Thursday, May 14, 2020

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Part 9 Episodes 41-45


Orb has been destroyed and Uzumi Nara Athha has died…but not before leaving a photo for Kira and Cagalli that changes everything for the two youngsters.  Elsewhere, Athrun’s father, Patrick Zala, seizes total control of ZAFT and the PLANTS and declares his own son a traitor.  But Lacus Clyne, backed by a very much alive Andy Waltfeld, stands ready to strike back with a voice of peace.  Old enemies become surprising allies and old friends are now gunning for the Archangel.  In the middle of it all, Rau Le Cruset drops the biggest revelation of them all, one that will change Kira and Mu’s lives forever.

Ok so, there’s A LOT to unpack here and I’m not sure I fully understand it all.  At best, it’s a brilliant twist that sets up things to come and is a powerful look back at the chaos that’s come even before the war started.  At worst, it’s one last desperate excuse to give on particular character a position of grand importance when Gundam Seed was already covered in the “psycho’s who want to end the world” department. 

So let me get this straight: Kira is “The One”…or rather “the Ultimate Coordinator” created by one in an artificial womb because genetic modifications didn’t factor in the changes a fetus goes through in a natural womb…ok?  I’m sure that’s going to mess with Kira’s head quite a bit since he was unaware his parents at Orb weren’t his parents.  And the connection between Mu and Rau is revealed at last.  For the better part of this entire series, Rau Le Crueset has been the laziest Char Clone character, content to just stand back and watch everything unfold while possessing this “I know something you don’t know” air about him.  He and Mu have only crossed paths less than a handful of times and I was wondering if their rivalry was even going anywhere.  Oh man was it.  Rau Le Crueset might not be a good Char Clone…but he is (wait for it)…an actual clone…of MU’S FATHER DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!  Ok really?  Couldn’t Rau have just been some crazy lacky looking to take over power from Patrick Zala or something a lot less convoluted?  It’s reveals like these that come out of nowhere that hurt a series.  It’s one thing to have it dropped in The Empire Strikes Back, where Darth Vader reveals he’s Luke Skywalker’s father, because dramatically it really, really works.  Here in Gundam Seed, while Rau harps on about his and Kira’s and Mu’s shared history, he sounds like a desperate mad man who never got his proper due in the series and now wants the show itself to acknowledge his existence…all because he just wants to watch the world burn.  At least Full Frontal was selfish enough to try and use the Char Aznable image and “Red Comet” moniker to get his results in Gundam Unicorn, that makes more sense rather than this thrown in at the last minute crap.

I wont lie, I’m on the fence about all of those key revelations for Kira and Rau.  But it did allow us to get a closer look at humanities reaction to genetic modification and just how terribly it all went wrong.  Parents upset their kids didn’t come out the way they wanted, open assassinations by Blue Cosmos in broad daylight?  It’s so saddening to see just how fear of the unknown will drive the human spirit into madness like this.  Now we’ve got the Earth Alliance who are run by genocidal racist asshats who want to destroy the PLANTS; Athrun’s genocidal asshat father who wants to kill all Naturals to protect the Coordinators; and Rau Le Crueset who just wants everything to die because that’s human nature and he needs something to make him relevant this late in the game.  Whod’ve thought Gundam Seed was so crazy under the surface.  No wonder Kira is being so Zen about everything lately.

Thankfully, there was stronger movement on other fronts of this penultimate set of episodes.  Another battle that’s been brewing since the early episodes finally came around: Murrue vs. Natarle.  Armed with a black painted model of the Archangel, The Dominion, Natarle was tasked by Azrael himself to bring down her old ship and former captain.  Murrue and Natarle have butted heads over their command style since Day One.  Murrue has always been the kinder captain, more focused on the lives she can save.  Natarle is all business and no heart, willing to quickly move past the death of crewmembers in order to get the job done.  Neither beautiful Captain held back though the Archangel got its ass kicked pretty bad and it was only the arrival of Cagalli’s ship that convinced Natarle to back off for now.  Meanwhile, Dearka got to meet up with Yzak again and have an actual civil conversation…I mean as close to civil as Yzak having a gun pointed at his best friend the whole time can get.  Yzak didn’t shoot though and heard Dearka out.  Man was this needed.  I teased Dearka of being Yzak’s parrot early on in Gundam Seed, his back up cheerleader who agreed with everything Yzak said and wanted to do.  Dearka standing against him and trying to convince him that ZAFT isn’t exactly the side he should be on was probably the pinnacle of his journey since the mid point of the series.  Only question now is will Yzak stand with him and the others against the laundry list of bad guys they need to stop from ending all life as we know it?

This might come as a shock but no real Flay Alster rants this time around.  Rau handed her a disk that probably contains N Jammer Canceller data (did I mention Kira and Athruns new Gundams are nuclear powered?) in hopes that she’ll get it to the Alliance and they’ll have a reason to go more fire and brimstone on the PLANTS than they intended.  I guess I was wrong what I assumed that no restrictions had been placed on this war like in the original Gundam 0079.  Nuclear weapons had been marked a “no-no” by both sides.  But like Gundam 0083 (knew we weren’t done with nods), one side broke the golden rule.  I guess my question is how is Flay going to react when she hands over data that could lead to the end of the world?  One thing that did bug me, not Flay related, was the return of Andrew Waltfeld.  I know any show can have a character survive cockpit explosions so long as the script permits it (Kira did take a self destruct right to the face many episodes ago).  But what good does it do to bring back Waltfeld this late in the game with zero explanation of why he’s back?  I guess there wasn’t any time to bring in a fresh Lacus supporter to be her commanding officer aboard the Eternal, so they just brought back Waltfeld and said “screw it.”

Things are shaky now.  The big revelations about Kira and Rau Le Crueset feel like a very forced push to give Rau more of a central role in the forthcoming final battle and I know much of the finale will hinge on those revelations.  Seed had been very, very solid til now, focusing on the relationships between characters that really mattered and delivering great pay off for their respective journeys.  This is going to be one very, very busy finale.  I just hope Gundam Seed can iron out some of the wrinkles and end a decent ride on a decent note.  Next up, the series finale of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

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