With Annie now in her titan form, the trio have no choice but to flee into the tunnel. We learn that the plan was to lure her in there to hinder her, but clearly things didn't work out that way. Considering how easily she is able to break through the walls (which are said to have some of the city's stronger ones,) I don't think the tactic would have worked, even if it had gone according to plan.
On the plus side, the squad did come up with a plan B beforehand, have Eren transform and fight her. Granted, his last showdown with her didn't go well, but it isn't like they have an abundance of options at this point.
Things are only made worse when we see that Eren is having trouble triggering the transformation. It's strange, it seems like he has all he needs. He bites through his finger and his objective seems pretty clear: save his friends and fight the giant monster. Yet, even with that, nothing happens.
It turns out that the revelation has hit Eren harder than he thought and his denial is what's holding him back. Maybe it's because my viewing has been so sporadic, but this part fell flat for me. The two didn't really come off as that close. It gets even weirder when Mikasa suggests that Eren might have some sort of feelings for Annie. I just didn't buy it.
The episode does occasionally go into flashback mode. I actually thought this benefited the episode. It allowed Armin to present more evidence of his theory and ultimately make a stronger case. It's still an educated guess on his part at this point, but it was a lot better than the little he put forth in the last episode. This is also where we see Eren's shock at the idea that Annie is the titan really get showcased.
True to form, the second half of the episode is one giant action showcase as Armin, Mikasa, and some other scouts (Eren had been severely injured and is unconscious and bleeding out) try to take down the female titan. Much is said about how ill prepared this squad is, being from the most secure city, but I thought they performed fairly well. They pulled off some rather impressive moves in their attempts to slay the beast. They don't work, but it isn't like these guys were slouches by any stretch of the imagination.
Really, Mikasa is the only one who can even land a blow, and even she finds herself moving more into the losing end as the fight progresses.
There is a bit of false hope as it appears that a trap set by Hange manages to incapacitate the female titan, but she just breaks free.
Oddly enough, Hange came off as more unnerving than the giant person-eating monster. The way Hange talks and acts makes it seem like there's some loss of sanity in action. Hange seemed a little too eager to "analyze the specimen". After all the casualties, you could say it's Hange's form of payback, but it was still chilling in its own right.
Thankfully, Eren is able to find the will to get back up and eventually transform. Said transformation is rather glorious in its execution. After seeing him spend a lot of time unconscious this episode, it really gave the whole thing more kick.
It also makes for a great cliffhanger as Titan-Eren sucker punches Titan-Annie, knocking her down, before charging at her for another attack.
For a penultimate episode, this worked rather well. It's been a while and that may have undercut some of the bigger aspects of the plot, but there was still more than enough tension to carry me through to the "to be continued..." card.
Up next is the first season finale, then we finally advance into the second season (which has apparently finished already?) I'm looking forward to it.
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