Attack on Titan Season 4 Episode 15: Sole Salvation
“Sole Salvation” begins right where “Savagery” finishes, but the two episodes are structured so differently that it’s hard not to get whiplash when watching them back-to-back. Levi’s torturing of Zeke greatly intensifies, yet the episode retreats into Zeke’s subconscious as he mentally suffers for his actions and hopes to stumble upon absolution while he physically gets ravaged and turned into living viscera.
This flashback into Zeke’s childhood and one of his last remaining moments of true innocence might initially feel like a disappointment from the heavy action that’s present in “Savagery.” However, it’s presence here is not unlike how memories from past Titan bearers will flood the current users at unexpected moments. They have no control over when these memories will overlap with their own and are left to ponder the greater significance of it all.
The purpose of “Sole SalvationZeke’s upbringing succeeds as a valuable counterpoint to what’s been shown with the childhoods of Eren, Grisha, Reiner, Gabi, and Falco. Grisha hammers in the ideology to his son that if he hates the world then it’s his responsibility to change it. This mantra soon becomes synonymous with Zeke’s desire to become a Warrior, which begins as an extension of his father, but blossoms into a bold act of independence. A young Zeke gets pulled in two directions as he forms a friendship with Tom Ksaver, a Titan researcher and the previous bearer of the Beast Titan.
Tom’s influence on Zeke is a vital part of the boy’s development and Ksaver feels like the type of productive person that Grisha could have become under purer circumstances. Tom selflessly uses himself as a guinea pig for the sake of knowledge, whereas Grisha endangers his own family for data.
Tom isn’t without his own sins and he becomes a mentor figure for Zeke, but it’s fascinating to consider how differently Zeke and Eren’s lives might have gone with someone like Tom as their father. They could maybe be living normal lives rather than the immensely complicated scenarios that their existences have become. They’re ready to commit genocide to an entire group of people and Eren and Zeke still treat this like the lesser of two evils. It’s just an extended game of catch that’s been going on for generations.
“Savagery” and “Sole Salvation” do not mess around and in a season of very strong episodes they’re two installments that immediately stand out and feel memorable, but for completely different reasons. Both entries are emotionally draining and connect on every level. It genuinely hurts to see these characters tear each other down after they’ve gone through so much together.
So much of the second half of this season has revolved around Eren and Zeke’s secret plan and with only one episode remaining it’s truly unclear where this all will land. Eren’s half of the plan seems to be successful, especially from the Jaegerists’ perspective, but Zeke appears to have hit a real roadblock that may or may not ruin what Eren has in motion.
Other crucial players like Gabi, Annie, and Reiner also need to fit into all of this somehow. Attack on Titan has always been heading towards a dark and depressing ending, yet the moral compasses of so many characters have become magnetized and off center that even the “winners” might be too disgusted with who they’ve become to be able to celebrate.” is nebulous at first, but then it becomes clear why this piece of the story is currently being told.
“Sole Salvation” functions as a release of pressure from a run of episodes that have become impossibly tense. In the past, flashbacks have been utilized to fill in context from different perspectives and also allow the audience a much-needed breather. The jump backwards this time seems like it’s a gentle form of escapism, but there’s still a dark edge to it that amplifies the dread that’s prevalent in the present. It’s not so much a reprieve from danger as it is an explanation for the bloody turn that’s about to take place.
“Savagery” highlights Eren’s rage towards the “cattle” and “slaves” of the world, yet “Sole Salvation” underscores that these are exactly the conditions that brought Eren and Zeke into this world. Grisha’s entire mindset towards family and children is even comparable to a cattle breeder. The biggest question that’s hung over the second half of this season is how exactly Eren and Zeke have come to terms with each other and “Sole Salvation” beautifully gets that point across in the most tragic way possible.
Zeke and Eren are two attempts at the same idea and they’re able to find an empowering and dangerous invincibility in their dark roots. It’s almost as if they consider their increasing need for bloodshed and violence vindicated because they were always designed to be destructive weapons. One doesn’t get upset at an atom bomb for exploding . Eren and Zeke are just the two explosions at the end of very long wicks that Grisha lit years ago.
Zeke’s upbringing succeeds as a valuable counterpoint to what’s been shown with the childhoods of Eren, Grisha, Reiner, Gabi, and Falco. Grisha hammers in the ideology to his son that if he hates the world then it’s his responsibility to change it. This mantra soon becomes synonymous with Zeke’s desire to become a Warrior, which begins as an extension of his father, but blossoms into a bold act of independence. A young Zeke gets pulled in two directions as he forms a friendship with Tom Ksaver, a Titan researcher and the previous bearer of the Beast Titan.
Tom’s influence on Zeke is a vital part of the boy’s development and Ksaver feels like the type of productive person that Grisha could have become under purer circumstances. Tom selflessly uses himself as a guinea pig for the sake of knowledge, whereas Grisha endangers his own family for data.
Tom isn’t without his own sins and he becomes a mentor figure for Zeke, but it’s fascinating to consider how differently Zeke and Eren’s lives might have gone with someone like Tom as their father. They could maybe be living normal lives rather than the immensely complicated scenarios that their existences have become. They’re ready to commit genocide to an entire group of people and Eren and Zeke still treat this like the lesser of two evils. It’s just an extended game of catch that’s been going on for generations.
“Savagery” and “Sole Salvation” do not mess around and in a season of very strong episodes they’re two installments that immediately stand out and feel memorable, but for completely different reasons. Both entries are emotionally draining and connect on every level. It genuinely hurts to see these characters tear each other down after they’ve gone through so much together.
So much of the second half of this season has revolved around Eren and Zeke’s secret plan and with only one episode remaining it’s truly unclear where this all will land. Eren’s half of the plan seems to be successful, especially from the Jaegerists’ perspective, but Zeke appears to have hit a real roadblock that may or may not ruin what Eren has in motion.
Other crucial players like Gabi, Annie, and Reiner also need to fit into all of this somehow. Attack on Titan has always been heading towards a dark and depressing ending, yet the moral compasses of so many characters have become magnetized and off center that even the “winners” might be too disgusted with who they’ve become to be able to celebrate.
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