In terms of plot progression, this episode remains in something of a holding pattern. It's hard to avoid, as the various groups continue to venture outward.
The episode does open with a bit of a breather, as Armin, Jean, and Reiner try to regroup and decide what to do, seeing as they only have one horse. It's said that they have to leave one scout behind, and Jean gives valid reasons why each of them should be the one to do it, but the debate is tabled when Armin volunteers to be the one. Not that it matters, Christa arrives with Jean's horse in tow, having seen the emergency flare that they had fired.
While Christa had appeared before, the hiatus meant that this was, for all intents and purposes, her first impression and it was a good one. She was generally pleasant and didn't hesitate to come to people's aid when she saw they needed help.
Oddly, even the characters act like this is the first time they've seen her. They know her name, but they also seem kind of dumbstruck by her. It was weird.
From there, the episode jumps to various squads as they either try (and fail) to deal with the female titan or wonder what happened to the outer squads that is making for such an erratic outing.
As was the case before, the female titan continues to just dominate and wreck the scouts in glorious fashion. If anything, she comes off as even more imposing now than she did before, and she had already gotten off to a strong start.
It doesn't seem to matter what the scouts do, the titan is two steps ahead and has a counter for every maneuver that they try to implement.
I think the most memorable kill is when she has one scout by his wires and she begins twirling him around rapidly like a set of keys on a chain. It was oddly comical, but still rather disturbing. Even ignoring the G-forces at work, the nausea that enduring that would induce will make you squirm in your seat. Even on the off chance that the scout did survive that, she tosses him behind her like a piece of garbage afterward. Again, it's a bit on the cartoonish side, but still disturbing in its own way.
As a result of the female titan's rampage, Eren and his crew are driven into a forest that is said to be a frequent tourist spot. Well, it was before the walls fell anyway.
A lot is made about how venturing in is a bad idea. There is some merit to this, as the outer squads can no longer communicate with them to warn them about oncoming titans. At the same time, the open terrain was not their friend. The abundance of trees gives them cover and means to better use their harness weapons and defend themselves. For some reason, this latter fact never occurs to anybody and Levi has to spell it out for them. This is supposed to be a display of how skilled a scout he is, but even I could have told them that and I'm just a spectator. If anything, it has the inverse effect and just makes Eren look dumb.
While Armin's theory about the female titan's objective was pulled out of thin air, he appears to be on the money as she pursues the group with even more determination than she had prior and even smiles when she makes eye contact with Eren.
The chase is appropriately tense as the monster continues to gain on the heroes. They talk of killing it, but (perhaps luckily for them) they never get around to it. We see the scouts start to panic as they are unsure of what to do. You'd think that Levi would step up, but he remains quiet, which does not ease his team's concerns a bit. It makes for a solid cliffhanger ending.
This episode's setup doesn't leave a lot of room for discussion or analysis, but it was still a rather entertaining outing. The action sequences were incredibly well done, there were a few changes to the status quo, and it seems like even some of the side characters are starting to stand out a bit more. It certainly took them long enough, but it's better late than never, I suppose. There were even a few solid humorous instances peppered throughout. It wasn't so much that it undercut the tension, but it did add to the overall enjoyment factor of the episode as a whole.
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