MAJOR SPOILERS: > "I keep moving forward. Until I destroy my enemies." -Eren Jaeger

This start to the final season was paced well but much much slower as now we must care for the opposing side's characters. We're given ample time to appreciate some of them but not all. Seeing the rest of the titans at Marley's disposal was really cool and interesting to see, getting them both their introductions and also having it extremely effective through the fact they are all active at the same time. That being said, when our main characters inevitably attack these characters, I still found myself mostly uncaring for what happened to them, as I've spent much more time with the main characters' to understand their goals and motivations. By main characters I mean Eren, who has started his dip into villainy. We understand that all of it is his doing and yet despite the atrocities I still rooted for him in this segment of the season, unable to realize the reality of Eren's true nature. I found the season attempting to make me care for any of the main island characters, yet I still rooted in their demise despite the clear war crimes being committed by the Paradis Island crew. In the end, I am still attached to the cast of the show that I've spent much more time with and with the knowledge I have about how the world is seemingly going to exterminate the people of Paradis Island, do I lose any sentimental value I had for anyone on this side of the sea. Despite a moral dilemma of "who hit first" I relished in one clear side winning and the other losing, as the season drives the idea of "them or us."

The only character I cared for in the majority of this season on the main island side was Reiner, who was given ample time to understand and even sympathize for in a very compelling way. Now understanding why he really broke the walls that fateful day and showing his mirror to Eren made him even more of an incredibly well written character. Who unlike Eren, who's led by hatred, Reiner is led by despair and regret. Reiner has always been an interesting character study since Season 2 with his reveal of being a Warrior and it all culminates in where we see him this season, finally given time to reminisce and realize the damage he's done.
Another character that mirrors Eren is of course, Gabi. Oh Gabi, the character who gets way too much flack for her understandable behavior. She's controlled by the same hatred Eren is, and its even further implemented by the same propaganda that Reiner fell victim to. In doing so, she struggles more than anyone to truly understand the truth about Paradis Island, and its incredibly hard to watch. It's ugly and the story isn't afraid to admit what these things, propaganda and hatred, can make a person do. And I deeply appreciated the clear theme of a never-ending cycle of violence being repeated once again in all its ugly ways.
Floch also has changed as a character from the last season, but unfortunately we don't get to see the huge change due to the time skip, and are given his end result where he represents another side of humanity. One where his ideals have become as shifted as Eren's and he believes that he has to become the next Erwin. The same is shown in Armin, who cuts his hair to look like Erwin's, due to the fact that he was revived for the sole purpose of taking his place, his guilt and obligations to his role very clearly laying heavy on his conscious.
Being unable to root for an entire side of a moral dilemma was the gripe I had for this part of the season. However, this did not soil my enjoyment and appreciate the phenomenal pacing and story beats created by this dynamic. It's supposed to make you feel uncomfortable, especially in allegiances and morally correct actions or at the very least understandable actions, but from the viewer's perspective, myself as well as probably others, will find it hard to sympathize with certain characters despite them being victims to something out of their control. When the same was being done on Paradis Island for ages. And despite knowing that violence technically started with Paradis Island, we don't have any personal ties to what happened in the past outside of small information and hints. The major terror attack to me, felt like it comes across as more a comeuppance than a tragedy. But I couldn't tell you which it's supposed to feel like.