Like Carta in the last episode, we are not allowed any time to prepare for this final battle on the streets of Edmonton. As the episode opens it has already been three days since Tekkadan’s arrival, and their forces are being stretched to the brink. All they have left to them is an iron resolve to see it through, their mobile suits, and whatever last minute cunning’s available to rout a very strong defense game from Gjallarhorn.
It’s all English literature up in here. Take a dash of Tennyson with this final push like the Charge of the Light Brigade, and then pour in a bit of Kipling as well to spice it up. What part of this episode is full of Kipling? Well… All of Tekkadan are risking everything they’ve got in this game of pitch and toss, and if they fail and go back to their beginnings (or die); they won’t breathe a word about their loss. Imprudent as they seem to be given their youthful status, they’re being men about it in as best a way possible. You are both saddened and ennobled by their gumption at this final stretch. Our family has come a long way, even if the destination and objective may not end up in the most optimal of outcomes.
Other than that, it’s pretty hard to glean anything from this all action episode. We’ve no potentially final longing gazes between characters, we don’t see them promise one another they’ll meet again, and whether we’ll see such moments in the final episode is STILL up for debate. Hell while we get Galli-Galli saying he’ll avenge Carta, we don’t even get a direct acknowledgement she is dead. This episode is the thick of things and I think for the first time, we don’t really know where everybody stands with one another and not the OTHER. We have that a lot in previous Gundam series, and even the 25 episode long Gundam 00 Season 1 (the most apt comparison) had those moments before Celestial Being got ripped to shreds. Here, Ein appears and he brutally incapacitates Azee, Lafter, and Shino without exerting any effort. They get parting shots of them suffering, unconscious, and bleeding out the wazoo, but we don’t know if they’re dead yet as well. I can’t complain about any of it since it seems all by design, and it isn’t poorly written.
I CAN complain though that I have to wait another week to watch the final episode. However, at least since Episode 23 this’ll all be well-done balls to the wall on action. I just hope the lack of any of those final parting moments between characters this last episode is an indicator their lives aren’t over yet.
Iron-Blooded Notes:
- I like how the battle is played out with consideration to the political game. Given the negative effects of the Ahab Reactor on electronics, Makanai having Tekkadan’s suits in the city would’ve given him a political disadvantage since he would be seen as Intervening with the event. Fortunately for him, Ein’s a stupid vengeful loser.
- No dead Atra, next episode please? Thank you.
- Today’s article title brought to you by Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner. If you haven’t played this game yet which involves a man fused with his machine as a means of life support (albeit against his will unlike Ein), you should.
- So Makanai is being blockaded from a big city for an election to become Prime Minister. Are Gjallarhorn and Fleurs, not wanting Makanai to “Make Arbrau Great Again”? Is Okada a closet Trump supporter? Am I being topical for shits and giggles? You decide, but the answer is yes.
