Above and Below

Deep in the countryside, Floch and his Jaegerist escort hear a distant blast that Hange identifies as a Thunder Spear. Its victim, a mutilated Zeke, bleeds out from Levi's attack, and one of the Titans he created regenerates, tears its own belly open, and stuffs his corpse inside.

Shiganshina, meanwhile, belongs to the Jaegerists. Yelena has the military leadership sorted by colored armbands, marking who drank the spinal-fluid wine, and tells Pyxis the officers will answer for distrusting Zeke. In their cell, the jailed Scouts puzzle over Eren's motives. When the collaborator Greiz mocks the dead Sasha in front of Nicolo, Yelena executes him mid-sentence, then calmly lays out the Volunteers' true goal: not vengeance, but ending the cycle of hatred through Zeke's plan to sterilize the Eldian race. Jean pokes holes in the scheme, noting it leaves an aging nation defenseless, while Armin weeps at what he calls its nobility.

Elsewhere, Pieck infiltrates Gabi's cell disguised as a Jaegerist, kills her escort, and holds Eren at gunpoint before claiming she wants to help him crush Marley. She tells Gabi the hard truth that no amount of loyalty will ever make Marley spare its Eldians once Titans become militarily obsolete. Eren demands proof of her sincerity, so she offers to point out the Marleyan infiltrators from the rooftop. There, Pieck points her finger at Eren himself. Porco Galliard's Jaw Titan erupts through the stone, shearing off Eren's legs, and as Eren transforms, Magath's airship fleet appears overhead to avenge Liberio.

Zeke seemingly dies from his Thunder Spear wounds, and a regenerated Titan places his body inside its opened abdomen. Yelena shoots Greiz dead for insulting Sasha and the Eldian prisoners, then discloses the euthanasia plan to the captive Scouts, revealing that Historia's unborn child is meant to carry the Founding Titan after her.

Pieck's ambush is set in motion: she murders a Jaegerist inside Gabi's cell, feigns defection with a story about wanting to free her father before her Titan term expires, and walks Eren into position. Galliard's surprise strike costs Eren both legs but misses the kill, Eren answers with his Attack Titan, and the episode ends with Marley's airborne assault force arriving over Shiganshina.

MAPPA produced the episode, the 75th overall, written by Hiroshi Seko with direction credited to Teruyuki Omine, Tomoko Hiramuki, Jun Shishido, Mitsue Yamazaki, and Yuichiro Hayashi. It adapts material from the manga chapters Support, Above and Below, and Judgment, and aired in Japan on March 29, 2021.

The title moment belongs to Pieck's line to Gabi that she trusts her comrades rather than Marley itself, delivered as the fleet fills the sky. The episode's information segment covers Shiganshina District and Marley's plan to infiltrate it with the Cart and Jaw Titans.