[Fish Sandwich]

Hey everyone, guess what time it is!



Time to play "Guess Who Directed This Episode"! The picture above is a "subtle" hint!

In all seriousness, I really enjoyed this episode. The action was above average (duh), and the parts relating to Fourze were handled in a way that makes me feel more comfortable with the prospect of inevitable future episodes that also have to do tributes to other shows without their main character. The recycled footage, of all things, actually helped a lot. For all the issues Zi-O still has to iron out, I'm glad they didn't try having the old Riders appear entirely in costume with awful soundalikes or something. To paraphrase episode 5.5, I don't think that would've fooled modern viewers.

As for the story here, it's hard to say anything until it wraps up next week. It seems like pairing up Faiz and Fourze might not be entirely arbitrary, and I definitely loved the twist with the Another Rider at the end, but it could also just be more nonsense too. At any rate, I appreciate them matching the theme of the episode to the theme of the series they're paying homage to. The Ex-Aid episodes vaguely did that, I guess, but here everything is 100% about friendship. This is another thing I think it was very important for Zi-O to get right, so I'm happy about that.

Honestly, my biggest problem with this episode was probably the finisher. Sougo decides to start announcing his attacks for no reason and then Geiz mildly chides him for it? Maybe worth a chuckle, but compared to the postmodern genius of the last two gags they did, it's unbearably lame.