Random Curiosity

Summary:

14 years ago at a Union university, a young Billy had talked with Sumeragi - then still Leesa Kujo - about her graduation thesis about the tactical theory and forecasted toll of unmanned craft combat. Billy had figured out that Sumeragi was planning on becoming a tactical forecaster and had complimented her because she was graduating at only the age of 17. Sumeragi had felt that she was still not in Kati’s league, though Kati was known as a genius tactical forecaster. Sumeragi’s goal was to become a tactical forecaster like Kati so that she could save lives and keep damage to a minimum by attempting strategies that would lead to swift resolutions. Billy had believed that she could do it and had lamented how lonely it’d be once she graduated, and their conversation had been interrupted by the arrival of Kati. Kati had read the thesis and was impressed by it, and she wondered if the next time they’d meet would be on the battlefield. Kati hoped that it wouldn’t be as enemies, but it didn’t turn out that way, and as Sumeragi thinks about it back in the present, she questions why Kati is in A-LAWS.

Back on Earth, Sergei and his Federation unit are stationed outside the Middle Eastern country of Suihr, watching its movements. Suihr opposes the Federation’s Middle East reorganization plan, and the Federation knows that if Suihr acts, then the other countries will follow. The government has dispatched A-LAWS to prevent this. Katharon is aware of the situation and of how powerful Suihr is militarily, though it still doesn’t match the Federation’s power. The Katharon leaders aren’t sure of how they can help militarily, so Shirin proposes that they use their information network to pass along the information that Suihr has on the Federation’s misgovernment in the Middle East. She feels that if there’s public objection, then the Federation won’t be able to interfere carelessly in the Middle East. Deciding to go with this plan, they send a man to contact the Suihr’s royal family. Marina meanwhile remains concerned about Azadistan, but Shirin informs her that there hasn’t been any noteworthy information out of there recently, and they can’t go in to check because of the Federation have closed the border off.

Shirin then tells Marina that the only way to rebuild Azadistan is to defeat the Federation, and she feels that it is Marina’s duty as a princess to fight. Marina, however, doesn’t think that it is possible for everyone to be happy if they use force to get Azadistan back. Shirin doesn’t mind if Marina doesn’t do anything, but she personally vows to fight. After this conversation, Marina realizes that she now understands Setsuna’s feelings of losing his home, and she questions how he’s able to fight despite the sense of loss. Up in space, Arthur Goodman tells Kati that it’s highly likely that the Ptolemaios headed to Lagrange 3, and he’s leaving her in charge of the pursuit. Kati ends up thinking about Sumeragi and questions if what happened with Emilio led to her committing to the philosophy of Celestial Being. She sees the eradication of war as nothing more than a foolish dream and believes that strife will never disappear from the world, and she notes that they became tactical forecasters to prevent the prolonging of fighting.

Over on the Ptolemaios, Setsuna is thinking about Marina, Ali Al Saachez, and how nothing has changed when the ship comes under attack. Marie can sense that something dangerous is coming, and since the Arios and Seravee are still being repaired, only the 00 Gundam is initially sent out. Setsuna immediately notices that the enemy mobile suit is equipped with a pseudo-GN Drive, and he has a hard time keeping up with its mobility. To everyone’s surprise, this new unit is able to deploy a GN field, and it uses beam sabers hidden in its fingers to slice off the barrel of the 00 Gundam’s gun. Before Setsuna can use the Trans-Am system, the Cherudim and the Ptolemaios come to his aid, and the enemy pilot decides to retreat. Sumeragi suspects that the attack was to check and warn them that the Federation has expanded out here and to show them the new unit’s abilities. Tieria realizes that the enemy pilot was an Innovator, but he still can’t tell Sumeragi anything and questions his own hesitation.

The Ptolemaios eventually arrives at the secret Lagrange 3 base, and Mileina is reunited with her mother. Ian introduces her as Linda Vashti, and everyone is surprised at how young she looks. On a more serious note, Sumeragi has Ian speed up the resupply and repairs, but a new face tells them that this will take at least five days. This person introduces herself as Anew Returner and had been scouted by Wang Liu Mei, and Ian is quite impressed with her already. Back down on Earth, Katharon gets word that the Suihr royal family is willing to meet with them, so one of their leaders heads out for the meeting. While this is going on, Marina is watching over the children and gets in a conversation with a Suihr boy who is worried about his country. The boy questions why everybody can’t get along and suggests that they all just have to eat a meal together. When Marina asks him for other suggestions, the boy proposes playing together, singing together, and sharing their treasured things.

The Ptolemaios crew meanwhile examines the 0 Raiser which has the ability to control the Twin Drive and amplify the Trans-Am of the 00 Gundam. There is also a support craft for the Arios, the GN Archer, but for the time being, they’re ready to test the 0 Raiser. While the others are working, Marie notices Saji looking down and talks to him about it. Saji admits to being unsure of what to do because he feels the need to atone for all the people who died because of him, but he can’t bring himself to fight or kill. He also questions if Marie will stay with Celestial Being, so she confirms that she’ll be here as long as Allelujah is. She’s prepared even if it means getting involved in the fighting because she used to be a soldier, and she’s decided not to leave Allelujah no matter what happens. Saji is envious of her and confesses that he has someone he feels similarly about, and if he were reunited with her, then he wouldn’t leave her either. However, he feels very uneasy, and what he doesn’t know is that Louise is at this moment suffering from another one of her painful episodes.

Over on the A-LAWS ship under Kati’s command, the mobile suit that had attacked the Ptolemaios earlier has arrived. Patrick tries to convince Kati to let him have a new mobile suit, but she shuts him up in frustration. When its pilot Bring Stabity runs into Revive Revival, he reveals that the Memento Mori will be used. The other Innovators – specifically Regene and Ribbons - are talking about this as well back at their base, and Ribbons explains that using it will accelerate the Middle East plan and unite humanity’s will. He also thanks Wang Liu Mei for helping with the construction of it, and she looks forward to the future that the Innovators will create. Nena meanwhile encounters Ali Al Saachez, and when she realizes who he is, she attacks him. He easily stops her and warns her against endangering her life. Ali then pays a visit to Ribbons, who he refers to as his client and boss, to report on not finding something. Ribbons doesn’t mind and has Ali watch what’s about to happen with him.

At this moment, A-LAWS is getting ready to fire a giant orbital weapon called the Memento Mori. The ensuing blast hits the Suihr capital right as the meeting between the Katharon leader and the royal family is going on, and it vaporizes everything. Unaware of what’s happening, the Celestial Being crew is testing the 0 Raiser’s control system with the Trans-Am system, and result is astonishing. It reaches over 290% of the normal numbers and exceeds the theoretical limits, and that makes Ian question if this is the Twin Drive that Aeolia foresaw. With all the particles flying around, Marie suddenly senses that Sergei is in trouble and tells him to run. Allelujah and Tieria also get headaches, and it causes Hallelujah to reawaken.

Preview

Well after a lot of buildup, it seemed like all the exciting stuff happened in the final couple of minutes and in the epilogue of this episode. For one, the fact that Sergei might have gotten caught up in the blast (and thus be dead) combined with the apparent return of Hallelujah suggests that the story between Marie and Allelujah isn’t done just yet. I should have known something was up after Marie said all those things to Saji about always staying with Allelujah. It probably foreshadows that she’ll have trouble with the person she didn’t expect to appear again, and it might make her question her commitment. Still, assuming that the GN Archer requires a pilot since it has a cockpit, she’d be perfect for the job (just like Saji would be perfect for the 0 Raiser), and that might be reason enough to believe that she’ll stick around.

As for the super weapon, I’m a bit surprised that one appeared so relatively early in the series, but this makes things very interesting. I can’t help but wonder though if there’s not another veiled political point being made here about using military force to destroy and impose your will on a country that doesn’t agree with you, especially since this series keeps going to the Middle East for all this conflict. In any case, I would assume that Celestial Being will decide that A-LAWS can’t have that kind of power and will want to destroy it or something, but I’m sure Ribbons has planned for this. One of his trump cards is likely to be Anew Returner as a spy or saboteur. She’s made to seem normal and harmless in this episode, but her appearance and connection to Wang Liu Mei are very suspicious. It’s probably less of a question of if she’s one of the bad guys and more of a question of when Setsuna and company will realize this. For the time being though, it looks like they’ll have their hands full with the A-LAWS attack on Lagrange 3 that’s hinted at in the preview, and we’ll finally get to see how powerful the 00 Gundam has become.

On a final note, a commercial for the new Fullmetal Alchemist series aired at the end of this episode. It still feels really early for them to be advertising, but I guess they wanna get the word out.