This episode follows through on the titan slugfest teased at the end of the last episode. Reiner has transformed into the armored titan and Eren is ticked.
He really does spend a lot of time going on about how much he used to respect Reiner and now harbors nothing but contempt for him. It takes what fell flat with Annie and does it much more effectively and gives the fight added weight.
The fight was rather interesting as both seemed to be in complete control of their mental faculties. As such, their military training was combined with their size and strength to present a much more interesting fight than just two rampaging rage monsters. I mean, that would have been fun, but this stands out more. Eren even uses techniques taught to him by Annie back in their training days to turn the tide.
The flashbacks here are used well. They complement Eren's sense of betrayal and also give context to Eren's fighting techniques when he realizes that he can't brute force his way out of this fight. They never distracted from the fight and also allowed for some character moments in an episode that puts more emphasis on action.
I did like the fact that the other scouts actually tried to help. I've chided them before for falling into the "DBZ" trap of just sitting on the sidelines when they could be helping in a fight, but they avoid that here. Granted, it doesn't work, but again, the effort was made. Really, that's all I ask for.
While Eren deals with the armored titan, they do attempt to take on the colossal titan. It only ends with them getting hit with the same steam cloud that Eren fell victim to. Really, though, I blame that one guy who said that it was going to be easy because the titan's movements appeared to be slower than most. Even if that is the case, you don't say it out loud. You're just asking for things to screw up, which they did.
Even after that, though, they do attempt to slice at the armored titan....only to find out that he's armored. It would be one thing if they were unfamiliar with the creature (as they were with the female titan,) but I'm pretty sure that they have referred to it as the armored titan before now. As such, it makes them look kind of dumb when they notice that their blades don't work.
Hange does redeem them, however, noting that armor has cracks to allow for mobility. This gives Mikasa a place to strike. I'm not going to lie, when Hange said that the groin was often a vulnerable area in armor, I figured that would be the place she'd go. She doesn't; she slices at the back of one of Reiner's knees. On a random note, why would you design armor that way? You'd think you'd want the groin heavily guarded; I dunno. I was also a bit surprised that Mikasa didn't try to take out other extremities, but I suppose one can't fault her for not wanting to stay in the middle of a titan fistfight for very long.
You might be wondering where the colossal titan is in all of this. While I understand wanting a one on one face off, I couldn't help but wonder myself. It finally re-enters the narrative at the end when it..falls apart, I think? That sequence was shot so quickly that it was hard to tell what, exactly, was happening. It still makes for a very sudden cliffhanger ending, so it wasn't without its upsides.
All in all, this was quite a solid episode. It delivered on the action, but still gave the humans things to do and ways to contribute. There was also enough emotional weight behind things that it never felt like padding. It was a great way to kick things off as we move into the latter half of the season.
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