Flashing back before the events of the last week’s episode, Willy Tybur somberly bids his family farewell in the opening scene knowing this is the last time he’ll be with them. While en route to the festival, Commander Magath and Willy go over preparations of imminent threats during the speech while continuing with Willy’s plan to sacrifice himself and Eldians for the world to become allies in the fight against Paradis. The flashback showed me Willy was prepared to die, but I disagree with treating the lives of other Eldians as expendable. Willy had the privilege of saying goodbye to his family, knowing they would be out of danger. At the same time, there’s a possibility of Eldians losing family members at any moment, which didn’t sit well with me because these are innocent people whose lives shouldn’t be considered meaningless. We return to the present time, and as expected, Eren chose violence with Willy’s mangled body falling from the sky into Eren’s mouth.

We immediately see the collateral damage of Eren’s attack as Gabi, Udo, and Colt recognize the frightening sight of Zofia’s body under a boulder. Colt and Gabi watch in horror as a stampede of people trample Udo in his failed attempt to lift the boulder off of Zofia and could feel the pain Gabi felt after witnessing such a terrible ordeal. During all the commotion, Willy’s younger sister, Lara Tybur, reveals herself as the War Hammer, to which Eren doesn’t allow her to finish her transformation by striking her first. I was pleasantly surprised to learn Lara Tybur inherited the War Hammer Titan and wondered how she would do in a battle against Eren since this titan hasn’t been involved in any war. Lara (in titan form) can construct weapons using hardening and does significant damage to Eren, causing him to release himself from his titan body. Lara, now having the upper hand, captures our hero (talking in titan form much like Zeke could) and asks for Eren to say any last words before he dies. Eren calmly utters, “It’s time, Mikasa,” giving myself and possibly every Attack on Titan fan a chill down their spine. She’s here?! The Scout Regiment made it to Liberio with their new all-black uniform, which uses the same maneuvering equipment Kenny Ackerman had on in season three. This change in the Scout Regiment symbolizes how it has gone from killing titans to attacking humans, creating a much bleaker world than I think Eren realized was outside the walls. Mikasa makes her grand arrival by shooting and detonating thunder spears in the nape of Lara’s neck while other members of the Scout Regiment attack Commander Magath’s post. While Lara struggled with the spears, Mikasa begs Eren to come home while reminding him he can’t take back killing civilians, including children. This interaction was puzzling because I wanted to know how long Eren had been in Liberio. It’s troubling because Eren clearly doesn’t care about killing civilians as he changes the subject back to the War Hammer Titan not being defeated by the thunder spears. We are constantly shown how Eren’s hatred shifted from titans to humans, and it’s scary to see how far Eren will go to defeat his enemies, whether innocent or guilty.

While watching Mikasa’s fight with the War Hammer Titan, Eren learns Lara Tybur’s body is encased in a hardening shell (like Annie at the end of season one) underground, controlling its movement with a cable of flesh. He transforms into his titan form, detaches Lara from the War Hammer Titan, and prepares to eat her when Porco attacks from behind as the Jaw Titan. And when Porco believes he’s about to save the day for Marley in this chaotic battle, Levi (who else was on cloud nine seeing his return this episode!) swoops in and slices Porco’s jaw so Eren wouldn’t be eaten. Porco watches in terror as the Scout Regiment swings harmoniously toward him (this shot is stunning!). Coming from the South, seeing all of this unfold was my “bless his heart” moment because poor Porco doesn’t know the Scout Regiment is responsible for capturing Annie and taking possession of the Colossal Titan. This group has been a thorn in Marley’s side for so long! And seeing Porco as a titan is a non-issue, as the Scouts have been readying themselves.

This episode seemed to end rather quickly and gave me a different feeling from the previous two episodes. It was good to see Mikasa, Connie, Jean, Sasha, and Levi again, even though we didn’t get to see Armin. So I’m wondering if he will arrive soon or at all. This episode reminded me of the first episode of Attack on Titan when titans unexpectedly attacked, only this time, this attack was vengeful on Eren’s part. And others followed his lead, which could lead to more conflict down the road. The English dub cast returning was just what the doctor ordered for long-time fans of Attack on Titan! It was amazing to hear all the same voices we’ve come accustomed to hearing. However, there was a slight change with Megan Shipman being cast as Sasha’s new voice, and I’m happy she got the opportunity to voice the potato-loving character. And while I wanted to focus more on the intensity of Eren (Bryce Pappenbrook) and Reiner (Robert McCollum), I have to tip my hat to Jonah Scott for his performance as Willy Tybur. He captured Willy’s calm, kind, yet sorrowful demeanor well and wished he was able to voice him a little longer. The battle in Liberio continues next week, so we’ll see who will come out victorious as the warriors of Marley take on the Scout Regiment of Paradis Island. 

Umeko Long is a staff writer for ToonamiFaithful.com. Feel free to follow her on Twitter @blu_temptation

Don’t forget to listen to the Toonami Faithful podcast!