EPISODE CONTEXT

Sitting at the season's midpoint transition past episode 14's colossal danger beast encounter, episode 15 pivots Night Raid from reactive survival into proactive strategy against the Empire. This marks a critical setup phase where the chess pieces move into position, directly laying the groundwork for the puppet-focused confrontations in episode 16 that will pay off the strategic gambits introduced here. The Night Raid versus Jaegers rivalry intensifies from physical clashes into a war of ideology and manipulation, signaling the darker, more consequential back half of the series.