Welcome back! Are you prepared?! Hunker behind these walls and smell that fascist smell. It’s time for another episode of Attack on Titan. This is the part where I let you know that I am very much not a regular anime watcher but that this strange and at times horrifying show has gotten under my skin and never let me go. We are continuing on through the third season, as part of our 2020 Summer TV Binge. Let’s get into it! Buckle up your Omni-Directional Movement gear and lets swoop into Attack on Titan season 3, episode 17, ‘Hero.’
1. Charge of the Levi brigade
There have been a lot of death fakeouts (mostly involving Reiner), so there was a chance that we’d open the episode with Erwin surviving. But that doesn’t seem to be the case. He gets impaled by rubble. Marlo acts as our stand-in for the rest of the victims of the suicide charge, and it worked on me. I really grew to care for the sweet brave boy with the terrible haircut. He thinks of Hitch in his last moments before he gets a sharp rock to the face. She’s going to be devastated when she wakes up and learns everyone she’s ever known is dead.
On the other side of the fight, the Beast Titan is still really into baseball? He’s making light of his horrifying actions but then it comes his time to pay. You see, Reiner and Bertholdt warned him about Levi specifically. They told him that Captain Levi was a bonafide badass. And then he gets to see: Levi! In! Action! And that monkey man is shook.
2. Delusions of grandeur
Zeke/The Beast Titan is a pretty classic sort of villain. When he has the upper hand he likes to pontificate about how he’s actually helping all the people he is hurting, and how everything he does is for the greater good. But when he suffers even a moment of adversity, the facade drops and he starts raving about vengeance. Levi pulls out all the stops. He takes out Zeke’s eyes, then his Achilles and uses his great speed to carve him out of his titan body before he can harden his neck. But before Levi can strike the final blow the… Mule Titan? I don’t know what else to call it- comes in for the rescue. But Levi promised his now dead husband Erwin that he would kill the Beast. It was his last promise to him. ‘Ol Zeke has good reason to be shook.
We also see that one (and only one) of the recruits survived the charge. I don’t recognize him. But I’m sure we haven’t seen the last of the lone survivor.
3. Holding out for a hero
When I saw the title of the episode, I thought I had the big theme figured out. There was gonna be two characters who both regarded each other as heroes, but were unwilling to accept the mantle themselves. And I was right as far as that was concerned, but I was still shocked with how it played out. To say the least. Damn. Just- damn.
Armin notices that the Colossal Titan gets a little skinnier every time he uses his steam powers. And just like that, he’s back in business. He forms a plan, briefs everyone and goes to work. The plan isn’t entirely clear at first, but it’s clear that Armin knows that it’s risky. He even plans on surviving because he can’t die before he sees the ocean. Normally I’d nod and accept that, but we just saw how much regard destiny had for Erwin’s plans. That dude died disappointed. So there is some real tension here. So at this point in the episode, I was certain that Armin was going to heroically put himself in danger, but then Eren would heroically save him. And, well…
4. Hange Gear Solid
Meanwhile, Jean, Connie, Sasha, and Mikasa are on the Reiner distraction team. Their plan makes a lot of sense. Jean is the decoy. He and Reiner share some major animosity, so that sounds effective. Connie and Sasha are there to try to blow his jaw off with THUNDER SPEARS. Great idea. Once Reiner’s jaw is removed from the equation, Mikasa is supposed to come in with the last THUNDER SPEAR and blow Reiner right out of the back of his stupid titan head. It’s a good plan, But you know what they sat about plans surviving contact with the enemy. Sasha slips up and misses her shot, gets herself badly hurt. And that looks like it’s gonna be it…
Until surprise! Hange Zoe is alive, minus an eye! They swoop in like a Solid Snake out of hell, and fire Sasha’s shot. Mikasa lands in Reiner’s mouth (gross) (gross gross gross) and BOOM they blow his GODDAMN head off!
I bet he’s still alive though.
5. This ain’t no place for a hero
The last few episodes have really set up Armin and Bertholdt as nemeses. So it makes sense that they would face each other one on one. Armin realizes that if he can anchor his ODM gear in bone instead of tissue, the Colossal Titan won’t be able to easily shake him off. So he just… hangs there as Bertholdt blasts him with steam. I kept waiting for Armin to make his next move but he just… hangs there! His burns get worse and worse, but he doesn’t relent. His sword starts melting in his hand, he doesn’t let go. Then his flesh starts fucking melting off of his fucking bones! He becomes consumed by a blue fire. And Armin Arlert is liquefied, melted into a charred husk. Holy shit.
It turns out though, that Eren wasn’t in his titan body at all, and that was the point of the distraction. Armin’s sacrifice reduced the Colossal Titan enough that Eren could swoop in and carve Bertholdt out. The monster is slain. The battle is won. There are few survivors.
I knew there was a chance that Armin was in danger, but part of me refused to really believe it. But now there’s not much left of him. He, and hundreds of others, are dead. The survivors are by my count: Eren, Mikasa, Connie, Sasha, Hange Zoe, Levi, and the one recruit. The Survey Corp is done. Armin saved those seven, and we’ve got to hope his sacrifice was worth it because the war isn’t over.
