[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER BUILD EPISODES 42 - 43



I, hmm.

I don't think these episodes worked.

They didn't work because they're largely retreading things we already know, with an enemy that I'm just not that invested in. Blowing up the Touto headquarters is a big move, but it's not like there was anyone there that we cared about. It symbolized Evol(t)'s victory, but it didn't really evoke any feelings. And while the Riders feel frustrated by being called renegades by the new Seito government, it doesn't have a huge bearing on the feel of the show. They're still holed up in the cafe, hiding from Evol(t) and Seito, but now people we don't know don't like them? I guess? And the final fight against Mad Rogue, sheesh. I cannot believe they'd try to pull a heroic Riders Never Say Die moment out of a fight with the snivelling henchman. He's not that menacing anymore! His taunting, while sort-of reasonable against Gentoku (dude just saw the physical manifestation of his dead father's hopes and dreams get atomized in a black hole), the Build stuff I just don't get. Cannot for the life of me see why Build needs to shout his feelings like that. I can sort-of see how the show's trying to link their daddy issues together, Sento and Gentoku, but those traits are night and day. Gentoku's entire story is built around his relationship with his father, while Sento's dad is a fairly recent concern that the show hasn't begun to do the work on for me to care about it. They are betting so much of the show's finale on how much I care about Sento and his dad, and it feels like a massive miscalculation. (Science!)

The second episode just drives that point home. Sento attacks Banjou to save his OBVIOUSLY EVIL dad, splitting Team Build up and causing everyone in the story (except Banjou) to make terrible decisions. Like, not just "these distraught characters are acting rashly", but "why in the name of anything would this character decide to do that". A lot of head-scratching moments in this episode, the kind of dumb To Move The Plot Forward developments that I honestly can't remember this show ever needing to stoop to. Misora decides to go back to Hipster Dad why?! Rogue and Grease just utterly can't trust Sento so they race to the hidden villain base all by themselves why?! It's dumb. It's dumb dumb dumb. I could not follow why anyone was doing anything, and the actors couldn't sell me on it because I don't think they knew why they were doing it, either. There's a middle section of episode 43 that might be the worst this series has ever been.

It ends sort-of well, though, with Banjou giving his version of Sento's rebuke to Blood Stalk back around the end of the first act. (More retreading! More characters forgetting lessons they already learned!) Build's defeat of Buildad was clever, which forgives a bit of how they got there, but, man. These episodes were weak in so many ways that Build is never weak: cheesy speeches, bad storytelling logic, and worst of all, a villain that I don't care about. Buildad is like Specter's dad from the (horrible) Ghost summer movie. He's a guy that abandoned his family a decade ago, shows back up as a total asshole, but for some reason we're supposed to feel conflicted about this guy? Supposed to want to see the best in him? I thought it was a dumb idea then, and I think it's a dumb idea now. When you've got maybe the most cunning, charismatic villain in Kamen Rider history with Evol(t), why would you ever give that up to focus on a boring asshole like Buildad? Why?!