Lesley's Anime and Manga Corner

We basically have two storylines going on in this episode. The first focuses on Gabi and Falco, who manage to escape from their cell and make it out into the wilderness. Gabi is still as crazed as she has been since being captured by the Scouts. Falco keeps trying to talk sense into her, although his efforts seem to be in vain. They are discovered by a girl named Kaya and invited to breakfast at her home. You can see that Gabi just sees a “Paradis devil” and starts to grab a rock. Luckily, Falco stops her;

Falco takes the lead when they go the girl’s home, which is the home of Sasha’s parents (this isn’t a spoiler since we saw the family at Sasha’s gravesite in an earlier episode). Falco gives fake names and refers to “Mia” (aka Gabi) as his younger sister. Gabi is having a hard time adjusting to life at the stables, and blaming everything that happens to her on the “devils.” At one point, while having a conversation with Kaya, Gabi starts spouting off all the talking points of Marley. Kaya asks the two of them if that’s what they’re taught in Marley, and it’s revealed that she heard them arguing when she first found them and has known all along that they’re from Marley. And to me, one of the most important scenes of this episode takes place after this conversation. Kaya takes Gabi and Falco to her village and talks about how her mother was eaten alive by Titans. This leads to a shouting match between Gabi and Kaya, with Gabi spouting off the sins of Kaya’s ancetors, and Kaya retorting that had nothing to do with her mother and that her mother did nothing wrong… so why did she die? What I liked about this scene is that it forced Gabi to have to stop and maybe start to question the worldview that she’s been taught her whole life. Kaya also reveals how she was rescued by a girl a bit older than her who had an ax. From the flashback, the audience knows it’s Sasha, but Gabi and Falco have no idea. The irony here is that this story is being told to the one who killed Sasha. At the end of this sequence, Kaya brings up that Sasha’s parents and the orphans they’re raising have been invited to a restaurant run by a Marlyean, and that if they come, they might be able to find a way home.

The other storyline going on is that the citizens are questioning why Eren, their savior, is being detained. Hange is the one getting harangued about it, and unfortunately, has to act differently toward the public than in the past. Hange also leads the questioning of Floch and some of the recruits, who were discovered to have leaked the information about Eren to the public. Floch argues that Eren shouldn’t be held captive because he did nothing wrong. And with a scene Mikasa has talking with one of the other recruits later, it’s obvious that Eren seems to have developed a kind of a cult following with some of the members of the Scouts. We also see Yelena being questioned as well, and the questioning seems to implicate that she may have been the one to encourage Eren to act on his own in the first place. While this isn’t definitively answered, it’s strongly hinted at.

There’s an after credits scene that takes place in Marley, and it’s made clear that they have figured out that Zeke has betrayed them. The government wants to wait six months before trying to rescue Gabi and Falco in order to build up their global coalition. However, Reiner argues that this would give Zeke the opportunity to plan something, and that they should strike immediately.

It appears that this episode is setting up a couple of potential story threads, especially from the Gabi and Falco storyline and the Marley portion at the end. The portion with the “Eren cult” will likely lead to something as well, although I think the other two will lead to more hard-hitting plot points.

Additional posts about Attack on Titan:

• Attack on Titan Final Season: Episode 10 – “A Sound Argument”