I think it was cool up until the Nui reveal. As surprising as the twist itself was, why the hell am I not surprised that a new character ended up being villain of the week/throwaway fodder yet again? What a waste of a character design. Not to mention, I got hype at first thinking he was a spy from Kobe that uses puppets, but nope it's just Nui "Mood Killer" Harime again.
Not to mention, there was a lot of retreading ground in this episode. From some of the animation (like Mako's dad getting hit by the 1 star using almost the exact same animation from episode 2) to themes (before the end of this episode Ryuuko had a mental block stopping her from using Senketsu, now she physically literally can't use Senketsu anymore; Satsuki threatening Nui again, even though she very clearly broke the rules this time etc.)
I'm not sure what to say about it. And there's what's going to happen in the next few episodes. I was thinking maybe she might go out and reclaim Senketsu yet the 1 day invasion makes that pretty impossible tbqh (also, why is the window for reclaiming the West getting smaller with each episode? last episode preview, it was week, not it's a day lol).
Well whatever, at least because Mako is away that Ryuuko is probably going to get some development now. Hell maybe we might see Ryuuko not get curbstomped around anymore because she'll stop being so cocky because of no Senketsu. Just please Trigger, don't screw this up (and make sure Maiko is somewhere in the next few episodes).
Also I hate Nui now. Teasing me with a puppeteer character, retconning the Blue Scissor Blade from episode 1 for no good reason, having the most bland personality. Somebody please school this 1 trick pony.