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This was a surprisingly good rendition of one of my least favorite parts of the novels.
Honestly, I always felt that this interlude was sort of half-hearted as it was written; it just didn't seem to have much passion to it, and as a result, felt a bit by the numbers.
The staging of the adaptation (along with the extra material) really tied this episode into the themes of the rest of the series. I particularly liked the editing with Shirley asking him (in flashback) what kind of man he wants to grow up to be, as he's chambering the bullet in the gun. It feels obvious to write it, but it was effective as animated.
Additionally, I liked the parallels to Kirei's place in the last eps. Now, both have killed their own fathers...
I don't really like Kiritsugu any more than I did in the first place, but I thought this episode was a surprisingly strong adaptation of a relatively weak part of the books. I'll be interested if they'll use the entire next episode to finish off the novel's Interlude, or just half of it. It could certainly fit a whole episode, but that does seem kind of a long time to spend in an extended flashback, even though I really love Natalia.
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