User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Episode 262: Tartaros arc: Memento Mori, Review/@comment-4829046-20151207123132

As of today's chapter,  it now makes sense why they poured so much filler, recap and rehash into the recent fights. I'm just speculating here, but since Mashima does his storyboards in advance, this is quite the smart timing.