Attack on Titan - Episode 52 Discussion / Poll
 

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I bet most people don't even remember who Marco was :heh:
He was indeed pretty smart to be able to figure out this much from a small conversation.

Reiner sure is resilient. He just won't fucking die. Bert cast his doubts aside and burned everything to the ground with the fearsome CGI (Colossally Gigantic Intelligent) Titan.

What a mess. Armin and the whole crew screwed up by not killing Reiner when they had the chance. Why did they later realize that Bertolt would not transform upon seeing Reiner on the verge of death? If only they'd fired a third volley following the previous two back to back ones.. On a sidenote, Reiner is practically only breathing due to plot armor at this point and IMO, that's bad writing.
Lastly, as usual, close-ups of Titan feasts are brutal and those three traitors are horrible for at-least not knocking Marco unconscious before he 'had' to die. Interesting that Marco was insanely sharp, perhaps more so than Armin.

I'm not a manga reader, so I don't know anything beyond what I just watched in this episode. I just have one question.

Why the fuck did they make Armin one of the leaders? Why wasn't it someone like Hange who is much better at directing people, and can ensure they are all safe/accounted for? What good does it do everyone when Armin becomes flustered in the heat of the moment, potentially delaying critical decisions that could save them?

In all fairness, while Armin's plans tend to be a little unorthodox and do carry some risks, he usually does manage to get results. Considering what's at stake in this battle, Erwin choosing him as the strategist was a better choice than choosing someone rational and by-the-books instead.

At this point, they are 100% guaranteed to incur huge losses. Might as well make the most of those losses by having the person most likely to achieve the desired result lead the operation.

But not smart enough to keep his mouth shut.

Easy to say in hindsight, but first Reiner looked pretty dead, and then they ran out of time, not knowing Bertholt wouldn't sacrifice him. Hell, he was ready to make his attack anyway even if Reiner didn't lie on his back.

Besides there was no guarantee that Berthold would even notice Reiner.

Descent
 

As people, we humans are full of nuances and contradictions. At times we covet to being in somebody's else company, and at another times we're so annoyed and fed up with the other people surrounding us because we want to be left alone.

As a species, how we have managed not to completely self-destructed or imploded given the track of the bloody history that each our human civilizations delivered when one came after the previous one?

It gives to thought whether negotiating at attempting to truly understanding each other is just an altruistic, fairy-tale or a political tool used just to advance one's side over the expense of the others?

Honestly, my heart was breaking and I was left hopeless at the verge of tears witnessing both Marco's and Armin's failures. For the former, he was instantly betrayed by comrades whom he believed he knew due to having overheard things he shouldn't have heard at the wrong time and then fed to the abyss of the cruel world.
For the latter, any possibilities for dialog we're shot down by the former comrades he thought to believe they would listen. The end result for both was that their naivety and expectations were crushed, and as one was left to die alone in the most nihilistic manner possible the other has currently succumbed to absolute dread at being helpless not knowing what to do while his former town is literally thrown into a fiery hell trapping him along with his surviving comrades.

Descent came and went with a lightning shot, and that ever desire to break free from the walls and look for the ocean's existence has turned bleak and now almost impossible to grasp.