How to break the 4th wall without breaking the 4th wall; this is an episode about secondary/extra characters in anime and it works like you would not believe, both in the show and outside of it. This is not just the best episode in S3P1, nor one of the greatest episodes in anime. This is a life lesson.
The episode actually starts pretty mild, we are in the aftermaths of, what I like to call, the political/conspiracy arc. Things are settling down, so it is a run of the mill episode for the first half, but boy does it pick it up on the second half...
Learning that the random soldier seen in Eren's visions/Grisha's memories is none other than Keith Shadis, the commander in charge of training our heroes all the way back in epsiode 3, blew my mind. This is the power of SnK, to bring back a character that in other anime would just be a trope. One cannot overstate his impact in the story. To say that the events of the first 3 seasons SnK would not have happened (or at least in the way they happened) without him is barely an exageration, even if it is unbeknown to Shadis himself.
We get some backstory of Grisha, though it comes (no surprises here) with more questions than answers. I've read some interesting theories about his memory loss, like the Founding Titan wiping his memory or he eating a previous Attack Titan holder. We get gems like Grisha saving the town from an epidemic. Remember Hannes mentioning that all the way back in episode 1? Again, in other shows this could mean nothing, but in this one there's actually good compelling reasons for this event, foreshadowing reveals in the future. Point taken, it'd have been impossible to guess, but everything is more beautiful in hindsight.
Another gem is the scene from episode 1, that of the Scouts returning from an expedition. That heartbreaking scene had Shadis as protagonist, yet again Isayama's giving us everything on a silver platter yet we can't see it. Another example of this is Shadis inner monologue towards the end of episode 3, when he mentions Grisha. Whatever thought we may had have about that (at that time, probably nothing spectacular) gets buried below season 1 crazyness which comes swiftly after. We also get Eren's transformation and eating of his dad, from Grishas point of view.
We haven't even touched the ''main'' theme of this episode; Shadis tragic and sad underachieving life. He loses the girl he likes, he fails at his job of Scouts commander and realizes he doesn't amount to be someone special. There are ''special people'' in this world (cue image of Erwin, Levi and Co), he just wasn't one of them. A direct shout out to storytelling itself.
We end on one of the most emotional/heartwarming endings in AoT, as the credits and ending song play while the episode itself is ending (loved this) and Carla delivers an incredible life lesson. ''Is it wrong not to be special?'' ''He (Eren) doesn't have to be better than anyone else (...), he's already special beacuse he was born into this world.''
Oh yeah, remember how Eren's equipment was faulty? That was Keith, trying to fulfill Carla's wish of protecting Eren. Mind=blown. This episode is such a huge callback to things many years ago both irl and in the show. But Alas, Eren's will cannot be tamed, Keith gives in. He can't do nothing about it. ''I am a mere bystander''.
The episode actually starts pretty mild, we are in the aftermaths of, what I like to call, the political/conspiracy arc. Things are settling down, so it is a run of the mill episode for the first half, but boy does it pick it up on the second half...
Learning that the random soldier seen in Eren's visions/Grisha's memories is none other than Keith Shadis, the commander in charge of training our heroes all the way back in epsiode 3, blew my mind. This is the power of SnK, to bring back a character that in other anime would just be a trope. One cannot overstate his impact in the story. To say that the events of the first 3 seasons SnK would not have happened (or at least in the way they happened) without him is barely an exageration, even if it is unbeknown to Shadis himself.
We get some backstory of Grisha, though it comes (no surprises here) with more questions than answers. I've read some interesting theories about his memory loss, like the Founding Titan wiping his memory or he eating a previous Attack Titan holder. We get gems like Grisha saving the town from an epidemic. Remember Hannes mentioning that all the way back in episode 1? Again, in other shows this could mean nothing, but in this one there's actually good compelling reasons for this event, foreshadowing reveals in the future. Point taken, it'd have been impossible to guess, but everything is more beautiful in hindsight.
Another gem is the scene from episode 1, that of the Scouts returning from an expedition. That heartbreaking scene had Shadis as protagonist, yet again Isayama's giving us everything on a silver platter yet we can't see it. Another example of this is Shadis inner monologue towards the end of episode 3, when he mentions Grisha. Whatever thought we may had have about that (at that time, probably nothing spectacular) gets buried below season 1 crazyness which comes swiftly after. We also get Eren's transformation and eating of his dad, from Grishas point of view.
We haven't even touched the ''main'' theme of this episode; Shadis tragic and sad underachieving life. He loses the girl he likes, he fails at his job of Scouts commander and realizes he doesn't amount to be someone special. There are ''special people'' in this world (cue image of Erwin, Levi and Co), he just wasn't one of them. A direct shout out to storytelling itself.
We end on one of the most emotional/heartwarming endings in AoT, as the credits and ending song play while the episode itself is ending (loved this) and Carla delivers an incredible life lesson. ''Is it wrong not to be special?'' ''He (Eren) doesn't have to be better than anyone else (...), he's already special beacuse he was born into this world.''
Oh yeah, remember how Eren's equipment was faulty? That was Keith, trying to fulfill Carla's wish of protecting Eren. Mind=blown. This episode is such a huge callback to things many years ago both irl and in the show. But Alas, Eren's will cannot be tamed, Keith gives in. He can't do nothing about it. ''I am a mere bystander''.