This is by far my favourite dialogue episode in the show, which served to set up some of the most central thematic elements of the story; the cycle of hatred & nature versus nurture. Kenny attempts to kill Uri, but is overpowered by his strength and fails. Uri has Kenny by the thread, and even Kenny himself acknowledges his defeat and begs for mercy. He has every right and ability to kill him on the spot, with Rod screaming for Uri to kill him because his clan posed a threat and must be taken care of, as Ackermanns.
But Uri does the unexpected and acknowledges Kenny's agony, his tragic history of constant persecution by the MP, and instead puts himself at his mercy.
The roles are reversed, and now Kenny is the one with the upper hand. And as someone who has every reason to hate Uri for said persecution, who has every reason to end it all by killing him, someone who has lived by violence to solve all problems, he is moved by this act of kindness.
Uri on the other hand has all the power and reason to put an end to this serial killer of a threat. And yet he willingly prostrates himself in front of him.
And this unexpected friendship pays off well for both of them. As Kenny becomes his personal bodyguard and close friend, he also ends the persecution of his clan under Uri's orders.
Only through forgiveness, understanding, and compassion did the Ackerman persecution of a hundred years end. Uri calls out to Kenny, this miracle of friendship. Kenny says if Uri hadn't stopped him, they wouldn't have become friends, that this miracle would never have seen the light of day as Kenny would have killed him right then.
It's not just about compassion or kindness, it's about taking the time when you have the upper hand to open a dialogue and make the effort to understand the other party, to listen, and empathise. Communication and understanding are the key methods the story presents to solve these conflicts. Not through violence, not through revenge, not through perpetuating this cycle of hatred.
And moving on from there, Kenny, who had lived for his selfish desires his entire life, bestowed upon Levi the injection, choosing to go out on his own terms and liberating himself from being a slave to his violent nature. We thought that he was after that titan power for violence but it was actually to see if he could change himself. We know why we chase after certain dreams, but for what reason do we have such a desire? Is it something external? Or maybe it was something innate. If we are all just slaves to our birthrights, are we truly free? The way Kenny looked at Uri as he stared into the distance tells us his desire to understand himself. Kenny lived by violence and only knew violence his entire life, but he wanted to redefine himself, to question his purpose for living the way he did. And when he finally came to realise that even Uri was a slave to something, he performed that final act of selflessness. Perhaps that was the compassion he was chasing after all this while.
