Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2

Episode 84

“The noble deed of saving millions whispers to your heart. You gobble it up as if to wash down the taste of hate.”

The confrontations in “Night of the End” have been a long time coming. Given how much this final Attack on Titan season has been concerned with breaking down and questioning the motivations and moral calibers of every one of its characters, it was inevitable that our heroes would have to come together and hash all of it out for themselves. As Magath, Jean, and the others note repeatedly throughout the episode, it seems patently absurd that such bitter and traumatized enemies would share a meal together like this, much less join forces to save all of humanity. Desperation makes for strange bedfellows, though, so, while Hange prepares a stew that is good enough to earn its own disclosure debriefing, the Marleyans and the Eldians from Paradis must make peace. Or, at least, the closest they're ever going to get to peace in these dire times.

Attack on Titan has long since proved that it can make compelling television out of nothing more than well-written conversations, so even though I'll definitely have to talk about some of this episode's problems, let me just say that “Night of the End” does a great job of working with the resources available to it. For as much as this story is about airing the long-standing grievances of both camps, and having the parties serve as microcosms of their societies' larger conflicts, a lot of the dialogue in “Night of the End” is simply there because the plot demands it. We need to know how and why certain characters are choosing to go against Eren at this late stage, and we have to get a reasonable sense of what their plan of attack is going to be.

This easily could have made for a script that felt like busywork, but AoT sells the exposition because all of it is so intrinsically linked to the characters' conflicts. Jean's betrayal of Floch and the Jeagerists doesn't just make for a convenient way to get the different characters in one place; it is a culmination of his entire character arc, the moment where he decides that doing the right thing is more important than whatever dreams of an easy life he might have had. Hange's passionate rebuke of genocide is as much about the character reckoning with their role in the wholly destructive system of war as it is about giving the Scouts a good reason to do battle against a planet-smashing death god (who also used to be their best friend).

In one of the episode's most interesting turns, we see Yelena methodically expose each characters' crimes and mistakes, a scene that comes after Pieck reveals that Yelena's entire tragic history is utter hogwash. This doesn't just serve as a handy reminder for all of the relevant events of the past that are coming to a head on this fateful night; it also exposes Yelena for the utterly hollow and sociopathic leech that she is, and it subtly reframes the rest of the Scouts' many trials and tribulations. Yelena is simply a distaff Floch, an unrepentant opportunist with no true heart to give for any cause, who squash as many lives as she needs to on the path to personal glory. As misguided as every one of our other characters has been, they have at least always believed in the causes they fought. That doesn't amount to much when all is said and done, as Gabi can surely attest to, but it's something.

It is good, then, that the writing in “Night Before the End” is generally quite compelling, because the visuals sure aren't. That is, unless you are a great fan of endless shots of tree branches and half-obscured faces. If that's the case, then I suppose you'll be satisfied by Attack on Titan's production this week, but everyone else will likely be very disappointed at getting what basically amounts to a slightly enhanced motion-comic. Now, I have no problem whatsoever with a good pillow shot—it's a distinctive flourish that has been a hallmark of Japanese cinema for decades. When a solid 40% of an entire episode is nothing but pillow shots, though? It's a much harder sell. Especially when one gets the distinct impression that the visual style of “Night of the End” has less to do with artistic intent and more to do with production issues; lord only knows how hard the crew at MAPPA is working simply to stay on schedule.

Either way, the point is that the excessive amount of random foliage shots and barely animated close-ups wouldn't necessarily be a problem if they still served to enhance the storytelling of the anime, and in this case they do not. I was never bored during this episode, but, save perhaps for Reiner's vicious beating at the hands of Jean, I don't know if any other part of “Night of the End” offered an experience significantly different from simply adding narration to the panels of the manga. That's never a good place for an anime to be.

In that sense, maybe it is a good thing that the rumors still insist that the series will have to end with a movie of some kind. Episodes like this one are tolerable every once and a while, but Attack on Titan has built its legacy on truly living up to the scale of spectacle that its title implies. If the ending coming our way is even half as intense as all of this buildup would warrant, then I want to make sure that the team producing Attack on Titan has the time and the resources it needs to produce a stylish finale (and under safe working conditions, for the love of God).

Rating:

Attack on Titan The Final Season Part 2 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll and Funimation.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.