[Fish Sandwich]

Cool episode, but I'm a sucker this plot in Toku, so that goes without saying:

- *sees title card instead of opening for third week in a row* Dang it, Ex-Aid! Although this week actually used the theme song in an appropriate place, and if it does mean a minute of extra time for stuff, it's not all bad. I just can't shake the feeling this is less the writers REALLY needing the space and more a failure to get it edited down properly.

- I'm totally nitpicking here, but Emu, if you're already taking the big clunky belt with you, are 4 Gashats really that much more space? Or even just one of the Level 3 ones? I guess I appreciate the attempt at giving a reason for the main Rider to use their main form (and in this case Level 4), but come on, it wouldn't be the first time someone in this show has inexplicably decided to go with their main form over a more powerful one.

- Love the action scenes with Level 4. Very 90's! Probably the kind of action people were expecting when they first saw the neon suits for the show.

- What in the heck is Dan doing when he transforms? Come on man, how am I gonna take you seriously as a villain when you're so dang wacky?

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Originally Posted by MarsHottentot

If I have any complaint about Ex-Aid, it's how compact it feels;

I was so excited a couple weeks ago when Hiiro was at that cafe, and then like five seconds later a fight scene happened. Poor guy didn't even get to take one bite of his cake.

Quote:

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;

Yeah, I'm gonna go with this explanation because, given what we've been shown with Salty, Revol, and Whatshisface Wizard Guy, don't Bugsters "die" pretty much the same why Takeru does in Ghost? Which is to say they don't?

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Originally Posted by Byg42

maybe everyone's praise of it is dulling my perception,

I'd believe it. The hype Ex-Aid has been getting borders on overblown. I mean, it's a good show and all but it's had at least as many problems as Ghost had around the same point in its run.

Even this episode, cool as it was, is a stock plot done at about a stock level, right down to the status quo restoring ending, and there really wasn't much in the way of Plot significance when you get down to it. Basically the only thing long-term that happened was Pallad getting angry at Dan. Like, Snipe was here just to have a Rider to attack the Bugster so Emu could go "no, don't attack the Bugster!", and beyond that role he just did his one note with Niko that he's been doing for weeks now.

I guess time will tell if this episode DOES have some big deep meaning to the show overall (and if Ex-Aid really makes "the one with the burger monster" a significant chapter in its story, it will probably have earned the praise), but when Drive and Ghost did this exact plot, it had WAY more relevance to what was going on in the larger narrative. The question of whether or not a Roidmude could be good played into Chase's arc, and making nice with the Ganma was the theme of that entire quarter or so of Ghost. Here? Genm delivers a token line to Emu at the end that's of little real meaning? I just don't see how this is much better than what we've been getting.