The PvE action was a nice change of pace from all the dorama we've had the last few eps. It is quite suspicious that Kirito is the only one able to level a particular skill though there's probably some wonderful MMO explanation to explain everything.

It was also nice to see Asuna living up (more like down IMO) to her role as a hero catalyst support character. If she hadn't gone in and gotten herself into danger I doubt Kirito would have made a move and demonstrated that no frail little girls (with maxed cooking stats) would be allowed to come to harm on his watch. I suppose it's better than nothing that she can keep the bad guys busy for a few seconds in addition to making sandwiches but it seems her guild likes sandwiches too so now we get to have an honorable duel for the fair maidens hand. Asuna's thoughts on the matter be damned, yay progress!