Well this was certainly more exciting than I assumed it would be last week by name alone. That does not mean there was no talking. The phrase “based on a light novel” guarantees that there will be lots of talking. But for an episode named Night of Stratagems there are two minor skirmishes and one very large explosion. We focus a bit more on certain character than others in contrast to the last episode that had most of the gang in attendance one way or another.  Still there was more than enough Saber present for me to be happy.

Caster is fighting in the Holy Grail war to revive Joan of Arc. So when the woman he thinks is Joan turns him down he decides to start upping the body count in the area. In a war where secrecy is the watchword a massive series of serial killings is a definite no-no.  At the same time Kiritsugu goes out of his way to end the Lancer problem in a rather spectacular fashion. Everyone is picking their first targets now that the fighting has officially begun.

Just a second Irisviel! You have to be wear New Balance sneakers to be a cast member of Initial D. As Saber and Irisviel amusingly take on what seems to be Akina’s downhill they run into Caster instead of a Tofu delivery car. Caster is waiting for Joan to jump into his arms. Saber is waiting for Caster to die in a fire. Since these are mutually exclusive plans they part of less than amiably. We are reminded that Saber’s wound is rather serious by the fact that she is partially relieved that Caster retreated without a fight. But this altercation means that Assassin and the master’s who use his information now can track Caster.  By the way you have to love the gull-wing doors on the car that Irisviel is driving. That is a sweet “toy” all in all.

Caster comes back to his secret base to find Uryuu playing with his latest victim. In a fit of anger Caster lashes out killing the person that his master was slowly killing. Gille de Rais  has decided in his warped brain that God is once again preventing Joan from being with him and the only way to stop this is to commit an act of depraved sacrifice so grand it will wake his beloved from her delusion. The interesting thing about this scene is while there is a good deal of blood on Uryuu and his scalpels and Caster’s right arm is soaked in blood after he executes an unseen victim. Despite all the blood they never show the person being tortured in that scene. The way the scene was filmed I wonder if they are going to show more of the gory details of what was going on in the Blu-ray release since they mentioned adding in “deleted” scenes. Part of me felt it was better that they left what was going on there to your imagination but we might get some Kara no Shojo level gore.

Kayneth and Lancer have returned to their base of operations in a local hotel. Kayneth is laying into Lancer for failing to kill Saber when we learn that there is another member of this team. Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri is Kayneth fiancée and the person supplying mana to Lancer. She seems to have little affection for Kayneth in their strained relationship. Despite that fact Sola-Ui seem to be taking advantage of this and is playing both men off each other. Of all the characters in the series she is the person I know the least about before going into this series. She seems a little more manipulative than I first imagined but that just might be my first impression. But before this awkward conversation can go on there is a fire alarm.

Kayneth rightly assumes that Saber’s master is below. He has no fear because the has booby-trapped the hotel with a smorgasbord of magical defenses that would make mince meat of any intruders foolish enough to wander into them. But Kiritsugu knows rule number one of monster hunting: You don’t fight vampires in their castles at night, you don’t hunt werewolves in their forest on the full moon, and you don’t fight a mage when he is ready for you in his sanctum. You just blow the darn thing up and then go home and have a beer. I can’t see team Lancer being taken out that quickly but they are definitely not as secure as they once were. Also as much of a monster as they sometimes make Kiritsugu to be he got everyone out of the building before blowing it up. He could have just as easily killed everyone inside without giving Kayneth even the slightest suspicion what was going on. I have to wonder if this is the same hotel where Nrvnqsr Chaos went on a rampage in Tsukihime. If it is then NEVER STAY AT THIS HOTEL.

After the bomb goes off Kotomine Kirei decides to step out of the shadows to confront Maiya in hopes of drawing out Kiritsugu. While Maiya is a skilled mercenary unfortunately for her Kirei is on a whole other level as a trained assassin for the church. You know he is not playing around when he breaks out the Black Keys right away. A little help from Kiritsugu allows Maiya to escape but Kiritsugu got what he wanted. Conformation that Maiya is working with Kiritsugu. But Maiya did get to escape like a modern-day ninja with a modern-day smoke bomb.

After this confrontation Kirei returns to the church to give a report to Tokiomi on everything he has learned. They now know that Caster is behind the serial kidnapping of children in the area and that he is flagrantly breaking the rules of secrecy around the Holy Grail war. Risei decides that he will declare that everyone must defeat Caster as someone who has broken the rules of the Holy Grail war. I have to say that all in all Risei  is a pretty horrible official for the Holy Grail War. During his run as overseer for the third war the grail was twisted and tainted. During this war he is conspiring to fix the battles and change the rules whenever he sees fit. He almost makes his son’s plans in the next war seem down right upstanding. (OK. Kirei keeps around an illegal Servant who runs off the power of limbless orphans in nightmare filled comas.  I might have used a tad too much hyperbole in that last statement.)

For everyone who likes Fate/Zero but wished there was more homoerotic tension between the guys the wait is finally over. The last scene in this between Gilgamesh and Kirei seems like it was about to turn into an awkward make-out scene at any moment. Gilgamesh loves to get his drink on and he seems a bit forward is asking the priest to get drunk with him. Apparently Gilgamesh has already tired of Tokiomi’s methods and is scouting around for a more interesting partner. He seems to be trying to get into the heads of everyone else in the game including Kirei. At the end they strike a little bargain that seems to hint at many changes in the future. If nothing else the little conversation about the relationship between joy and sin will obviously provide a great deal of insight into Kirei and several others later on. As a side note I do find it interesting that while Kirei’s wife has been mentioned so far nothing has been said about Caren. I wonder if she will come up in her father’s back story or are they just never going to deal with her in this series.

It seems like one team is out of the game but as anyone will tell you: You never count someone as dead until you see the body (and that is only the FIRST solid confirmation). But it seems that the next few episodes will most probably deal with Caster and his increasingly horrific behavior. I know people were heartbroken that Waver and Rider were not in this episode but neither were Kariya and Berserker. As always good things come to those who wait. Plus with cool servants like that you want their appearances to be special. Also as a side note to whoever makes the previews for the next episodes. Don’t have characters who you think are dead have lines that show they are still alive in the next episode. Maybe everyone did not read the novels. Just a hint but one Japan never seems to remember.