#Attack On Titan Final Season Assembles Its Avengers In An Emotional, Surprisingly Funny ‘Pride’

After a brief cold open that shows the return of a very much alive Levi (I still had my doubts!), “Pride” starts with yet another apocalyptic scene that hammers home the psychological effect the Rumbling is having on everyone on Paradis Island. The inescapable sight of the Colossal Titans and the endless earthquakes and tremors have been keeping everyone up all night, while a later scene shows people rejoicing once the last Titan finally leaves the city limits. One of the best things this season has done is truly making the audience feel the inescapable scope of the Rumbling as a truly apocalyptic event — something that took an extra layer of meaning this past week.

After that, it is time to revolve Connie’s subplot. A lot of this episode is just resolving the conflicts of the season so everyone is free to join the final fight, while characters ponder how their lives turned out so much different than they thought/hoped. For Connie, it means that our loving, caring, comic-relief soldier who loved to goof around has turned into a cold and hateful guy who is about to murder a child to save the last semblance of his old life left, his mother. Having lost her once, having lost Sasha, it is understandable to see Connie wanting to go to any length to take back some control. It is also heartbreaking, especially since everyone on the show can agree that Falco is a precious child who must be protected at all costs.

But before Connie can shove this kid down his mom’s throat — he even tries to trick him by asking Falco into washing the Titan’s teeth for some reason, in the first of two jokes about it — Armin arrives with Gabi. Armin has also spent the past season struggling with accepting who he turned into and how different his life turned out than he expected, especially once he became a Titan at the expense of not saving Erwin and realized the world was even crueler and more complex than he thought. In a heartbreaking moment, Armin thinks of Erwin (whose MAPPA-updated design may be the worst of the original characters) and in a moment of genius does what the old commander would have done — he bets his own life on a crazy gamble. Armin decides to sacrifice himself to save Falco and turn Connie’s mom back into a human, but right before he can do that, Connie saves him, and recognizes his mom would be ashamed of him if she could see him. Armin may still have doubts about his self-worth, but Erwin would have been proud of his actions. And also, we’re lucky he didn’t go through with it, because could you imagine Connie’s mom as the Colossal Titan?

Even Mikasa is struggling to come to terms with the person she’s become and the way her actions have inspired people in all the wrong ways, as Louise lies on her death bed and still clings onto Mikasa’s scarf.