The lengthy gap made this one hard to follow. Some times you can just jump right back in, but this was not one of those times. A lot of this episode relies on you remembering prior events and specific details, which I didn't have. Now, somebody who watches this in a timely manner likely won't have that problem, but it was a hurdle for me this time around. It's not helped by the fact that the episode didn't have a recap at the start like most other episodes did. It's weird to suddenly take them away in any event, but it would have been most helpful here.
Even with the confusion, the episode manages to bring a lot to the table. There's character development aplenty as two characters are given chances to tell details of their past.
The first is Christa/Historia. We see her telling the scouts about her experiences growing up. It seems her mother was reclusive and spent all of her time reading books. One day, Historia tries giving her mother a hug. It doesn't go well. Not only does Historia get thrown aside (an impressive physical feat on the mother's part as she was sitting down at the time), but the mother then flat out says that she wishes she had killed the girl. I vaguely remember Historia's origin, but seeing this did make me curious as to what her deal was again. If nothing else, it cements her status as "woobie" because jeebus, that's harsh.
As if that wasn't enough, right before her mother is killed, she reiterates her stance right in front of Historia, who has to watch her mother get her throat slit. She had a rough go of it, no doubt.
Erwin also gets to reminisce a bit, as he tells Pyxis about how his father was a teacher. While most of mankind's history prior to the walls was lost, Erwin's father had a theory that the arrangement wasn't so much to protect humanity, but to protect the land and goods of the rich. This ties into the whole government conspiracy thing that the season has going on, as Erwin spreading word about the theory gets his father killed.
On the plus side, the two threads do somewhat tie together, as Erwin hatches a plan to use Historia's bloodline as a way to stage a peaceful coup and bring an end to the corrupt institution.
It might have worked, but it seems the syndicate is two steps ahead. They murder one of the town's wealthy residents and make it seem like the scouts were responsible. As a way to buy time and keep things calm, Erwin turns himself in.
Thankfully, the titans haven't been completely forgotten. It's true, they don't appear, but their existence does seem to play a role in the plot. It's revealed that Eren's kidnapping was due to titans' being able to absorb abilities of other titans that they eat. As such, his captors want his ability to control other titans. It's a bit of a curveball, but I suppose it makes sense. The concept of eating people to gain their power has been used in other works before. It's grisly, but at the same time...I don't know, seems a tad silly? We'll see how that subplot plays out.
I think this episode would have benefited from actually keeping up with the series. The flashbacks are engaging enough, but this one lost me quite a bit. I was also surprised at how little I had gotten into the season. For some reason, I thought I was farther a long, but nope, we've got a while to go. Hopefully I can get back on the ball on this one. I really don't want another 8 months to go by before we get to episode 4.
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