We pick up with the action right where we left off, meaning Eren is inside the Female Titan's mouth and Mikasa and Levi are in pursuit.
Mikasa and Levi have a very brief confrontation where they determine to hope that Eren is alive and not in the stomach of their enemy, but Mikasa vents part of her frustration with Levi's actions as well with a terse analysis of his lack of skill keeping Eren safe.
Levi, surprisingly, stays cool and recognizes who Mikasa is to Eren as well. We all know he must be hurting, even the brief glimpses of it, his emotions are very intense. For now though he decides to sacrifice the goal of the mission for getting Eren back.
Compared to all that came before, the innovative attacks of the regular forces in the wide open areas, Levi's Squad's blinding and maiming attacks in perfect sync, and even Mikasa bringing the Female Titan to her knees, pale in comparison to Levi.
If Eren is the hope of mankind as a whole because of his Titan power, Levi is the ultimate power humanity has to throw at them. Mikasa and the Female Titan are both in shock at the speed and ferocity of Levi's attack, even so there is no sense of viciousness, only debilitate and gain access to the jaw.
Mikasa however decides to take a clear opening, and Levi proves why Eren is so essential to humanity despite his prowess. With one mistake a Titan will slaughter any human, and Levi is caught saving Mikasa and pulling Eren out of the Titan's mouth to the cost of his ankle (having actually hurt my ankle in a similar way I can tell you that is no cake walk to work with).
Something that the anime does reveal and I missed in the manga, as Levi and Mikasa retreat, Levi sees the Female Titan crying, I am not sure we even knew Titans could cry.
This is when the episode steps back into the series other strength, the emotional realism versus the fantastical reality of the Titan world. We see very real and horrifying reactions to the loss of life with not only no result to show for it, but an almost inhuman dismissal from Commander Erwin and Levi to distraught members of the Recon Corps.
Practical orders do not mean much when a dead friend is being left behind, and for an additional punch we see insights to the families of Levi's Squad which no doubt mirror the many other lost members of the Recon Corps. Even though all the conversations seem relaxed, they still carry that tone of apprehension and worry they must all feel to know the Recon Corps is returning from beyond the walls. It must be similar to being told a soldier relative is suddenly coming home from a hotzone or overseas, you hope for normal but in the back of your head is the obvious worry. Are they dead?
Of course the distraught members do what they think they should and endanger the survivors with Eren out cold. Now comes the hard reality these characters live in, despite working hard to reclaim what bodies they could, with Titans closing in the order is given to unload them to stop or distract the Titans.
Levi, despite making it sound like the bodies do not matter, never takes his eyes off the rolling bodies, and catches a last flash of one of his own. Mikasa saves one of the fools that threatened the survivors, but his comrade was eaten right in front of them all. The body they went to reclaim, named Ivan, was left behind in their dash to outrun the Titans.
As a final round of punches we see not only the emotional toll on the survivors in general, but for Eren and Mikasa they have come full circle from 5 years ago when the Colossal Titan destroyed all their peaceful lives. Now they are the returning in defeat Recon Corp and 2 young faces are looking over the grumbling adults with awe and reverence once echoed by Eren himself.
A bitter moment after bitter moment left with a voice over revelation from Armin once again, exactly like in the manga and I am glad they kept it! This was not just a normal loss of lives setting up a route for supplies, this was the test of Eren as a Titan and using him for humanity. More than that it was a secret operation to capture an enemy Titan that is just like him. Instead they come back with Eren being defeated almost easily and no Female Titan to show for their efforts and lost life and resources.
Commander Erwin and Eren are to report to the capitol and Eren is to be handed over. That is how we are left at the end of this roller coaster of emotions episode, and it just leaves you feeling depressed and frustrated all at once.
Now the preview for next time was damned tantalizing, and if you have read ahead you are drooling just a bit, but you are probably also with me in that the end of the season is going to be at a point that is both frustrating...and awesome. Until next week!
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