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Five Thoughts on Attack on Titan’s“Wish”

By | July 22nd, 2019
Posted in Television | % Comments

And on that day humanity received a grim reminder – of how awesome Attack on Titan is! Welcome back to the Multiversity Summer TV Binge! Let’s see how much our heroes can destroy a beautiful cave, and how textual they can make this episode’s BDSM subtext. Join me as we dive, swoop, and swing our way through Attack on Titan season three. Let’s see what happens in the seventh episode: “Wish.”

1. Fight scene, fight scene

Attack on Titan is uncommonly good at fight scenes. That’s because it knows to treat action as storytelling and lets each sequence of heavy action be led by characterization. It’s always thrilling to see how each one of our favorite Scouts approaches problems differently. That’s not the full picture though, because Attack on Titan also has a taste for tactics that should honestly inform everyone who writes in the action genre. Characters do simple, sensible things, using tools that are familiar to us as views.

Case in point – – the fight opens with the Scouts rolling oiled up gunpowder barrels down the stairs, letting Sasha light ’em up with a fire arrow. Simple tools, easy to follow the strategy, but it still feels way smart. Same goes for the way Mikasa and Levi use smoke screens. Not exactly a groundbreaking strategy, but we’re shown how the smoke particularly messes with Kenny’s krew, who are using guns rather than swords.

2. Hange left hanging

And it’s all super cool. It’s fun! It’s games! And then someone loses an eye. Well, we’re not sure that Hange Zoe is permanently damaged, but they make a mistake. For the first time in as long as I can remember, Hange Zoe makes a critical error and is drawn into a trap. It happens quickly, but Zoe is thrown into a pillar with a sickening crunch and left alone in the chaos of combat. Sure, the Scouts are worried for their commander (recently promoted by Erwin Smith!), but it’s unclear whether or not coming to Hange’s assistance will mean throwing the fight. The Kenny krew take advantage of the chaos to reground.

3. Screaming into the void

A whole lot of exposition that I was dying for ends up feeling… fine. Rod Reiss explains his family history to Historia (and Eren). The first king had titan powers, which he used to build this crystal cavern, and also the walls, and also erase peoples’ memories of the world before the walls. That seems important but like, don’t worry about it. The show sure seems ready to blow past it, because now we’re here for what’s really important- cannibalism. You see, Frieda Reiss ate her uncle to get those king powers, but then Papa Yaeger went rogue, and ate Frieda. And then Eren… ate his pops? That’s the critical detail right? But anyway, now the circle of people-eatin’ needs to come full circle and Historia needs to eat Eren. It is only a true member of the blood who can harness the total powers of the first titan. Simple, right?

That’s where Kenny plays the wildcard. It’s not like he’s got any deep loyalties here. Why shouldn’t Kenny eat Eren and get some superpowers, right? Or maybe he’s gonna make Eren and Historia fight to the death? I don’t think Kenny really thought this plan through, but he’s opportunistic, and he sees a chance that he won’t get twice.

4. Historia shows some sense

Kenny’s betrayal triggers a panic in Rod. He gets a lot pushier and tells Historia to inject herself with titan juice so she can slurp up Eren’s spine juice, and the combined powers of those juices will fully level her up. She even considers it for a second, but she notices that Eren hasn’t made any sorts of aggressive moves. When she asks him why, Eren uses his real superpower, which is amazing nihilistic monologues. And this is one of his bleakest yet. He wants to die, and he wants Historia to eat him. He doesn’t say it in so many words, but you really get the sense that he’s questioning everything and that maybe dying to give Historia some super titan powers would be better than dying for nothing. Eren has trust for Historia and in demonstrating that, fully snaps her back to her senses. Eren trusts her enough to use these dark powers, so she’s not gonna use them. Makes sense to me. Classic.

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5. Floor licking daddy

Ew, so she pours out the titan syringe on the floor. And Rod didn’t seem 100% with it since we’ve met it, but now he’s really showing his true colors. He lunges at this whole sad scene, forgetting that Historia is a trained soldier. And she really ruins his day with what sure looks like a DDT. Historia walks away from her dad’s now crippled body, gives Eren a “stop whining” look, and frees him. She’s totally caught his madness, and she’s ready for an epic team up so they can watch the world burn.

But Rod isn’t gonna let them do that just yet. He drags himself across the floor and laps up the spilled titan juice like a dog. And now he’s the one who’s super juiced.


//TAGS | 2019 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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