Episode 6 is a difficult one. As a whole I love it a lot, but at times it can be quite frustrating. Particularly the first half, almost everything before the Ushiromiya Kyrie cannot save Battler scene. The plot of Battler’s scenario, when taken at face value, really isn’t all that interesting and takes a long time to get through. There are some very interesting parts, such as the bits with Hachijo and Ange, or Dlanor and Erika (that scene with just the two of them made me appreciate both of them that much more), but for the most part it just kinda happened.
That being said, everything past that line is amazing. I felt so disgusted by Erika when she revealed she deliberately killed all of the fake victims just to win the game. That’s also when the love trials finally get somewhere and a lot of hints are dropped. The final confrontation between Beato and Erika is my favorite chapter in all of Umineko, with the final red truth statement being the sweet, sweet icing on the cake.
I’m not too big a fan of the whole Golden Land business myself, but it wasn’t overbearing. And the ??? scene was great and did a good job setting up expectations for Episode 7.
I agree. Given that Battler understands the truth, it should have been the simplest thing in the world for him to think of the very same trick Beato came up with. While that doesn’t confirm that he plotted to get himself caught from the beginning, it does at least heavily imply that he intentionally stayed in the locked room, waiting for Beato to return by her own strength.
The episode does imply early on that Battler may make a huge gamble of his own to resurrect Beato so this theory fits right in with that little bit of foreshadowing.