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I believe for the first time since the first season, Horatio, believe it or not actually put on his lab coat and did some actual C. S. I work and they even treated us because he did it twice. This is how you know things are getting serious.

For my binge session of this show I've thought about the fact that for the longest time, Horatio would just wait for everyone else to do the work and then he would act on it. So to see him finally don his lab coat and do some of the work himself, to say I was ecstatic would be an understatement. And how shocked I was when later in the episode he did it again. This is it this is what I've been waiting for.

I'll start by saying I've read through the manga twice. I watch both the English dub and Japanese version. And this show felt like such a love letter to fans. There is so much thought and care into keeping with the source material while also making some (not all) changes that feel natural that I can't help but feel pure joy watching this show. The casting for this show was immaculate, I think all the members for the main crew did a great job in bringing the often larger then life characters to a live action setting. I also have to give massive props to the actors for Buggy, Zeff, Dracule Mihawk, Shanks and especially Garp. Okay, let me talk about Garp now. His inclusion in this season was fantastic, maybe it's because I thought the actor who played him did such a good job, but he feels like such a natural inclusion. For those of you have read the manga or watched the anime you know that Garp only shows up in a cover story near the beginning of the manga and in two episodes near the end of the east blue saga which is where this show almost ends off at. But Garp isn't really introduced as luffy's grandpa until what would probably be the live actions equivalent of a season 4 or 5. I didn't know how I would feel seeing this character introduced so early into the live action, but he fit like a glove. He wasn't as dumb and as lovably goofy as his anime/manga version, which could be said for a lot of the characters ( Zoro and Luffy), but that's to be expected in a live action version. However, Garp's pride as a marine and as a grandfather to luffy. Are still very much there and I loved that.

Now for the things I didn't like, don't worry there isn't a lot. Most of my problems with the show are on a technical level. Some of the CGI wasn't great. I do respect the practical makeup and effects on the fishmen, but lord they were ugly. I remember seeing Arlong in the trailers and thinking yikes, however I grew to respect him cause then I saw some of the others and whoa. Other then that camera work was a big problem of mine. Why is it that in a lot of talking scenes the camera is so close to the actors face, when Nojiko is talking to luffy and the crew outside her house. All five characters in that scene got close up shots. Nojiko makes sense, she's on her side in her doorframe, but the other four are standing outside her house. You can even see the other three members out of focus in the shot when luffy speaks. Zoom out let the actors playoff each other show me theirs reactions in real time don't just cut to Zoro so I can see his reaction to what Sanji said.

The only other complaint I'd really like to talk about is episode 4 .This was the weakest episode in my opinion. This episode felt like the biggest change from the source material and not for the better. Maybe It's because Django wasn't in it maybe it's because there was no Usopp pirates. But I think for me It's because Koby and Helmeppos involvement felt so shoe horned in. They didn't do anything. They showed up said they were going to help, didn't help, then just left. Also, Zoro getting his backstory revealed because he was stuck in a well made no sense. Why not instead of Buchie and Sham throwing all three swords in the well Sham keeps the Wado Ichimonji sword cause it seemed rarer or special or any reason at all idk. And that triggers a response from Zoro when he wakes up to then climb out of a well to search for and find the sword he cares so much about. Letting you reveal why he cares so much about that one sword in particular. Just a thought. That scene bugged me as you might be able to tell.

All in all I thoroughly enjoyed watching this show. The Easter eggs, the references, the set ups for the possible future of the show. I think if you're a fan of the original source material I'd say give it watch there is so much to enjoy. I hope we get a season 2 just to hopefully see Jamie Lee Curtis as Dr. Kureha. Now it's time to watch it with the Japanese dub to hear the original voice actors.

The pacing in this episode is absolutely abysmal. From early on so many things happen and way to fast. One coincidence just leads to another. They don't take time to establish anything.

Riaz immediately gets out of prison where he and Horatio have a bit of a standoff and then Horatio does the cliche disappearing when a car drives by, but I don't think the writers fully understand that trope because a car doesn't drive through the characters line of site it drives through the viewers. So did Horatio just drop to the ground and combat roll away while Riaz was looking right at him. Riaz was probably thinking "wtf, this is the guy I've chosen to have a feud with". So After Horatio preforms his disappearing act in front of Riaz he now needs to find the man he just disappeared from. So he seeks out his brother and his family who now reside in Rio with hopes that Ray Caine might know something about Riaz. Not only does Ray coincidentally have connections to Riaz, but when Horatio finds Ray he's already been tortured and left for dead (by Riaz we can assume) just in time for Horatio to hear his dying words. This is only like the first 15 minutes of the episode. I'm just gonna leave it here for now otherwise I'm gonna be here all day writing down all the different things they learned in this episode.

This episode gave me so much whiplash in its pacing. Nothing is given anytime to really develop they could've done a lot more with Horatio reuniting with his brother and family. Also there is subplot with the squad back in Miami. Why? Why do we need to see them solve a case that takes up probably like 10 minutes of screen time that could have been used to better pace out what was happening in Rio. Don't get me wrong I think Boa Vista slowly learning the ropes and becoming a CSI is fine. Let her grow as a character, but why in the episode where you have so much already going on.

The shots in Rio were nice even if they did have colour correction over them. And for that I'll give it a 2.

Ash treats Bayleaf like garbage and basically tells her to go away. And is surprised when she runs away. He doesn't deserve Bayleaf.