Okay, Vegas is the absolute worst Rider form ever, bar none, and Justin is a big liar. >_____________> BUT this was, shockingly, a better episode than 2! Not a good episode of Kamen Rider, necessarily, but like...this week had actual stakes and a coherent plot that
almost didn't dovetail into another episode! It was decent!
PROS:
-Shinnosuke questioning things again, actually showing his character for more than a glimpse
-Weird internet guy being actually weirder than the rest of the incompetent SCU/Officer Dumbfuck being escorted offscreen early
-The Roidmudes were an actual threat and kind of creepy
-Actual backstory and non-shitty exposition well I never
-Shinnosuke being as displeased/horrified by Dream Vegas as anyone with a brain would be ("What kind of special attack goes bust?!")
-Machine Chaser's transformation is some decent dark-Rider stuff
CONS:
-Dream Vegas exists and just ugh ugh ugh no
-We still don't have any idea what the Roidmudes even want or what they really are
-Kiriko reduced to trembling waif by encounter with Roidmude who attacked her + given standard "Rider saved me" love interest backstory and generally robbed of agency
-The two-episode arc format is back and here to stay, folks, get used to it (again)
-They're shotgunning Tire Changes at us with wild abandon
-Machine Chaser's design would be a lot more effective without all the junkyard-engine parts sticking out of his left side
-DREAM VEGAS AAAAAAUUUUGGGHHH WHY WHO AUTHORIZED THAT, THEY'RE THE WORST
So I still don't have high hopes, but I'm less likely to drop the show in single digits; it seems like maybe it was just a rocky start and they're finding their way now. There's still time, though! Maybe they'll fuck up Episode 4 spectacularly!