Another late R&R but we still have fun things to talk about.  So let's get this started quick with episode 18 of Kamen Rider Gaim "Farewell, Beat Riders."

                We start off this week with Kouta doing his best to take down some rampaging Inves while Mai is looking to get several of the Beat Rider teams to unite for a dance to show the city that they are not as bad as their reputation says they are now and to start over a bit and build back up their reputation.  We cut to the opening before we see the outcome of either.  The teams present are several of the teams we don't deal with a lot on a weekly basis like Team Popup and Team Boost

                Back from the opening with a little help from Pine Arms and a Pine Squash Kouta is able to beat the Inves although we he tries to check on the folks in the area they run away scared.  Mai and the rest of Team Gaim are not as successful as without Team Baron's support the rest of the teams will not want to be a part of this thanks to Kaito's push to unite the teams before.  Mai decides to confront Team Baron and ask directly and Kouta follows after her.  We cut to Jono as he attempts to pick the right Acorn Lockseed.  He fails and gets a bunch of cans dropped on him by accident.  Pierre drops kick him for sneaking out and not working.  Jono stumbles upon a flyer for the all team dance and gets a but drop from Pierre because he believes Jono is sneaking out to do that.  Jono says he is wrong and Pierre goes to shut down the dance. 

                Back with Mai as she is having no luck convincing Kaito to join up.  Mai storms off and Kouta follows after her after trading word with Kaito about the dance.  Kouta and Mai run into Micchy outside as he shows them Pierre's campaign to shut down the Beat Riders and throw them out of the city.   Back with Team Baron Peco makes a plea to join the event but Kaito is not interested and decides to leave the team and give leadership to Zach along with the blank Sengoku Driver from a couple of episodes ago.  After another round of pleas Team Gaim seems to be striking out but with Zach and Peco's arrival and asking to be a part of the show things look up.  Kouta goes to talk to Kaito about his decision to leave after hearing it from Zach.  Kaito tells him he is going to take on Yggdrasill alone and leaving the team allows him to focus on that.

                We check in with Sengoku and Yoko as they discuss Kouta's skills.  Sengoku has decided that it is time to test them for himself.  Cutting to the show we see that only a couple of people have shown up and unfortunately one of them is Pierre.  Sagara gives some words of encouragement to the teams watching and Team Gaim and Team Baron decide to go on with the show no matter what.  Pierre will have none of this and has Inves attack them thanks to a offstage Jono.  He also decides to join in the fight and all hell breaks loose as Kouta tries his best to handle this alone even telling Micchy to focus on dancing.  Zach decides to hop in as Armored Rider Knuckle with the Walnut Lockseed he has.  Zach is able to take out some of the Inves and this gives the teams opportunity to dance.  The rest of the teams do show up after this and it looks like the Beat Riders will get to put on a show to trump all others.  Kouta and Zach continue to fight it out with Pierre and the Inves.  Jono decides to take out the card that allows them to have music and summons a dragon Inves which puts our two riders on the fence.  Micchy decides that even without music they will dance to the beat of snapping fingers and this give our two heroes a second wind.  Jono's team notice him and his is brought onto the stage to dance and the music kicks back up.  Kaito enters the battle to help Zach with the dragon Inves and Kouta goes Jinba Lemon arms to take Pierre to town.  Beat Rider Hotline is flooded with support for the teams and with a shot from the Sonic Arrow he puts Pierre on the ground.  With a combination of various finishers Zach and Kaito are able to finish off the Inves for good and Kaito says Zach will become stronger in time before leaving.  Outside Kouta leaves Pierre alone since the day is won and Pierre accidently sticks one of his swords in his foot.  As Kouta leaves he is confronted by Energy Rider Duke, aka Sengoku, and he tells him to transform as we close out the episode this week.

                This was a nice way to kind of the end of the whole Beat Riders sub plot and let us move on to bigger and better things.  Kouta shows his stripes as the hero as he is willing to fight alone to keep the other safe and let them dance.  Micchy doesn't get to do much except for a one off line where he literally says he will do anything to keep the joy he and everybody else feels alive.  Kaito's break from his team is interesting and I have to wonder where he will go from here.  Sagara continues to be a mystery as he is helping the Beat Riders once again even though you would think he should be sabotaging them.  Even Takatora is confused as to why he is doing this.  Pierre continues to be a great part of the show and I do wonder what he will do next since this is the end of the Beat Riders sub plot.  Jono is a bit of a mystery here as he more than happily joins in on the dance and the celebration afterwards even though he was there to sabotage it.  Zach steps up to the plate of being a leader and where he goes from here is going to be good to watch especially since the Knuckle suit looks good.  Mai shows where her heart lies as she does everything she can to unite the teams along with the rest of Team Gaim.  Overall this was a good episode but this feels very much like a filler episode but in a good way.  We get to step away from the main plot to end off what has been one of the core elements of the show.  I would assume the Beat Riders as a whole will be taking more of a back seat to the main plot going forward from here.  Next week Kouta has a showdown with both Sengoku and a rematch with Takatora as Kaito teams up with him to help out.  If you want to see the show for yourself check out Aesir Subs and TV-Nihon for subbed episodes every week and join the discussion on the forums and on TGSR every Saturday at 9 on the website.