The nightmare continues! With Commander Pixis help Eren is spared for now, but humanity still hangs in the balance. A plan is set in motion to block the hole in Trost and stem the flow of Titans. But will it work? You’re just going to have to click the link to find out!
The episode starts off right were the last one left of us at with Eren agreeing to use his Titan form to carry the large bolder to the hole the colossal made and plug it up with it. Pixis is pleased with Eren’s readiness and desire to help and calls for strategists to ascend the wall and join him so they can get the plan underway immediately. This surprises Armin and Mikasa with Armin asking why are starting so quickly. Eren responds that there isn’t really a point in waiting plus Pixis sees a problem arising that they don’t.
Down below shows what the problem is clear as day it’s the remains of the military are in this midst of near hysteria. When the soldiers hear about the plan to retake Trost, many are discouraged, mostly driven by fear as having survived, but had to witness those around them eaten by titans. Like last time Daz, once again, starts to panic. Marco tries to calm him down before he gets in trouble or starts to get to the others. Unfortunately, a nearby officer hears him and says that he could be executed, to which he replies that execution would be preferable to being eaten by a Titan. Dazz then takes out his sword, resulting in Marco attempting to stop him. When the others hear Dazz’s rout, they start to cause a little bit of a rebellion, with others joining in the refusal.
Meanwhile, Eren and Pixis, not aware of the situation below, continues to talk on top of the wall. Pixis tells Eren about a certain legend in which humans stop fighting against each other long enough to unite when a common enemy appears. When Pixis asks Eren about what he thinks about the legend, Eren answers that he never heard about such a legend and thinks its full of crap. Hearing Eren’s answer, Pixis laughes and says that Eren’s mind is just as twisted as his own. Eren and Pixis continue to walk. They pass Hannes’ group. Hannes sees him and is relieved to see that he is okay, but confused why he is walking alongside the Commander. Eren seeing Hannes watch him discreetly gestures for him to get back to work. Hannes though annoyed is relieved that since Eren is making the attempt that must mean both Mikasa and Armin are safe as well.
The riot below the wall continues and seems to get worse when Pixis and Eren arrive. Pixis takes a deep breath, and addresses the soldiers below, quickly getting their attention. He lays out the plan for the retaking of Trost by sealing the hole Titans used for entering. The soldiers are wondering how they’ll do it, and Pixis introduced Eren to the soldiers as the one who will seal it. His friends are shocked when they hear this and Pixis continues introducing Eren as a part of the government top-secret experiment to turn a human into a Titan. He explains that Eren can make and control a Titan’s body. Conny tells Ymir that he doesn’t understand the Commander’s words and asks if he’s just too stupid to understand, but Ymir just tells him to shut up.
While Pixis continues to explain the plan,  Armin explains the plan in greater detail to two elite soldiers of the Garrison. Using the information that Titans react to concentrations of humans, they will lure them to the next wall. They will be able to keep direct contact to a minimum and take out Titans with the cannons mounted on the walls. A small group will be assigned to protect Eren while he moves the boulder to plug the hole. Armin though, feels unsure about the plan.
On the ground, the plan is being met with shouts, screams of anguish, and disbelief. Large numbers of soldiers start to walk away, saying they’d rather spend their last days with family. As more and more start to follow these examples, Feldman attempts to impose capital punishment, killing the mutineers. Before he starts however, Pixis informs the group that whoever leaves will be pardoned, gaining the attention once again of the soldiers. Knowing that Titans are death itself and fear is natural, he says they are free to go, but then states that they are also putting their loved ones in the position of facing that fear themselves. This causes them to give pause and after thinking about it further, they turn around and go back to formation.
Before the operation begins, Pixis talks about the previous attempt to the soldiers explaining the truth about the last attempt to retake territory claimed by the titans. The truth was that the large number of people in that last retake force was sent to die on purpose due to the inability to sustain the number of people living in second wall plus those that survived the first wall. He takes responsibility for this action calling himself a murder. He also goes on to explain that if they should fail and wall rose falls only 20 percent of humanity would be able to co-exist in wall Sina. So naturally taking back wall rose must be accomplished at all costs.
Not so far from them, Armin is apologizing to Eren, because he makes Eren become responsible for everything. Eren tells Armin that he believes him right from the start. Mikasa wants to be the part of the elite team protecting Eren, but Eren says that she can’t come with him since she’s part of the decoy team. Mikasa says she can’t let him be alone, otherwise something bad might happen again to him. Eren replies with annoyed tone that he isn’t her little brother nor her son, which makes Mikasa think. Ian then calls her and orders her to join the group that will protect Eren which makes Mikasa relieved. He then orders them to go into their position. Before leaving, Eren tells Armin
With the operation underway, Eren, Mikasa and a small group of soldiers get into position. They head for the shortest route and find no Titans in their way. Rico tells Eren that soldiers aren’t pawn of voices, because they all have names, families and feelings. She tells Eren that he has the responsibility that their death will have meaning, and she advices Eren to never forget that. Back to the briefing with the soldiers, Commander Pixis tells them that if they accomplish this, it will be the first time humanity wins over the Titans. As Eren and his group reach near the boulder, Eren bites his hand and emerges in his Titan form. Seeing him walking toward the stone, Mikasa states to herself that she believes that Eren will accomplish their mission, however, he looks over his shoulder and surprisingly, attacks her bringing the episode to a close.
So another good episode, and while this one was once again exposition this served as both plot and character development. Most notably we see Pixis get in there and throwing his weight around as a commander and a brilliant one at that. The fact that he by himself quelled the soldier riot with just a talk shows that he has both a commanding presence and that he knows were they soldiers come from and understand their fears. We also get some face time with Rico…which i think is a girl…it’s hard to tell with that one and how Rico is more than just a yes man to Feldman. The next episode looks mighty interesting since Eren’s titan form has become a Beserker and not just against titans it seems.
