Few things I will say though briefly;
This was the best episode out of the last 10 of the show. It had great pacing, fantastic characterization (Especially Julius and Feris), it had a glorious set of twists which were completely reasonable in-universe and for once, not a single character was annoying , not even Beetelgeuze.
That being said; I was legit terrified for a brief moment during a particular scene, thinking a character would actually die and then just didn't for no reason.... "FERIS?!?!? NO.... wait what?". That was shit writing but aside from the writing was top notch.
We are reaching the end soon folks... it's been a great ride and we're about to settle on a fantastic climax, let's hope it pays off.
Ok let's do it;
This is where we were last week, apparently this was a planar shift and it is heavily implied that it was Ram that did it, but "The intense smell" is clearly Satella's scent so this implies that Ram is associated with Satella. I like this, this raises intrigue but doesn't bash us over the head with it.
Unfortunately the pay-off is shit.
It was an illusion and Julius frees everyone, nothing happens.... after that they talk to Ram which reveals, in a very subtle and fantastic way that there is a traitor amongst them.
Subaru had sent a note to the mansion prior to heading out with his forces but the note that actually arrived was blank, implying that they were going to be attacked (I.e. that Subaru was a traitor). This is cleared up and that's that.
So now that Subaru knows that the danger is imminent, he goes to the town near Roswhal mannor and tells the townpeople to get the fuck out of dodge.
The villagers are dense and take awhile to listen, giving the enemies ample time to prepare their attack.... by the time the villagers begin to leave, this occurs;
One of the cult members is discovered by Feris and he launches an explosion spell , trying to kill Subaru. The earlier spirit (Ia) saves him but during this time, nothing is protecting Feris... I will not lie, I was legitimately scared that Feris was going to die in this scene because, as we know, Feris is the greatest healer in all of Lugunica so if he is alive and near, that means no one else is in any real danger.
Killing Feris here would have made sense but he (for some reason) is fine after taking a point-blank explosion to the face (Bullshit writing).
Tore off some of his clothes though, dat trap-service.
The battle continues against the Witch's Cult and one of the incarnations of Sloth wounds Wilhelm, many villagers die as well.
Things look grim but finally, the worst character in the show appears and finally does something;
Emilia returns to Re: Zero, like 15 episodes after she last did anything, she returns. I would rather have Rem here but whatever, she strikes down the last finger of Sloth, or so it would seem.... then we get a VERY reasonable, very well written twist;
Subaru begins to experience some sort of trauma and we get....
I liked this. It made sense that it happened and it was silly at the same time. It was the only time I didn't mind seeing Betelgeuse pop up because it means that there is a legitimate reason for Subaru to be afraid; We know HE can't die, but others can die. Him being the instrument of their death would have been a fabulous turn....
But alas that doesn't occur, Feris and Julius talk him down and he asks to be killed.
We end on this note, with Julius striking down possessed Subaru leaving us to question if the cycle will repeat for the final episode.
Final thoughts;
Was this a good episode? yes, we had some great character moments by Subaru, Feris and Julius... even Betelgeuse was in great form. The plot finally got moving and the action sequences were fast paced with some legitimate suspense even if that suspense didn't really go anywhere.
The only bad mark on this episode is Emilia who, as always, is very boring. She is a Mary Sue character designated to be the "official" good character, the love interest. She does what she is supposed to do so we have nothing interesting going on whenever she is on screen. Emilia drags down every scene, every storyline she's in.
That being said, everything else was top notch and the set-up for the next (Final) episode was glorious. This brought the show back into form and we can only hope for an appearance of Satella in the next episode.
NOTE: The pacing was even and steady (For a change) so kudos to whoever directed this episode, if it was the same guy then good job for getting out of the terrible habit of giving the previous episodes awful pacing.
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