Short Summary:
The Marleyan’s invade the Shiganshina District. Eren Jaeger is confronted by Porco Galliard, Pieck Finger, and Reiner Braun. Overwhelmed, Eren is under threat of being killed. Onyankopon free’s the scouts, hoping they will rescue Eren. They don’t trust him. If they rescue Eren that means supporting the “euthanization plan.” Armin tries to convince them that Eren isn’t planning on euthanizing anyone. His words are met with silence.
Attack on Titan Season 4 continues exactly where episode 16 left off. Hange Zoe is holding the motionless body of Levi. She tells Floch that Levi’s dead. Attack on Titan is willing to kill off major characters but I don’t think they’ll kill Levi, yet. However, he likely won’t return to battle for a long time if at all. With all the betrayal in this season, it’s difficult to keep track of who’s on who’s side. I had completely forgot about the Jaegerist and the fact that Hange was their hostage. While they’re distracted by the return of Zeke Jaeger, Hange grabs Levi and jumps into the river. Zeke explains that he was in the “paths” a channel that connect all Titans and Subjects of Ymir. While there, his body is remolded by a strange girl. Episode 17 introduces some questions regarding the Titans. Who’s the girl? How did she control the Titan that resurrected Zeke?
In the Shiganshina District, Eren transforms in to the Attack Titan and faces Porco Galliard, Pieck Finger, and Reiner Braun alone. With all the power he’s gained and cult he’s inspired Eren has become arrogant. He marches into the fray certain of his victory. At least in this episode it appears he miscalculated. Pieck snipes at him from a distance, while Reiner and Porco engage directly.
The Cost of Betrayal
Having betrayed all his friends, Eren has no allies with the skills to combat the other Titans. While Eren struggles to fight Reiner, Pieck, and Porco the Marely army slaughters the Jaegerists. This was the most unrealistic part of this conflict. Even though Marley surprised them, it doesn’t make since that they would make better use of the environment than the Jaegerists. There were several moments when the Jaegerists were just standing there out in the open being massacred. Meanwhile, Yelena is just standing there talking about how “special” Eren is.
The most proactive member of the Jaegerists was Onyankopon. In his panic state over Eren’s possible death, he releases the scouts. Conny Springer isn’t so eager to help. With all the betrayals he doesn’t know who to trust. In my review of the last episode, I argued that the main theme was the “consequences of mistrust.” As part of the audience you feel like Conny. Who can they trust? Armin makes one final plead. Arguing that Eren is still worthy of their allegiance. Is he? Eren’s behavior was out of character for him. Armin’s argument feels plausible but are we just giving into wishful thinking? At this point everyone’s confused. Especially the scouts.
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