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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