Review: Attack on Titan Episode 424, “Pride”

Though our heroes remain fractured and divided, not all hope is lost. Though the Wall Titans’ silhouettes’ loom large in the sky, the tiny and brave yet have a chance to triumph. For that to happen, enemies must mend the rifts between them and join forces, which will require them to swallow their pride.

The episode starts by telling us a bit about how Hange and Levi have managed to survive. With Levi all but incapacitated, it’s been on Hange to carry them both, killing the Jaegerists soldiers they once called allies and patching Levi up. After some brief conversation, the two veterans of the Scouts regiment agree that, despite their condition, they must continue fighting. Levi makes his ultimate goal clear: he must kill Zeke.

We then flash back to the present as Hange and Levi talk with Theo Magath and Pieck Finger, which is where the last episode left us. Though things are tense, they form an alliance, as we confirm at the end.

Levi and Hange, Theo and Pieck; they’re basically the head duos of the two conflicting groups. Them joining forces foreshadows the bridging of the gaps, metaphorically and literally, between our separated characters.

That continues as Armin and Gabi catch up with Conny and Falco, just as Conny is preparing to feed Falco to his Titan mother so she can regain her humanity. Armin is able to deescalate the situation by giving Conny a forced ultimatum of sorts, jumping into Conny’s mother’s jaws to turn her into the new Colossal Titan. Conny releases Falco to save Armin, and afterwards the four join together on friendly terms. Given the buildup over the last couple episodes, this seems a bit too clean an ending for this side-plot. However, the episode foreshadows this change in Conny’s perspective beforehand, with him questioning the type of solider he had become and getting somewhat attached to Falco. Overall, I think this arc was pretty well handled.

But that’s not true for every storyline here. After Armin and Conny reconcile and Gabi and Falco reunite, they go to a marketplace with many celebrating Eldians, and just as Armin is talking about how the Titans’ ability to harden is gone and Annie is most likely loose, speak of the devil, there she is right behind them. We do not get the specifics of how, but Annie leaves a note to Hitch explaining that she has chosen to join them.

My main problem with this is how cleanly it all comes about. Admittedly, the surprise meeting provides some welcome comic relief, but it’s also very anti-climatic. The buildup of Annie escaping, her connection with Armin and the Scout regiment in general…it had me expecting her reunion with the main characters would be more dramatic. Perhaps I should give the show credit for defying my expectations, but this was a bit disappointing.

However, I predict that since the show chose not to show the conversation where Annie agreed to join Armin and Conny this episode, we’ll see it in a flashback down the line, maybe even next week. I should hope so anyway; it’s too important a detail to gloss over.

Finally, towards the end of the episode we see Jean about to execute the Volunteers Yelena and Onyankopn after joining the Jaegerists. But he pulls the old switcheroo on them. I really enjoyed this sequence. It had me fearing the worse only to upend my expectations. It’s the first real success the Scouts have had since Eren’s decapitation.

By the end of the episode, the Scouts are largely reunited, and the assist by Pieck implies a plan is already underway. That’s pretty exciting, and the show is wisely keeping us in the dark about it. So overall I think this was a solid episode with interesting advancements in the story. Maybe I’m a little disappointed with how quickly everyone got together. Personally I thought there was more room for suspense in keeping the characters separated, at least for a while longer. However, the main reunion I’m looking for — Levi and Hange meeting up with Mikasa, Armin and the others — has yet to happen, and I await it with bated breath.

Grade: B 

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