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What I find with Fate/Zero is that most of the episodes are excellent when evaluated individually, but the net effect of them thus far is a somewhat stagnant plot.
In other words, as good as much of the dialogue is, not a whole lot of significance in the Holy Grail War itself has happened thus far.
Kayneth was knocked out and replaced by Sola-Ui, meaning that a Lancer team is still around.
The Assassins have all been eliminated, but Kotomine has been chosen by the Grail to continue on.
Between Kayneth and the Assassins, it's kind of like one competing pair out of seven being eliminated, I suppose. That's not terrible, but it's not much either for 12 episodes worth of Grail competition. With this in mind, I'd have no issue with dialogue-heavy episodes like this one if the action-oriented ones had resulted in more significant changes in the competition itself.
Now, that being said, for a dialogue-heavy episode, this was very good. Kiritsugu strategizing was genuinely fun to watch, as it's one of the character's strengths and puts some real focus back on the competition itself, which is good to see.
Saber and Irisviel's scenes weren't particularly exciting, but they did make for a good lighter contrast to the Kiritsugu and Kotomine/Gilgamesh scenes. Saber and Irisviel do have pretty good chemistry between them, and watching them care about and respect each other a lot has a sort of contagious effect for me, where it also makes me care about and respect them more as well. Irisviel's overall condition is certainly one that encourages great sympathy, and so it's good for that to provide added emotional investment here.
The highlight of the episode was definitely the Kotomine/Gilgamesh scene, though. It had that rare combo that often makes for such great drama: subtle but intense. The conversation between them has a slight poetic quality to it that kept it from becoming dull, but it was also comprehensible enough to follow without getting completely lost. Just the right amount of "talking in riddles", in other words.
So, all-told, this was a very good episode. I do find the pacing rather slow, but I suppose one possible positive arising from that might well be a very exciting and intense second half.
8/10 for Episode 12.
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