they break that rule somewhere down the road?).

Pretty nice sequence with the freeze frame and Geats/Naago team attack.

I wonder if Buffa's going to win, erasing the Kamen Riders, leading to the power creep of new forms. Either that, or it looks like Tycoon might surprise everyone and his wish might make an even bigger mess than there already is.

Next Episode: Final Boss? Place your bets!

So it's like what I thought about Ace's antics being harmless (I thought losing Boost would reduce your chance of surviving without strong item). Winning by itself isn't a bad thing though, dunno why for some reason some views being nice means backing down for others in competitive setting, or that just being willing to defeat opponents is seen as being ruthless.

Even within the same bad things, it can still be different, factoring in the context of why that bad things happen, which can weigh the scale in either good or bad. This even applies to something like murder; like if it was done in cold-blood or out of self defense.

Wonder if what largely makes this bad is (like you said about Keiwa not being harmed or still continuing the round) not the stealing... but about picking on someone who is helpless instead (Keiwa teaming up with Punk Jack already). As doing something on someone after they're downed that makes it bad isn't only stealing, but also other stuffs like prolonged violence on incapacitated enemy, hunting the wounded outside the heat of battle, etc.

To develop the major characters, the more 'minor' Riders are used... Kanato acting as the opposite to Neon and Morio bringing up Michinaga's trauma to present time.

About the Riders no longer allowed to return, it's dunno (CMIIW) too if it only applies to current DGP (they can re-enter in the future, technically Michinaga should be eliminated with only 1 winner in Ace) or permanently. If it's the former then the possibilities of those 2 returning is real. Or that there could be some other factions using Riders to antagonize the DGP ones or such in the future, etc.

Speaking about the return, for some reason it seems to me that it will be more likely to be Dapan than Merry. He, after the return of memories, may well have a desire for revenge, while Merry, most likely, will not want to mess with this game anymore. Although if in exchange for returning he is offered a power-up...