Last episode painted the grim picture of what it is actually like to be on the Recon Corps. This episode exemplifies the experience fully!
As outlined in previous episodes, the 57th expedition to begin making a route to Eren's home, is more training and exploring as outlined to the new recruits, but deadly dangerous. We see exactly how quickly out of the gate Titans appear, and worse how the massively helpful 3D gear is rendered useless by the open lands beyond the towns.
When all you have is a moving target bent on eating you, the gear that would save your life behind the wall, is basically dead weight beyond it. Still, we see that the skills taught to our favorite cadets are not in complete vain. Also some heroic attacks against Aberrants.
The sound strategy to avoid Titans is not workable either as they can be lying in wait, or in this case, not a true Titan at all.
We finally see the female Titan from the opener, and she is a bit like the Colossal Titan in more than appearance. She quickly nulls an attack against her, but unlike the other Titans, kills only to kill, not consume. Armin is unlucky enough to run into her and assumes the worst after watching the ease of his comrade's deaths.
But as he notes she is much like Eren, she shows it by gently lifting his hood and staring him in the face. Rather than kill him, she dismisses him as no threat and moves on quickly.
Reiner and Jean quickly join up with Armin and pursue this dangerous foe. After a quick assertion of goals to slow her, Armin realizes her goal is Eren and surviving. Anything that slows her down is attacked, but otherwise ignored.
Worse, they realize the right flank was annihilated by Titans led to them by this traitorous woman. Whoever she is (if you have read the manga hush now!), they have to only slow her for the yellow flares to do their work.
While the expected risky attack goes badly, we see Armin shine boldly here. He screams what seems gibberish to Jean, but stops the Titan cold in her tracks, saving his life in the process. Reiner takes this chance to attack, but the Titan recovers quickly.
Armin and Jean both think Reiner is gone, but instead he slices his way out of her grasp at the last moment. Chagrined that compared to Mikasa they are all dullards, Jean recalls that Reiner was an incredibly powerful soldier as well.
All 3 head off after their battle as the Titan recovers, but just as they think all is well, Armin sees the female Titan inexplicably head straight for where he believes Eren to be in the formation.
After the breather of the last episode action wise, we are literally thrown back into the deepend, and see how all of man's advances are not nearly enough to combat these monsters in the open.
Armin himself thinks that only Levi and Mikasa would have a prayer against something like the female Titan. While this is but a whetting of the appetite for those that have looked ahead, I would say the pace of this episode takes us back to the nail biting moments of Trost and even Eren's trial.
Now we wait for the next revelations, and see if Eren will be able to control his new abilities against someone possibly just like him!
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