We start to get a slow drip of answers but with every answer we are presented with more questions.
What They Say:
Episode 28: “Southwestward”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It is emblematic of what the show is doing at this point that we get a scene like this: After exposing the secretive Father Nick of the Wall Cult to the sight of refugees pouring into the interior defenses now that Wall Rose is apparently breached, he appears to have a slight feeling of guilt, though not enough to make him confess the full extent of what he knows. He is, still, barely human, human enough to feel some shame to the point where he is willing to divulge one secret: there is a woman in the 104th Cadet Corps whom the Wall Cultists have been ordered to watch over. Right as he is saying the name…our attention is distracted by Sasha rushing into the frame with a report she has been ordered to hand over to Hange, the senior officer present. It’s just a delay, as we are told the name a few moments and one potato handover later, but this is how the past few episodes have been working.
We are being presented with a flood of information, coming in small waves but waves still, while Isayama appears to want to toy with us by distracting and diverting our focus elsewhere and to other things. There are many things, some unsettling, being revealed now: at the start, still in Conny’s home village, he appears to hear the Titan sitting on his house say “Welcome Home.” A cruel and ironic gesture that can have a horrific interpretation (that malformed Titan is actually one of his family members or it ate his family and their memories are somehow taken in by the Titan, who would then be mocking him to some degree). Later, Hange and Armin basically confirm each other’s hypothesis that the Walls are made from Titan-hardened material. There is a piece of hope in this, in that it might be possible for Eren to use this same process to seal wall breaches. But perhaps the most game-changing revelation is that there is no apparent breach in Wall Rose. That would seem to suggest that either the Titans in the Wall let the other Titans through…or that all of these Titans were already inside of Wall Rose, whether hidden in the landscape or in human form like Annie, and now they have been mobilized.
Well, that would have been the game-changing revelation if it wasn’t that we are led to believe that something even more important is to be shown us, the scene that I discussed at the beginning of this review. And that revelation is the name of the woman whom the Wall Cult is watching over: Christa.
For those who have always wondered about Ymir and Christa, it appears that Isayama has had an answer in mind all along. That she is going to be important seems clear not just from the stated revelation, but also from how the entire chain of events is built. For right as we learn about Christa’s importance to the Wall Cult, we see in parallel action (as this episode is easily broken down into smaller vignettes focused on the various groups of characters; necessary for a situation such as this one, with important characters spread out across a large range of territory) that Christa is about to be placed in one of the most dangerous positions possible: holed up inside an abandoned castle surrounded by Titans who can apparently move at night.
This has been one of the major themes of this season so far: everything that the audience thought they knew about Titans is being thoroughly and in some cases horrifically debunked. Titans are mindless zombies. Titans cannot speak or think. Titans are human-like in appearance. Titans leave lots of blood and signs of slaughter in the wake of their attack. While there were always unusual Titans referred to as Abnormals, it feels as if every Titan we are currently seeing is an Abnormal. Of course, that cannot be correct; for if they are all Abnormals, then that is what is “normal.”
Things are well setup for next week, as we know that there are two major tasks at hand: first, the reinforcement from the interior under Hange must get to Christa and take charge of her as soon as possible. Then, Eren needs to make his way back home, to Shiganshina, work on sealing Wall Maria and also getting inside his basement. If we can get that far this season, I will be well satisfied. I don’t quite feel confident we’re going to get to the basement any time soon, however.
In Summary:
The horror Conny finds at home has to wait as the Scout units must make their way to Wall Rose to detect where the breach has occurred. What they find will leave them confused. Back in the rear, a major revelation is made, though the full implications of it are not going to be explained now. Still, this episode does lay out some major signposts, perhaps some indication of what the main goals of the narrative will be this season. Some answers, but many more questions.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Crunchyroll (also streaming on Funimation)
Review Equipment:
Apple iMac with 12GB RAM, Mac OS 10.11 El Capitan
