[MarsHottentot]

Definite step up from last episode. Kinda crazy, Ex-Aid doing another tonal whiplash episode - though I was kind of expecting it this time.

My thoughts:
1. Nice to see Emu doing something outside the CR, if even only for a minute. If I have any complaint about Ex-Aid, it's how compact it feels; most of the outdoor scenes are stages and most action is in the hospital or around it. Last episode when Hiiro and the Director were talking in front of the picture window and you could see the "real world" outside (some trees, a parked car) - it felt more "grounded". Ex-Aid is so bizarre and otherworldly, scenes like that go a long way for me.

2. I don't really care but, Niko is clearly there to give Taiga / Snipe a reason to open his mouth. Her arc is over already, it seems and, like Taiga, doesn't have any real reason to be around.

3. Snipe was brutal with the Burgmon beat down!

4. I loved the Burgmon bit with the "spilling your ketchup - I mean, blood!"

5. Pallad is all about the game. The point of Revol is to defeat him by blowing him up (and he didn't actually die, he was absorbed into Genm's Bugvisor, whining all the way). Defeating Burgmon was to make him a badass burger and make him smile. He was defeated once Ex-Aid finished that task. What Dan did was outside the rules of the game and pretty much pointless murder. Pallad has shown again and again that he's into fair play and continuing the game; killing everyone would end all that pretty fast. So, for Pallad, Kurota is now a threat to his entire reason for existing. I doubt this means he'll be a straight good guy, I think this just means he's a wild card anti-hero.

6. Love Perfect Puzzle's design with the "smart guy" glasses and devillock.

This show is crazy!