[Switchblade]

Yep, that sure was an episode of Ghost.

Last week I was called out for always being down on this show, so let's start with some positives: the idol plot was executed competently. The telepathy aspect was dealt with a little too abruptly (seriously, no one is alarmed that Mr. Bills' new Fitbit allows people to read minds as an accidental side effect?), but it was an entirely serviceable plot. And Koyomi's actress actually turned up for the majority of the scenes two episodes in a row, which I think is a record.

The Makoto doppelganger plot also has me intrigued. I'm hoping this is some weird side effect of Deep Specter. It's always seemed like a form that would have some kind of negative consequences (besides those stupid antlers), and I'm hoping this is a manifestation of that.

Onari was relatively unobtrusive this week.

Now the negatives:

What, exactly, was the point of the idol subplot, again? I know that the evil scientist whose name I can't remember is still in the middle of his "Take over corporation -> ??? -> Profit" scheme, but I honestly have no idea what the hell any of this was supposed to accomplish. Was it just to embarrass Akari by making her wear the world's smallest sequined top hat? I've pretty much lost any ability to take him seriously at this point.

Speaking of villains, I get that a Kamen Rider show needs to have a number of action scenes, but dear lord were the Ghost and Necrom scenes shoehorned in this week (Specters' were legit, no complaints here). Both Javert and the Ganmeiser just showed up out of nowhere for no real reason. The Ganmeiser fight wasn't even a good action scene. Necrom's new power-up was disappointing and cheap, but at least it wasn't just a couple punches and then some CGI.

Next week: "Hey, remember that guy that showed up about a month ago, looked like a major new villain, and was then never seen or mentioned again? Yeah, he's back."