“To make a new future, you have to destroy the past.”

Here are 5 of the Most Notable Parts of the Episode!

1. The show’s use of creating epic moments is kind of a bummer in Season 4, Part 2

At the beginning of the episode, we are shown Grisha Yeager’s rampage on the Reiss family. You would think that such a significant part of the reveal of Eren manipulating his Father would have more of an impact. We are left with more of an anti-climatic impact, in terms of how it is shown to us.

2. The backstory of Ymir falls flat

A person only with a will to help others, is betrayed by those she tries to help. That sounds like a start of a really good story until.. more is revealed.

After she takes the blame for the pig escapees, the soldiers ended up hunting her down until she runs across the famous tree, where she falls into the water. In that water, you have a parasite looking creature taking a hold of her, turning her into the founding titan.

With this newfound power, Ymir uses it to help the king.. You know, the person who abused her and basically sent her to die in one of the worst ways imaginable. Using the powers of the titans along with her stockholm syndrome, she helps reign terror onto the world as the king uses her to help conquer the world.

3. Zeke still has the upper hand

If Eren knows exactly how it ends, then it leaves the rest of the show as something less to be desired. As Zeke mentions that Eren’s Attack Titan power is limited because he couldn’t predict that he doesn’t have the power to use Ymir, the show makes the adjustment to a “wait a minute,” moment. Maybe Eren’s future won’t come into fruition.

That only lasted a few scenes..

4. Eldia is an avatar that sums up everything we hate about the ways of the old

If it wasn’t already painted in your minds, this episode made sure we thought of Eldia as how Marley has been claiming Eldians as the ‘devils’ they are. With this story and episode finally released, we can now ‘officially’ claim that there isn’t any such kingdom or place in this lore that is removed from a dark sinister past. Everyone has a reason why they should kill the other. If everyone has a reason, then does that make it the right thing to just kill off a group of people? Again, back to this question of rationalization of killing people.

The Kingdom of Eldia is trapped on Paradis Island for a reason. Marley hates Eldia for eons for a reason. Now, Eren, is set up as the character to break this chain of history. Whatever Eren has planned is something we’ll be witnessing soon. The previous episodes and the intro to the show has already alluded to something terribly destructive happening. To make a new future, sometimes you have to destroy the past.

5. Eren’s motive becomes clearer

Eren tells Ymir, that she has a choice. This is a clear attempt at him trying to save her. All of the titans’ power are derived from her. By Zeke commanding her to make all Eldians unable to reproduce, she still ends up being someone’s slave. Eren makes sure that Ymir understands, that she has a choice. He can take hold of humanity’s mistakes up to this point and put them on a new path. That path seems to be exterminating everyone else..

Last thoughts

For a backstory that is so massive for the overall lore of “Attack on Titan,” I find it almost preposterous that there wasn’t more revealed. Not trying to compare this to the bible, but this episode is pretty much the bible episode for the whole “Attack on Titan” universe.

I’m 100% certain there are some life learning lessons and interesting metaphors I will dive into when this show ends. Execution of how the story is portrayed, making the story and characters make logical sense, is where the bridge is starting to crumble for me. This episode showed us how we got to this point through King Fritz and Ymir. These 2 characters represent more of an avatar or a symbol, rather than their own characters. This and Eren’s confusing power of being able to see the future is where the ending season is just plain sloppy. What do you guys think?