Seeing that this battle has the feel of something you would see in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms I figured I would name this episode after one of the most famous battles in the book. The Battle of Red Cliffs is not the final battle of the Three Kingdoms periods. In fact, it is one of the earliest battles of the Three Kingdoms period proper. But it is a decisive battle that sets much of the tenor of what comes after it. Therefore I think you could pick few titles that set the tone for this episode better. This is hardly the final part of the Great Holy Grail War but it is a huge battle with almost all the major players that will determine how everything else plays out past this point.

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 One of the best parts of any Holy Grail War is seeing the different Servants fighting. It invokes all the craziest parts of any “which of these two historical characters would win in a fight” argument with a healthy dose of fantasy spectacle. A fight like this battle royal multiplies that excitement seven fold. Part of the entertainment is seeing what Servants throw down with each other. You can see everything from the seeming mismatches of a speedy hard-hitting lancer vs a low defense Caster or a more evenly matched battle of ranged combat between a Caster and Archer. Even when two Servants of the same class face off they can have fascinating permutations. Two Sabers with similar styles can be a pure battle of skill but it can also be a clash of wildly different styles and how they compare. It is also interesting to see which Servants pairs up, who goes it solo, and who jumps in to save (or betray) a fellow team member. Will fighters makes themselves a huge target to draw out the most powerful champions, will they strike from the shadows, and will they just sit on the sidelines and wait to see what happens? There are so many and exciting permutations so it is intoxicating to see which ones play out.

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 I praised the last episode for sort of being the ideal mix of what people like about Fate episodes when they are firing on all cylinders. You have a good mixture of lore, characterization, and action that all complement each other in a way that makes the whole stronger than its parts. They all help prevent the show from either feeling ponderous or vapid. When people praise Type-Moon shows it is for episodes like that one. The problem is when people slag on Type-Moon shows they usually bring up episodes like this one.

This is entirely a setup episode for the first full on Red vs. Black battle. That means a lot of people having chats in throne rooms and gardens or while eating food. The small amount of combat that occurs is just to wrap up the interesting parts of the last episode. As a die-hard Type-Moon fan, I tend to get a good deal of enjoyment out of episodes like this while I admit they are far less exciting. They are the workmen episodes of Fate/Apocrypha.

In the defense of episodes like this, I would point at the current season of Game of Thrones. In previous seasons people loved the writing but often complained that pace seemed a bit too glacial. While there were major plot developments and shocking events it often seemed they were too few and far between in the sea of setup. Season Seven of Game of Thrones is blazing by at a breakneck pace. Every episode is nothing but plot point after plot point. The problem is to get that rapid pace of development characters all seem to have gained either the ability to teleport or found Seven-league boots off-screen. In return for their amazing speed, they make some silly and out of character decisions. The complaints about the pace being too deliberate have disappeared but a whole slew of new complaints have taken their place.

Episodes like this are important connecting tissue. They are far from glamorous but they enhance the flashy episodes when they appear. When they are done correctly they make the big fights and the huge reveals far more compelling. The best of these episodes can stand eye to eye with an action filled episode but even when they are not in the top form they have an important job of holding together the show in a rather thankless fashion.

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