Fate/Zero S2E7: "Return of the Assassin"

I'm guessing the titular assassin is Kirei, rather than Hassan. Then again, Kirei never really stopped being a player in the grail war, so I don't know if "return" is really the right word for what he's doing now. Maybe we haven't seen the end of Hassan after all. And maybe he'll have a personality now. We shall see. In any case, I'm just glad the backstory shite is over with and we can continue the actual plot that we theoretically still care about.


The episode opens on the following morning, with Kiritsugu returning to Iri and Maiya's new safehouse from the hotel he was hiding out in. He finds Maiya faithfully guarding the building, and Iri sprawled out over that magic healing circle inside. Curiously, Arturia is nowhere in sight, which means that Iri should be freefalling into becoming the Holy Grail now.

Assuming that that actually does have anything to do with Arturia's proximity, of course. The show has said one thing on that front, but it's shown another.

Iri seems surprised that Kiritsugu bothered to come by and see her again before she transforms, as well as overjoyed. Fucking hell, you've known your husband for nine years or however long it's been, did you really think he wouldn't? She also says that she won't be needing Arturia's anti-bleeding sheath anymore, so she pulls it out of her own stomach and gives it to him.

Was Iri established to have a built-in bag of holding before? I can't remember. They did say that the sheath was physically inside of her, but I figured that was more of a surgical procedure and less of Iri literally having a Tardis built into her navel. Well, she is the Grail, so it makes sense that you'd be able to store things other than Arturia's fist inside of her.

As he takes the Sheath of Avalon from her to use in the final battles, she thanks him for making her nine years of life happier and more pleasurable than her creators ever meant them to be. She's sorry she didn't get to see more of the world, but still, her life was good enough that she considers it satisfactory despite its brevity. Anything else the world has to offer, she says, she trusts Kiritsugu to show to their daughter Ilya, the Einzburn heiress.

She also, bizarrely, requests that he bring Ilya to Japan specifically. Because apparently this country moreso than any other has things in it she wanted to see but never got a chance to.

...

I'd normally attribute this kind of WTF thing in anime to Japanese jingoism, but for all his flaws as a creator Urobuchi has never (to the best of my knowledge) displayed that one.

I think what happened is that he suddenly remembered a plot point or background detail from Fate S/N that he'd neglected, and had to shoehorn a justification for it in.

...

Kiritsugu tells her that he'll be back as soon as possible so that they can meet at least one more time, and leaves the building. Outside, he confirms with Maiya that Arturia is on her way to Team Rider's hideout to attack them along with Gilgamesh. And then announces that he's going to go kill Tokiomi Tohsaka while their Servants are both busy.

On one hand, I'd sigh at Kiritsugu's almost compulsive treaty-breaking. On the other, it's not like Tokiomi was any different, what with his entire strategy for the Grail War consisting of perfidy. Really, there's not much point in these two parties having made a deal that isn't enforced by carefully vetted Geas Scroll. Almost makes you wonder why they bothered with the pretence.

As he leaves, Maiya smiles at him and says this:

I'm not sure what to make of that. From his silent, awkward-looking reaction, Kiritsugu isn't sure what to make of it either.

Cut to Waver, having a picnic out in the forest. And being extremely insecure about his English heritage.

Literally no one believes you, Waver. Literally. No one.

The disembodied voice of Alexander pipes up, grumpy that he isn't able to have any himself, especially if Waver appreciates it so little. Waver asks if he's any closer to regaining corporeality yet, and Alexander resignedly replies that it's still going to be a while.

I'm not sure why it didn't actually show this happening when it happened. It certainly would have made a more watchable outro to the Mion River battle than Alexander and Snek just standing around shit-talking Arturia for a full minute. Hell, if he was that exhausted from the battle how was Alexander even wasting breath on that before discorporating?

Anyway, this is the spot where Waver first summoned Alexander, and its on a ley line nexus that helps both their mana regeneration. Staying here for a while and taking it easy will be the fastest way - short of human sacrifice - to charge Alexander up to the point where he can manifest again. Until then, he's just an invisible, intangible ghost who can talk to Waver and no one else.

This makes sense to me. Stuffing a skyscraper-sized kraken into his reality marble and keeping it there for a while has got to be pretty energy intensive. I just wish, again, that we'd seen this happen onscreen so we could observe the cause and effect firsthand.

Waver asks him why he didn't just draw on Waver's own mana reserves to keep himself intact. Alexander beats around the bush for a while by talking about how Waver is just a kid, but Waver shuts that down with the reminder that he's the one who summoned Alexander and entered them into this war. Alexander approves of Waver finally standing up for himself with actual arguments instead of just entitled whinging, and opens up a little more. Alexander confesses that he isn't sure that the Grail actually exists; this entire ritual might be a result of the three mage clans accidentally building a bunch of thaumaturgic infrastructure over a false lead. He's been thinking about all the soldiers that he led to their deaths by promising them they'd reach the end of the earth, when he didn't even realize the world was round and had no end (erm...did Alexander the Great not know that the world was round? I know the Athenians had figured it out, but this knowledge might have been lost by the Macedonian era. Not sure). Anyway, he says that if he knew for a fact that the Grail was real he'd let Waver die for it with scarcely a thought, but since he's not sure he doesn't want to lead more men to their deaths chasing phantasms. This is also why Alexander has been trying to find ways of getting his wish without needing the Grail, by trying to get the other Servants to forget the Grail War and join him in a new world domination attempt.

Also, once he can manifest again he plans to go for Arturia first and then deal with Gilgamesh. He doesn't mention the Berserker, because that guy barely ever exists. When Waver asks him why that order, Alexander says that he expects Gilgamesh to be a harder fight, and also because...um...

Okay. So.

It seems like the show is doing an irony here. Alexander HAS been swayed to Arturia's way of thinking at this point, as demonstrated by his willingness to put himself in harm's way to protect someone who he regards as one of his retainers. Like, that whole speech he just gave, about what a shame it was that his soldiers died for something that couldn't actually be done, and how the many shouldn't have to suffer for the delusions of the one. That was Arturia's argument in the terrible banquet scene, almost word for word. So, while he's making a big show of holding her in contempt, she's actually won the argument, at least against Alexander.

The problem? At this point, I don't have enough faith left in the show to be sure that it knows it's doing this.

It FEELS very deliberate, with Alexander's introspective speech and his renewed, performative contempt for Arturia coming back-to-back like this. If the pattern of the story shitting on Arturia and the shapeshifting effigy of ideals that it thinks she stands for wasn't so well established by now, I'd be sure that this was the turnaround point. Where we see that Arturia's morals actually do have an appeal, and that her advocating for them is making the world better even if she unfortunately doesn't get to see the effects firsthand. But, it is. So, I'm not. The story's hostility toward Arturia is so unthinking and reflexive that I don't know if it's capable of even thinking on this level when the situation involves her. The ideals she's supposed to represent aren't even consistent enough from scene to scene for anyone else's adherence to them to be clear, honestly; I'm just pointing out that Alexander's new position is the same one that she had in the banquet scene. And also diametrically opposed to his own position in that same scene.

If the show makes this reading of Alexander's turnaround explicit, with him or another character pointing out that he's been brought over to her side whether he wants to admit it or not, then I'll very happily eat my words. Anything more subtle than that is probably going to leave me undecided, though, unless it really leans in on it via visual storytelling or the like.

The alternative takeaway is that neither Alexander nor Arturia have consistent philosophical positions, but the show is still sure that Alexander's are right and Arturia's are wrong.

Then, we cut to...Berserker! He's in a fiery red void menacing some guy. Oh, wait, that guy is Daisy! I didn't recognize him at first, since we're seeing a healthy, pre-infestation version of him. Also, the Berserker is actually speaking! With words!

Not that he's saying much. Just edgy rambling about how he's the shadow of a disgraced hero who hates those who shine bright, and that he has a special grudge against Arturia, which is why he stopped attacking Snek and went after her in the recent battle.

Hmm. Well, either Gilles wasn't the only person to confuse Arturia for someone else, or we're looking at someone else from the Arthurian mythos. From how he phrased these hints about their history, it pretty much has to be either Mordred or Lancelot. The "shadow of a disgraced hero" part makes me think Lancelot, but it's still ambiguous enough to be either. Or else another Arthurian character who I've just never heard of; I read a bunch of those stories, but I didn't read nearly all of them.

Daisy wakes up from this Servant-vision to find himself shackled to the wall in Darth Matou's rape basement. He's been using the worms to knit Daisy's wounds back together and patch him up, because when the only tool you've got is a worm then every problem starts to look like a 900 page superhero morality argument. Zouken isn't disappointed in Daisy for needing to be patched up, though. In fact, him having lasted this long at all has exceeded his expectations.

He'd probably be somewhat less impressed if he knew that Daisy lasted this long by literally not participating in the Grail War whatsoever except five minutes of halfhearted flailing way back in episode 3 or whatever. This was his first actual fight so far, and he got fucked up and left for dead in it.

Zouken then has an extra big worm force itself down Daisy's throat, causing his veins to bulge and his body to bulk up considerably, albeit not in a healthy way. Once Daisy is done thrashing around in agony at whatever the giant worm did to him, Darth informs him that the reason this worm was so big and contained so much energy is because "it was one of the first ones to feed on Sakura's purity." His words, not mine.

...okay, do the worms *actually* rape you? He keeps describing them as if they were sexual assailants rather than endosymbionts. But only with regards to Sakura, he hasn't made any rapey metaphors concerning Daisy himself.

...

You know what?

Fuck this show.

It took me a while to get to this point, because there was actually good stuff in the first season, but at this point Fate/Zero is just shit. Virtually no redeeming qualities left besides looking pretty.

...

Anyway, this worm apparently filled itself up on Sakura's life force or mana or whatever, and is giving an energy transfusion to Daisy. Which Zouken naturally torments him with.

But. Like.

How do these worms work?

I thought they GAVE you magical power. Now apparently they take it away?

And like. They grow off of your energy, and get physically larger from it? and then leave your body? Shouldn't Sakura be in worse physical shape than Daisy by this point, then? Like, full of giant holes?

Anyway, Daisy gets mad and screams, and Darth grins and cackles. Then we see Kiritsugu creeping up on the Tohsaka manor. He scopes it out a little, and then realizes that its defensive fields are down. Apparently those don't outlive their casters, unlike bee familiars. Then we cut back to Maiya and Iri. Iri is asking Maiya how she came to be so loyal to Kiritsugu, so devoted to his ideals and vision. She replies that "Maiya" isn't her real name. It was just the first fake ID that Kiritsugu ever made for her.

She was a child soldier. Probably from the Balkans, going by her appearance, but she doesn't name anyplace specifically. Kiritsugu adopted her, and groomed her to be his loyal support sniper and concubine. She believes in him because she has nothing and no one else in her life, and will gladly do anything he asks of her, including die. The way she words it is:

Okay. So. That's a thing. I said Kiritsugu was reminding me of a cult leader earlier, and now he seems...significantly worse than just that.

Does the story realize what it's just turned Kiritsugu into? I can't tell. I honestly can't tell. This reveal is so matter-of-fact. And it comes after an extended Kiritsugu backstory that didn't touch on any of it, or hint at anything even remotely close to it. Is this supposed to be a shocking surprise, in the wake of that? I can't tell.

...

...also, doesn't Kiritsugu eventually adopt the protagonist of Fate S/N?

If I did indeed hear correctly about this, do the later series give any indications that he might have...well, you know?

Because with this precedent, I have a hard time believing that this guy would take in another kid and not do the same thing he did the first time.

On the bright side, it wouldn't actually be rape in this case. As the worms have taught us, rape is something that only happens to women, even if the exact same actions are done to a man. So, false alarm I guess.

...

Maiya asks Iri why she's so dedicated to Kiritsugu, and Iri explains that it's because she was raised in an isolated castle and kept away from the rest of the world, so Kiritsugu and eventually Ilya are literally the only things she was ever given to care about. Maiya asks how she can care so much about his ideals when she hasn't even seen the world he wants to change, and she admits that she doesn't understand any of the words he says; she just agrees with them, because he said them.

She does have one other reason to want him to win, though. Or if not him, then at least *someone.*

Ilya is only half-homunculus, but that's apparently still enough for the Einzburns to prep her to be the next Grail vessel. Presumably after making sure she gives them another heir herself. Whereas if there isn't another Grail War, Ilya will be allowed to live a full human life.

On one hand, that's actually pretty touching.

On the other hand...the only thing that Iri cares about besides being a wife is being a mother. Apparently.

She asks Maiya what she plans to do after the Grail War, assuming she survives it. Maiya says that if Kiritsugu dies, she'll have nothing to live for, and that if he wins she'll also have nothing to live for because the new world he creates won't have a place for people like her in it. I guess either Kiritsugu never talked to her about this, or he did and was satisfied with her outlook on the subject.

Iri begs her not to kill herself. Instead, she should try and search for her birth family. Find out who they are, and/or what happened to them. Then try to become a complete human being. For Iri, if not for herself.

Maiya is totally going to die before the end of the series.

Cut to Kiritsugu investigating the Tohsaka manor. He finds the murder scene, and is stunned to learn that the victim was Tokiomi Tohsaka.

Why is that stunning, exactly? You know that Alexander is still out there. And you also may or may not remember that Berserker exists, though I won't judge you either way. But still, its a war. Alexander is powerful. This was always a strong possibility. Why is Kiritsugu so surprised at this?

He calls Maiya to update her on his discovery. While they're talking, an explosion suddenly rocks the safehouse. A moment later, Alexander finishes blasting his way through the wall and advances on Maiya and the helpless Iri. Maiya raises her gun and starts shooting.

Wouldn't it be amazing if she banished Alexander here?

We know that she and Kiritsugu use magic bullets that they at least believe can have an effect on Servants. She has a clean shot at Alexander, who is a big target, at almost point blank range, and she's using an automatic weapon. Alexander has only just recovered enough mana to manifest again, so he's likely more fragile than usual. It would make total logical sense for Maiya to win this battle, and also be a great start to her having a journey of self-empowerment as per Iri's wish.

Kiritsugu hears the explosions on the phone, and uses a Command Seal to teleport Arturia back to the safehouse. She can't do that on her own, but using a Seal seems to let her overcome that limitation. She arrives just after Alexander has left, and finds out that he cut Maiya down offscreen.

Obviously. What, did you really think anything else would happen?

To be clear, I wasn't rooting against Alexander, exactly. He's annoyed me a fair bit when he interacts with Arturia, but that last scene with him and Waver was otherwise pretty great, and Alexander's got an arc of his own going on now that I'd like to see reach its conclusion. I also am not blaming him for doing what he did here. It's a war. He and Maiya are on opposing sides. Team Rider has fought more honestly and honourably than any of the others; he's not breaking any truces or the like by going after Team Sabre now. I'm a little baffled at how he learned where the safehouse was, and why he didn't attack it before now if he knew where it was, but that's a separate and much more minor issue.

Maiya has been in this story from the beginning, but her role has consisted entirely of standing in the background being Kiritsugu's combination rifle/fleshlight. The show could have developed her at any point. Any episode prior to this one. But instead, it only started acknowledging her as a character and getting into her head just in time to inform us that she's one week from retirement and engaged. I predicted she'd die before the end of the series, but I didn't think she was going to die in the next two minutes of screentime. I've been more and more disappointed in Fate/Zero recently, but I still expected better from it than THAT.

Arturia sees Maiya dying, and Iri missing. Maiya whispers the word "Rider," and Arturia looks stunned, because being attacked by the enemy during wartime is hard for this experienced warrior-queen to wrap her head around. She climbs onto the roof just in time to see the Gordion Chariot fly away with Iri in it; presumably, Alexander intends to use her to lure Kiritsugu and Arturia into a more favorable arena. Dumb stupid idiot Arturia reacts thusly:

Even if it weren't for the other problems I've been having with the last few episodes, Arturia's reaction here would have shattered my suspension of disbelief to the point where I'd struggle to stay invested.

She jumps down from the roof and gets on her motorcycle to chase after Alexander. Then Kiritsugu arrives at the ruined house to find Maiya just about to breathe her last. She tells him she believes in him and bla bla bla who cares. And also this:

I'm not sure what this is getting at. He looked like his old self because he managed to kill someone last night? He looked like his old self because Iri is dying and Maiya is eager to have him to herself again? I don't know, but fortunately I don't care either, so it's no skin off my back.

Kiritsugu tells her that she's done her job, and can now rest. He cries. She dies.

It seems like Kiritsugu has sort of been subverted, I guess? His faithful supporters were all just brainwashed, broken puppets who had no choice in the matter, and the only colleague he doesn't have completely under his thumb mentally is Arturia, who he can't stand and can't work with. It paints a picture of an incredibly toxic, narcissistic personality, even before getting into Maiya's backstory.

Does the show know that it's done this, though?

I don't know. But also, again, I don't care.


Fate/Zero didn't start out as shit, but it sure became it by the final quarter.