This episode sets its focus on Eren and Ymir, as they remain captives of Reiner and Bertholdt. They spend the episode up in a tree waiting for night to fall. It leads to a dialogue heavy episode, but one that keeps the tension up well enough, regardless.
There were points in the episode where it seemed to be taking a cue from "Death Note". Ymir prevents Eren from transforming by noting several titans lurking in spots and Eren spends a lot of time weighing his options in order to determine his best means of escape. Considering Eren's tendency to fly off the handle, it was an impressive bout of self control. The timing is especially amusing as I'm currently working on the re-reviews for that show after the Examiner write ups were destroyed when the site went under.
Sadly, for all the talk, we don't learn a whole lot. It doesn't seem annoyingly cryptic as you're watching it, but looking back, it seems like it could have given us more answers than we got.
Bertholdt says literally nothing and Reiner isn't in a particularly chatty mood. He won't even give them a reason as to why they even stopped in the first place. It's implied to be fatigue, but it's never confirmed one way or the other.
We do see that Reiner is legitimately losing it. It's one thing for him to get worked up over something that ticks him off, but even in more docile moments he's not all there. His talk about getting promoted implies that the titans have some sort of chain of command, but it turns out he just can't keep the sides straight anymore. Once again, nothing is confirmed, but Ymir suggests that his cover went too deep and now he is suffering from a sort of split personality as a result of feeling guilty for the lives he's taken and ruined.
It should come as no surprise that Eren is a little light on sympathy for these two. After all, most of the calamities are a result of their actions way back in the first episode. If anything, it seems to tick Eren off more. Again, the sense of betrayal is palpable and it works a lot better here with characters we've come to know.
A lot of focus is put on Reiner's mental instability, but there are points where Eren looks even crazier. He's often seething or staring with his eyes freakishly wide open. You really wonder if the day will come when he cracks completely.
Even though nothing particularly happens, the animosity and fractured mental states make up for it in many respects. It also plants seeds for future plot reveals, but it could have taken some time to tend to the plot threads that are already established before it started throwing out more questions.
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