So I'm guessing I was being foolish expecting Ishida's worthless contributions thus far to be leading to some character development rather than simply being a method to build up his eventually casual take down of the Soul Reaper. For what it was though, it was well-executed, Uryu did indeed come off as a bad-ass here.
I've been enjoying the action more than I did previously since entering the Soul Society. None of the fights have been great mind you, or even something I'll remember that fondly, but they've all been relatively quick those far, and competent in executing what they set out to accomplish. I think this bad-ass showcase for Uryu was the best at doing it so far, but hopefully this is just a signal for stronger structured fights in the later portions of the arc.