[SloopSloop]

On the topic of rider deaths, not sure it really hit me much emotionally, but I always thought Marika's death was harsh and really unnecessary. Especially since Zack never shows an ounce of regret for accidentally killing her.

On the topic of Lazer's death, I still can't make heads or tails of it. It was done really well, but it still just seems so pointless and out of the blue and I can't help but wonder if there was a sudden production reason for it. Maybe the actor was hard to work with? Maybe the budget meant they needed to cut him somehow? Maybe they just thought the character wouldn't be very likeable.

I was hoping the show would show that the suddenness was on purpose, that he died too early despite being billed as a major character because that's how real life is sometimes...but it really hasn't gone much of anywhere with his death other than having Emu sulk for a bit, so I'm stumped. Heck, we already know a large part of what he found out (but not all of it, such as Masamune's involvement). The only thing that I think his death has done for the show is give Brave and Snipe a bigger focus and more chances to be characters. I dunno, it' s still really weird to me.