Sporadic as my viewing of this show has been thus far, there are certain unavoidable patterns that are starting to develop. For one thing, it's fascinating how, in the heat of a large, city-wide battle, the characters all seem to have the luxury to brood and introspect for rather lengthy periods of time. Having some of them go into shock at points makes sense, and I get wanting to flesh out the characters' emotional state, but it gets taken to ridiculous extremes.
There's one scene where a group of titans are huddled around...something and a group of resistance fighters just stand on a rooftop and look at them. You'd think that, with the monsters' weak point exposed, that they would pounce. Maybe they thought it was a trap, but that's never said. It's even weirder when they decide to go somewhere else and kill titans there.
You also can't help but notice that this show loves to show the humans getting what turns out to be a false second wind. There's this great build up as they charge into battle and start taking down titans with ease. You think the tables are about to turn and than, in a split second, a person dies and it all spirals out of control from there. For those who decide to binge watch this show, you could probably make a drinking game out of it.
In any event, Armin suggests using the new "rogue" titan as a way to turn the tide. Surprisingly, characters are skeptical of this. Sure, the "what" and the "why" are intriguing, but as long as the thing is killing titans and not killing you, why look a gift horse in the mouth? If Jimmy wants to crack corn, why do they care?
I was a little unclear on Armin's means of getting the rogue titan to go where they wanted. You'd think that they'd lure him or draw its attention to titans in the direction they're heading, but he says that they should just kill titans and eventually the rogue will move to the capital. It worked, but still.
I do like that this episode shows Armin finding his niche. He seems to be the idea guy. He not only comes up with the idea to sick the titan on the other titans, but he also devises a strategy that allows the group to enter a fuel depot that has been over-run by smaller titans.
I enjoy seeing tactics in action, so the second half of this episode (that largely centers on the attempt to acquire fuel for their equipment) was quite a bit of fun for me to watch. The plan wasn't too terribly complicated, but there was enough coordination and forethought at play that it still worked.
The distinct possibility that the plan could go awry at any second also added a nice bit of tension, allowing the sequence to work on multiple fronts. In fact, it does go awry. All things considered, the plan succeeded, but there was a minute or two where it seemed like that wasn't going to be the case.
There's not much in the way of big action highlights, though we do see enough of the rogue titan pummeling other titans that viewers should be satisfied on that front. The most memorable bit for me was near the end when the titans had actually gotten the advantage and started eating the rogue. The (now armless) rogue titan suddenly gets his second wind and resumes killing his prey, again, with no arms. It's a sight to behold, I tell ya.
While the new titan is clearly one of humanity's more powerful weapons now, it's good to show that it isn't unstoppable. It keeps humans in the fight as, otherwise, they'd just sit back and let it do all the work.
Although, even knowing that the titan is vulnerable, the humans (once again) just stand on a roof and gawk at it. There's no effort to aid it when it looks like its about to lose, despite its presence being a table turner in the overall war. Maybe they thought it was too late, I don't know. Their lack of action still seemed weird to me.
The rogue titan's death does lead to the episode's big plot twist, however. Inside the rogue, is Eren. Not in the stomach, mind you. From the look of it, it seemed like he was embedded in its spine or something. He's alive and the limbs he apparently lost when he got nommed are restored.
You likely knew that Eren was going to return at some point, but credit to the episode, it was a hell of a way to do it. It adds even more mystery to what's just happened and raises new questions. Mikasa's and Eren's joy at seeing their friend again also adds a nice bit of emotional weight to the episode's end. The scene was just well executed all around.
This episode had its fair share of problems. The show's pacing still needs work, characters can become oddly stupid at points, and most still feel flat; but the pros outweighed the cons for me. Once things got rolling, this was a fun ride. The heroes got things accomplished and scored a victory, while the overall plot moved forward with an intriguing twist.
I'd say that I'm looking forward to the next episode giving us some answers, but I can almost guarantee that Eren will have no memory of his time in the titan and will be just as confused as the others. You just know that's how it's going to play out. I suppose that's the fault of narrative structure sometimes.
Still, always forward and all that.
Click here to join our Patreon campaign
No comments:
Post a Comment