“No matter who it is, there comes a day to say farewell”
-Hange Zoë
Hello lovely readers,
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Up until this episode of Attack on Titan, the various conflicts and resolutions have been fairly straightforward. Things are no longer quite so simple.
“Midnight Sun” opens immediately after “Hero.” Amidst the smouldering ruins of the Colossal Titan, against the back drop of Wall Maria, Eren reflects upon Armin’s heroism. His thoughts are interrupted by the Beast Titan’s human form riding atop the Froggy-doggy Titan, and Eren holds his blade against Bertholdt’s neck, his rage threatening to explode. Eren deduces that the blonde man is the one behind the Beast Titan. The Beast Titan reveals something quite interesting: he knows Eren’s father, and for some reason, there is something in the Beast Titan that reminds Eren of his father. The Beast claims that he knows how Eren feels, and that the both of them were victims of Grisha Jaeger. But before he could continue, Levi appears like a hellish apparition, much to to the Beast’s chagrin, and my own delight (if I may be so honest). The Beast Titan declares that he would be back to save Eren before he bounds away.
Levi orders Eren to give him his gas and blades to give chase. As Eren unbuckles his OMD gear, Armin takes a pained breath. Eren turns around with in disbelief and the title card plays in silence. It’s an amazing use of timing that not only gives us a moment to go “whaaaaaaaaa???” but gives us a good chance to go “Oh my gosh! Armin’s still alive!!!” It’s pitch perfect, and I love it.
The scene then cuts to what’s left of Reiner. Hange holds up some kind of metal case that came from the Armored Titan. It’s a letter from Ymir to Christa, and I wonder if Ymir is still alive. Hange tries to decapitate him, but Jean convinces her to hold off so that they can perhaps try to steal his power. We get a flashback to Erwin explaining the general properties of the serum. Erwin gives us the ultimate direction of the episode, and reminds us that Levi will have the final say regarding what will happen. Levi is the best person to have this responsibility since he is the only character who could be trusted to make an impartial decision. I mean, would you really trust Eren with the syringe? 😛
Back to the present, Hange protests against Jean’s idea, saying that they didn’t know enough about the titans to let Reiner live. Jean responds by saying that there has never been a point when they have really known anything about the forces working against them, and none of them have allowed that to stop them; the forces for humanity have always pushed onward, regardless of what is working against them. Can the scouts make the right choices in the midst of so many intense, swirling emotions?
Hange decides on a compromise of sorts: if Mikasa can get to Eren and Armin and find a favorable situation, then Reiner will be eaten, if not, then he will be decapitated. Jean has self-doubts about whether or not he didn’t want to kill Reiner because of his former relationship to them all. These little sneaky bits of character reflection that gives a surprising amount of depth to AoT.
Then we get to the part that strikes straight to the heart. Without warning or even set-up, the scene cuts to a closeup of Mikasa on the rooftop amidst Eren’s shouting. It’s a brutal close-up. Interestingly, Jean’s thought is cut off mid-sentence. The transition is jarring and especially effective.
Eren cries out for the syringe. Levi digs the titan serum out of his pocket, slowly… slowly. There a darkness over his eyes that prevents us from seeing what he’s thinking, although we can certainly speculate. Eren tells Levi to hurry up, but there’s something slowing him down. Mikasa shoots the signal flare.
Jean notices the smoke, and then the loud, thudding steps coming toward their direction. The Froggy-doggy Titan nearly gets Hange, but she seems to have S-tier luck. Luckily for them, the titan don’t stick around after he retrieves Reiner. Jean blames himself, and it will be interesting to see if he gets a chance to avenge himself upon Reiner later in the series.
We next cut to the fateful moment where Levi slowly… slowly begins to hand the serum to Eren. The image of the bloody hand of Levi handing the box to the relatively clean hand of Eren tells much about their respective roles in this world. In order to save the world, Levi has to soil his hands allowing people like Eren to maintain at least a part of their innocence. Something else I noticed about the hand-off was that the box looks more like a coffin. In a way, you could say that the titan serum works as a death sentence.
The echo of the the last remaining scout –Floch– signals the worst possible outcome: Erwin is brought up on the roof. The echo of his OMD handles reverberates through the quiet air.
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.
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Armin or Erwin?
The hard choices in the show typically boiled down to titans=bad, humanity=good. With the options being between Armin or Erwin, there is no easy answer. Each side presents compelling cases to save one or the other; the two of them bring so many important qualities to the fight against the titans that to have to choose one to live puts everyone in a decision like no other, and losing either of them would be a blow to humanity.
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The next part of the review spoils the rest of the episode. If you haven’t seen it yet, then you should stop here and watch it first, and then come back 😛
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It’s unusual to see Levi truly become emotional. Normally he is aloof and almost cynical at times. However, there are moments when the veneer cracks a bit and we get a glimpse inside. In season 1, for example, Levi’s affection for Petra is plain to see after she is killed by the Female Titan. Levi’s reticence in giving Eren the titan serum also reveals the inner Levi. He believes so strongly in Erwin that even without any evidence of the commander’s survival, he is reluctant to give Eren the needle. It says how important Erwin is to Levi that he would hold onto the wisp of a hope.
We also get to the fight promised in episode 49, and holy smokes, is it tense. Mikasa certainly isn’t playing around when she has her blade against Levi’s throat, and it’s a bit different than what I, and probably most non-manga readers were expecting. Good for you show for spoiling the fight while not spoiling what happened.
As obvious as it might seem seem to give the injection to Erwin, Eren points out how important Armin is to humanity’s cause, and as much as Erwin has inspired humanity to move forward, Armin has been the one who comes up with the big plans that have resulted in human successes. Eren’s desperate pleading feels more than just a bluff. There’s a air of truth to what he says about his friend, and in a potential future free from the titans, humanity is going to need someone like Armin desperately.
Hange’s monologue about loss hits hard, and Mikasa finally gives up her fight while Eren makes an important point about Armin– he is the only one who doesn’t have hate within his heart, that his goal is to see the sea, not to even to kill titans. In so many ways, Armin has the purest heart of all the characters in the series. Everyone but Eren resigns themselves the Levi’s decision, and they zoom away.
In the end, Levi’s choice to save Armin was correct from a story perspective. Narratively speaking, Erwin had given everything up to go on that one last charge. He had nothing left to drive him onward. As Levi said, it was time to let him rest.
And it was appropriate that Bertholdt ultimately achieved the same end as Marco: helpless titan food.
I guess this is adieu to the greatest leader of the scout regiment. Erwin was one of the most interesting and surprising characters in AoT in terms of depth. How many characters are able to inspire men to go to their deaths while harboring selfish dreams? How many characters, after having their arm eaten off, can recover and be one of the architects of a bloodless coup d’état? How many characters can tear up their dream and scatter it to the wind to go on one last charge?
Until we meet again,
Kevin
Adventures in Korea 