Attack on Titan Season 2 Episode 12 Recap – Scream

Titan Rush

Memories flash into Eren‘s mind as he sees the smiling Titan that killed his mother. He remembers his mother telling him to protect Mikasa and the moment she was taken from him five years ago.

Reiner continues to toss Titans against the scouts to defend himself. Ymir sees the commander and dismounts him while defeating another Titan. Commander Erwin orders his men to defend Eren but finds that they‘re also being eaten.

The smiling Titan reaches out to Eren and Mikasa, but Hannes comes in and defends them with a slash. He smiles at the coincidence and swears to avenge Eren‘s mother.

Armin and Jean approach them to help, but Reiner tosses another Titan in their direction.

Historia calls out to Ymir, who‘s choosing between which group to side with. Historia hooks on Ymir and asks her if she was really trying to save herself or was protecting her. She urges Ymir to stop living life for other people and to live life for herself. She promises she isn‘t afraid anymore and zips into the enemy before them to fight.

Hannes continues to distract the smiling Titan while Mikasa and Eren get back up. Eren asks her to untie him, as only he can stop what‘s happening. Mikasa tells him to stop, as he can‘t endanger his life like such. He tries to transform, but it doesn‘t work.

Looming Death

Reiner is starting to free himself from the enemy Titans, flinging them to the Scouts, who are continually losing their numbers. Erwin gets surrounded, Armin gets cornered, and the smiling Titan is about to devour Hannes.

Eren continually bites himself to no avail. The smiling Titan devours Hannes. Seeing it, he breaks down and cries after feeling so useless. Mikasa assures him it‘s not true. She thanks him for giving her life a purpose and wrapping the scarf around her.

Eren swears to be with her forever and punches the smiling Titan, which causes an electric chain reaction. Suddenly, all the Titans leave what they‘re doing and attack the smiling Titan, piling on to devour her.

Everyone watches in disbelief. Ymir realizes why the enemy coveted Eren‘s real power.

Reiner rushes to Eren, musing that he‘s the worst type of person to inherit the coordinate power. Eren yells at Reiner and challenges him to fight, which redirects the other Titans to attack Reiner.

Armin arrives with a horse to help Eren and Mikasa while Commander Erwin calls for a retreat. Ymir looks back and taps Historia on the head. She apologizes to her and moves back to help Reiner and Bertholdt.

Retreat

Armin couldn‘t understand Ymir‘s motivation, but Reiner stopped attacking them after such. Eren thinks of Hannes and regrets his passing.

As they flee to safety, Reiner asks Ymir why she came to their aid. She says it‘s her way of paying them back. Without the destruction of the walls, she would have continued living as a vagrant. Bertholdt thanks her.

With the reported destruction of Wall Rose, many of the refugees were forced to live in the underground cities below Wall Sina. But the food rations won‘t last long, so they declared Wall Rose to be safe after a week.

Hange, alongside Connie, reports to Erwin and Pyxis on their findings on Ragako Village. They hypothesize that those who attacked them were the citizens of the town themselves.

Eren regrets losing half of their squad in the effort to save him, but Armin tells him that it was he who made them escape safely. It‘s all up to him now to not let those deaths happen in vain. Eren promises to do his best.

Erwin smiles as they leave, having taken a step forward toward the truth.

Our Thoughts

Eren‘s power came out of nowhere, but it still feels earned as it explains why he‘s so highly contested. Rating: 4/5.