I thought the episode was going to be slow after the greatness we had last week, but it’s really nice to see this series managing to keep things interesting. This episode easily could have simply been Shirou and Saber getting a chance to recover after a difficult fight. But, they pushed the story forward and had these different perspectives between Shirou, Rin, and even Illya for a short scene. This might be the strength of the show being able to show a wider view of events and how they all come together.

There was just a lot of background and characterization given for the various individuals we are following. I liked the little flashback for Shirou when it was mentioned how he didn’t crack a smile. I have to imagine she meant something like a huge grin since even he had that simple smile on his face before she said it. But when you think of what he’s been through, being a serious person who doesn’t laugh much makes sense. He lived through hell. That has a serious impact on your mentality. Being able to live normally like this is amazing considering the trauma.

The little scene with Illya was good and effective. It just shows that she’s quite the troubled person herself. Having her obsession with Shirou through his adoptive father Kiritsugu. Obviously the reason why would make sense depending on the amount of source material people are familiar with. But it’s enough to say she has a connection there and is focused on Shirou because of it. She’s also got this unsettled point of view of treating this like hunting in some ways. Her opponents being rabbits. The scary thing it sounding like that revival ability will actually renew itself over time. So Illya can relax for a bit and then it’s right back to being as hard to overcome as ever.

Some curious things in this episode to be sure. It was cool to see Shirou’s recovery in a quick flashback. Actually seeing the wound closing there. It shows something strange is up with Shirou. No way someone that inexperienced can use a self-healing magic without knowing it. But that’s just another mystery and one I guess Shirou should be happy for. That guy knows how to take risks though. Talking about ‘fat’ around Rin was more dangerous than fighting Berserker XD. I do love watching these two interact. Even though Rin seems confident she can fight and kill Shirou if they meet again. Which I still find odd since wasn’t she the one who said they didn’t need to kill the Masters?

No shock of course that Sakura and Fujimura were thrown off by Saber’s presence and that she was staying with Shirou. Though I think it’s most understandable from Sakura who clearly is romantically interested in Shirou and would perceive Saber as a serious and dangerous rival. I think Fujimura just wants an excuse to be as close to the food that Shirou and Sakura can make as possible.

I liked the little combat scene for Rin that they had in here. It again shows how capable she is in a fight. Just because she isn’t a match for a servant doesn’t mean she’s helpless. These are insanely powerful beings, it’s a given that she’s more of a level of handling familiars and monsters. Just no flinching when faced with that huge skeletal monster there.

I also just liked how they had a good hint at who is behind this current situation. Able to piece together both that it was a female servant and likely caster. Also shows that Rin doesn’t like innocent people being drawn into this. Honestly I think the major motivation for her going after Caster instead of Saber is threat to innocents. She knows Shirou is a good guy and won’t be going around attacking people. And honestly I think she’d rather not fight him since she doesn’t want to hurt him. Whatever her personal feelings in the matter she knows what a fight with him could easily end with him dying.

So overall this was a really solid episode. It did have a bit of action and kept the story moving ahead. I’m really excited to see what happens next since we’re bound to have a face-off against Rin and one that would be pretty dangerous. As a whole I’m just enjoying the show and it’s a good comparison to different things like the spinoffs Fate has had. Just a nice and strong episode.
Score: A-