And on that day humanity received a grim reminder – of how awesome Attack on Titan is! Welcome back to the Multiversity Summer TV Binge. We will be diving, swooping, and swinging our way through Attack on Titan season two. Join me for a lot of talking in a lot of big, big trees in season 2 episode 9: “Opening.”
1. Hange Zoe’s hunch
The second season of “Attack on Titan” has been totally consumed by one storyline, and for good reason. Reiner and Bertholt’s betrayal brings together threads of mystery, and is full of angst of the highest order. It makes sense that we’d take time to process our feelings and the implications of the reveal. But there are other things going on.
One such thing is the horrifying notion that Connie’s village was transformed into titans. It’s never been stated, just alluded to with spooky ambiance, but Hange Zoe is a scientist damnit, and they are going to crack this case wide open. Even though Hange is too badly burned to sit on a horse, or even sit fully upright, they are sending a squad back to Connie’s village to get some definitive answers. Way to have your eye on the big picture Hange.
2. Return to the Forest of Big-Ass Trees
But most of this episode is a conversation in a tree. A familiar big-ass tree, from last season. Eren and Ymir have been disfigured and kidnapped, and now it’s time for them to confront the Big Bads, and I do mean big.
“Why don’t I have any arms?” Eren asks with surprising tact and calmness. “That’s my bad.” Reiner says with a shrug. I know titans can regenerate, but everyone is taking this a lot better than I would. Now that Eren has had a good cry, a big fight, and been de-limbed, he takes a moment to use his head. That’s more Armin’s department, but ‘ol crazy Eren does his best. He has escape on his mind, and he tries to play games with Reiner and Bertholt to make an opportunity. Bertholt is barely holding on, but Reiner is keeping things together. Eren’s sort of an amateur when he can’t power his way through something, and he more or less owns himself. I don’t blame him. Reiner is scary. He caused a mass genocide and seems relatively cool about it.
3. Titan Powers
So, we know all titans can regenerate in a cloud of steam. That’s why Eren and Ymir’s arms and legs being hacked off is only a moderately big deal. We also know that Annie had titan powers that Eren could only dream of, like turning individual parts of her body into diamond. It’s clear that not all titans have the same abilities, and it seems that humans who can transform into titans at will have additional powers. But how does that work exactly?
We don’t get answers here, but it seems like that’s what Eren is going to have to master. Some titans, like the Beast Titan, are able to control the regular zombie-types. Bertholt is super giant, and can shoot steam out like a projectile. The imbalance of titan forms and abilities is only faintly alluded to, but in a way that positions it at the core of the bad guys’ master plan. How much do you want to be that Eren is some kind of titan messiah?
And his dad gave him that weird injection. Is his dad behind all of this? Are Bertholt and Reiner working for Doctor Yaeger? We don’t get any answers, just lots of questions.
4. Reiner ain’t Right
I know I said that Reiner is handling things with aplomb, but that’s only partially true. Anyone who kills hundreds of thousands can’t be all there, right? Bertholt always seemed like the quieter of the two, but now I can see that he was suffering from undercover stress. And guilt. Reiner truly believes in the mission. He’s almost a bin Laden-like figure. He can put on a calm face and talk like a believer, but to cause so much death and destruction, something must be broken deep inside.
I almost think that Bertholt’s more obvious tearing at the seams proves that he’s the sane one. Then again, he’s also a genocidal monster, so we’re sort of splitting hairs. I’m impressed that the show can capture that subtleties of how such a mission can effect a person. As the architects of so much death and destruction, Reiner and Bertholt have truly done lasting damage to their souls.
Continued below5. Krista and Ymir, sitting in a tree
In the overall battle of wills, Eren lost. Reiner is sticking to his mission, and Bertholt is following Reiner. But he also lost something else, that he hasn’t quite realized yet: Ymir. She was always the quintessential bad girl, but when backed up to the wall we know she only cares about Krista. Reiner is smart, and he’s playing that against her. Actually, Ymir is smart too, and she’s using whatever sway she has to guarantee safety for her beloved.
I say beloved, and I mean it. Krista and Ymir have never kissed, have never been overtly romantic, but this is next level love. It goes beyond simply romantic. Ymir has decided to kill and die for Krista. She’s ready to give up everything and to surrender every moral to keep Krista safe. And you know what? At the end of this very talky episode, I feel like Ymir is the only one on the path to get what she wants. Despite losing two limbs and getting captured, Ymir is the one in control of this unraveling plot.
