Sorry for the INCREDIBLY late post but this episode was A LOT and there was just a lot happening that I couldn’t find the time to sit down write until now. This episode left me with so much emotional damage. Like I KNEW these things were going to happen, but watching it unfold on the screen hit so much differently. The fact that this was basically two episodes in one, I’m going to have to talk about each chapter as its own part in this post since I feel like it would just be overwhelming if I talked about it all together.
Despite me understanding why Eren would want to wipe out the entire world in order to protect his little island, it’s still horrifically terrible. Especially when the series goes out of its way to actually SHOW just how horrifying the event taking place is and just how many innocent people have to die because of this cruel cycle. Despite the world essentially being Paradis’ enemy, there are still innocent people that are getting caught up in the crossfire. Just like those two brothers who were just trying to save money to help their family. (Also goodness I didn’t realize he had his hand cut off until I rewatched it) It’s a terribly difficult situation because on one hand, Eldians have been persecuted for hundred of years because of what King Fritz did to the world, but the on the other hand, complete world genocide is just something I could never bring myself to support. And just seeing the millions of people getting trampled was almost too much for me to watch. Not to mention I feel like people forget that the Rumbling isn’t only trampling people, but it’s also trampling over all the wildlife, animals and plant life alike. I have to really hold myself back from imagining all the animals being trampled and I’m glad that they didn’t explicitly show it, but considering everything that’s happening, there’s no way the animals besides maybe the ones in the ocean are going to get away unscathed.
They do a really good job diving into Eren’s psyche and just showing the hypocrisy and guilt he has. Like I’ve said before, we can completely understand why Eren is doing this and he isn’t above taking things to the extreme when he is passionate about something. Before the Rumbling even happened, Eren KNEW he was going to end up killing so many innocent people. And we can clearly see that he is not taking it well. I mean, who can blame him. He’s struggling over the fact that the future essentially tells him he’s going to do something terrible and there’s no way to change it. I don’t even know how he’s even able to cope with all of this. Especially when he goes out of his way to save Ramsi from getting beaten to death despite going to kill him in the future. It’s hypocrisy at its finest and it’s almost infuriating how he has the gall to apologize for what he is going to do. Especially since with what he’s about to do, he doesn’t deserve the right to give an apology. However, we know that this choice was forced on him as he feels as if he isn’t given any other choice. It almost feels impossible to truly understand what Eren must be mentally and emotionally going through because it’s overwhelming. Which is really good at just demonstrating how alone he must feel with this knowledge. Eren and Reiner are literally too sides of the same coin as both are torn between their missions and their natures of wanting to help others. Though it definitely is a lot more extreme in Eren’s case.
Being Eren is just pain and suffering. I feel so conflicted on how I feel about him because on one hand I do feel bad for what he must be going through. But on the other hand, I can’t condone his actions. We spent three seasons worth of following Eren where we had to witness him struggle through so many hardships and regret only for him to turn around and essentially become the ultimate antagonist to the world. Even going as far as to push away his friends who are the ones he’s ultimately trying to protect. But man, it was CHILLING how we just see him as a child declare how they’re free despite all of the destruction he just caused or is currently causing. It was such a twisted representation of what Eren is believing and it does beg the question if they actually are free. Though considering Eren’s mental state, he could be disassociating with what is actually happening in ways of coping with the situation. Which makes it both twisted and really sad.
The fact we also got an Annie and Mikasa somewhat bonding session was also really nice to see. Granted, seeing Mikasa interact with ANYONE besides Eren is nice to see. It was hilarious how Mikasa realized something was going on between the two and I just died at when she asked: So when did this happen? Me too, Mikasa lol. Despite the beef the two developed during their cadet days, it seems as if they were able to put it behind them and I’m glad that it seems like they’re getting along. Not only that, but it seemed as if Annie was able to put to rest both her animosity towards Mikasa and even Reiner. Because of what Reiner did to force Annie and Berthold into continuing the mission, the two have always had an extremely tense and volatile relationship. Most of the time during their cadet years, Annie just did not want anything to do with Reiner whenever he tried to be playful or nice to her. And considering what happened, it makes sense why she was super cold to him when they weren’t working on their mission. So the fact that they finally were also able to get past what went down in the past and hug was extremely sweet. I wish we got to see Annie work through these relationships more, but sadly just wasn’t given enough time. But I suppose it will have to do.
And just as they were about to take off, FREAKING FLOCH shows up in a last ditch effort to stop them. Just like with Eren, I understand why Floch is so desperate, however, I still can’t like him after how terrible he’s treated so many people. And FINALLY he was finally bested, though it wasn’t as satisfying as I would have hoped. Especially since at that point he was already teetering between life and death and it felt like they were putting him out of his misery instead of defeating someone who has been in a thorn in their side. Granted, he was still one of their graduate buddies back when they were still cadets who ended up being on opposing sides. Though I do wish the series had shown him when they were cadets because I’m not convinced by the “bond” they are said to have. So I’ve always been pretty unconvinced when the others viewed him as a close friend of sorts. I was kind of hoping he’d be able to witness Eren being stopped, but I guess that was too much wishful thinking. He apparently died believing he had stopped everyone and did his duty, which kind of leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. But that’s just me.
Now… LET ME TALK ABOUT HANJI. Hanji was put through the absolute wringer during season 4 due to being the Commander of the Scouts. And because Eren fell under her jurisdiction, it felt as if everything Eren did, came back to put more pressure onto Hanji. Especially since she didn’t have a concrete answer to Eren’s question of how to save Paradis from the world. She most likely feels semi-responsible for letting Eren go as far as he did since she wasn’t able to give him a satisfying answer or be able to really understand what he must have been going through mentally and emotionally. And the fact that we actually get to see a little bit of the old Hanji, the titan loving weirdo that we all fell in love with, even just for a brief moment made me want to cry. Especially since we haven’t seen her act silly and titan obsessed at all since the 4th season started. So the fact that she also went back to talking to the younger group as she used to during the earlier seasons and her teasing Levi one last time just hit all that much harder. It was as if she was finally able to relax because she saw it as the end of the line for her and let that old part of her come out after holding it back for so long after she became the Commander. They couldn’t afford to sacrifice any of their titans or the two Ackermans and wracked with guilt, Hanji most likely felt she had to be the one to take responsibility.
And man, they absolutely did Hanji’s going out with a blaze of glory justice. I saw a lot of people criticize her when this came out in the manga over not having to sacrifice herself and she barely did anything. And while I don’t fully remember how it went down in the manga, they absolutely showed her putting in WORK in the anime. She had limited shots and was trying her absolute hardest to slow them down to give the team as much time as possible. And at the beginning, she was staying relatively low to the ground, most likely trying to avoid where the titans gave off the most heat. Even though it showed people burst into flames while at the titans feet beforehand but we won’t talk about that hole in logic. Maybe it had to do with her zipping around so fast shrugs Anyways, after tripping them ended up having them fall way too close to the hanger, Hanji had to switch tactics and go straight for the nape. Unfortunately, that put her in burning territory and watching her just give it everything she had to buy them as much time as possible by taking out several colossal titans while on fire accompanied by the sorrowful music just hurt all the more.
I’ve had to split up the Final season into several parts pertaining to the “chapters” or else this post would have been an even bigger monster than it already is. It was hard enough to get all my thoughts in order for this first chapter. But man, they’ve been absolutely NAILING the final arc so far and is just able to convey the sheer amount of dread and damage the Rumbling brings. Just watching the slow rise of the trembling indicating the Colossal Wall Titans were coming was just terrifying.