My, my... I was pleasantly surprised by this episode. Just when I thought the series would ultimately turn into some stupid B-movie, after that horrible, pathetic boss fight last episode...
Btw, that's just another inconsistency in the anime (just adding up to the huge heap of inconsistencies and flaws already there). In the OP, Asuna and Kirito fight the very same boss
together, and they eliminate it
together! That would've been a lot better than the crap we got in the actual episode, where Super-Kirito does a solo on the boss (at least, a 3/4 solo), with Asuna pretty much playing no role at all. Pathetic.
But apparently, the author realised his error in that he had made Kirito way too overpowered and thus nerfed him back on a normal niveau
The fight against the guild leader went as one would reasonably expect: despite using his super-skill, Kirito didn't really have a chance and could merely put a scratch on Heathcliff's cheek, whose shield was inpenetrable. Heathcliff didn't have much of a problem of finding an opening and striking down Kirito.
This also thankfully marks the end of all this retarded "Super-Solo-Kirito saves the world all by himself" crap we were fed before. Now that was really high noon.
When pausing in front of the dungeon, Kirito was *way* too naive - and the other guy as well (which reminded me of the nameless ensigns in Star Trek which appeared at the beginning of the episode, just to die a little later).
Kuradeel holding a serious grudge against him because of Asuna, yet he unthinkingly drinks the water prepared by him? (That bit seemed odd to me - what's there about simple *water* that needs to be prepared).
It would've been better to just fake drinking it, and then, upon Kuradeel's smirk, fake paralysis. When he busies himself with the other and doesn't pay attention, attack his back.
Also, this "paralysis" effect is very unbalanced, as it lasts *way* too long. Using it, even the strongest player can be taken down, and then, whoever used it can even take his time to kill him. That's yet another very unfair feature of the game, besides stuff like sleep PK.
Finally, we get Asuna and Kirito together.
Asuna takes off her clothes and asks you to do the same. What do you do?
a) Rip off my clothes and get ready for action! We don't even need to think of condoms here.
b) Eww, a girl! Can't I have Heathcliff strip for me?
c) Too old... Now if this was Silica instead...
For a moment, even the "Gay" option seemed possible for Kirito, but then, the "Pedobear" option seemed more probable. He eventually thought it through, realised that he probably won't get to see Silica anymore and thought it better to take what he can get, thus getting at least a kiss. I doubt that anything really happened, or Kirino wouldn't have been fully dressed when sitting on the bed.
Anyway, that's already a good start for the following episodes. Kirito taking a break from the frontline is obvious, as he is an orange player now for doing in Kuradeel (even though that was well-deserved), so he needs to at least take a break until the orange wears off.