Ryouko's Case Files 04: Reptile Baby

This episode came off bland, after the self-induced hype I got from the previews. If anything, we get to see some possibility for Yukiko here. Ryouko still whips her every chance she gets but at least she doesn't appear as stupid here as in the previous episodes. I'm still waiting for her to do something so awesome it would deserve her being called Ryouko's rival.
Episode 03: Twilight in Musashino
More Screencaps from Ryouko's Case Files 03
The episode begins with a bunch of scientists doing some genetic experiment. They inject something into a cell.

Meanwhile, Ryouko and Izumida are out for a drive. Izumida is driving while Ryouko, with her eyes glued to a bunch of photos in her hands, is navigating. Some exchange about Izumida's bad memory for direction before Ryouko suddenly orders him to go to Musashino.

In another meanwhile, police are all over some park investigating the brutal murder of a man whose guts were cut out. A woman, pushing a baby carriage and humming a lullaby, pauses to watch the scene from afar.
"Why, I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Ms. Policewoman Ma'am."

In Musashino, Izumida is trying to fix the side mirror of Ryouko's car in vain. Ryouko arrives just then, mad because the person she is looking for is not in. Upon seeing the side mirror still broken, she announces that it will have to be replaced. This dampens Izumida's spirit somewhat, wondering how much it would cost him.

Back in the park, the woman with the baby carriage is being followed by a man who draws something out of his coat. The woman seems blissfully unaware of the danger.

Izumida and Ryouko, who's on the wheel this time, are driving towards the Kasugawa residence. A former Diet member, Kasugawa is the owner of a pharmaceutical company whose business Ryouko seems to take great interest in. As to why she is interested, she naturally does not tell Izumida and he remains in the dark even as she tries to ram the car through the main gate of the Kasugawa residence. Fortunately, the forceful entry is not consummated as Yukiko arrives at that instant. It seems Yukiko is there on official business as Kasugawa's security detail.
just got her ass handed to her

Even so, Ryouko remains undeterred. She marches right up to Kasugawa's house and demands to speak with him. And when he hesitated, she mouths off a bunch of numbers which catches Kasugawa's attention and gets him to agree to a talk, much to Yukiko's consternation.

Later, in the privacy of his chamber, Ryouko reveals to Kasugawa what she knows about his pharmaceutical company. Some years ago, an archaeological expedition sponsored by the French and Japanese government discovered the remains of an unidentified creature. The discovery was kept quiet and Kasugawa's pharmaceutical company got a hold of the remains.

Ryouko believes that Kasugawa's scientists extracted DNA from the remains and conducted illicit experiments with it. What she wants is for Kasugawa to hand over the remains to JACES. Finding himself busted, Kasugawa acts all helpful all of a sudden. that's one mighty kick

After their meeting with Kasugawa, Ryouko and Izumida are at a diner, brainstorming about what they found out so far. Izumida tells her about two brutal murders occurring at a park near Musashino and surprise, surprise, Ryouko does something that remotely resembles what a responsible supervisor might do: she corrects Izumida's lousy reporting skills. The whipping is interrupted however when Ryouko gets a call from another of her subordinates, giving her an address.

They arrive at the place just as a yakuza thug is starting to beat up a wimpy-looking dude. Ryouko gives the yakuza a kick like he's never seen before before he conveniently disappears for the rest of the episode. Later, Ryouko and Izumida have a sit-down with the wimpy dude, who tells them all about the experiment he's done under Kasugawa's support.
reptile baby from hell

It turns out that they have been injecting the DNA from the unknown creature into a human zygote, made up of his own sperm cell and the ovum of a female scientist, Kimura Keiko. The experiment, however, was considered a failure and Kasugawa ordered the creature destroyed. Kimura Keiko ran away, taking the creature with her, and Kasugawa has been sending his yakuza cronies after her since then.

Meanwhile, in Musashino Park, Kasugawa himself goes to see Kimura Keiko. At first, he tries to speak with her on equal terms but he commits a blunder when he refers to the baby as a "creature." The last we see of him is a close-up of his face, all scrunched up in fear.
Izumida gets it right in the nose

Later that same evening, Kimura Keiko is pushing a baby carriage across a bridge. But instead of a baby, the carriage is loaded with Kasugawa's now lifeless body. Ryouko and Izumida arrive just then and confront her with what they found out. However, as Izumida moves in to arrest her, the creature suddenly leaps out of Kasugawa's body and attacks Izumida. Shots ring out but the creature is too fast. The twilight reveals a dark lizard-like body with yellow eyes.

Ryouko has her gun aimed at the creature. However, before she can squeeze the trigger, Kimura Keiko shouts for her "boy." In that split-second, the creatures leaps at Ryouko just as Izumida swings his arm to protect her. Next, he aims his gun at the creature and a single shot rings out.
all in a day's work

In the aftermath of this horror, Ryouko leans against the railing of the bridge, looking out into the water. Izumida arrives, handing her a can of coffee. She takes it, but not before making a snide comment about it. Then he asks her if what they did was alright. Before answering, Ryouko asks him about his arm and he says that the cut is only small. Ryouko then says that in that case, it's probably alright. They stay there for some time while somewhere on a train bound for godknowswhere, Kimura Keiko sits by herself, carrying a crying bundle in her arms.

COMMENTS:

I call this episode an anticlimax because everything happens so fast. It's like, here's a bunch of scientists here, tinkering with god's creatures, and then poof, a monster baby who eats people's guts out, and then poof, monster baby runs off with mama. There was not much in the way of building up, not much in the way of making the story end with a bang. I thought I bought myself a real mystery but ended up with some crappy melodrama.

Here's to hoping the next episode is better.

Great sounds, by the way, this episode.