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Five Thoughts on Attack on Titan’s “Savagery”

By | August 31st, 2021
Posted in Television | % Comments

Welcome back to the titan war! The time has come to end things. We are finally watching the final season of Attack on Titan, and I got a feeling that not everyone is making it out of this one alive. If you are new to our coverage, this is the part where I explain to you that I’ve never been what you’d call a regular anime watcher, but something about this strange and at times horrifying has never failed to captivate me. Check in with your friends and loved ones, because we are charging into Attack on Titan season 4, episode 14, “Savagery.”

1. Besties no more!

This episode opens with a cold open that reestablishes where we left off. The Scouts decided to spare Gaby, only to be captured themselves by the Jaegerists. So this episode slides right in with a tense conversation between Eren and his two best friends, Mikasa and Armin. Now, I am on the record multiple times as a big fan of Attack on Titan conversation episodes- many of them have been among my favorites. But on the tail of the last episode, which pulled the same trick, this one overstayed its welcome. This also might have something to do with how unhinged Eren has become. I mean, that’s a loaded statement. I don’t think we’ve ever seen Eren be totally sane. But this was his moment to explain his turn to his friends and the viewers and uh, his explanation was really lacking.

Apparently, Eren decided to fully break bad because he has “free will” and desires to be “not a slave.” OK? That sounds less like a reason to completely change your life and more like the private thoughts of the worst student in your freshman philosophy class. Armin and Mikasa are similarly unconvinced. It’s not that I don’t think that’s good characterization from Eren because, let’s be real, he would be the worst student in a freshman philosophy class. But he’s not a real person, he’s a fictional character driving a story and this is a bad motivation to drive the whole story.

2. Coming to blows

Armin agrees, and he tries to throw down. I like to think that he was just intellectually offended by how stupid Eren’s logic has become. At first Eren just sits there and takes it, no-selling every blow. Then, when he gets fed up, he brutally beats Armin to a pulp. I don’t think it was an entirely fair fight. Eren seemed to be using some of his many titan powers. Armin’s got powers too, but Eren has become terrifyingly godlike. Armin never stood a chance. All of this is very interesting stuff, and works to sell us on the former hero of the story now becoming its villain, but there’s one part of this confrontation that ruined it for me, and that’s Mikasa.

It’s not that I don’t buy Mikasa’s inaction. She’s been protecting Eren this whole entire time, and the only times she’s raised a hand in violence against him was to protect him from himself (though I’d argue this whole descent into madness qualifies). While Eren beats Armin and shouts about breaking his chains and whatever, he’s also berating Mikasa. He tells her that her desire to protect people comes from her “Ackerman blood” and strongly implies that there’s some kind of bloodline magic in play.

Now look. I get that sacred bloodlines have been part of storytelling for thousands of years. I hardly notice it in Lord of the Rings or even in something like Harry Potter. But Attack on Titan is different. It’s about fascism, it’s a story where people are made to live in ghettos that intentionally are modelled after World War II Europe. The way to tell that story in a good way is to make the racists who believe in determinism wrong. (Because they are wrong). Eren is wrong about a lot in this scene, but I left with the feeling the show wanted me to agree with him about Mikasa. And I don’t, because that makes her a bad boring character. I’m going to have to assume that Eren is just talking shit because he’s a bad guy now.

3. Short guy, doesn’t drink

Man, I wish I was talking about Levi about 10x more. That dude is awesome right? Despite showing up to do awesome stuff every once in a while, Levi hasn’t had much of an arc this season. Of late, he’s mostly just been guarding Zeke, the man who killed his husband (or platonic work/home/life partner if you are homophobic) Erwin. And I guess that’s his big emotional arc? How will he handle being civil and protecting the guy he hates most in the world? This is Levi and even when he has doubts, he performs at maximum capacity. But even he could not have predicted Zeke’s big maneuver- poisoning all the wine with his spine juice in order to turn his 30 guards into titans. The plan works for the most part but the joke’s on him, Levi only drinks tea! So now it’s Levi vs 30 of his friends. Is he going to make it out alive?

Continued below

4. When the beat drops

Of course he is! This is Levi we’re talking about. I mean OK, there was a second when I thought he was going to at least have to retreat. Killing 30 titans solo is an insane feat, and a second ago these guys were his friends. But nope, Levi just absolutely mercs 27 of them, no problem. Zeke controls three of the titans to carry him safely away, but Levi is not here to let that happen. This was exactly the kind of excitement that was missing from the front half of the episode.

In fact, this is some of the best action we’ve gotten all season. There’s not been a lot of titan fightin’ this time around, and not a lot of maneuver gear maneuvering. This was some of the best of either of those things. Sometimes, Attack on Titan looks a little cheap, but I thought this sequence was slick and stylish. And we gotta talk about the music.

I’ve been a bit down on the intro and outro themes this season, but when Levi duels Zeke, now in giant monkey-man-mode, the hip-hop beat drops, and oh man you guys. This fight was just incredible. I don’t wanna go through it blow for blow… but also part of me really wants to be that kid. And then he hits him with the thunder spear! THE THUNDER SPEAR!!! Good stuff from my show.

5. Shadis to Shadis, dust to dust

Two weird little epilogues on this episode. The first checks in with one of my favorite minor background characters- abusive drill sergeant Keith Shadis. (Amazing name, second only to Dot Pixis). He’s still doing what he does, training new recruits. I should have known that something was amiss when the younguns started talking back to ‘ol Keith. But then Floch, who I want to remind everyone is a loser and a drip, shows up. That’s when you know things are going to get bad. As a token of loyalty, Floch tells the new recruits to beat Shadis to death. This obviously steels Shadis’ resolve. He clenches his fists and makes a scary speech. “No matter how many of these tots there are, they’re no match for me!” Shadis brags. Hard cut to his bleeding body. Pour one out for my guy Keith, who made it far longer than he should have in this cruel world. Floch sucks so so much.

And then we see an even more shocking act of violence. Zeke wakes up, and he’s on a cart with Levi. Oh yeah, and he’s been hooked up to the most depraved machine this side of Saw. Basically, he’s kebabed down the middle by a thunder spear, the trigger tied to a noose around his neck. If he struggles too much, he’s exploded. If he tries to escape, he’s exploded. If he starts turning into a titan… yeah. And that’s when Levi starts cutting ribbons off his feet like a goddamn deli slicer, just tiny sandwich-sized slivers at a time. And Zeke can’t even move to writhe in pain, he just needs to try to stay as still as possible. Maybe these guys should be writing the next Saw flick, huh?

As for the why and where this is all going, that’s when they hit us with the cliffhanger! It was a slow start, but this episode got me back on board!


//TAGS | 2021 Summer TV Binge | attack on titan

Jaina Hill

Jaina is from New York. She currently lives in Ohio. Ask her, and she'll swear she's one of those people who loves both Star Wars and Star Trek equally. Say hi to her on twitter @Rambling_Moose!

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