 Welcome to one take today. We're talking about attack on Titan season 3 episode 19 Also known as episode 56 titled the basement I'm Gil and I'm talking to my brother alone. Say hello alone. Hey there and This we're gonna be spoilers here because we're doing a full recap and review So if you haven't seen the episode, I don't know why we always have to tell them this if you haven't seen the episode Go watch it and then come back and watch this video Yeah, I'm not sure why you would want a recap like Do you really enjoy watching just the YouTube recaps go watch the show what you know what though? I think that maybe our recaps that might enjoy these so much. They can't even wait They've got to watch this before they watch the show But watch the show then come back and check out our recap and I should say I don't read the manga So there won't be any spoilers from the manga. Oh, you don't read the manga either, right? Okay, so Spoilers for the anime, but we don't read the manga. So there won't be any spoilers beyond episode 56 So alone, let's jump right into it The episode opens up Armin wakes up on the wall So from the last episode we know he turned into a Titan He ate the colossal Titan Bertolt and now he's woken up And he doesn't remember a thing So one of my favorite parts of the episode happens right here at the beginning Levi shows up and he tells Aaron to fill armin in get him up to speed And I always wonder what they're gonna do which seems like this in a TV show where we know everything that happens And some character doesn't are we gonna watch them explain everything? So in this case Aaron goes to tell Armin what happened it cuts away to a few random characters and then cuts back and Levi's like So Aaron you tell him everything Yeah, I thought it's hilarious that Armin then starts explaining what Aaron explained to him during the cutaway Right, you think it's so clever that it didn't show you the whole explanation So now we'll just see Armin's reaction and Armin's reaction is to explain everything He says are you telling me? The Scout Regiment is the nine of us here and that's it. I ate Bertolt But I actually I actually liked it because as he explained what happened you saw him reacting to it And you could see how disgusted he was with the fact that he ate another Titan You saw how how much you saw the despair in his face when he realized that He was chosen to live over Erwin And in fact, he asks Levi. Why did you choose me and at first Levi says Aaron and Mikasa they stood up and Threatened to draw blood if I didn't pick you, you know if I saved Erwin and at first you think oh, he's not Taking responsibility for this, but then Levi says ultimately the decision was his to save Armin And one interesting wrinkle there is he says specifically Levi says However, the final decision to choose you was mine No, I chose this to be the place where Erwin dies So basically he's saying I didn't choose to save you. I chose to let Erwin die You know how did you interpret? So I think I asked you after the episode I get confused a lot when we watch these shows So I asked you why did Levi choose Why did he choose Armin over Erwin? Right. So my interpretation is that he kind of already accepted Erwin's fate of death If we recall that scene before Erwin's plan to just charge at the Beast Titan That was actually partially Levi's Call he told Erwin. I want you to do it. I want you to charge a beast Titan sacrifice yourself This is a suicide mission give up all your hopes and dreams about seeing the basement, right? Just accept your fate. You're dying for the good of the rest of mankind. And so at this point Levi is basically thinking He may as well be dead right now. That was the suicide mission. He happened to survive But he shouldn't have right Yeah, no, I agree with that and actually in the previous episode when Levi was going to inject Erwin You remember Erwin kind of smacked his hand away and it seemed like an involuntary movement because then he spoke a line That I think he'd spoken when he was in class years earlier But I do wonder if subconsciously Erwin was saying no, like this is my time to die Yeah, that's mine. I do think that Erwin was aware of the situation Even though he was you know, he wasn't completely with it, but he did understand what was happening and he decided This should go this injection should go over to Armin. Let me die. That's the right decision Yeah, I think that's right and Well, actually was it the right decision though? Do you think it made sense to save Armin over Erwin? It's an interesting question Yeah I'm not sure they both they throughout the the series they both have come up with great strategies They're both they both well I was gonna say they both do well under pressure But then I remember the scene with Armin where he freaked out and asked Jean to take over right I Don't know. All right, so I went back and forth on this my first thought was Exactly what you said they've both been important. They've both saved the day So it's sort of either one is fine. You've got to pick one. There's no right answer Having said that I do think Levi's decision It didn't feel like a logical one necessarily the whole concept of I chose this to be the place where Erwin dies Because he was prepared to die that feels like an emotional decision to me But I've come around to I do think it was right to save Armin Because Aaron and Mikasa are both crucial players in this whole thing So you can't ignore the emotional side of it if Armin dies and then Aaron and Mikasa lose hope and they're Devastated that could actually be a crushing blow to humanity. Yeah, that's true. You don't want Aaron The one of the only Titans you have on your side against you Yeah, Aaron I need you to fight me. No No, exactly and not only that but You know like Armin cannot replace Erwin like I don't think any it would take a lot of convincing for people to start looking at Armin the way they look at Erwin Armin is good at, you know, strategizing and Having his team follow him, but he doesn't he's never led And I don't see him leading as many people as Erwin has for a while I think maybe Levi will start taking on some of the responsibilities Erwin has So I think there is someone that could take Erwin's spot, you know in the leadership role Yeah, that actually that'll be interesting because Levi. I think he inspires people But I can't imagine him giving that motivational speech that Erwin gave Before everyone charged at the Beast Titan Levi doesn't strike me as a big public speaker But he might have to step into that role. That'll be interesting to see. Yeah, I think we get glimpses of it You know, I can't remember a specific example But I think there are instances where he he has been motivational. There are instances where he's just very factual Right almost emotionless, but there are you do see glimpses. I think we're gonna start seeing him Start taking on more of that role and caring more about people again. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think so, too And and then also a minor point here. So when When Armin wakes up one of the first things he notices is that Sasha potato girl is there and she's pretty badly hurt But she's she's alive What is the point of Sasha having been hurt so far? It seems like this background fact that you almost forget about it Is there any do you think that that's that that's gonna mean anything in a future episode? at first I thought that maybe it was so in the episode two episodes ago when Armin, you know, we thought was dead when Erwin was badly injured I was going through the calculation of who are they gonna use the Titan serum on and it's gonna be someone who's close to death and I took that as okay. It's got to be either Armin It's got to be Erwin and then I thought hey, it could be at a left field Sasha Because you kind of see her get hurt pretty bad for a second. So I thought I was being clever But looking back I wonder if that was a red herring where they just wanted you to look at that and say hey Sasha got hurt real bad Maybe she's gonna turn into a Titan and they're trying to throw us off the trail But at the same time I feel like I'm maybe the only person who thought that so I don't know Yeah, I mean I have that thought crossed my mind, but it quickly dissipated Because her level of importance just is way lower than someone like Armin even Armin So yeah, but maybe it wasn't as a red herring. You might be right. Maybe Well then a few of them head off to the basement so finally we're gonna see What's in that basement and it's a pretty emotional scene as they're walking to Aaron's house? Lots of flashbacks. We see Hans. Remember the drunk guy? Yeah from episode one who played a role for a few seasons Lots of sad music lots of cutting around the town. You see the whole place in ruins And they really take their time getting to the house. So this is an emotional scene It's also just building suspense because we're finally gonna see you know after 56 episodes What's down there? So the the five minutes of stretching this out until we get to the basement it all worked for me I didn't get bored. I felt suspense. I felt the emotions of it Worked did it work for you on your side or were you like come on? Can we get to the basement already? No, I liked it if they didn't end up showing what was inside the basement till the next episode that might avoid me but I don't mind the the Suspense right it reminded me of lost actually the whole concept of There's something down there. We don't know what it is Let's find out and then if this was lost the episode would have ended right as they opened the door And then it would have been like a six episode side story You don't care about and then next season you'd see what's in the basement I mean, we've waited long enough already. We waited three seasons. I'm glad they didn't make us wait one more episode, right? So they find the hatch to the basement they pry a rock off it They open the hatch then they find a door the key doesn't work Aaron screwed up again But if you think a door is gonna stop Levi, you're an idiot Levi kicks the door open Now for a second, did you think it was gonna be booby-trapped down there? Yeah first split second, but I mean, why would it be booby-trapped? well because There's dangerous information down there and Aaron's dad wouldn't want the police finding it But then again if a police opened that door and an arrow went through his head. He'd be in a lot of trouble So booby-traps probably wouldn't really make sense I kind of love Levi's carelessness there. He's just like yeah, I'm doing this They leave I wait and he's like it's been 55 episodes. I'm going in So they get in it looks like a lab right they see books Bottles all kinds of doctor stuff and then they find a drawer with a keyhole Open the drawer nothing in there, but there's a false bottom. They find some books and In that book they find a portrait of Aaron's family Now how quickly did you realize that it's a big deal that there was a photograph in the book at first? You're like, ah, it's a photograph whatever I Think I realized pretty quickly actually Not to brag Yeah, when I was like a lot of photograph that must that means there must have been a camera You know like Gil the episode ended 10 minutes ago. I know Also explained it on the back of the photograph, so I don't know why So okay, so they find a photograph in the book and then we get another flashback we see Irwin Talking about how the history books declare that the rest of humanity has been wiped out and he says that's BS It should say it is believed the rest of humanity has been wiped out And he thinks that it's intentional that all the history books have been written to make us think that the rest of humanity Is wiped out don't question it, but in reality, they can't really know that all they know is what's in the walls So they want to remind us that Irwin had that suspicion and then Hanj, Erin, Mikasa, they take the book back to town and on the back of the photo I guess on the walk back no one's looked at the back of the photo yet and now finally they do in the back of the photo says This is no illustration Instead this uses light reflected off a subject and burns the image on special paper It's called a photograph. I come from a place outside the walls Where humanity lives in elegance? Humanity has not perished. I pray the person who finds the book this book is a fellow Patriot and then Sayonara Sakaya Episodes over Well before we go to the after court after credit sequence, I mean first off big revelation There is humanity's out there and they have cameras and they live in elegance So were you surprised by this or did you see it coming? I wish I was surprised But I saw it coming That is that because you just pieced it together in your head and you suspected it Is it because they gave it away in the first, you know, 20 minutes of the movie the live-action movie so I Think the movie kind of ruined it, but I don't remember before the movie Did we discuss this as a possibility you and I I think we did. I think we had to have yeah Yeah, I mean I think anytime we see a movie or show where it's like this isolated Old-school city you kind of wonder like if you never see outside the the walls of the city What's out there and if you wonder that you have to question maybe it takes place now who knows right right yeah Yeah, yeah same here. I wasn't super surprised, but I still like it and it's still it's More important than are being surprised at it is the fact that the characters are gonna be surprised and The possibilities that this opens up for the next chapter in the story, right with this show to me It's not just about finding out what the secret is. It's the journey and watching the characters experience it so It you know, I just like looking at it through their eyes Right, right, and there's still a ton of questions all we know humanity lived What is the state of humanity outside the wall? When did Aaron's dad get here? So how has it changed since he arrived are why don't they know about the rest of humanity? Does the rest of humanity know about Titans they know about them there's a ton of questions Yeah, I was wondering are there major cities then deal with the Titans as well, and how do they deal with them, right? Yeah Maybe they're on the side of the Titans. Maybe they're sending them over. Yeah, I don't know Okay, so you said after credit sequence So normally we don't watch after the credits because it's kind of a next time on so if you don't want to know Anything from the next time on, you know, don't listen to us right now Although but before that part I think it always says preview When this time we didn't say that we stop watching so right I think we should make sure we always watch through the credits Just in case there is something I think they do intend for you to see it Yeah, dang We have to go back to all 55 episodes and watch the next time on this is like a rest of development where it's Not really the next time on and we've been missing the joke the whole time So after the credits we see two kids we very quickly learn one of them is Aaron's father Grisha, so it's a little girl and a little boy named fey and Grisha Immediately the style of the place looks like 30s kind of they have those like caps that everyone wore in the 30s And then their mom I'm assuming their brother and sister sort of seem that way an older woman runs Oh runs over and says I told you not to forget your armbands and she makes them put their armbands on Kind of looks like a star on the armband and then they see a blimp go overhead and You start to hear narration from Aaron's dad So you start to understand probably what we're seeing here are memoirs from from those books I'm assuming this this is Aaron's dad writing about all of his experiences And the narration specific of so well in the flashback so Grisha says That the airships take off and land near the town So he grabs fey and the two of them run out the wall Before it closes because they want to see where the airship lands and all the guards yell for them to come back and they they run And then you hear Aaron's dad narrate that naive day of my youth When I had to face the truth of this world So I'm assuming that the next episode will mostly be flashback and we're going to see Aaron's dad as a kid and learn a little bit about The world outside the wall of how he got there and what the truth of this world is Yeah, and what's interesting is you wonder is This the same city that they're living in now, which it probably is but they have modern fencing They have a speaker system. So did somebody purposely Devolve the city and then hide that from the inhabitants It's interesting that you interpreted it that way because I didn't read it that way I'm actually thinking this isn't the same city Because they make reference to humanities out there So there's the wall where Aaron and everybody lives in fear of the Titans There's humans out there and actually Aaron's dad says I come from outside So I'm assuming this is some other place and somehow Aaron's dad came to you know where we are where we are now good point Yeah Yeah, wow, so you couldn't figure out the photograph, but you could figure that out impressive So so one big takeaway for me is that the last few episodes I Keep thinking is this show about to end like is this the last season and the problem is I'm afraid to Google Anything about this show because I don't want to give anything away from the manga But this is the first time in three or four episodes where it's feeling less like an ending and it could very well Be a beginning of sorts because this opens up a whole new world of possible stories Because you know when Aaron learns about humanity outside the walls his resolve to leave is gonna be even bigger and Now we know there's something outside the wall worth finding and just who knows what's gonna happen from here Is there gonna be a conflict between the humans that we know in the humans on the outside world This could be an ending or it could very well open up many more chapters in this story. I Hope it's more chapters. Yeah, me too We're gonna find out that this was the final episode. I'm like, oh damn it But it definitely isn't because it said to be continued at the end Did say that it did on the screen. Yeah, I feel Yeah All right, well, I think that covers the episode any any closing thoughts Nope, just very excited to see where all this goes Yeah, I think I'll say this is maybe my favorite season of Attack on Titan If not my favorite, it's definitely my favorite since season one It's been I mean the last three or four episodes have been absolutely incredible Yeah, I would say this season So like last season I think had a little too much of the political stuff I think this season has a good balance where between the action and the Political stuff, right? I missed a lot of the action last season. It's good to see it come back Same here. And when you say last season you mean season three part one, right? I Might you do Season two pretty political It was but season three part one is when they they started to reveal all that stuff about Erasing the memories. There's all that confusing stuff about lineage and I kept being like, oh, what's going on here? And you're like, it doesn't matter Yeah, so been loving the season can't wait to see what happens next and I feel bad for people that watched Game of Thrones this season and don't watch Attack on Titan because this has been a great silver lining I'm like, you know, I love it the game of Thrones But Attack on Titans my new my new game of Thrones. It's never been better So hopefully they know what they're doing and they end Attack on Titan the right way in season eight. Exactly. Yeah Exactly All right Well, thanks for watching everybody if you enjoyed this video make sure to subscribe to our channel and Hit the little bell icon so you get notified whenever we make more videos like this one. Thanks for watching