The Rinna and dickish cop subplot went exactly how I should have expected it to. Key word there being "should", because I deluded myself into hoping that they're slowly showing themselves as a potentially sinister third party, and dickish cop guy made way too much of a mundane entrance to be a significant character anyway. Ah well. There's plenty more of the show to go.
Well, it's not a bad episode by any means. If you know what to expect, you'll find enjoyment here. I'm just disappointed at how this show feels so run-of-the-mill. It's darted back into comfortable neo-Heisei territory, yet to do anything that really positions itself and stand out. The obligatory moments at the end of a two-parter showing our new villain for the next couple of episodes serve no real purpose when we the show pretty much already airs a preview after the adverts. It's a transparent two-parter format through and through, except with the clause that every first episode has to have at least one generic Cobra/Bat/Spider Roidmuud kick the bucket, while the second episode has to solidly have a resolution for the upgraded Roidmuud of the fortnight. Fortunately for Drive, the format works well enough for the type of show it is. For now.
I'm not "feeling" Machine Chaser. It's a nice idea to have a not-Rider as a recurring villain, but the guy is simply setting himself up to be a distraction time and time again. Even Shin has to make sarcastic quips like Peter Parker whenever he bumps into the guy. Somehow, the show will have to dial back on the number of fights with Drive he participates with, because the two-parter format and the Toei-Bandai law of having the first quarter of a show be flooded with a very generous stream of new toys and power-ups dictate that Chaser will have to lose most of the fights. And unless the plot kicks into another gear (bad pun may have been intended) and either do something substantial with Chase, or reveal the inevitable that he is undoubtedly connected to Proto-Drive in some manner, I'm quickly losing interest in this short-spoken, youthful, Eiji-Hino-gone-bad grim reaper.