[Arika]

Summary:
Two years ago, when Sumeragi first introduced Setsuna to the other Gundam Meisters, Allelujah and Tieria had thought that he was too young. Lockon, however, was the one who felt that being a Gundam Meister had nothing to do with age, and both he and Setsuna had agreed that they wanted to change the world with Gundams. With Lockon now dead, all that remains of him for Setsuna are memories such as this. Meanwhile, Hong Long informs Wang Liu Mei about the battle having started, causing her to wonders which of the two sides the world will lean towards. Back on the Ptolemaios, Tieria is blaming Setsuna for being slow and thus dividing their forces, and he questions why Lockon had to die. When Sumeragi sees what’s going on, she slaps Tieria out of it and reminds him that their enemies are still out there. Over on the United Nations transport ship, Sergei goes over with Kathy how only 11 GN-Xs returned and how they even lost the Throne Gundam. Along with the fact that the Gundams also have a new ability, Sergei advises that they withdraw because he feels that they’ll needlessly lose more soldiers if they continue on. Though Kathy agrees with this, she reveals that United Nations headquarters had told her that reinforcements are coming and had ordered her to begin a second attack once those arrive.
They then detect another GN-X - Patrick’s. Though his mobile suit is damaged, Patrick is still okay and gets picked up by the transport. While this is going on, Soma is in the hanger thinking about the previous battle and how the Kyrios pilot might be able to do something to intercept her quantum brain waves now. Regardless of that, she wants to settle things in the next battle and feels that she as a complete super-soldier cannot be defeated by a failed specimen. On the Ptolemaios, Sumeragi gives Ian six hours to complete the changes needed to get the Kyrios and the Nadleeh ready for battle. As she’s then thinking about their limited forces and how even the Trans-Am system has a time limit, Tieria contacts her wanting to know their next strategic plan. Tieria believes that if they can annihilate all the enemy’s pseudo-GN-Drive equipped units, then they can display their might to the world, and that would allow them to continue their main plan. Sumeragi thinks that there’s too much risk, especially since the enemy could get reinforcements, but Tieria reveals that these aren’t his feelings alone - all the Gundam Meisters feel this way too.
Around this time, Setsuna is in his room reviewing video from the previous battle and realizes that it was Ali Al Sarshes who killed Lockon. Remembering what Lockon had told him about his family being killed by terrorists, Setsuna wonders if Lockon sacrificed his life to avenge them. This in turn conjures memories of his days fighting back in the Kurdish Republic and how one of his comrades had told him that being afraid to die was an act of blasphemy against God. Setsuna now believes that there is no God at death’s end. He also recalls what Lasse had told him on their way back from Earth, and this causes him to realize that living means shouldering the desires of the those who have died and facing the world - it’s not related to God but instead by his own free will. A little later on the bridge, Christina and the others notice that Felt is writing a letter. Felt reveals that she’s writing to her parents and then to Lockon in heaven, and she’s doing it because she survived and thus wants to apologize for not being able to see them for the time being. Seeing this makes Christina think about writing one to her foster mother, though she admits to not having good memories and having run away from home. Lichtendahl then reveals that his parents were orbital elevator engineers, and after he also comments on how they all ended up joining Celestial Being, Lasse observes that this is the first time they’ve talked with each other like this.
In the Ptolemaios’ hanger, Tieria informs Allelujah that the Nadleeh’s maintenance is done, but Allelujah worries about the Nadleeh not having the Trial System available. Despite this, Tieria vows to fight because he feels that he has to avenge Lockon. Allelujah tries to warn Tieria not to get too hotheaded, but Tieria feels that he can’t not. Setsuna meanwhile is staring at the remains of the Dynames when Felt comes by to put her letter in the cockpit. When she asks if he has anyone to write a letter to, Setsuna reveals that there is not. Felt thinks that this is lonely, but Setsuna feels that it’s Lockon who is lonely, and he tells Haro to stay by Lockon’s side. Unfortunately, all this is interrupted when the ships alarms start blaring because they’ve detected the enemy. The United Nations force consists of 13 units, but one of them is a golden mobile armor that’s equipped with several pseudo-GN Drives and is piloted by Alejandro. He catches the Ptolemaios’ crew off-guard by immediately firing his main particle cannon from a long distance away, and the Ptolemaios is barely able to evade in time. The ship still suffers damage though and has to quickly evade again to avoid a second shot.
Sumeragi then sends Lasse and Setsuna out to attack the mobile armor while she has Allelujah and Tieria protect the Ptolemaios. With the GN-Xs coming from left and right, both pilots have their hands full, and Hallelujah actually takes over for Allelujah. He gets very close to finishing off Soma with a point blank range shot, however Sergei and the other GN-Xs save her. Lasse meanwhile begins his attack against Alejandro’s mobile armor, but neither his missiles nor his particle cannons can break through its GN field. Alejandro responds by firing the mobile armor’s main particle cannon again, and although his target is still the Ptolemaios, the Kyrios is also in the path of the beam and gets its left arm and leg blown off. This blast deals even more damage to the Ptolemaios, resulting in a destroyed medical bay with a dead Dr. Moreno and a system failure that prevents them from putting up their own GN field. Sumeragi decides to head to one of the ship’s containers to join Ian, thus leaving Christina, Lichtendahl, and Felt on the bridge. Tieria meanwhile activates the Nadleeh’s Trans-Am system and manages to destroy a few GN-Xs, but his assault is cut short by more particle beam fire from Alejandro’s mobile armor. It destroys the Nadleeh’s left leg and knocks it out of the Trans-Am mode, leaving it open to attack by Patrick and another GN-X pilot.
For the sake of the plan and for the sake of Lockon though, Tieria doesn’t give up and trades fire with the two GN-Xs. He manages to destroy both, killing Patrick in the process, but in exchange, the Nadleeh is reduced to little more than a torso. Back on the Ptolemaios, Christina tells Felt that there’s a problem in the Dynames’ GN Drive and hurries Felt off to check up on it. Lichtendahl realizes that that was all a lie, but his attention is quickly turned back to the battle and how a GN-X is headed their way. Since their missiles fail to destroy this mobile suit, Ian and Sumeragi detach their container from the Ptolemaios so they can get a better shot, and they find out afterwards that Felt is in there with them. Unfortunately, the GN-X gets up right in front of the Ptolemaios and fires a shot directly at the bridge. Though Ian manages to destroy the GN-X shortly afterwards, the damage has been done. Lichtendahl had tried to protect Christina and had suffered a fatal wound in the subsequent explosion, and as she watches him utter his final words, Christina realizes how stupid she had been because there was such a great guy so close to her all this time. When Sumeragi manages to contact her, Christina’s subsequent silence about Lichtendahl’s condition makes the others realize what happened.
Knowing that her own time is short because she had been hit in the back by debris, Christina tells Felt to be a little more careful about the way she dresses. She also wants Felt to live on for Lockon, and her last words before the Ptolemaios explodes beg the others to change the world. Meanwhile, Lasse decides to try a direct attack against Alejandro’s mobile armor and charges straight at it. The container craft manages to break through the GN field, but the mobile armor then deploys its arms and grabs the container. Realizing that the container is about to be destroyed, Lasse and Setsuna eject in the GN Arms and the Exia, and after bringing out the Exia’s blade, Setsuna charges back at the mobile armor.


Preview:
The body count keeps piling up with Patrick, Dr. Moreno, Christina, and Lichtendahl all biting the dust this week. I was a little surprised by how unceremoniously Patrick was killed off given how much screen time he’s gotten in the past. I thought for sure he’d yell out to Kathy or something before he died, but it was just Patrick going “eh?” and that was it. Perhaps it was to show how suddenly things can happen in battle or war. Anyway, the most time was given to Christina and Lichtendahl’s farewell/death scene. It was touching, but nowhere near as much as Lockon’s death scene from last week. I suspected something was going to happen to them as soon as they had the scene earlier in the episode when they all talked about their families, and fortunately, the writers didn’t kill off Felt too. Actually, the scene where the bridge was about to be destroyed reminded me a lot of a similar scene from Gundam SEED episode 35 in that same slow-motion-omg-we’re-gonna-die sort of way, except that this time, there was no Freedom Gundam to swoop in and save them. In a way, you could say that this is a good example of how this series is different from Gundam SEED - no hugely overpowered mobile suits arriving just in time to save the day.
As for the final episode next week, it looks like it’ll involve Setsuna vs. Alejandro, and I wouldn’t be surprised if it ultimately ended in some type of cliffhanger where it looks like Setsuna might have died. Maybe the writers have one more plot twist in store for us, and I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.