[Kamen Rider Die]

KAMEN RIDER DEN-O EPISODE 16 - “LUCKY STAR, LAWBREAKER’S SURRENDER”



What a fantastically stupid episode of television.

I loved this so much, and it’s down to how sublimely idiotic it was. It ends with the reveal that the cops were there for a hostage situation that was happening next door to the bathhouse, and no one inside was ever in any trouble, which is the best You Idiots Are Doing This To Yourself ending possible for an episode that could best be summed with You Idiots Are Doing This To Yourself.

Like, the monster in this basically just pushes people over? The fact that it completes its contract by shoving a drinks cart operator and just goes Mission Accomplished is exquisite. It is my favorite gag in a story overflowing with great gags, and then it maybe tops itself by having the monster go back a few years to push over people in a park. That's how it chooses to destroy the past. It is the dumbest idea, and the fact that it doesn’t feel out of sync with this story is maybe the greatest compliment I can pay it.

(Honestly, my favorite gag might be the fact that Hana doesn’t appear in any of the hostage scenes, which I’m inferring as her getting bored playing hostage and just heading back to the Denliner, like the hostage situation was a party that got dull. But since I’m only inferring that, I can’t really count it as a gag. Sorry, Hana! I appreciate the effort, though!)

That the contract monster is let loose by a drunk who threw away the money that he accused Hakamada of stealing, and that somehow a company found that money and, like, held onto it for a few years… what?! Insane. Insane to have this story be, like, the comedic version of Yonemura’s pointlessly dramatic story from 11/12. But this time, it totally works? I mean, it works because the president is like Holy Shit I Have A Huge Drinking Problem And It’s Destroying My Life, and the pointlessness of this plot kind of is the point? It’s a screwball comedy, and that requires a blisteringly dumb series of decisions to put its plot into motion. It's a story all about how we can be our own worst enemies (it's a series theme!), and about how difficult it can be to face up to our mistakes, but how liberating it can feel when we finally do. Having the missing money be because one guy drunkenly flung it off a bridge and then immediately forgot about… working as intended!

Just a perfect, perfect episode for stupidity. It’s all so gleefully dumb that I ate it right the hell up. Nothing in here mattered, it’s all about people doing stupid things and then trying to atone for that stupidity, and no one really gets hurt.

I mean, a couple people got shoved, but they’re overserving a drunk and they maybe deserved at least a bit of a shove. I am not as forgiving as Airi and Ryotaro!



THE BAGGAGE CAR

-Hilariously, I think the best fight in this episode was the RyuRyoTaros and Momo fight? The nighttime finale was neat for the nighttime of it all, but the whole gimmick was that the monster sucked. The struggle to defuse Ryutaros was way more fraught, and way likelier to end in a homicide than some sluggish fish imagination monster from the end of time who pushes people over. Ryutaros was 1000% going to murder that guy, and it took Ryotaro's cleverness, Momo’s indomitable will, and Airi’s willingness to tell her brother in the bathroom to STOP. God only knows what she thought she was telling him to--



--oh, never mind. She’s a very kind sister!