While Rin is held hostage, Archer’s true identity and origins are finally revealed.
I have to admit, I didn’t expect things to quickly to go down so quickly. While there was some hints in the last episode that Archer and Shirou are related, Archer is basically Emiya Shirou from the future. He decided to become a guardian to fulfill his ideals of becoming a hero. Of course, this means that he had to kill some to save many. This also means that he killed various people who disrupted the peace and caused wars such as drug lords and even Middle East terrorists. Sadly, his ideals betrayed him as he killed many people with no results to show for it. This can explain why he wants to kill Shirou so badly in order to be relieved from his duty.
Meanwhile, while Lancer gives a nice punch to Shinji’s face to save Rin, his master is finally revealed. Yep, it’s Kirei who acted as Rin’s guardian for over 10 years before revealing that he planned on using her for his plans. Yep, Rin was very furious when she found out that he was the one that killed her father in cold blood. Now, he wants to use her to gain access to the grail, which will not happen for sure. Still, it’s nice to see her give a nice rant to him.
Aside from that, while it’s sad to see Lancer’s demise when Kirei forces him to commit suicide with a command seal, it’s apparent that Rin is not done with him. Rin might use a command seal next time to have Saber come to defend herself against him and Shinji. As for the battle against Archer and Shirou, it’s going to be interesting to see Shirou try to catch up to Archer in terms of capabilities with Unlimited Blade Works finally being used for real next time. I can’t wait.
I think the core difference between Archer and Kiritsugu is that Shirou, Archer or not, will never view that kind of killing under the guise of justice as the right thing to do (aside from one Bad Ending Shirou in Heaven’s Feel that becomes like Kiritsugu). I believe he says such a thing in Fate/Extra as well.
It’s quite understandable given the different backgrounds and that most of the people Archer killed are basically people who are a threat to the peace, aka bad guys. Given that killing innocent people or other masters is something that Shirou wouldn’t do, it’s understandable why they will have different views as you mentioned.
Poor Lancer, always getting the short end of the stick…*laughs*
It seems that way, but at least he knows for sure he done something right, even if his master is crap.