Attack on Titan - S1E18 - The Forest of the Giant Trees/The 57th Expedition, Part 2
Previously, on Attack on Titan: “The 57th Expedition, Part 1”
With the female titan long gone, John, Armin, and Reiner have another problem. They can’t stay out in the open for long without horses. Which poses the question; who do they leave behind? The injured one or the big one? Armin elects to stay behind after they shoot off a flare, while telling Reiner to make a report in his place. John says scratch that, Christa is here with horses to spare. Knowing this anime so far, I’d say that’s about the closest thing we get to a tender moment.
The guys are all grateful for Christa playing their savior. She showed up with two horses. More than that, she recovered John’s horse. Christa’s a sweet gal, and when the sun hits her at the right angle, the guys are all enamored by her. Reiner even says he’s going to marry her. Alright, that was the only tender moment we’re seeing for a while. They snap out of it and head back to the formation.
As they form up, the retreat they were expecting is denied by the green flares that shoot up into the sky. They don’t question the signal for long as Armin fires a green flare to pass the signal on. At this point they have to trust the judgment of their commanders. Anyone else get the feeling they’re expendable? As the action turns to Eren in Levi’s squad, they relay the green flare and make contact with a rider who is relaying the bad news about the right flank. As soon as he leaves, they see the black flares on the horizon. That female titan is deep inside the formation.
Anyone who’s been watching and following the recaps so far knows that it had to be the female titan. And right now, three scouts are excuting a plan to bring that bitch down. The lead scout fires a flare directly at her and in the time it takes for her to react, two more scouts jump out and catch her in a scissors. It looks good, and it’s pretty ingenious plan to take down a terrifying monster. Until she jumps into the air and smashes one under her foot, stomps another into a house, grabs one and swings him like a yo-yo. She lets him go when she punts the last one into the air. It takes intelligence to kill these guys the way she did. And that’s absolutely terrifying.
At the command column, Erwin orders the wagons and the entire center column into the forest while the outside formation goes around the forest. No one, and I mean no one still has no idea what’s going on. But as John makes obvious, they have to keep moving with that Titan Woman coming at them. Their squad leader orders them to halt and take to the trees. They are on an intercept position, to keep all the other titans from entering the forest.
John falls into his old habit of bitching. He’s hating the situation they’re in, not to mention being kept in the dark by Erwin’s crazy plan-whatever that is. When he starts talking about leaders winding up dead because the men under their command didn’t like them, Armin goes on the defensive. John says don’t worry. He’s going to follow his orders like he always has. Just the whole thing is making him nervous. Oh look, a Titan! And he’s brought friends. At least these ones are the dumb hungry type. Who thought that would be a relief?
In the forest, Eren’s panicking. Levi tells him stow his bitching. The formation has been broken for the time being so they can’t do anything about protecting the wagons or detecting threats. However the trees do offer them the ideal advantage of being able to use their gear to the fullest advantage. But Eren still notices that the other members of Levi’s squad don’t have any idea of what’s going on themselves. But Levi gives the order to draw their swords and get ready. As if the sound of the cold steel was the signal, the female titan shows up and smashes a scout into a tree with her shoulder and picks up the pace.
Petra begs Levi to give the order to switch to their 3D gear. He ignores her as the rest of the squad watch two more guys get wasted in three seconds. That’s when everyone except Levi starts to panic. They want to take that Titan out before it gets them. A squad of elite Titan killers and they’re not going on the offensive. Just as it looks like they’re about to be trampled, Levi pulls out his flare gun and tells them to cover their ears. The shot is fired and we’re left on a cliffhanger.
