[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER REVICE EPISODE 23 - “HIJACKED BY VICE… DID HE REALLY BETRAY US!?”



There’s a wistfulness to this story that I wasn’t expecting. It’s been two episodes of this Act 1 throwback story, with the origami monsters and Vice being suspicious and a tiny mystery to solve… and then the end of it is a character who misses how things used to be, and doesn’t feel great about how the wider scope and scale of the thing she used to love is adding friction and recrimination where there used to be joy and possibility. They took this throwback story, with only a tiny amount of Weekend, and used it to give a bittersweet farewell to that era of the show.

Much like the despondent and slightly deranged assistant to the now alarmingly dedicated comedy duo, I didn't love the way this show was changing. This episode was great, though, and it was great in an expanded Act 2 way. It leveraged different character relationships to tell a story about how prickly people convey emotion, and how much we all need to read optimistically into the actions of the people we love who maybe aren’t as forthcoming and direct as they should be. It’s a story they couldn’t’ve done in Act 1, so maybe I need to just keep rooting for this show. It may not be the small show I used to like, but maybe it can be a bigger show that I enjoy differently.

I definitely dug the way this episode rolled out its conflicts, and how deftly it addressed multiple ongoing plots. Kagerou jumping out to save Daiji and Sakura was probably my favorite (I think I did a little involuntary fist-pump?), and probably the first time I was excited to see Kagerou back in play. (Wait, no: when they get the Giffamilia church-nightclub-spaceship location out of him. That was also great!) I like him better as a creepy jerk that’s still a part of the family, and therefore a character that everyone else has to find some way to coexist with. He’s an aspect of Daiji, no different than Vice or Lovekov. Having him grumpily intervene when Daiji’s getting his ass handed to him is exactly the space I like to see Kagerou occupy: the dickhead relative who treats his family like shit, but only he is allowed to treat them like shit; everyone else is an interloper that needs to get tooled up. I just… I like Special Guest-Star Kagerou? I like him in these small, surprising doses.

Which is not to downplay how perfect the Aguilera/Sakura/Tamaki stuff was! That whole part of the episode, yes, always, forever. Aguilera showing up to a fight just to say Hi to Sakura and tell her to take good care of Tamaki!!! My heart. It’s nice that it’s part of this nested doll of We Don’t Know How To Talk About Feelings characters (see: Kagerou) that expands throughout the back half of the episode, but I’d’ve been thrilled if it was only Aguilera flirting with Sakura while Lovekov gets knocked over. I am easy sometimes! I like the fun chemistry they have (Sakura finally getting the subtext after a dozen episodes, A+ observation skills, sometimes it’s hard to know when someone’s into you) and I like Lovekov finally showing up again. Like I said, sometimes I’m easy.

Only real bum note of this episode was – predictably, perennially – the Weekend investigation with George. It’s dumb because it’s George spending an episode learning something the audience has known for a few episodes, so it’s got nothing new to tell us. (It’s never fun to watch a character learn information a story already told its audience! This is why most toku shows follow up a big reveal with the other characters having been told off-screen or between episodes!) The only new information in the episode for that end of the plot is that Weekend has their own Shroud (anniversary reference…?) in “Karizaki”, which I would assume is George’s dad. Or maybe it’s his mom! Or inner demon! Or a completely different Karizaki who hates George for doing more with their shared surname! Boy, I can’t wait to find out.

But that’s, honestly, barely worth complaining about. This was as solid a two-parter as this show has ever done, and a testament to how interesting the relationships in this show have become. (I didn’t even talk about Vice and Ikki! They were very fun in this episode!) When they’re given space to explore their similarities and differences, I love this bizarre extended family. An episode like this one proves that they don’t have to lose that spark to tell new, fascinating stories.