REVIEW: Drive 41
Y’know I think I’ve finally figured out what disappoints me so much about the recent arc-starting episodes that I keep going on about. It’s that, despite being in the home stretch of the show, they always drop the tension that’s built up in the previous episode to zero so as they can introduce a new mystery. It’s like there is no ongoing threat or something of a crazed scientist or a bunch of cyborgs fighting for their freedom through subjugating humanity.
And so the episode opens in a spoopy hospital with two nurses discussing their love lives, when they suddenly find a woman sitting on a bench; suddenly one of them collapses after hearing an odd sound and says that they miss “Shou”. Of course since this is such a weird case, the SCU are put on the case. This is not too unique of a premise, but as stated earlier, it drops the tension and stakes of the show to zero by resetting any danger from previous weeks to pretty much nothing. It’s something I think the format of having a mystery every week causes since W and Wizard, which both had a similar premise for their week-by-week format, has the exact same problem around the same time in their respective runs.
So while they are investigating the hospital, Rinna falls under the same spell/effect as the other women. Consequently the SCU also finds a woman who looks exactly the same as Medic. We learn, from a convenient change in perspective, that this woman is most likely who Medic copied her form from. We also learn, from a later scene in the SCU, that Medic had placed her there in the night before. It’s nice that we are finally getting some focus upon who the Roiimudes copied since we got a touch of it way back when with Kyu-chan and Gen-san’s arcs. Plus it’s interesting to see who the Roiimude executives got their forms from.
Also during this scene we also get the weekly “Chase is becoming more human through learning” moment where he begins his quest to learn about love. Now I kinda like and dislike these moments. On the one hand its precious to see him learn about human society and such, but on the other hand its always kinda regulated to a B side comedy plot for the week. It could be something quite compelling, but after he became a Kamen Rider, the writing team just kinda regulated him to be a side character, rather than one of the main characters. But I suppose they needed to since there are so many other plot points to deal with.
We also learn that Banno was at the scene of the crime, which swiftly leads us back to Medic looking over the woman she copied. Suddenly Banno appears out of nowhere, which Gou of course takes advantage of and starts fighting. However Banno takes over Medic’s body and starts attacking back. This fight is stopped however by Heart who reveals that after the Roiimude’s initial defeat during the Global Freeze by Chase, Medic appeared up, dressed in white mind you, and saved them all from the brink of extinction. This really is leading up to some very interesting revelations since a) Medic is now wearing black and b) she used to be more caring to her fellow Roiimudes.
Back at the Hospital the woman who Medic copied from is revealed to be Hatori Misuzu, a member of a dance troupe thus explaining Medic’s fascination with ballet, by her boyfriend. Turns out she had disappeared a year before without any explanation. However the boyfriend does not turn out to be the “Shou” all the woman had been seeking. They all later go out to give the boyfriend and Misuzu some time together, but while Shinnosuke teaches Chase more about love, Medic kidnaps the two. There really isn’t much to say about these scenes since they just serve a practical purpose of shuffling the plot along.
But when Shinnosuke and Chase eventually do find Medic some interesting stuff does happen. We see Medic’s usual calm façade breakdown as she tries to invoke her ultimate evolution through Misuzu. Honestly I have to say Medic is one of the better written, not only female villains in Kamen Rider recently, but also one of the best female characters in a while. Yes she does revolve around pleasing a man, however it’s explained well and she is made more three dimensional through her quest to find her ultimate evolution. She’s really doing it on her own accord and is given quite a lot of agency in her actions and motivations.
Meanwhile, Brain stumbles upon 006 ambushing Banno with a bunch of other Roiimudes. Banno of course takes them out easily and also kills 006 and takes over his body. I find this quite surprising since it seemed like they were setting up 004 to be Banno’s body and also giving 006 some spotlight to become an executive, but I guess not. This leads to the birth of Gold Drive, a repaint of the Proto-Drive suit with Drive’s helmet which also gives Banno the powers of ultimate evolution. It’s kinda a lame cop-out final villain since it’s just a repaint. Gou of course somehow finds him and starts fighting him, but due to his immense power is beaten. This scene is quite a highlight since Banno really shows his true feelings by telling Gou that he never loved him and that he was just an experiment. Finally the episode ends with Shinnosuke protecting Medic from Chase and asking her what all this business with Misuzu is about. The Surprise Future minisode isn’t really anything to talk about so I’ll skip it this week.
So overall? Eh a reasonable episode. As I said since it reset the stakes it’s a bit jarring and viually its’ nothing much to write home about, but the focus upon Medic and the expansion of her motivation and characters is a welcome aspect of it. The stuff with Banno is great as well since we are finally seeing his true feelings and intentions. Plus Brain and the dog are great. So yeah go watch it, it wasn’t that bad an episode.
