Living a lie.
The following review contains spoilers for the episode.
As we continued to wait for the Scouts to arrive and the action to heat up, “Children” took a long look at Ymir’s unusual past. It proved quite interesting but raised even more questions than it answered. This, along with some questionable pacing caused Episode 35 to feel like another lackluster entry in the series.
Diving into Ymir’s past was the most compelling part of Episode 35. I was quite intrigued by her cult-like upbringing and how it led to her eventual removal from normal society. The scene when she is being arrested is perhaps the most striking of all, as we see in her face the exact moment she loses the innocence of her youth and ignorance as she’s suddenly thrusted into the real world. All of it combines to showcase just how troubled of a past Ymir has had, and helps better explain the woman she has become. The pacing of the flashback was also handled well, moving along quickly and constantly dropping in new pieces of information.
New questions and secrets were popping up all over in Episode 35. For every answer we learn, ten new questions arise. Even the most compelling secrets, like Ymir and Reiner’s connection, can’t support the show forever if secrets are all we ever get and are never explained. Hopefully Episode 36 and onwards corrects this, as it’s dire time we start getting actual answers and not just more questions.
While the core of Ymir’s story was interesting, the shell that surrounded it was far from it. Many parts of Episode 35 felt unnecessary, lasted too long, or simply didn’t fit in with the story being told about Ymir. A great example of this is the opening when we see the soldiers investigating the titan that seems to look like Connie’s mother. Although I understand what this scene was trying to setup the idea of humans being turned into titans, it felt out of place. Attack on Titan has a lot to say, but not a lot of time. Episodes like this make it clear it still struggles to balance these things.
Eren had little screen time this week, and the way he was used in that time was rather disappointing. It seemed like his character was growing recently, but in this episode he returned to his brash self when Reiner tried to tie him up. Eren’s violent struggle was a fruitless act; he had no real hope of winning due to his weakened state, and even if he had, there would be nowhere to go as they are trapped in the trees by the titans below. Acts like this just showcase the negative parts of his character – like his reliance on violence to solve his problems – and hold him back from evolving as a character.
The Verdict
At it’s core, Episode 35 has a compelling story to tell about Ymir and her troubled past. It dangles some new ideas in front of us about how connected Eren, Reiner and Ymir are, all while utilizing flashbacks in an entertaining way. The shell that surrounds Ymir’s story is far less interesting, however, with moments dragging on and some outright feeling out of place.
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