Attack on Titan - Episode 42 Discussion / Poll

[xris]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Attack on Titan, Episode 42.

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[Kanon]

Coup d'état successful. Erwin was saved and the scouts were cleared of all charges. The conversation between Erwin and Zachary in the carriage was really good. I'd say the very fact Erwin actually questioned whether what he did was right makes him better than the guys from the government.

As for the greater mystery, the pieces are slowly starting to come together. I won't say anything since I've read the manga but at this point it should be possible to make some accurate theories/guesses.

[Haak]

I'm hella confused right now. If I heard things right it seems like the corrupt rulers are in league with Rod Reiss, but wouldn't Reiss be against them for overthrowing him? Was he forced to work for them and do their bidding? Does this mean he could join the scout's side now that they've successfully coup d'etat the rulers and since they also want Historia on the throne?

[Friday]

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Best episode ever!!!!!!!

this episode lived up to my expectation compare to the manga version.

[Applehell]

While I enjoyed the episode overall, I feel like events transpired to a bit fast particular the way information was spread around. Still pretty exciting tho, Historia can't be okay with what is happening to Eren even that guy is her father is hopefully she speaks up or does what she can on her end.

[Wandering Soul]

Liked the episode, but everything did feel a bit fast. I guess they really are dedicated to getting through this arc as fast as possible.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Haak

I'm hella confused right now. If I heard things right it seems like the corrupt rulers are in league with Rod Reiss, but wouldn't Reiss be against them for overthrowing him? Was he forced to work for them and do their bidding? Does this mean he could join the scout's side now that they've successfully coup d'etat the rulers and since they also want Historia on the throne?

No, Rod Reiss was in complete control as suggested in previous scenes with the corrupt rulers. Also, as revealed by that guy from the interior police, the Reiss family is the real royal family and this is something that is disclosed to pretty much anyone within the "real government", while external faction such as Nile's military police are not privy to.

With those 2 pieces of information, you can infer that Rod Reiss didn't want his family to be exposed as the royal family members. But since all of them died during that incident, he had to make sure historia wouldn't be discovered as part of the Reiss. That's the very reason why Levi was wondering if there isn't something about their bloodline.




Anyway, while I agree this arc might have been "too fast", which makes it harder to realize the actual impact of the coup for humanity in SnK, this episode was probably the best in term of pacing.

[Master_Yoma]

That really want to smoothly

[Mister Twit]

I reallllllly haven't been invested in this part of the story at all so I hope it's over with this. This part has really lacked strong characters so the whole government coup just wasn't enjoyable. It was just an overly theatrical thing that happened to a bunch of politicians we haven't been given a chance to give a shit about.

(Also the lack of titans is getting kind of annoying from both a story and satisfaction standpoint.)

[Haak]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

No, Rod Reiss was in complete control as suggested in previous scenes with the corrupt rulers. Also, as revealed by that guy from the interior police, the Reiss family is the real royal family and this is something that is disclosed to pretty much anyone within the "real government", while external faction such as Nile's military police are not privy to.

With those 2 pieces of information, you can infer that Rod Reiss didn't want his family to be exposed as the royal family members. But since all of them died during that incident, he had to make sure historia wouldn't be discovered as part of the Reiss. That's the very reason why Levi was wondering if there isn't something about their bloodline.

I'm just even more confused now. So what was the official explanation on the Reiss family? I thought they were overthrown by the "Fritz" faction at some point but I guess I was mistaken? Were the Reiss Royal family always a secret and were they always secretly pulling the strings? I guess the reason why they're a secret is yet to be revealed.

But nevertheless, haven't the scouts made a huge error in trying establish the Reiss bloodline as the official royals? Because then if they do that, all Rod Reiss has to do is declare himself Historia's father and he's back in control again (unless they assassinate him but I don't think they've mentioned that as part of the plan)

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Anyway, while I agree this arc might have been "too fast", which makes it harder to realize the actual impact of the coup for humanity in SnK, this episode was probably the best in term of pacing.

Originally Posted by Mister Twit

I reallllllly haven't been invested in this part of the story at all so I hope it's over with this. This part has really lacked strong characters so the whole government coup just wasn't enjoyable. It was just an overly theatrical thing that happened to a bunch of politicians we haven't been given a chance to give a shit about.

I think this is the biggest problem here. Given how fundamntal this seems to be to the entire story, the faces of this corrupt government should've been introduced to us much earlier than just for this arc and should've been a consistent presence as well, so we could care more about their downfall.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by Haak

I'm just even more confused now. So what was the official explanation on the Reiss family? I thought they were overthrown by the "Fritz" faction at some point but I guess I was mistaken? Were the Reiss Royal family always a secret and were they always secretly pulling the strings? I guess the reason why they're a secret is yet to be revealed.

But nevertheless, haven't the scouts made a huge error in trying establish the Reiss bloodline as the official royals? Because then if they do that, all Rod Reiss has to do is declare himself Historia's father and he's back in control again (unless they assassinate him but I don't think they've mentioned that as part of the plan)

There's no official explanation, but as Klashikari has said, we've seen Reiss giving orders to the government a few episodes ago, so the logical explanation is that he wanted to hide the fact his family was the real royal family. In this episode itself, the guys from the government were whispering among themselves that they'll be safe once they recover "the power". Now remember the reason Reiner's group infiltrated the Walls in the first place. If you connect the dots, you'll get the answer.

And I think the scouts do plan to kill Reiss. Or at the very least throw him into a dungeon and lose the key. Not sure how exactly they're going to prove Historia is of Royal Blood through. What proof is there? I doubt there are any records about her.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Haak

But nevertheless, haven't the scouts made a huge error in trying establish the Reiss bloodline as the official royals? Because then if they do that, all Rod Reiss has to do is declare himself Historia's father and he's back in control again (unless they assassinate him but I don't think they've mentioned that as part of the plan)

Remember that Erwin mentioned how instigating a fake King would also be considered as a punishable crime.
While this doesn't seem to benefit Rod Reiss as much as the other nobles in term of personal gain at the first glance, it definitely put him on very hot water because he deliberately lied to his people and had a puppet government on his stead. Also, considering what the nobles know and conspired against the scouts, there is no way Rod Reiss could shrug everything just because he is part of the royal family. He has an active role in all the plot pinning down the scouts, which is by itself an act of treason against humanity.

As far as it goes, the Chart of Humanity takes precedence by a very large margin.

[blakstealth]

Oh man. So is Freida alive or what?! At first, I thought that scene was showing us that she's still alive after all. Maybe Rod lied about the bandits and his whole family is still alive and in hiding somewhere. But during the scene, she looks kinda surprised when she saw herself in the mirror. Then after that scene, we see Eren wake up...almost like he was living vicariously through her eyes.

And the whole King Fritz scene reminded me of the Mandarin from IM3 lol.

[wingdarkness]

I don't know nothing about nothing as I'm an anime-only viewer, but ummmmmm...Is Historia about to EAT EREN?!?!!? If so I need to remember the plot points leading up to this $hit...

[ArrowSmith]

Well that escalated.

[Guido]

As minuscule and insignificant human lives are in the vast world of Titans, lone actions by themselves do not account for much but when put together to reach a single cause they can produce enough ripples to crash the status quo.

Served the pigs right that at the end they can only fault their overwhelming greed and self-preservation for their conceitedness. Erwin played his cards and, unlikely, the odds even out:
1. He was fortunate that Pyxis only took his side once witnessing the cowardice and selfish tantrums of the Government leaders not putting to care for refugees falling for the simulated gamble.

2. Darius Zackley invited himself in Erwin's gamble in order to ensure the coup d' etat to succeed just to satisfy his selfishness at getting even with the pigs.

3. Nile stood his ground with defiance to care for the citizens of Wall Rose once the pigs wasted no time at revealing their true colors.

Still, Erwin felt that putting down the Government made a huge disservice to humanity. In spite of such gluttony and conceitedness, the Government did manage so far keeping order and stability within the Walls long before and after the tragedies of Wall Maria and the Battle of Trost.

Erwin, better than anyone else, realizes the extent of his selfishness and feels remorseful on putting humanity's fate into an unknown fate, after all sacrifices made and toll taken for the coup to succeed.
His selfishness has all along been his dream to realize what's the truth outside of the walls that his late Father was killed for.