The flashback definitely makes this episode. The graveside scene, acknowledging Fleur, gives us some closure to an earlier episode. Definitely a rarity in the world of FK.

I think this is actually the only time we see Nick reveling in being a vampire. In other flashbacks even when we see him hunting and killing, he almost immediately feels regret about it. Keeping captives in the cellar is the most horrific thing we see Nick doing in the series, it brings him down to the level of the serial killer in Trophy Girl. I wish we had seen more of that--it would make his all encompassing guilt in the present day a little more understandable.

As for Natalie, I do wonder if they were trying to build the case of her going off the rails towards the end of the third season? Nick and the outcome she had hoped for is slipping away and she knows it. She's completely isolated without even Schanke to ground her. There are instances of her behaving irrationally throughout the series, but this is a big one. It makes her irrational behavior in LK a little more credible from a character perspective.

I actually like Nick's kindness towards her at the end. She totally screwed up and they both know it. Beating her up about it wouldn't change anything. It was nice to see that friendship back for even a brief period.