In Shiganshina, Squad Levi tries to distract the Colossus Titan first with Eren's presence then with force. Their attempts fail as Eren's Titan gets kicked away and the Colossus' steam deflect ODMG hooks and Thunder Spears. Even worse, the Armored Titan emerges ready to fight. On the Wall Maria side, the Beast Titan begins throwing crushed up boulders to bombard the Survey Corps. The first to die are the veteran squads lured out by the smaller Titans, with only the terrified recruits remaining. Faced with few options left, Erwin and Levi come up with a plan to kill the Beast Titan and retreat with Eren before they all die. They enact a desperate plan to have Levi manuveur to the Beast Titan using the line of 15 meter Titans encircling the Scouts while Erwin leads the recruits into a suicidal frontal charge to distract it. The first barrage of rocks hits them, killing several Scouts and wounding Erwin.
- All for Nothing: Discussed; Connie asks if one of the houses being destroyed by the Colossal Titan could be Eren's house.
- Ambiguous Situation: Levi and Erwin have no idea what's going on in Shiganshina, whether anyone's alive there or not. The audience also doesn't know whether Hange, Moblit, or anyone else from that squad survived the initial explosion.
- The Bait:
- The Survey Corps realizes too late that the first wave of small Titans was sent to bait in the Survey Corps to a smaller area so they would be wiped out by the thrown rocks.
- Erwin's latest gambit is to use himself and all remaining recruits as bait against the Beast Titan.
- Brutal Honesty: Erwin isn't shy about the fact that all of them in the frontal charge are about to die.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with about a dozen Scouts and/or their horses being slain by rock fragments, with Erwin himself wounded.
- David Versus Goliath: For the second time, Eren in his Titan form fights another Titan several times his size. Unfortunately for him, it doesn't work this time around because his target has Bertolt's intelligence.
- Death from Above: The Beast Titan throwing rocks with enough velocity to basically be artillery.
- Deer in the Headlights: Armin's sharp mind still can't think of any plan. Jean is taking over temporarily, but they are ultimately relying on Armin.
- Dissonant Serenity: The Beast Titan casually talks about throwing "a perfect game" as he hurls rocks at his enemies to massacre them, as if he were pitching in baseball.
- Do Not Go Gentle: Accepting that they are completely cut off and likely to all perish, Erwin decides to use the remaining Scouts' lives in a way that will give some of them a chance to live: a desperate attack against the Beast Titan.
- From Bad to Worse: Things look the bleakest for the Survey Corps in a long time. In Shinganshina, Hange and Moblit are MIA, Eren has been incapacitated, and it looks like Squad Levi has no way of stopping the Colossus and Armored Titans. In Wall Maria, the few veterans have been killed off and Erwin and Levi have nothing but a bunch of terrified recruits left as they are bombarded heavily by rocks. In essence, they are completely encircled and have no means of retreat.
- Frontline General: This time, Erwin has no choice but to be front and center of the charge, since none of the recruits will actually go unless he's marshalling them.
- Gory Discretion Shot: We are spared the sight of the first wave of Survey Corps veterans getting gibbed by rocks, instead we're only shown the bloody mist and some bodies afterwards.
- Heroic Sacrifice: The gist of Erwin's plan to the recruits.
- I Shall Taunt You: Squad Levi tries distracting Bertolt with verbal mockery so that Mikasa can kill his Titan with Thunder Spears. It doesn't work, as Jean notes, because the obvious distraction clues him in that something else is about to happen.
- Lost in Translation: In the Japanese version, Connie made a joke about how Eren's last name, Yeager, could sound similar to "house" and "ga," put together. For those who don't get it, the word for house in japanese is いえ (ie or ee-eh) there's also this particle が(ga) that denotes noun usage in the nominative case, sometimes accusative or dative cases. It'll be lost in English, so it was changed to how one of the homes that Bertholt is destroying could be Eren's house, and how it'll be nice feeling "a roof under their heads again."
- No-Sell: Getting to the Colossus Titan's nape is futile while it can use its steam blasts to blow away ODMG hooks, Thunder Spears, and its users.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Squad Levi only receives minor injuries when its assault on the Colossus Titan fails. Mikasa in particular is hit with some shrapnel, but not deeply.
- Outside-the-Box Tactic: No trees or buildings near the Beast Titan to use? Simple, have Levi use the line of Titans flanking him to manuever close to him.
- Rousing Speech: Courtesy of Erwin:Erwin: Would you say that of our fallen comrades? Their lives... were they meaningless? [suddenly shouting] No, they weren't! It's US that gives meaning to our comrades' lives! Those brave fallen! Those anguished fallen! The ones that will remember them are... are us, the living! We die trusting the living to follow us that they will find meaning in our lives! THAT IS THE ONLY WAY WE CAN REBEL AGAINST THIS CRUEL WORLD!Erwin: (mid-charge) MY SOLDIERS, RAGE! MY SOLDIERS, SCREAM! MY SOLDIERS, FIGHT!
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
- Eren's MMA takedowns may have worked on the Armored Titan, but both of them were of roughly equal size and strength. His David Versus Goliath attempt to grab the Colossus' legs ends in dismal failure, since his Titan is only a fraction of his target's size and it has no trouble punting him into the wall.
- The new recruits, brave as they were to sign up, have never been in combat before and are quickly reduced to trembling wrecks under the rock bombardment. They also don't have the discipline or morale to commit to a frontal charge without Erwin leading the vanguard.
- Tears of Fear: Several of the recruits are on the verge of this before they charge, and some of them do start crying in sheer terror before the barrage hits them.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: One of the Survey Corps recruits keels over and stress-vomits when she hears about Erwin's plan.
- We Need a Distraction:
- Averted for the Colosus Titan, even Eren's presence doesn't distract it from reaching Wall Maria and the others.
- Erwin uses himself and all remaining Survey Corps members as bait so that Levi can get to the Beast Titan.
- Your Size May Vary: In the size comparison shots, Erens 15M Titan is about 3/4 as tall as the colossals shin. When Eren fights him here, he barely passes the height of his ANKLE.
