[Kamen Rider Die]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

I'm not surprised to hear that there are scenes cut from this episode, given how so much of it feels incomplete. I still read a lot of the X-Men comics and this episode reminds me of what's probably my least favorite book in the current line-up: Excalibur (I feel like I may have made this comparison in another one of the KRD Watches... threads, so if this sounds familiar just skip to the next paragraph). Part of that is subject matter, as the comic deals with what is easily the dumbest and most uninteresting part of the current status quo, but mostly it's a structure thing. Most issues of that comic feel like they have panels missing, meaning it often feels like we skip over important moments that would better connect the narrative. I got a lot of those vibes from this episode, with Nago getting his butt kicked by Yuri ending with him kidnapping her being the worst example.

I had to go back and watch that transition twice, because I completely could not understand what was happening. For those who don't remember, the chain of events is:

-Nago tries to punch Yuri
-Yuri catches his punch, just like Otoya did, and proceeds to beat the crap out of him
-Cut to Mal d'Amour, where Otoya is informed via phone call that Yuri is being held hostage
-Cut back to a handcuffed Yuri being menaced by a badly-beaten Nago

As a logical progression of events, it's sorely lacking. My assumption is that, in a largely one-side fight (Yuri is blemish-free), Nago managed to get his handcuffs on Yuri. But it's mostly unaddressed onscreen, and almost all of the denouement suffers from the same problem. Like, is Kengo officially a member of W.A.K.E.U.P., even though the story where he was inducted never happened? Stories where characters rewrite history usually need more time spent on the details than other stories, and this one somehow spent less.

(Also, I'd say that Children of the Atom is the worst of the current X-Men books. Vita Ayala is my least-favorite writer for that line. CotA and New Mutants are basically unreadable.)