RECAP: KAMEN RIDER DRAGON NIGHT #2- “CONTRACT WITH THE DRAGON”

Previously on Dragon Knight. Whatever town these people live in, there must be something in the water, because they all seem thoroughly crazy. They’re seeing strange monsters that kidnap people through mirrors. And Kit Taylor is about to become just as crazy as Len (aka Keanu Schwarzenegger). Kit gets sucked into another dimension and is forced to run, as Puff the Magic Dragon tries to kill ’em with fire!

We begin just where we left off, as Kit is blasted by the dragon and does his best Tarzan yell in response. The armored Kit and Len get thrown through the city like rag dolls. Kit is understandably perplexed at this unlikely series of events. But Len doesn’t have time for a heart-to-heart, so he tells him to hurry up and follow him through the mirror. Sadly, Kit is too busy marvelling at how WAY COOL it is to watch Len walk through the mirror to realize that Puffy is right on his tail again. EXPLOSION!

Kit rushes through the streets in confusion, until he realizes that he can get out through any reflective surface. He jumps through a shiney car just in time to escape Puffy’s wrath.

Meanwhile, Maya Young is completely obsessed with Kit Taylor, whose wallet she has stolen and is still staring at the next day. Her buddy Lacey walks in and grabs the wallet, remarking at how hot Taylor looks in his driver’s license… Seriously, who looks hot in a driver’s license photo? Even the hottest people on the planet look like they were hit by a flaming bus with metal spikes in their ID pic. And it seems like Trent agrees with me. Of course, that’s probably because he’s got the hots for Maya. Cue “Saved by the Bell” audience reaction: “WooooOOOOOoooo!!!!!!”

But Trent also remarks that he knew Kit in high school. According to him, he’s a filthy criminal who likes to steal mp3 players. And it all started when his dad disappeared…. OH SNAP, Maya thinks. THERE’S A CONNECTION! Kit’s dad could have been taken by the mirror monsters.

Speaking of mirror monsters, the silent stalker guy in the mirror (aka Xaviax) is waving his hands around inside a reflection somewhere in the city. Looks like the spider monster from last week is being reconstructed…. I guess? It’s not really explained.

Somewhere in here, there’s a brief moment where Maya is placing a flyer in the window of the book store and she notices someone outside. It’s that Terminator guy again! The one that rescued her from the apparent rape session with the mirror monsters!

She rushes outside to get his attention but he rides off. Maya, who apparently uses super-speed to keep up with him on his motorcycle, pursues him down the block. Len has to shake this chick fast, so he turns in to an alleyway. When Maya turns the corner, Len is nowhere to be found. But there’s a nice, shimmering mirror just kinda standing there against the wall in the alley. As Maya walks away, a fully transformed Kamen Rider Wing Knight rolls by on the other side of the mirror.

In any case, Kit is all freaked out about what happened, and it’s giving the poor lad nightmares. Once again, his psychosis starts to take hold, as he hears his dad speak to him in his subconscious. “Kit… Search for the Dragon… Remember the Contract Card.” Aaaand this is about the 75th time he’s said this in the first two episodes. But this time it looks like it might finally be sinking in.

Kit goes for a ride… Where he’s going, I really don’t know. In fact, I don’t think he really knows either. But hey, when the going gets tough, the tough go riding, right? Suddenly he realizes he’s being followed once again by Len. This has to be the smallest town ever.

Despite being incredibly curious as to what was going on just a few minutes earlier, Kit decides he wants to get away from Len, so he takes off like a bat outta hell….. Get it? A BAT. Cuz Wing Knight uses a BAT MONSTER!…. Anyway…. Kit underestimates the awesome driving of Len, and before he knows what’s happening, he’s inches away from slamming into a stuntman that happened to be walking by!

Kit is forced to come to a quick stop to avoid hitting the man, and Len catches up. Len swipes Kit’s key out of the ignition and rides off, forcing Kit to follow him into a secluded area. Len clearly wants to spend some alone-time with Kit.

At last, Kit catches up and asks him what the hell is going on. Len gets straight to business, walking directly at Kit as he tells him he wants that thing in his pocket… his “Deck.” He warns Kit that if he tries to use the Contract Card, he’ll get “vented.” These kids and their street lingo.

Before Kit can get anymore answers, they both hear the shrieky sound Kit was hearing a lot last week. Kit asks what it is, to which Len answers “A portal’s opening… Someone’s in trouble.” Because whenever a portal opens, someone is always in trouble. Even five minutes ago, when Len went into the portal to escape Maya’s super-fast pursuit. Someone was TOTALLY in trouble then! Whatever you have to tell yourself to feel special, Len. >_>

On a city rooftop, a technician is working on some equipment, when something strange appears in a reflective surface. Suddenly a thick, white substance shoots all over him. That ain’t Peter Parker’s webbing.

The webbing came from a thoroughly Un-friendly Neighborhood Spider who wants to do goodness-knows-what to this defenseless technician! The guy is about to get sucked off through the portal when Len and Kit show up just in time to yank him back. Spidey skitters off behind the mirror, but Len’s not done with him yet. He tells Kit to sit down and shut up until he gets back from handing Spidey his ass.

Kit watches as Len calls out “Kamen Rider” and transforms into Wing Knight, quickly jumping into the mirror to take on the monster. Of course, Kit’s not going to listen to a guy who tried to molest him at least once already. He whips out his Advent Deck, calls out “Kamen Rider,” and…. stands there silently, feeling like a complete jackass when nothing happens.

But Kit’s dad invades his brain again, giving him his 76th reminder that he should probably, maybe, just think about perhaps using the Contract Card. Now, if I was Kit, I’d ask Mr. Taylor to explain to me just what this “contract” is all about. I mean, I wouldn’t want to wake up for a shower the next morning and find that I’m missing a few things due to my merging with the dragon.

Kit is a lot less cautious than I would be, as he hears the portal sound (I’m just gonna call it “the buzz” from now on- that’s what they call it in Highlander), and Puffy comes roaring out of some nearby windows. Kit raises his Contract Card and I guess that means Puffy won’t be trying to barbecue him anymore. Instead, he’s going to give his Kamen Rider form a little makeover. His grey armor becomes red, and his helmet and card deck bare the insignia of the dragon. He’s a red guy now, which means we should pay more attention to him.

At this point, I’m sure the technician, presumably still sitting there on the roof, thinks he’s going through an acid flashback as he watches all of this go down.

Meanwhile, in the mirror world, Wing Knight is kicking a….. Wait, no. Actually, he’s not doing so good. He gets thrown off a building and the only thing that can save him is his bat friend. And even then, Spidey’s so badass that he just crawls right down the building wall and shoots more goo at him, tying him up bondage-style.

Spidey fires off a barrage of spikes to finish off Len, but suddenly, Kit shows up in his spiffy, new red armor and knocks the spikes away. CUE SEXY 180-DEGREE CAMERA TURN TO SHOW OFF THE AWESOME COSTUME! Len doesn’t seem the least bit phased by Kit’s arrival, or the fact that he himself is still all tied up, and he immediately instructs Kit to use the cards.

… Oh, I GET IT NOW! When you get “vented” that means you get killed to death! I’m totally gonna use that word on the street and see what happens!

A ball of energy rises out of the flaming spider guts and Puffy chows down on it as he flies away.

Unfortunately, Len weasels his way out of the monster’s webbing off-camera, so we don’t get to see him looking any more uncool than he already did when he was on the ground. He walks up to armored Len and the bad ADR commences. “You’re welcome,” Kit snarkily says to Len when he realizes he’s not getting a “thank you” for saving his hyde. Kit is tired of his attitude, and he won’t tolerate anymore molestations. Annoyed, Len says “You’re Kamen Rider Dragon Knight now… Happy?”

And that’s the end……. Wait, it’s not over yet? Geez, watching Power Rangers, I’m just so used to the story being over once the bad guy goes boom. I guess we have a little more left to go.

Maya proves she’s an effective stalker by appearing outside Kit’s home as he returns from the battle (or whatever). She hands him back his wallet, but he’s not interested in whatever she wants. Damn, nobody in this town ever wants to tell anyone anything ever. But when Maya pulls out a flyer for Kit’s missing father, he gets intrigued.

Presumably, Kit tells Maya everything he knows (which isn’t much, thanks to Kamen Rider Grumpy Pants), and she’s all over this scoop like white on rice. She asks Kit if he’s got a computer. What she SHOULD be asking is if he even has a job. But I’m thinking the answer might be no to both at the moment. The two of them leave as best buds so they can pursue this story.

Maya watches in awe as Kit morphs into Dragon Knight, gives a playful salute, and hops through the mirror. Lacey takes a thousand years to finally get to Maya, who is looking completely insane as she stares into the mirror. Lacey’s not suffering from the same dimentia as Maya, so she can’t see Kit fighting monsters, trying to save a random girl who’s being dragged away by a crab monster.

Kit’s not doing a fabulous job either. He gets knocked down and suddenly sees a cycle pull up in front of him and a figure walks out, dressed in dope-ass Kamen Rider armor. Kit’s relieved to have another friend show up… until the guy tries to kill him till he dies from it! This dude’s not playing for the same team!

TO BE CONTINUED…

I loved this episode. Compared to the premiere, this was just so much more interesting. There was a notable absence of cheese this time around. No more “the tough go riding” or the awkwardly-timed “Who are you talking to?” lines. The bad ADR was cut to a minimum as well.

I also just love Kit’s personality in this episode. He had almost a Peter Parker sort of style when he finally got the hang of being a Rider. His snarky attitude about Len and the mystery Rider were a nice little touch. It was also cool that the death of the monster wasn’t at the very end, and there was much more left to do beyond that point. I do hope they explain more clearly what the contract is all about, and why the dragon absorbed the ball of energy from the dead monster though.

All in all, it was a good episode. They really should have aired this alongside the premiere. It’s just a much richer meal when the episodes are joined. A-

-Dr. Tristan