Rin's nickname for Saber- "Baeber"- is similar to the name "Baber", derived from "Babar", which means "Lion."
Why does Kuzuki give Shirou such a lenghty (and rather Shakesperean) speech after Shirou explains the conflict about his dream and the reality he is faced? .... Because he UNDERSTANDS Shirou. He went through the same doubts, he was trained to be an Assassin his whole life, but he realized that he did not want to be an assassin. And tried his hand at being a teacher and is currently experiencing the Holy Grail War, while in a romantic relationship with Medea. He is still looking for himself in some way.
Is Rin really that much of an Adaptational Dumbass? She makes several educated points as to why Archer cannot be who he claims to be, by a simple conversation deduces that Archer has deep knowledge of Magecraft and a Reality Marble as his Noble Phantasm, and evening call him Satan is NOT that strange, since she MAY be aware that Angra Mainyu was summoned in the Third Grail War. She knows the Holy Grail War history up and down. Is still a genius Mage. Instead of being a Dumbass, Rin seems to operate with an Alien mentality.
The double reveal that Saber has zero romantic interestin Shirou and also seemingly being attracted to Archer makes perfect sense from a meta, cross-continuity perspective. After all, RIN is meant to be Shirou's Love Interest in the Unlimited Blade Works route. Meanwhile, Archer is a Shirou from the Fate route, where SABER is the Love Interest. No wonder Saber is attracted to him rather than this timeline's Shirou!
Archer and Saber figured out Lancer's identity rather easily. How? Well think of it, Shirou saw Gae Bolg during Fate when Lancer attacks Saber and probably has stored it in Unlimited Blade Works (The same applies to Caster and Rule Breaker) so that is how he knows it or after the war he took the time to investigate it. For Saber? Remember she was born in the Sixth Century, the Cycle of Ulster is around the First Century, and she is British, there is a good chance that she learned about Irish Mytology during her life.
King Arthur and Cú Chulainn are both from Celtic epic, if different cycles. She would naturally recognize the Noble Phantasm of a fellow Celtic hero... Especially as Artoria's main weapon in life was actually Rhongomyniad, a spear (Excalibur being more a sidearm and a symbol of kingly power) and she's also qualified for the Lancer class.
In Episode 10, Archer continues his Batman metaphor by noting Shirou's grown from Robin into Nightwing. While he uses it as part of his deconstruction of Shirou's ideals and insult to Shirou, it's actually a pretty good comparison for where their paths diverge.
Archer is like Batman, everything he is exists solely for his ideals and pursuit of justice. He has nothing else in his life and he doesn't even enjoy what he does. At his most extreme, this is what Batman's life becomes like.
Nightwing however, despite holding similar ideals isn't entirely ruled by them. He can enjoy his life both in and out of costume which Shirou becomes able to do thanks to Rin's influence on the UBW Route.
In Episode 10, during the banter between Archer and Lancer, Cu Chulainn(Lancer) misquotes Archer’s riposte from their first fight (“[…] a CALF about to be slaughtered […]”). Lancer misquoted this as LAMB…
Q: Why…?
A: Because Cu is from the Ulster Cycle (sort of; Mythological figure in [Welsh, Celtic, Irish] lore). It’s the closest animal to their respective eras and backgrounds (translation: an easy kill).
Lamb v Calf: Lamb was the easiest to kill before the Industrial Revolution, where farmers started prioritizing chicken, cattle, and other predominantly consumed meats from animals with intent to breed for slaughter/consumption.
When Lancer is trying to beat answers out of Archer, Emiya answers a query through cryptic quid pro quo and ultimately pulling the answer out of Lancer about why he survived the fight with Gilgamesh so long in the original DEEN Route.
Archer: “Do you have protection from arrows?”
Lancer: “You know it…!”
Archer: (*muttering*) “Huh… No wonder you lasted a full day against [Gilgamesh]…”
Lancer: “Speak up, Bite Me…!”
Moreover, when Lancer lashes out at Archer for allegedly “throwing away” his relationship with “a woman who could kick [their] ass”, is Cu referring to Rin Tohsaka, or Scathach?
Of course Ilya can't cook her own toaster strudels; she's a mage, and traditional mages are ignorant of technology.
Archer is furious and bewildered that Saber would give up the Grail and "find [her] humanity" even though he's from the Fate timeline, where Saber gave up her wish to help him destroy the Grail. That means that Archer is from a variation of the bad ending where Saber killed him to get the Grail...
