This review of Shingeki no kyojin: The Final Season contains spoilers. If you haven't seen the chapter, we recommend that you do so and then come back and read the review.
Chapter 3: The Door of Hope
The lady who hates the demons evangelizes the little one to share the hate. Years later the little one becomes a Reiner child who is a candidate to inherit a power that will put him on an equal footing with Marley's, hoping in courage to be a coward. His choice is not intentional, Marcel confesses to him, in the middle of his mission that he influenced so that his brother Porco is not elected, being punished for such a lie and Reiner choosing to be the new leader in his weakness. The plans were made for him, without being totally effective and returning to the present. A wounded Elder talks to Falco, giving a revolutionary and hopeful opinion: they are taking away their freedom.
Opinion of the chapter
It is no longer important to say if the chapter was good or bad, because everyone is good, and if there is a bad one, it will be said why. So going somewhere else, I don't know if this chapter is necessary. We have already seen some things that we know, but some things are also revealed, only from a more personal point of view, that of Reiner. The most interesting thing is that "relationship" with Kenny that Annie seems to have, because she calls him her father. That seems to me a bit mysterious, the rest is more or less what we already knew or supposed, only being revealed. Why do I ask if this chapter is necessary? Just because we already know and maybe some of those revelations could have been embedded at other times. More than anything, I say this because of the number of chapters that there are, that they fall short and we do not reach the total climax, that scares me.
The past of a weak
The chapter as such was an inquiry into Reiner's psychology, which could have been somewhat better worked out because near-suicide is understood but not in its entirety. In short, it seems that Reiner has been suggested by his mother to hate his own ethnic group, to consider himself a monster and to fight against that monster that is himself, her and the rest of the Elders. That explains better his current condition and his personality disorder. However, it turns out that Reiner was the weakest of his generation of heirs, being beaten and humiliated, even Bertholdt was better considered and even a prodigy. That past and childhood marked him.
The choice of the weak
We know that Reiner is the heir to the Battleship Titan, only that this was not given out of recognition, but out of cowardice from another and protection. He got his recognition at the cost of his pride, being worse when his "father" denied him so atrociously, someone from Marley should not get together like that. There is a dichotomy of Reiner, having both, but feeling rejected on both sides. That choice he believed would be his card to fit both sides, and it backfired, only he recognized himself and no one congratulated him on his "strength" which was nil, until he decided.
The strength of the weak
Reiner's only strength is his advancement, is to keep standing despite the blows, not to give up no matter how difficult. To advance, that which he recommended to Eren, which was so expensive in the future. Reiner identified with Eren, weak beings who wanted to reach greatness. There he advised his piety, his own weakness came out, because that which he detests from him also detests from others.
The only incoherent thing I see is that this internal conflict that we saw last season didn't occur, in that past seen in the chapter it seems that Reiner had it very clear and that he never suffered a dichotomy, which had already been established. Although, because they are the memories of Reiner himself, he thinks that he was very clear about it. However, those memories almost send him to Saint Peter.
A general past
The past has not only been Reiner's, but also that of those who are no longer with him: Annie, Bertholdt and Marcel. The revelations are given in that framework, being Annie the most affected and the one who was looking for information the most, hitting with dangers. Incredibly, the best trained was the one who wanted to retire and the weakest the one who wanted to continue (because he had no more left). And the disposable son was the only survivor and became an important element. His companions were his friends and his strength, without them what does he have left? Only death. What does he have left? Progress and the future that will lead him to his death.
The wanderer looking for an Elder
I think several of us know who this long-haired patient is, but I won't say it to go with the anime. That Eldian, as crazy as he may seem, is the most sane in that prison, both in his actions and his words: pretending madness so as not to be mistreated, knowing that they have no freedom. He understands that others lead them to this mental delirium, and understands that their freedom is denied by those others who subject them. But his final words fit to those of Reiner, are his reflection, and to push himself can lead to a paradise or a hell, and one will not know which one it is until one advances.
As I said, a very psychological, explorative, very good chapter. I hope that what I have seen is not unnecessary. The next chapter seems to advance the plot further and the identity of that mysterious long-haired man will be known.
