Historia’s Hysteria & Erwin’s Exposition

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

In flashbacks, Historia tells the rest of Levi Squad about her childhood living on a farm with her mother. She was oddly cold to her daughter, even going so far as to leave her completely alone in the house when she even tried to hug her. A few years later, shortly after Wall Maria fell, Historia finally met her father, Rod Reiss, who ruled the land they lived in. His guards, Kenny amongst them, kill the mother for her sudden outburst, and Rod renames Historia to Christa Lenz so he can leave her to be trained with the cadets. In the present, Rod apologizes to Historia for his behavior and explains that she has royal blood with which she can save humanity.

Back in the outskirts, Levi’s team discusses their next move. With Eren’s recalling of the conversation between Bertholt and Ymir, Hange speculates that he might be fed to a pure Titan in order for them to regain both human form and his power, just as Ymir did with the friend of Bertholt’s that she ate. They plan to head to the land of the Reiss family in order to save him.

Pyxis arrives to speak with Erwin regarding his plans to overthrow the government with Historia’s help. While they wait for things to go underway, he tells him of his own childhood with his father. A teacher of history, he taught what was the authorized version of events, but Erwin caught on that certain things didn’t add up. While he avoided answering Erwin’s questions in public, at home he would tell him all about how things were hidden from them by the government. Erwin couldn’t keep from telling his friends, and eventually, his father was found out and killed in an “accident”. Erwin swore from then on he would avenge his father and make sure everyone knew the truth.

Hange also shows up to report their rescue plan, but another scout comes in to inform them of Reeve’s murder the MP’s saying Erwin’s to blame, leading the suspension of all scouts. Before he leaves, he names Hange the next leader of the Scout Regiment.

OUR TAKE

This wasn’t as fast paced as the previous two episodes, but I supposed we were going to hit some downtime eventually. And to be fair, this was a pretty good use of it. Since we’ve had chances for plenty of supporting characters to get their chance in the limelight, now’s about the perfect time for Historia and Erwin to get theirs when they’re about to become major players in events to come. Erwin’s seems pretty par for the course when it comes to someone seeking vengeance for a family member dying to a government conspiracy, but Historia’s ended up being especially sad. Having a mother who you live all alone with but can’t stand to look at or touch you, and then seeing her die in front of you while wishing she never had you and THEN being abandoned by your father two seconds after meeting him…yeah, that can’t be good on the ol’ self esteem. Something tells me that isn’t the whole story, but we’ll likely be getting more informed of it when figuring out what exactly they’ll be doing with Eren.

The other major development is the government tightening the noose around the Scout Regiment. They already weren’t gaining many fans by dragging the fight with Annie into town or their previous constant failures, so public opinion would be pretty easy to sway against them. Blaming the head of their group for the murder of a local merchant is…actually pretty suspect on its face, but when you have such low approval rating as it is, pretty much anything that can confirm suspicion is probably enough to do it. Though I imagine that a tactic like this is a sign they’re getting desperate, and probably won’t help them in the long run.

But we also have some foreshadowing of how the fight ahead will take its toll. Whoever wins this battle for rulership of humanity, the power structure will be forever changed, and tearing down the current abuses of power will only make room for more people to replace the monsters they defeated, Titan or Human. Sannes’ warning to Hange is indication enough of that, but it’s unclear who’s going to be forced into that role. Regardless, it’s an apparent sign of how desperately needed this revolution is if an ambiguous and potentially worse future is seen as the better alternative to the oppressive regime they find themselves under currently.

Score 7/10