LONGGG rant about attack on titan’s ending and how it correlates to the whole idea of “eren was never free” under the cut
i love aot’s ending.
first things first: aot was never meant to have a happy ending. the whole point is that eren always wanted something better, something greater than the situation he was stuck in. he reached for that, a world beyond what he could see, and he called it freedom. he thought that if he could have a world outside the walls, they would be free. they would be happy.
in the conversation armin and zeke had in the paths, zeke said that the purpose of life is to multiply. he, like eren, thought that you had to look for something greater to be happy, to be free.
eren wasn’t satisfied with just multiplying as a meaningless life form, of course. as a child inside the walls, living with a false sense of security and safety, he said that they were living like livestock. and reproducing without any purpose in life— that is a cow, a pig, those are animals who only live to eat, sleep and procreate. eren didn’t want that.
and see here; this is how zeke and eren share the same idea. the yeager brothers both believe that to be free, you have to go outside the walls and constantly strive for a higher ideal.
but think— even though eren got what he wanted, when he reached the sea, it was when everything went downhill. personally, i think he realized that he’d been leading himself on all this time. he couldn’t be free. not if he slaughtered everyone else, not if he killed everyone who wasn’t from paradis.
eren was always looking for more, looking for the freedom that would satisfy him once and for all. he wanted to have nothing in his way, and that in itself is impossible to achieve.
however (and this is the part i adore), armin is eren’s opposite.
yes, he also wanted to go to the sea, to witness mountains of fire and lands of ice as he said it, but he was content with staying inside the walls.
not because he was fine with being livestock.
armin saw purpose in everything. and he didn’t think of himself as livestock in the first place.
talking to zeke, he said that he would’ve been content just racing with mikasa and eren every day, on that hill, young forever and lost in the happiness of a simple activity that he knew he enjoyed.
he said that he thought that was the purpose of life; to be happy, to find happiness in what you have. and that was freedom for him; because he was free doing what he loved and found meaning in the tiniest things.
eren, in comparison, couldn’t do that.
here’s the thing. eren succeeded in killing 80% of the world’s population, but he was still unsatisfied. why? because he still. wasn’t. free. there were still wars left to be fought and enemies left. perhaps he made things harder for his friends, even.
as shown in the ending, war rages on, after his death and after mikasa’s death and armin’s death. there cannot be freedom if freedom, to eren, means a state of constant peace and happiness; happiness is never everlasting.
but armin was free because despite everything, he believed in happiness and freedom and loving everything he did, even in the seemingly meaningless playthings.
armin taught zeke that just playing catch-ball with a mentor can be your purpose in life. it can be your way to freedom and feeling satisfied. eren didn’t understand that.
now the ultimate question: does this mean eren was wrong for seeing freedom as a life beyond the constraints that held him inside the walls, for never liking what he had in front of him?
no. he was a boy full of too much hope for the world. yet it is because of this hope that he fails to ever be free, unlike armin. he could never achieve freedom because nothing was enough for him.
eren was never free and he never believed in freedom in the first place. armin was always free.
thank you for coming to my TedTalk.
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My five cents on Tech’s fate in TBB
It’s been over three weeks since the show ended and I’ve been writing this in my head ever since, mostly to have it summed up in one post for posterity lol. I considered letting it go at this point but I know it’ll drive me crazy if I don’t get it out of my system so might as well.
So here we go, some of my rambly post-finale thoughts on Tech’s death (and a few other issues) under the cut!
Disclaimer: while this post is in critical spirit (because that’s how my brain works), I want to make clear that I have nothing but respect and gratitude towards everyone who’s worked on the show. My criticisms are of the final story as a whole as I interpret it (art is art, everything is subjective, you know the drill), but one never knows what goes into the process of making it behind the scenes, so I’m not holding anything against the creative team. I love this show dearly and am in awe of how good it is at its best, despite certain things I wish they did differently.
To begin, if I had to sum up the biggest problem that TBB writing suffers from, it would be lack of closure, and too many red herrings. Not just for Tech, but many things. Major plot threads as well as little character moments are cultivated or thrown in just to never culminate in anything or to be immediately discarded after serving the plot, some of them incredibly misleading. Some of the top examples:
- Crosshair’s chip. We never get an exploration of how the trauma of his chip activating and being left behind not only affected his motivation and choice to stay with the Empire, but his relationship with his brothers. While it was made fairly obvious, if subtly, that Crosshair became free of the chip’s influence after getting hit by the ion engine on Bracca, the narrative treated this change as if it didn’t matter at that point, while it obviously mattered a lot within the context of Crosshair’s character. Add to that all these little details with him clutching his head in s1 finale, Omega expressing her disappointment in him, and Tech’s comment on how “it is just his nature” (as if it matters!!! See what I mean about the narrative treating Cross’s chip as if it didn’t play the key part in his trajectory? They throw in this line, like we are supposed to take away that it’s simply Crosshair being Crosshair and not like, the results of brainwashing and abandonment), Wrecker blaming Crosshair for not going back to them, all while we as the audience have been shown and told repeatedly how these chips work (and so were the Batch), we ended up with an incredibly confusing situation with lots of mixed signals from the writers. And once Crosshair makes his choice to stay with the Empire in s1 finale, his chip and the confusion it brought to his relationship with his brothers is never brought up again, because the plot simply moves on.
- Cid’s betrayal. After her being a major character for two seasons with a continuous relationship build-up with Omega in particular, she is discarded as soon as her betrayal serves the plot, with all that character development getting thrown out of the window. You can be mad at Cid all you want, but to me it’s incredibly weird and wasteful to end two seasons worth of build up on that note without it having any closure for the characters, especially Omega whose whole theme is trusting people and bringing out the best in them. It’s fine if they decided to make Cid exactly what she appeared on the surface (untrustworthy and self-serving) after playing around with her potentially growing through her fondness of Omega, but then at the very least the betrayal should’ve had an impact on the characters, Omega most of all. Even just one casual line from Omega in s3 about how Cid’s betrayal impacted her emotionally, however minimally, would have solved that problem. And no, CX-2 mentioning how he extracted info on Phee from her off screen absolutely doesn’t count as closure, because I’m talking about emotional closure for the main pov characters as well as the audience. Cid had a presence for two seasons, then as soon as she executed her role as a traitor to further the plot, she was discarded like she was a random extra.
- Emerie’s relationship with Hemlock. We are led to believe that he basically raised her, instilling in her the idea that she had no chance without him and owed her purpose and “safety” to him. You can’t tell me that this didn’t deeply affect her struggle and eventual decision to break away from all that and choose to help the kids, basically betraying Hemlock. I get that the show only had so much screen time and Emerie is a supporting character in season 3 at best, but common, she has more tension with Dr. Scalder than Hemlock while the potential for this rich deep conflict between them is right there.
I can probably list more smaller examples but this is getting long and I don’t want to go on any more tangents, so, finally, the biggest example of lack of closure and tendency of TBB writing to display foreshadowing that leads nowhere:
Tech’s death.
First of all, I’ll die on the hill that it wasn’t denial or delusion that led to such a big portion of the audience to believe that Tech didn’t really die in s2. If we look at the facts:
- there was no body
- it’s the finale of season 2 out of 3, pretty early for one of the main titular characters to get killed off
- the only/last character to allegedly see Tech after his fall is a villainous scientist who is known to experiment on clones specifically
- not a fact but: the whole scene with Hemlock presenting Tech’s goggles to Hunter was incredibly suspicious. In hindsight, I think the whole purpose of it was so that the Batch got Tech’s goggles back in their possession as a memento (and to show how evil Hemlock is to rub it into Hunter’s face like that) but it was executed in a way that read as something much more. It read as if Hemlock was going out of his way to convince us/Hunter of Tech’s death, but with us knowing who Hemlock is, his background in experimenting on clones, everything screams at us to not trust a word he says. Is it really so surprising that so many of the viewers immediately jumped at the conclusion that something more was going on there?
- Hunter’s (lack of) reaction/immediate narrative fall-out. More on that later as I address lack of emotional impact of Tech’s death in s3.
- it’s Star Wars. And there was no body.
So yeah, to me, it is completely justified that so many people read that whole thing as open to speculation at the very least, foreshadowing Tech’s survival at most.
Personally, I was 70% sure Tech was truly dead prior to s3, but not because the text told me so, but because at that point I was used to the show’s writing regularly sending out mixed signals, and a part of me was resigned to Tech’s death becoming another example of the writer’s intent clashing with their accidental empty foreshadowing.
As season 3 aired and the whole CX-2 plot was unfolding alongside continued lack of closure for Tech’s fate, my hope for Tech Lives reveal grew and grew, but in the end my initial doubt was proven right, unfortunately.
Oh, CX-2.. what a mess. You can’t tell me the creators went over all of these scenes, all of these lines, looked at the whole picture and *didn’t* see how it was incredibly easy to interpret CX-2 as potentially being Tech with all these little potential parallels. “Domicile” alone.
If they didn’t want us to entertain the idea that it could be Tech, they could’ve done it differently, but for some reason, they chose to leave that space for speculation. My question is, why?
If they truly wanted us to believe Plan 99 was it, Tech’s Noble End that we were supposed to take as this dramatic super emotional ultimate sacrifice and all that, then why would they not make it clear that CX-2 couldn’t be Tech? Why breed confusion? And breed confusion they did. It’s hard for me to believe they didn’t foresee the “ohh is it Tech?” speculation.
When so many members of the audience immediately and individually jump at a theory or have the same take away from the story they are being told, yet the authors say it wasn’t meant to be taken that way, something went seriously wrong with the writing.
I don’t like to speculate on such things because we will probably never know for certain, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they had at some point considered CX-2 being Tech or at least something more for the whole CX plot thread, but changed and reshuffled things at the last minute for whatever reasons.
Which is fine and understandable. But it brings me to the heart of my biggest issue with how Tech’s fate was handled:
lack of impact and closure.
Let’s disregard all the Tech Lives theories for a moment and focus on what we did get: Tech, one of the main characters, getting killed off at the end of s2 out of 3, for stakes and consequences and NOTHING else. When I say nothing, I mean nothing.
Imagine, for a moment, he survived and stayed with the Batch. Nothing would have changed, in the grand scheme of things. Nothing. We wouldn’t have had a few obligatory “Tech mention, everyone feel sad now” throwaway lines/goggle shots and whatnot, sure, but that’s it.
Tech dying didn’t change the trajectory of the plot in any way, nor did it affect any of the other characters in a way that changed their trajectory. And anything less is simply not enough to justify killing one of your main characters. Stakes and consequences ain’t it.
Consider Mayday, for example: a supporting character, but his death in s2 affected Crosshair in such a way it completely redirected his journey, AND in s3 we got an episode that cemented the impact Mayday had on Crosshair and provided emotional closure for them. That’s a narratively meaningful death.
Tech’s death was not meaningful to the narrative beyond removing him from it. That’s why so many Tech fans insist he deserved better treatment: not only was he not present in one third of the show physically, but he lacked any sort of presence even in death. His absence was never processed or grieved by any of the main characters and so by extension by the audience.
And before anyone starts with the whole ‘they are soldiers/they had no time to grieve/etc’ arguments, it is the responsibility of the writers to provide the space for all of that emotional impact. It they don’t, there is no impact.
A few reactions here and there, moments of missing Tech as a person and a brother, not an asset, anything would have made this whole thing easier to accept.
The lines that we did get, from Omega mentioning the stuff Tech taught her to Echo commenting on how decryption would be easier if Tech was with them to “Clone Force 99 died with Tech” from Crosshair - each and every single one of those lines linked to Tech’s functions as part of the squad, his usefulness, but we didn’t get a single line in remembrance of him as a person of his own, no one missed or remembered him for himself or his personal impact on them.
Just one line from Omega about how he taught her about change being a constant part of life or whatever, or Wrecker making a comment on how Tech used to info dump about stuff, anything would have instantly provided that much needed sense of “he was here, he was a person and is still a part of us”. Instead, Tech was killed off to show that messing with the Empire is dangerous and risks are real, I guess, and immediately lost any and all presence within the story.
We never even got to see Crosshair’s or Phee’s reactions to losing him.
Speaking of Crosshair, that’s a whole other example of complete lack of closure: they never closed the loop on the family being reunited again after initially leaving Crosshair behind, and with Tech dead, it’ll forever stay broken.
They could’ve given this a bittersweet yet meaningful spin if they developed the angle of Tech dying on a mission to bring Crosshair home, making a sacrifice so Crosshair had a chance.
Instead, the moment Tech dies, we get Hunter (and through him, the narrative) immediately abandon the idea/plot thread of going to rescue Cross all while saying “let’s not waste Tech’s sacrifice”. Sacrifice for what? Clearly Hunter doesn’t see it as a sacrifice for Crosshair’s sake, so, what, to make sure the rest of them makes it from the mission? The mission to save Crosshair. That mission. Right.
I see people talking about Tech’s noble sacrifice that ensured his family got to live and eventually have their happy ending, but all I can think about is how the creators chose to have him die on a mission that was immediately abandoned and the only take away from that whole sub plot was Tech’s own demise.
And after Crosshair is back with the Batch, his reaction to Tech’s death is never explored at all.
So yes, to me Tech deserved so much better. If you are going to kill off a major character, it must be necessary to be compelling. The way I see it, Tech’s death was not necessary at all because it didn’t change anything. And if it was meant to, the creators failed to communicate that by choosing not to explore the emotional impact of it and not structuring certain story beats in a more precise manner.
To wrap this up, if the way Tech’s death was handled was satisfying for you, that’s valid and I’m glad for you. For me, unfortunately, it’s completely the opposite and will forever remain the biggest and most unfortunate low point in the story.
And while I welcome anyone to share their own perspective if they wish, please don’t take this post as an invitation for debate, since there is no one right or wrong way to interpret or be affected by art.
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The things I loved about Last Twilight ep 11:
Night joking with Day about not farting whilst stood at his hospital bedside...the same place Mhok then wears a shirt with 'Proud' on it later as Night explains Porjai's baby's name is Poomjai - which translates to 'be proud' - harking back to the Fart Proudly shirt from ep 2. 👏🏼
Mhok's 'St Louis Blues' shirt at the beginning of the ep setting us up for all the heartache later:
"I hate to see the evening' sun go down...
...I got them Saint Louis Blues; just as blue as I can be
He's got a heart like a rock cast in the sea
Or else he wouldn't have gone so far away from me"
"You're not disappearing on me, are you? / If you can see again, don't disappear on me." | "I can't see" | "Let's break up"
Mhon, Day's mom, watching Day and Mhok through the hospital room door and slowly warming up to their relationship. Explaining that she's not against them dating but that she's concerned that Day needs someone who has the means to take care of him. Inviting him to be there when Day takes his bandages off, effectively inviting him into the family circle, giving him a chance.
Day reassuring Night that he doesn't need to feel guilty still when the operation doesn't work. 😭
This shot in particular, as the series has shown us before, Mhok is Day's eyes:
"True blindness is the inability to see any hope" and Day's singular tear.
I'm mentioning it again but Mhok wearing a shirt with 'proud' on it with Day in a shirt with 'goodtime / nice dream come true' on it, whilst Night tells Porjai she should be proud to have carried the baby alone, and for both Porjai and Night to have gotten the dream family -> her baby and a wonderful parent/soon-to-be-spouse.
But also them wearing those shirts during dinner with Day's mom and Night - a dream for Mhok to be accepted and both Mhok and Day being proud of Mhok's achievements. #proud
Food as a love language -> come eat with us, try this food I created and cooked and gave to my two sons and now I'm offering it to you...be part of our family.
Without realising perhaps, Mhon sows the seed of pressure on Mhok to be able to provide for Day when they're talking in the hospital when she says she just wants someone who can really take care of him - who has the means to do it. And then in letting Day go to Songkhla with Mhok to test whether they can live together, she's increasing the pressure Mhok feels. Which then gets amplified during the car accident and when Day doesn't answer the phone. All this leads to his decision to not leave Day.
The parallels of Day/Mhok and Porjai/Night when it comes to roles in their relationships. Night says he doesn't understand what his mom means when she says 'being a caretaker and a boyfriend are two different things' - now, we haven't seen much of Night and Porjai's relationship but I'd be willing to bet he's being more of a caretaker to Porjai than a boyfriend at the moment - he calls her Khun, she brushes off any suggestion that something is going on between them, and she goes to live with her mom... I wonder if we'll see Night coming to an understanding about this differentiation in ep 12, and whether it will play a role in helping Day and Mhok's relationship 🤔
TOTO!! I had been waiting for an appearance by Au. By the way, Day's new caretaker in ep 10 (the rude one from the end of the interviews in ep 1) is also an assistant director on the show, Meng Chaiyapat, so that's two cameos. I wonder if we'll get a third with Aof.
Mhok's blue lightening underpants! Plus the parallel of Mhok waking Day up with the dripping wet hair on his face.
How gestures and touches serve as a language for Day and Mhok - touching the lips as a way to communicate that one wants to kiss for example - and that touch in general is so weighted for them...but that they also use these things to trick and keep teasing each other.
The green and blue towel hanging next to each other over the airer in Day and Mhok's room. 😭
Mhok's 'Hawaii' shirt when he tells Day he wasn't chosen to go. (I missed this the first time round).
The way Day actually is giving it the most on the dance floor and genuinely deserved to win but can't see/understand that. Day automatically assumes that every good thing that comes his way is because people pity him. It's not surprising that this is the fear he falls back on when he finds out Mhok lied to him. This is his go-to gut reaction/response. That and feeling like he's a burden or causing trouble to others.
THE 'I LOVE YOU SO DAMN MUCH' CONFESSION SCENE. Mhok's face, the way the depths of his feelings settle within him just before he says it, the callback to the 'come closer' moment they had earlier in the ep, Day's voice cracking as he says it back, and the hug afterwards. It's all so perfect and not enough people are talking about it dammit.
Night in Mhok's blue, even Mhon has a blue dressing gown over her grey pjs, but Day is in that pink and white shirt but the pink is only over half of his body, and not on his left side over his heart, spelling trouble ahead. And as @grapejuicegay pointed out - it's not a groove mindset kind of a day, it's a rains county. The colours are colouring and the t-shirts are t-shirting.
The PARALLELS. "Read this to me" harking back to ep 1 when Day asked Mhok to read something to him, and now Day asking Mhok to read the paper. What was the text on Mhok's blue bag? 'I love to hear your voice'...? Ooof, hits hard.
Mhok respecting Day's last wish like he did when he burst into Day's room and got fired, and when he took Day up the mountain and offered to quit to appease his mom. Mhok is just so good.
"Mom, did I do the right thing?" Day realising immediately that he was too impulsive. 💔
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