REVIEW: Drive 35
Despite using the plot point of ‘Oh no! The Special Crimes Unit is disbanded!’ yet again, this week’s Drive is still quite good. The plot structure of it all leading up to a key moment really adds to the overall quality of the episode. Plus Nira and Brain are amazing and no one can tell me otherwise.
As regular readers know, I have a seething hatred for opening to the second parts of arcs in this show when they are a quick fix to a cliffhanger. So imagine my surprise when the episode begins with a flashforward where the Kuruma Driving School is surrounded by the police force and Shinnosuke is being held at gunpoint by Nira. Not only is this a refreshing change to the plot structure, but it also makes the viewer stay to the end since they would want to know how the hell the story got to that point; kudos to Keichi Hasegawa for creating this scenario and Sanjo for allowing a longer that 2-episode-arc to oocur.
The episode proper begins 20 hours ‘before the incident’ with Shinnosuke keeping an eye on Yukari since she would be the most likely target of Nira’s as she still has her memories of what actually occurred with Shinnosuke’s father. Chase joins Shinnosuke shortly thereafter, but their chat is cut short by Nira who had fused with Brain to become the Thief Roiimude again. Now that Nira has been revealed to be Thief, I think the directors and the writers gave Iida Keisuke, Nira’s actor, more freedom to play around and actually act like Nira: It’s the little hand motions and giggles that really sell him. Nira/Brain does indeed overwhelm our two Kamen Riders, however Gou saves them at the last moment.
Chase confronts Gou over Banno and the iPad, however he does not provoke Gou any further simply saying that as long as he is able to help them like he did when Shinnosuke died, Gou can do what he wants. Again it’s really nice seeing Chase trying his best to be friendly towards Gou and Gou slowly opening up to him. It really shows their relationship and characters’ evolutions. And now esteemed guests of this review, we have the greatest scene in the whole episode. Medic and Brain being Medic and Brain, naturally start a fight when Brain demands her to call him ‘Sir Brain’. However since he has reached his Ultimate Evolution, he easily defeats her.
And oh god what happens next: Brain taunts her in one of the best performances from Shota Matsushima where he just chews the scene up in the best way possible. Please Kamen Rider Drive, more of this. It’s amazing .We then get the now weekly Honganji motivational speech to Shinnosuke; however it still hasn’t lost its charm and heartfelt-ness. It probably has a lot to do with Honganji’s acting and the script; but gosh darnit it always is uplifting, especially when he tells Shinnosuke that the Special Crimes Unit will always have his back. Plus the little moment where he asks Shinnosuke for the picture of him and Shinnosuke’s father back was a cute added touch.
Kiriko interrupts the moment however with news that Brain, in his civilian identity, and Nira have started a press conference where they accuse Shinnosuke and the rest of the Special Crimes Unit of being in cahoots with the Roiimudes, based on the fact that all the members have been connected to a Roiimude at some point in the last year. This is not only a great development since it really does shake up the dynamics of the show, however temporary it may be, and it ties in the character focus episodes in to the wider plot thus making them even more relevant than they already are; Props to the writing team for doing this. Thus the whole of the Special Crimes Unit is put under arrest, but again with the ‘cunning’ of Honganji, Shinnosuke is able to escape to take Nira down. With the whole of his team behind bars, Shinnosuke is now on the run as a fugitive. As the timer that has been present throughout the episode continues to count down, Shinnsouke is able to meet up with Mr. Belt in one of the very few comedic moments in the whole episode. However this reunion is short-lived as Nira was able to find them and begins fighting the two.
Chase does join the fray but despite him and Shinnosuke easily splitting Brain and Nira up, Nira is able to escape due to Brain’s newfound power due to his Ultimate Evolution. Shinnosuke gives chase to Nira, while Chase stays behind to fend off Brain. During this fight, Brain alludes to not only what the promised number we have been hearing about throughout the whole series, but that Chase also has a further purpose, which is reassuring since it felt like Chase’s arc ended when he became a Kamen Rider. Meanwhile Gou, who has been chilling out in some industrial park this whole episode, is confronted by Heart over the iPad and so leading to the two fighting in next week’s episode. Finally, Shinnosuke tracks Nira down to the Special Crimes Unit office where Nira not only holds Shinnosuke at gun point with the gun that killed his father, but also was able to place the blame on Shinnosuke with the press; thus we are now at the events showed to us at the beginning of the episode and also end on a great cliffhanger.
As mentioned twice earlier, the plot structure/opening of this episode really makes it. It all cleverly adds up and leads to the key moment with Shinnosuke being held at gunpoint by Nira. By the looks of it, this cliffhanger, rather than being hastily resolved next week, will be given a whole episode to be resolved. I think the fact that last week, this week and next week’s episode has added up to a three-part arc has given the complicated plot some breathing room to be digested and explained properly. Maybe that’s what I had wrong with the previous episodes: everything was so condensed so felt rushed and uncomfortable. So hell yeah this was a great episode.
