The fifth episode of Attack on Titan Season 3, titled Reply, failed to disappoint. It’s not the most action-packed since, similar to the previous episode, fleshing out the story is the main idea here.
Now, it should be noted that Reply is mostly about Erwin and what he’s planning. Folks who have already read the manga will know the outcome, but for us anime faithful’s, we were in for a big surprise.
Episode four ended with the Military Police bringing Erwin to kneel before the King, and that is exactly where the new episode began. Erwin is there on his knees while being questioned and surrounded by men who want him dead.
As for the King, he sits on his throne for the entire episode looking like a badass who doesn’t care about anything.
The entire plan was to blame Erwin and the Scouts for several problems and then execute him. Doing so would ultimately make it easier for the sitting King to hold onto his power, but things didn’t go as planned.
You see, Pyxis faked a Titan invasion to test the government. He wanted to see if they cared about the people, and if that is the case, Erwin would meet the sword. However, if the government didn’t care about the people, then a coup would commence, and Erwin set free.
It shouldn’t be too difficult for folks to figure out what the government decided to do. It was clear from the first season that the Royals did not care about the people, so them choosing to abandon folks to their death isn’t surprising.
As it stands, then, the government was overthrown, officials removed from their post, and Erwin is back to leading the plan to place the true royals on the throne. From what we’ve come to understand, Historia is more eligible, and she’ll likely sit on the throne in future episodes.
Overall, we enjoyed what Episode 5 had to offer, and no doubt it’s leading to a big battle that could change everything.
Season 3 is all about the human experience, therefore, more humans will die than Titans, and you know what? That’s a good thing because after two seasons, seeing humans fighting Titans was becoming quite boring.