The rumbling has begun and Eren is on a mission to bring genocide to the world outside of Paradis Island. How will the other characters react to Eren’s decision?

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

1. Gabi is replacing Eren’s role as the protagonist

One thing that Eren and Gabi have in common, is that they realize either side is made up of ordinary people. Eren has taken the route of eliminating all life outside of Paradis Island and Gabi wants to save it.

Having talked with Reiner, Gabi decides to make her way to Kaya’s group with Nicolo, in the hopes of saving Falco. Then, she ends up saving Kaya from almost being pure titan dinner. A couple Yeagerists come to check in on the group and question if Gabi is with Marley. Then, Kaya, having a change of heart, shouts out that “Gabi is one of us.” This scene completes the cycle of forgiveness from all the parties surrounding the death of Sasha. The question is, did the show do enough to let the audience buy into Gabi as our hero we should cheer for?

2. Yelena is standing in distraught and no one cares

As Eren is off rampaging all over the globe, the pure titans that Zeke created is still running rampant all over town, destroying everything and killing anyone. Yelena stands there in distraught, as she realizes that Zeke isn’t calling them off.

It’s kind of like the show’s creators knew that people would hate Yelena, but just won’t let her die; so we can continue to hate her..

3. Finally, something to cheer for!

Once Connie takes Falco, the remaining members are forced to deal with the titans in the surrounding area. With a change of pace and some uplifting music, we get to see the Paradis troops do something positive and meaningful again! Standing at the top of the tower, the group of soldiers go out and kill their former comrades that turned into pure titans. This scene highlighted the ending for one of the show’s major characters, Commander Pixis. Another noteworthy character, that has contributed heavily to the overall quality of the show. It’s nice to get acknowledgement through the anime’s other main characters: Armin, Mikasa and Jean.

4. The predicament no one wants to be in

The ole’ “whose life would you rather save game? The crew of Mikasa, Armin, Connie and Jean have sole possession of an asleep Falco. Connie makes the suggestion that they should save his mom. Armin, shining best when using his brains, tells Connie that “throwing away Falco would cause a bigger rift after the rumbling is over.” Connie decides to go rouge and takes Falco to go save his mother anyways. It’s hard to blame Connie for making this decision. It’s a lose-lose situation here. Although, this side plot will carry the show forward into the next important phase.

5. Annie is back!

The show does a weird transition into the aftermath of defeating all of Zeke’s titans. We are left with a final scene with Mikasa and Armin talking to Gabi about Falco. Once Gabi mentions Reiner losing his hardening, Armin realizes what Eren meant by “undoing the hardening.”

Ever since the major characters chose to save Armin over Erwin, the show has grossly missed an intelligent character like him. With Zeke, seemingly out of the fold, Armin, must step up to be that character for us. Showing his intelligence in this episode, is a nice surprise after literally being a basic side character the whole season.

Last thoughts

The first handful of episodes have laid the foundation for the rest of the show. Now, the show will be carried on by the remaining characters, not named Eren. This episode focused heavily on the situations of Gabi and the crew (Armin, Jean, Mikasa, Connie w/ Falco). We can expect more buildup as many other majors characters like Hange, Levi, Annie and the other remaining Marleyan troops have not been shown, since before the rumbling started.