Random Curiosity

Summary:

As he watches video of the Exia’s battle, Alejandro expresses his surprise over how such a function was installed into the Gundams. Libbons reports that it’s not something that corresponds to the data and theorizes that it was built into the GN Drives’ black boxes. He also notes that the data on the Gundam Meisters has been deleted from Veda. Turning to face Aeolia Schenberg’s dead body, Alejandro realizes that the old man predicted even this change of plans. Meanwhile, the Ptolemaios is docked at the Lagrange 1 resource satellite cluster and is bringing onboard a few new parts and weapons. Sumeragi is in the briefing room with all the Gundam Meisters except for Setsuna, and they’re going over how the Trans-Am system uses accumulated high concentration compressed particles to allow for three times the normal output for a limited period of time. It’s a function that was given to only the original GN Drives, but it has a drawback in the form of an extreme drop in the Gundam’s capabilities after it is used up in a battle.

They then receive a transmission from Setsuna reporting that he’s coming back to the Ptolemaios and that all the GN-Xs have gone from Earth to space. He also reports the capture of one of the Gundam Thrones by Ali Al Sarshes, and Lockon is frustrated to hear this. Regardless, Sumeragi is now sure that there’ll be a battle here at Lagrange 1, and just like she suspects, there’s already a set of three Virginia-class transport ships under the United Nations headed their way. Both Sergei and Ali Al Sarshes are onboard one of those transports, and Ali introduces himself with his fake identity when the two meet. Sergei tries to find out how Ali captured the Gundam, however Ali calls it a trade secret. Elsewhere in space, Setsuna and Lasse are still on their way back to the Ptolemaios, and Setsuna talks about how he’ll be fighting to eradicate strife on his own free will with the Gundam. Lasse admits to being skeptical about being able to eradicate strife, but he now feels that their existence might have meaning, and he thinks that man only truly understands something after having experienced it. Their conversation is interrupted when they get an urgent message notifying them that the UN forces have found the Ptolemaios.

For this battle, Sumeragi decides to send out the Kyrios and the Virtue while the Dynames remains on stand by. Lockon finds that he’s even been locked into his room, and as they heads to the hanger, Tieria tells Allelujah of how he’s determined to protect Lockon this time after how Lockon saved him last time. The two then launch, and although they are heavily armed, they are faced up against 26 GN-Xs as well as the Throne Zwei. Allelujah starts the battle by firing the large cannons that came with his new Tail Booster equipment and manages to destroy a GN-X. The Tail Booster also raises the mobility of the Kyrios, and Allelujah soon gets another kill. The Virtue follows up behind him with beam cannons in both its arms, and the GN-Xs, under Sergei’s leadership, spread out to fight them both. Seeing the GN-Xs unable to do much against the Virtue, Ali Al Sarshes joins the battle and destroys the Virtue’s weapons with the Throne Zwei’s GN Fangs. This results in a weakened Virtue getting pounded by GN-X beam weapons fire.

Allelujah tries to come to Tieria’s rescue, but when the Kyrios gets hit, he is forced to jettison the Tail Booster. Because he starts to get severe headaches again, he quickly realizes that the GN-X attacking him is piloted by Soma. Back on the Ptolemaios, Sumeragi is about to order the Gundams to retreat when she suddenly gets word that the Dynames is launching. With the Dynames equipped with the GN Armor, Lockon intends to attack the enemy transport ships in accordance with Sumeragi’s tactical plan, and he ignores her objections about his health. Back in the battle, Allelujah is ganged up on by both Sergei and Soma, so he activates the Kyrios’ Trans-Am system. Hallelujah even helps him out by getting rid of the headache by intercepting the quantum brain waves. Tieria also decides to activate the Trans-Am system for the Virtue, and he uses it to unleash massive firepower upon the GN-Xs that are attacking him. The problem is that he quickly starts running out of the particles that power the Trans-Am system, and the GN-Xs mount a counterattack. Fortunately, he’s saved when the GN Armor-equipped Dynames enters the battle.

The Dynames ends up destroying several GN-Xs with a single volley of missiles, but Daryl manages to get away. Lockon then announces to the others that he’s going after the enemy ships, and when Tieria comments on his health, Lockon thanks him for worrying. Nevertheless, Lockon is determined to fight, and he heads towards the three Virginia-class transports. Allelujah meanwhile cripples both Soma and Sergei’s GN-Xs to the point where they are forced to retreat, and luckily this happens right as the Kyrios’ Trans-Am system is also about to run out. For Allelujah and Tieria, the battle has now ended, but for Lockon, it is just beginning. Knowing the dangers, Sumeragi prays for Setsuna to get here quickly because she wants him to save Lockon. Having reached the enemy transports, Lockon succeeds in destroying two of them before he comes under attack from Ali Al Sarshes. Lockon has no choice but to eject from the GN Armor, but he’s now bent on taking down the Throne Zwei because he knows who’s piloting it.

As the two Gundams engage in battle, Lockon blames Ali Al Sarshes for directing the suicide bombing in Ireland and questions why he did it. Ali attributes it to how he’s a mercenary and to how the Middle East would naturally be opposed to the AEU constructing an orbital elevator, and he also accuses Lockon of being the same as him in terms of being a terrorist. In their subsequent fight, the Dynames manages to slice off the Throne Zwei’s right arm, but Lockon’s attention gets diverted when Haro reports the approach of a GN-X. It is piloted by Daryl who still wants to avenge Howard, and even a round of missiles doesn’t stop him from continuing to barrel his mobile suit towards the Dynames. In his suicide attack, Daryl manages to take out the Dynames’ right arm and shoulder, and Ali Al Sarshes uses this opportunity to strike. He directs his GN Fangs into the Dynames’ head and legs, and after the explosion, only a torso is left. With such extensive damage to the Dynames, Lockon retreats behind some asteroids and disembarks his Gundam with its cockpit’s aiming system in hand. He orders Haro to return the Dynames to the Ptolemaios and promises to come back alive, but as he floats off into space, he bids his Haro buddy farewell.

Lockon’s plan is to attach the aiming system to one of the GN Armor cannons that is still functional, and although he realizes the odds that he’s facing, he feels that he has to get revenge. Unfortunately, Ali Al Sarshes detects him and charges at him. Lockon still manages to fire off a massive blast, and though it hits the bottom of the Throne Zwei, Ali Al Sarshes is able to fire one perfectly aimed shot back at the GN Armor cannon to destroy it. Having been thrown off, Lockon remembers his family and admits to knowing that doing all this stuff probably wouldn’t have changed anything. He then sees the Exia in the distance and wonders if Setsuna found his answer. With the Earth also shining brightly, Lockon rhetorically questions if the people are satisfied with such a world, points his hand towards the planet like a gun, and declares that he hates it. Moments later, the exploding GN Armor cannon kills him, and Setsuna screams out for him. Back on the Ptolemaios, the bridge crew finds that the Kyrios, the Virtue, and the Dynames are all returning, and they at first think that everyone is okay. However, when they hear the sound of Haro repeatedly saying Lockon’s name, they begin to realize what happened.

Preview:

Well that was a surprise - I was sure that, after not killing him off two weeks ago when they had the chance, the writers would be keeping him alive, but that clearly wasn’t the case. The unexpected nature of it added to the impact that the episode had, though by the time it actually happened, I was ready for it because of the sinking feeling I kept getting as the episode progressed. Of all the signs that indicated Lockon might not live, the clincher was probably him saying Abayo aibou (goodbye buddy) to Haro. That gave me flashbacks of Kamina from Gurren Lagann saying Abayo dachikou, and well, we know how that ended up (don’t click the link if you haven’t seen the series yet). Lockon’s actual death was pretty sad but it wasn’t until the very end that I got all teary eyed. I think part of that was due to how hauntingly powerful the sound of Haro repeating Lockon’s name was, and I really have to applaud the production team for how good they’ve made this series.

With only two more episodes until this first half of the series is over, I’m really curious to see how they end this. Lockon’s death makes me wonder if it’s possible that they’d kill off all the major characters except for Setsuna, and from the preview, it looks like the remaining Gundam Meisters could be fighting all through these final two episodes before the long break. The preview also showed Alejandro piloting something, so maybe he’ll finally reveal to the world his true intentions.

On a side note, there was another new CODE GEASS R2 commercial that aired this week with Gundam 00. You can find it on the R2 Primer under the Promotional Videos section.