Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Is this….TRANS-AM?

Wow. I am wondering if words can describe this episode.

It truly is nearing the season 1 closer for Gundam 00, because this episode was all over the place. To sum up, 1) Johann and Michael are dead, Nena mostly incapacitated, Aeolia Schenberg also (finally) dead, Ali Al-Sarchez in possession of Throne Zwei, and, as if this isn’t enough, Celestial Being has had their limiters removed, and the true power of GN Drives–the TRANS-AM system–is revealed.

Whew.

If what we’re seeing is to be believed, the hypothesis that Celestial Being end war by providing an antagonist for the world to unite and fight against posed earlier in the episode is garbage. The Gundams are supposed to eradicate war, and Alejandro Corner, in his mad quest for power, has inadvertently set in motion the full scope of Schenberg’s plans. What the Trinity siblings were, we don’t know, but with luck Nena will be fighting with the Good Guys now. Surely they wouldn’t kill of Kugyu’s character so soon!

The episode captured several things in superb fashion early on: Tieria’s depression over his failure to prevent Lockon’s injury, and Felt’s (good old Felt, we can always count on you to be cute) burgeoning love for Lockon growing ever more substantia. Tieria’s personality seems to be built on a foundation of an inflated sense of self-worth. He was an arrogant jerk before, but as the situation slowly unravels, layers of his personality reveal themselves. At this point, none of the Meisters are in any way underdeveloped (take that, critics!) and seem to be gaining, as the plan crumbles around them, a renewed interest in bringing peace to the world, Setsuna in particular. But then, he’s just a Gundam otaku at heart. If this takes place in our timeline, maybe he’s been boning up on his anime history…?

In totally unrelated news, Lockon looks like a badass with an eyepatch. Losing his sniper’s eye certainly made his manliness levels go up. Maybe Felt likes a man with an eyepatch too…