Something that I find funny about Season 1’s final stretch is how everyone that’s even remotely relevant to the s tory converges at Plant Quetta. Delling is there to meet up with Prospera (more on that in a bit). Vim is there to play his role in the assassination plot. Dawn of Fold is heading over there to terrorize the facility, with poor Bob as one of their hostages. Most amusing of all is Gund-Arm arriving at the place to retrieve a repaired Aerial. Contrived is maybe not the right word here but it does amaze me how the vast majority of the cast is here for some reason or another.
Delling and Prospera’s meeting is pretty short but it does make for a huge development in the plot. As it turns out, Delling is aware of Prospera’s real identity as Elnora and these two are actually in cahoots, working on a secret project called Quiet Zero. The exact nature of Quiet Zero is left vague for now but it appears to involve the data generated by GUND. That Delling is collaborating with Prospera sorts of explain why he’s been willing to make an exception on the Aerial and Gund-Arm in spite of the Gundam ban. He actually has been a hypocrite this entire time. What confuses me then is at what point did Delling secretly change his tune and how long has he been working with Prospera. If these two were in cahoots since the beginning of the season, that is some insane 3D chess they’ve been playing.
After his meeting with Prospera, Delling briefly meets up with Vim. Vim warns Delling that Sarius won’t give up on getting rid of the Aerial and Gund-Arm and he proposes that they work together in stopping Sarius in his tracks. This is revealed to be a ruse for Vim to plant a tracker on one of Delling’s men but knowing Vim, I honestly can see him consider double crossing Sarius. The man seems to want Benerit for himself. Also, judging by the dialogue, it appears that Guel did indeed run away from Jeturk and Vim is unaware that his son is en route to Plant Quetta. It sure is going to be interesting when these two meet up.
Meanwhile, Suletta’s fear that Miorine will get rid of her has extended over to her friends at Earth House. There’s a couple of moments in this episode where the group gets together and Suletta feels left out. Suletta’s paranoia is blown out of proportion but given her anxiety, it is understandable that it’s grown to this level. Having noticed that something happened between Suletta and Miorine, Nika encourages the latter to talk to the former. Miorine ends up taking this suggestion to heart when she finds out what exactly is bothering Suletta, leading her to have an honest chat with her fiancée.
This is definitely a watershed moment for our two leads. There have been plenty of times where Miorine clearly cares more about Suletta than she lets on but she never really admitted that out loud. It’s very satisfying then to finally see Miorine be so transparent with Suletta. She does mention all the trouble Suletta has caused but that’s pretty in-character for her to do and it does empathize the point she’s trying to make. Even when Suletta drives her crazy, she has nevertheless been a lot happier ever since Suletta came into her life. Meanwhile, it’s important that Suletta hears all of this. Even if Suletta knew deep down that Miorine does care about her, she still needed Miorine to tell her that upfront and at long last, she’s finally getting the affirmation that she longed for. I also find it interesting that in addition to the dialogue, you also have the girls embracing each other as they reconcile. There’s no confession in this scene but there’s no denying that this is so far the most intimate these two have gotten with one another.
Eventually, the assassination plot goes in full swing. I love that Shaddiq deliberately orders Dawn of Fold to attack while Vim is still in the facility, presumably so that he wipes out both him and Delling in one fell swoop. It goes to show that Shaddiq really does mean it when he says he wants to break Benerit apart. For their side of the plan, Dawn of Fold sends two mobile suit pilots, Sophie Pulone (Shiori Izawa) and Norea Du Noc (Aoi Yūki) to attack Plant Quetta and separate Delling from the main station so that the he’s an easier target. The big twist with these two is that they’re Witches just like Suletta. I do think the reveal is ruined a bit by the obvious Gundam shaped head designs for the mobile suits but it is nevertheless intriguing that Earthians somehow have access to Gundams and with two perfectly compatible pilots no less.
The show particularly gives some attention to Sophie, with the girl becoming very interested in Suletta after watching the latter’s duels online. I’m guessing Sophie will be Suletta’s rival in Season 2, or at least one of them. I admit that I don’t find Sophie terribly interesting. Right now, her character is simply that she’s a psychopath. Then again, all the past rivals ended up having more depth to them than I expected so that could very well be the case with Sophie.
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