This was definitely a “thick plottens” sort of episode for Fugou Keiji, and the writing was up to the challenge.  The last three weeks have seen a really nice level-up for this series, as it’s nimbly danced from comedy to thriller to intriguing recurring plot.  The underlying sense that the author has a warped perspective on certain things (read up on his personal history and you’ll see what I mean, if you’re not already picking up the vibe from the narrative here) adds a kind of nervous excitement to the viewing experience too.  Giddyap.

First out of the gate this week is Katou’s “team” at MCD unceremoniously throwing him under the bus when they’re called onto the carpet for their handling of the Poliador embassy attack.  If I were Katou that would be the sort of thing it be hard for me to get past, even if it was played for the only comedy in the episode.  And while it is treated lightly in the moment, it’s also the first clue that something is going on with the higher-ups in the department and the embassy attack.  This whole disciplinary act is a means to get Katou to keep his nose out of the case, and it’s still being held over his head as a threat.

Chou-san is in many ways the key figure in this episode, and it was certainly hinted strongly enough last week that he knew a lot about a lot of things.  There are obviously some ties between he and who I presume to be Daisuke’s parents, both of whose names are dropped this week.  The cold case he makes reference to was perhaps the murder of Daisuke’s mother, Sayuri (though we don’t know any details for certain), and he clearly has a history with Kanbe Corporation and their dirty dealings.

Chou-san – about to retire, digging around dangerous people’s gardens – is hoisting enough death flags for the United Nations building.  He seems to see Daisuke and himself as enemies here, but I think they’re more or less in the same boat – trying to uncover secrets about the Kanbe family that they’re not supposed to know.  Their conduit to that information is Imura-san, an exec at Mizuo Future Corporation – the ones behind the “sea grapes” device that knocked out all wired and wireless communications before the attempt on the Poliodor president’s life.  Both Chou and Daisuke zero in on her, each in their own “off the books” fashion.

There’s an awful lot of signature rogue cop stuff going on here, and I get the idea that Tsutsui Yasutaka gets turned on by that sort of thing.  Daisuke stages – I’m assuming it’s staged, though I’m not 100% clear on how – a hit-and-run involving Imura’s car as a means of bringing her in for questioning when she stonewalls Chou.  I’d certainly like to think Daisuke wouldn’t actually get someone killed in a stunt like that, but it’s still entrapment and false arrest.  He manages to get himself assigned to be her sole interrogator, but Chou-san manages to insert himself into the occasion and blackmails Imura-san with embarrassing information about her son.

The wild card here is Katou, who of course is the idealistic straight cop.  He disapproves of Chou and Daisuke’s antics (he puts the kibosh on Chou, in fact), and seems to be the only one trying to do things the right way (as he sees it), but Katou likes results, too.  As far as Imura and her attorney being blown up after she’s sprung from her detainment, Chou accuses Daisuke of being behind that but that really makes no sense.  Imura was killed to shut her up, and Daisuke – like Chou – was trying to get her to sing.  There’s a lot of cop flick cliche here, no question – but the execution has established itself as quite good.  We may have seen these characters and this basic premise before, but these are good incarnations of them, and the result is turning into something genuinely engaging.