Attack On Titan Season 3 Episode 3 Recap – Old Story

Tragic Past

In a flashback, Historia explains she was raised on a farm inside Wall Rose, which the Reiss family owned. She’d been working as a farmhand for as long as she can remember. Her mother was always nearby, reading her books. Every night, a carriage would arrive to take her mother while she wore her fancy clothes. Historia spent those nights reading her mother’s books and learned that other children had mothers who hugged and cared for them, unlike her.

One day she tried hugging her mother out of curiosity, but her reaction was disgust, and she shoved her away. Still, it was a reaction that made her happy. Her mother tells her she’s regretful that she couldn’t kill her. After that, her mother left to live elsewhere.

When the walls fell five years ago, Rod Reiss arrived at Historia’s home to introduce himself as her father. She finds her mother alongside him, who looks frightened. Rod tells Historia that she’ll be living with him.

Kenny, acting as a guard, executes Historia’s mother in front of her. But before Kenny moves on to Historia, Lord Reiss stops him and orders her to change her name to Christa Lenz.

Plans

In the present, Rod Reiss apologizes to Historia for what he’d done and reveals that she has the Royal bloodline. This means that she’s the only one who can save humanity.

Sannes and Ralph regret that Hange’s maneuver led them to reveal their secrets. Hange taunts them that this is payback for what happened to Nick. Sannes warns her that there’s someone else who’ll step in after them and wishes her luck.

Hange tells everyone about her findings, explaining that Ymir was once a titan outside the walls who ate Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie’s other comrade. When a titan eats someone with power like Reiner’s, they can revert to humans and obtain the power to transform themselves. In that case, Eren’s power can simply be taken back by the government if they had a titan. Levi tells everyone to prepare for the operation on Reiss’s land.

Pyxis arrives at Erwin’s room to discuss their plans of overthrowing the current government so they can take care of Wall Maria. Erwin has a bloodless plan, but all the pieces have to be in place. Otherwise, he and everyone else could end up hanged. Hange arrives and confirms his guesses.

The Truth

The Reiss family is the true royal family, and the current one is merely a fake. Once they’re removed, they can enthrone Historia as the real queen. They’ll reveal the current system as a huge lie. Pyxis agrees to this gamble, but it’ll be up to Historia to decide.

Erwin moves out to respond to the call of Erwin’s arrest, as he’s been the one framed for Reeves’ death. If anything happens, he orders Hange as next in command.

At Reeves’ crime scene, the police declare all the scouts as fugitives for scheming and trying to monopolize Eren’s power.

Before leaving, Erwin tells Reeves’ family members that his real killer will be avenged. When he was a boy, Erwin asked his father, who was a teacher, about the real history of the walls. His father knew that the government’s narrative about the walls was inconsistent. Once Erwin tried to tell his friends about his father’s story, the Military police soon reported Erwin’s father’s death.

Even if the government’s interest is in humanity’s safety, all his father did was try and get to the truth. This was when Erwin realized that the government was merely protecting their wealth and property, extinguishing those who stood in their way. His mission now is to prove his father was right.

Elsewhere, Levi’s squad camps in the wilderness to evade arrest, but the enemy is closing in.

Our Thoughts

The current arc isn’t as exciting action-wise but intriguing just the same. Rating: 3.9/5.