I’m not sure exactly what happened with Cop Craft after the second episode, but things have definitely gone over all wonky.  The animation was somewhat better overall this time at least (that’s an incredibly low bar after last week’s debacle) but the pacing remains seriously odd.  And frantic.  It’s like the first two episodes were playing on a different speed than the last two, and that’s made it somewhat difficult to stay as invested in the story as I’d like to be.

This ep dove headfirst into wrapping up what last week’s started, and managed to do so in about the first five minutes.  The whole denouement of the fairy in the bomb was rather a letdown – I guess she’s just an old friend of Tirana’s, but we blew through the event so fast it was over in a flash.  Honestly I felt like that opening five minutes – the reveal of who the trapped fairy was, Kei being poisoned by Zelada and Tirana unable to save him, the fairy’s decision – should have been an entire episode.  But then, so should about three different five-minute blocks later in the episode.

A lot of this week was given over into Tirana and Kei sliding into buddy cop mode, with Tirana (after deciding to stay behind and getting herself assigned as Kei’s partner) cheerfully assuming the role of the loose cannon (and Kei expressing little inclination to stop her while she’s engaging in her fascistic interrogation techniques).   Tirana as a rogue cop is a gag that may have legs, but it’s already feeling pretty trite if I’m honest.  We also have a new chief, Zimmer, who likewise sounds and looks as if he came out of a mediocre 90’s cop flick.

Before you can blink we’re out of the driveway and cruising at 75 into the next arc, which centers around a mysterious Semanian mummy found in a coffin from a bust.  This loops Cecil back into the mix, and her dynamic with Kei continues to be kind of interesting.  I have to question the wisdom of leaving Cecil to autopsy the body, though, since there were as many warning signs as you could ask for that it would prove to be more than just a mummy.  But never mind – it turns out this arc is a vampire story, not a mummy story.

This season is mostly bubble series for me at this point, so it’s pretty imperative that I make some decisions in the next week.  If you’d told me after Episode 2 that I’d be wavering this much about Cop Craft I wouldn’t have believed you, but I’m certainly in that position now – hopefully the production itself is back to being at least competent, but the series really needs to fix the pacing (not only too fast, but awkward and uneven) and dial back on the cop show cliches in order to keep me hooked after next week.