[Switchblade]

Oh man, this episode was sooooooo good.

All of the stuff with both Ryouma and Sagara was fantastic. We're really starting to get some backstory here and his chat with Sagara is the moment that completely solidifies Kouta as a Kamen Rider - the man who uses his power to protect. That whole exchange was just great.

The breakout was fantastic, too. I loved the bit with Kaito and Kouta fighting the Riotro- er, Kurokages. You could really feel the tension in their breakout, especially when Takatora realized that Micchy was with them. And then we had the fight with Sid and... damn, there was so much great stuff in this episode.

But that said, shut the hell up, Mai. Nobody cares about dance team drama anymore. I know you're contractually obligated to appear in every episode, but just... just shut up.

You know, I have really been doing my best not to get too hyped over this show. We aren't even a third of the way in, after all, and it's way too early to call this the "best Rider show ever" or the one that "ruins Kamen Rider forever" by setting the bar too high. But I'll be damned if I'm not starting to feel it now.

See, the first Rider shows I really watched were the early Heisei ones: Agito, Ryuki, Faiz, a little bit of Kuuga... the shows that had more serialized pacing and ongoing stories that frequently got very dark. Somewhere around Kabuto and Den-O Rider lost that and we got the pattern that dominated the late '00s and early '10s shows. Gaim is bringing it all back, though, all of the stuff that I loved about those first shows (even Faiz); stuff I didn't know how much I missed until now. I'm not quite ready to fully immerse myself in the Gaim super hype, but I'm pouring myself some of the Kool-Aid.