I’ll be the first to admit that was an altogether excellent episode of Shingeki no Kyoujin.  As with last week it was refreshingly free of Isayama’s social philosophy and dug its hands into the dough of man’s inhumanity to man and petty conspiracy.  And it worked even better than last week’s ep in terms of the drama itself, with a ton of tension and a nicely plotted build-up to a debacle we all knew was coming.  There’s still a lot of reveals being pulled out of the story’s metaphorical backside, but at least it’s happening in entertaining fashion.

With Armin having been reduced to a gargoyle on the wall of this story this season, Falco has emerged as one of the few characters who really deserves our empathy.  So naturally, it figured he was due for some abuse and soon, too.  From the moment he and Gabi were ushered into that restaurant by Mr. Braus it was obvious something really ugly was going to happen.  Kaya (am I nuts, or has there always been something a bit off about her?) may have thought she was doing them a solid, but even before the big reveal with Nicolo the tension was off the charts.

The arrival of the scouts didn’t wind up being the impetus for that, though it easily could have given the kids’ fugitive status.  Nicolo’s reaction over the wine made it pretty obvious something was going on there, but that was just the warmup for his wig-out over Gabi.  Seriously, this girl just will not shut up, and it’s the same annoying dogma over and over.  Nicolo’s breakdown was a little over the top but this is Attack on Titan after all, and under the circumstances it might just have been believable.

Poor Falco – getting brained with a wine bottle isn’t even the worst thing that happened to him today.  The showdown with the knife was really nicely played, and Braus-san proved he’s a man of words as well as actions, and his actions backed up his words.  There aren’t many like him in this cast, that’s for sure, but his little flicker of humanity isn’t even a candle against the darkness.  Whether his intervention is enough to save Falco who knows, now that he’s been dosed with Zeke’s spinal fluid (assuming he was going to survive the head injury to begin with) but at least his throat isn’t cut.

That whole business with the wine and the spinal fluid feels like a bit of an asspull, but that’s not out of character and I’m curious to see where it goes.  Seems like the Jaegerists have been in the catbird seat all along, and the survey corps played like a rented piano just like the military leadership (by Yelena and Zeke, among others).  As for what Eren wants with Mikasa and Armin, this feels like it may be the last chance for their reconciliation before they’re pot-committed to opposing courses of action.  I hope Armin, at least, has enough surviving convictions to refute the future Eren seems to be planning.