slightly late post as I was out at Fuji Speedway yesterday getting neck pain watching cars zip by
what happened this episode
sakura has another dream and appears to nearly recognize the akiho in the dream, but when she startles awake, she can't quite place it. sakura meets up with rika, who hands over an alice in wonderland book to give to akiho. at school, the class is making rollcakes in home ec today. akiho wants to decorate hers like kaito's pocketwatch to give to him, since it seems like an important item to him.
meanwhile, at the kaito residence, kaito is repairing momo, who got caught on a branch. as you'd expect, momo finally breaks kayfabe and starts talking ominously with kaito. they appear to also be waiting for sakura to collect the clear cards for mysterious purposes. at school, the roll cakes literally start flying; after a short action scene, sakura captures Appear.
akiho gives her roll cake to kaito, who shows his first moment of genuine excitement. when akiho recaps sakura's antics, kaito also laughs for the first time. surprised, akiho asks with embarrassed affection for kaito to do that again; kaito demurs and tells akiho he's happy with her being like that. kaito puts sakura to sleep, and momo and kaito again begin the ominous line conference. momo indicates "the book's time" cannot be stopped, which is why kaito is collecting cards.
liveblog
another episode which dedicates a lot of time not just to the monster of the week but also the cake of the week, with the big narrative moments being a peek behind kaito's curtain. it seems likely that he's being painted as the sympathetic mastermind, who appears to be guiding sakura towards his own goal as a means to save (?) akiho.
the way in which akiho and kaito are kind of clumsily awkward for each other (when kaito doesn't have his impenetrable defense up) definitely gives the vibe that akiho is very important to kaito, and that he is trying to stop a disaster which has already been set in motion or perhaps even has already happened once (I mean, he is a time rewinder...).
it'd be very cardcaptor sakura for him to be manipulating the clear cards to give sakura the power to help him defeat whatever he is facing, but it's unclear to me right now how this is different from just like... the sakura cards.