Attack on Titan - S1E25 - The Wall/Stohess District Raid, Part 3
Previously, on Attack on Titan: “Stohess District Raid, Part 2”
We start the episode in the cathedral of the Church of the Wall. It’s a pretty quiet service, spent in prayer and devotion to the Walls that protect them. Then Annie’s literal titan ass comes in like a wrecking ball. (Sorry, couldn’t resist) We see Eren not giving any fucks for the collateral damage that Annie is witnessing. It’s pretty messy, with the pastor seeing a Titan up close and corpses strewn about.
Annie makes a break for it and Eren follows. The chase rocks the quiet district and people are panicking. The scouts follow as best they can. While Hanzi issues orders, Armin tells John that if Eren hopes to beat Annie, he’ll have to give something up. Elsewhere, the Military Police, the one branch of the military that selects the cream of the crop; don’t know what to do. Hell, none of them have even seen a titan before today. So they get trampled when Annie and Eren come around the corner because they were too busy fumbling with their gear.
Now they’re on level ground, and Eren’s ready to kick some ass. Annie’s ready to drop Eren again. That’s when he remembers that throughout boot, in the whole time that they’ve known each other, he knows what made her come to life. Whenever they had a chance to show off their combat skills, Annie was always eager and ready to show off those skills. Showing off a skill that she herself deemed; ‘Pointless.’ He throws a punch, she deflects and goes for a kick. He blocks and throws her up and over one building and into another before they resume another chase.
Back with Erwin, Levi, and Nial, they get the reports of the carnage. Nial keeps his rifle trained on Erwin as he sternly admits that he acted on his own authority. He doesn’t bullshit or make any excuses. He flat out tells Nial that he did what he thought was necessary. Nial says if Erwin acted on his own, he can be executed here and now and the higher ups would be fine. Erwin, this stone cold bastard doesn’t even flinch. He tells Nial that’s perfectly fine. But after he pulls the trigger, Nial assumes his responsibilities to capture the female titan. And continues to give him the whole to-do list with the Scout Regiment. This forces Nial to give everyone the order to stand down and arrest Erwin instead. Once he’s been cuffed, the troops are then rallied to evacuate the citizens. And that is how you fuck with the establishment.
Everyone watches as Annie and Eren fight. Armin knows that Annie can win this again since she’s willing to give up her humanity to achieve her goals. Which is something Eren has yet to do. Still, he doesn’t stop his attack even after Annie hardens her shin and kicks him into a building. He bites down and forces Annie to split his skull open to escape. In the steaming pile of titan flesh, Eren says in a demonic voice, that he’s going to kill all the titans and drive all of them out. He chases Annie down as his body regenerates. He tackles her and they rip up an entire marketplace. He has her pinned down and Mikasa swings in to witness Eren ready to bite into Annie’s neck.
She gets up to fight him, he rips out her eyes in front of the MPs, Erwin, and the Scouts. Even though she’s blind, she kicks him away and tries to break for the wall to escape. Annie’s gassing out and Eren takes a leg, slowing her ascent. She’s given it her all, and that’s not enough when Mikasa swings in and severs her fingers. In mid air, she lands on Annie’s forehead and says one thing.
“Fall.” What’s left of Annie’s Titan body hits with a loud crash and Eren in a bloodlust scrambles over to her. And with the teeth and nails he has left, he tears Annie’s body apart and exposes her. Just before he does something stupid, like eating her whole, Levi swings in and rips out Eren before he’s engulfed by the crystalline formation that formed around Annie’s unconscious body. When Eren comes to he sees John wailing on the crystal containing Annie. Erwin and Levi confer. Levi thinks they didn’t do much other than destroy a few city blocks. Erwin, being the cold bastard that he is says that they’re in the clear. But just barely.
In a small debriefing, the powers that be grill Erwin. Erwin doesn’t falter one bit. He accepts full responsibility for what happened, and he had his reasons for not including the Military Police. Mainly because Annie had to have had some help. In spite of the damages and lives lost, Erwin says that they gained so much. They know what the stakes are, and can launch an attack on the titans that are in their walls.
Now, to set you up for the second season, after the credits, we cut to the damaged wall where Annie tried to climb out. A foothold crumbles away and reveals…
…A Titan.
