OZ has won. As the
Alliance falls to their sneak attacks, the Gundams and their pilots are forced
underground after Heero’s act of defiance leaves him seemingly dead. With their homes held hostage, the Gundam
Pilots must quickly decide their next move if they are to survive. Meanwhile, Zechs seeks out Heero, believing
the Gundam Pilot is still alive, in order to conclude their interrupted
battle. The battlefield is changing and
Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei must decide where they belong in this new world.
And what’s the important lesson we learned this week from
Uncle Heero kids: When thinking about
blowing up your own Gundam while you’re still on it, remember…it hurts like
hell.
Yep, Heero’s ok but not back to 100%. Likewise, the rest of the Gundam Pilots had a
lot to think about as this new chapter began.
Unable to move around like total bad asses, it was time to sit and
think…I know weird to do in an action series but it can happen. And while a couple of characters still don’t
know what the heck theyre doing (or are making it very hard for me to get a
read on them), everyone else is onto their next adventure.
I’ll do my complaints first. Episode 13 is home to one of my all time (if
not absolute favorite) moments in all of Gundam Wing and I’ll get to that in a
moment. But in an episode mostly
dedicated to Zechs, a small portion had to deal with Trowa not knowing what the
heck to do in the wake of his missions being cancelled after the potential
colony attack. Should he follow Heero’s
example (if so see adage above) or continue fighting on his own? Trowa’s way of thinking didn’t make any sense
to me and worse yet…how the hell did a circus tent full of OZ soldiers not
recognize a freaking Gundam? What about
Trowa’s circus itself, don’t they watch the news? It was a little maddening and by this sets
end, Trowa still remains the toughest to get a read on out of the five main
leads, even Heero is a bit more understandable by this point. Trowa did make up for it by taking most of
the action scenes this time out, including the ultimate spin and slice
finishing move he performs on the Romafeller inspector at the end of Episode
15. But he still has a way to go before
he earns any points with me.
That snag aside, this part did what needed to be done and
gave the pilots some time to think on the new world order. As frustrating as it was to watch Wufei spout
out his “I’m weak” nonsense just cause he lost to Treize, I’m glad Sally Po
managed to get him inspired again (cute girls will do that anyday). Duo and Quatre had a good episode to bond
some more, sharing how similar their operational instruction sound, chances are
Heero, Trowa and Wufei all got the same sales pitch. It was rough to see Duo and Quatre not
partake in the defense of the Maguanac Corp hometown, knowing that if they got
directly involved the colonies might get attacked. Still, Duo managed to clear a path from above
and the Maguanac’s finally got to shine without Quatre showing them all up with
his Gundam. I hope we see Quatre’s
personal army of bodyguards again down the line. Heero’s road to recovery and redemption was
well done too. He’s been bearing the
burden of giving OZ the world ever since he accidentally killed Marshall
Noventa. Now he’s traveling with Trowa
to, as Trowa puts it, “seek the verdict of his family.” That’s a lot of judgement to go through but
it’s Heero, somehow it just makes sense things would be this way for him.
We also discovered the OZ and Treize are not the big
series endgame, not really a huge shock since we’re only 15 episodes in by the
end of this set. The Romafeller
Foundation seems about as ancient and arrogant as you’d expect guys who dress
like they live in Victorian England to seem.
You can immediately tell how their ideals might clash with Treize. They want total control no matter the
cost. Treize, however, while capable of
ordering such slaughters, still sees humanitys potential. I really like the moment where he holds a
mother back from saving her child from falling into a river and his faith is rewarding
by the little cuteness learning to happily walk back to his mom. It’s hard to believe Treize is such a great
villain with surprising heart like this.
As mentioned above, Zechs got the best moment of the
series so far. Not only does he rightfully
blame himself for throwing the world into it’s current state, but he’s also
helped shape monsters like Alex and Muller.
This does mean it’s ok for him to deal with them as he sees fit. His take down of Muller was standard but
tearing Alex and his Mobile Suit in half, with a furious battlecry…HE IS THE
SON OF CHAR AZNABLE!!!! And, as it turns
out, he is beginning to share a rather unhealthy obsession with Heero, same as
Relena. Relena desperately wants to find
Heero again cause that’s her basic function in life when she’s not trying to
assassinate OZ leaders or speak up at Romafeller functions (though she does get
points for trying). Zechs wants to find
Heero and settle their duel. He’s even
rebuilding Heero’s suit and trying to cover it up as he does so, knowing this
could mean the end of his career. I’m
not saying Zechs is totally like Relena with his Heero obsession (at least he’s
not breaking the fourth wall to rub in how he knew Heero was still alive…goddamit
Relena). But this rematch had better be
worth all the hassle he’s putting his men, and Treize, through just to settle a
score…yeah he’s definitely Char’s son.
Oh and when the heck did Relena’s driver turn out to be
Gundam’s equivalent of Batman’s Alfred Pennyworth. I was wondering how Relena could track down
Heero to a new school and figure out Lady Une was headed for an OZ function in
Moscow…now I know why. This old guy can
even trace Heero’s route to judgement at the hands of Marshal Noventa’s family. It makes somethings about Relena make sense
but I wish this little detail had been revealed better a lot sooner than now.
Just wait, pretty sure Relena’s going to track her man
down to the Antarctica battleground and try to interrupt the fight just to get
Heero’s attention…just wait.
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