I’m going to go on a whim and assume that Season 1’s finale is one of Witch from Mercury‘s most discussed episodes. It must be considering that there’s a whole section on the show’s Wikipedia page dedicated to people’s reactions on this particular episode. I can definitely see why that is the case. I wouldn’t call the finale the densest episode in the show. A good chunk of this episode is just action (albeit very good action, mind you). But there are a couple of key moments that I can see creating ripples for Season 2, the most notable of course being the very last scene in the episode.
Continuing right from where the last episode ended, we have Dawn of Fold assaulting the Plant Quetta, with Sophie and Norea making short work of the facility’s defense force with their Gundams. Benerit’s troops try to counter them with Antidote but, as demonstrated by Sophie, Gundams can overcome its effects if the pilot increases their Permet Score (the level of mental strain placed on a pilot). This indirectly explains how Suletta and the Aerial could’ve overridden Antidote when fighting Grassley (though it doesn’t explain how they could do so with no adverse effects on Suletta). I kind of was expecting Sophie to be immune or very resistant to GUND, if only because having another person unaffected by it would make for an interesting parallel to Suletta. Evidently however, Sophie is barely able to handle raising the Permet Score past Level 4. It is however interesting that she sort of gets a weird kick out of it, using the near-death experience to amp herself up with adrenaline.
Probably the biggest question in this episode is how the hell do the student characters get out of this fight alive. Even in a show where these kids more or less endanger themselves to try out giant robots, it is very surreal seeing them in such a dangerous scenario (the type of situation that we’ve also haven’t seen since the prologue). I kind of figured that Earth House would just evacuate into a bunker for the entire episode. Even if they could defend themselves with Mobile Suits, the only one who could pull it off is ChuChu so what the hell are they going to do against a bunch of terrorists? There surprisingly is one close call where Norea almost fires upon the room the gang is at, though the crisis is averted when Nika uses Dawn of Fold’s call sign and signals Norea not to attack her and the other Earthians. A major consequence to this is that Martin catches Nika in the act. I’m dying to know what Nika’s connection is the terrorists and now, I’m curious what’ll happen now that the cat appears to be out of the bag.
Miorine ends up meeting with Delling after getting separated from Suletta. During one of the attacks on the facility, Delling shields Miorine from the blast, taking a nasty wound as a result. Delling explains to Miorine that he protected her due to a promise of sorts he made with her mother, Notrette. I’m just as surprised Miorine when this happens. This show spent a whole season showing the estranged relationship between these two but evidently, there’s more to it than the show has let on.
Guel also runs into his father though this “reunion” is much darker by comparison. Because Shaddiq’s betrayal offends him so much, Vim decides to join the fight to give the terrorists a piece of his mind. Parallel to this, Guel hijacks a Mobile Suit when he overhears that Suletta and the Aerial are in Plant Quetta. Since some of Dawn of Fold’s auxiliary pilots are using Jeturk Mobile Suits, Vim mistakes Guel for an enemy and his son is forced to defend himself, and this results in a very traumatizing case of patricide. I really need to know: does the writer’s room for this show just hate Guel so much? This poor kid just can’t catch a break and his suffering somehow keeps getting worse as time goes on. This will probably all amount to something meaningful in Season 2 but it’s crazy that Guel of all people is suffering the most.
As for Vim, I kind of figured he’d kick the bucket during this fight, what with him deciding to fight the terrorists head-on. Even if he is as capable as he claims, he must be if he had climbed the ladder, there’s no way this would go well. Naturally then, I was surprised to see that the show goes in a completely different direction giving Vim the axe. I do like how he’s not even upset at Guel during his final moments; he’s just relieved to have found his son. For once, Vim comes across as a caring father; a shame then that we’ll never see more of that in the future.
While all of this is going on, Suletta tries to make her way to the Aerial. At the hanger, she almost gets caught by some Dawn of Fold infantry though Prospera and her assistant Godoy Haimano (Yutaka Aoyama) take all of them down with their guns. Suletta is understandably disturbed to see her mother kill people though Prospera argues that in order to protect the ones they care about, they have to be willing to use lethal force. Even before getting to the ending, there’s something about this conversation that irks me. Like, I get where Prospera is coming from but I don’t know if she should really encourage Suletta to go around killing people. I’m also stunned at how quickly Suletta bounces back once she’s persuaded. I figured even if she does understand Prospera’s perspective, she’d still be a little troubled and reluctant to follow her mother’s advice.
Before Suletta takes that advice to heart, she hops onto a repaired and upgraded Aerial to fend off against Sophie and Norea until Dominicus troops arrive. This fight doesn’t really advance the new rivalry between Sophie and Suletta. Thing is, Suletta still has no idea who Sophie is so we’re left with a one-sided interaction where Sophie is fascinated by Suletta’s prowess. Still, it would’ve been a missed opportunity not having the two duke it out during the attack on Plant Quetta and for what it’s worth, it is a really cool encounter, thanks in part to the animation and the showcasing of the Aerial’s upgrades. Also, it’s interesting how even after facing so many opponents, including other Gundams, the Aerial still remains on top. Once again, there’s definitely something special about this one.
Now about that ending.
In a post-credit scene, Miorine tries to get herself and Delling to somewhere safe, only to then run into a member of Dawn of Fold. Suletta arrives in the nick of time and she follows through on Proserpa’s advice by casually crushing the soldier with one of the Aerial’s hands. To say I shared Miorine’s shock would be an understatement. I suppose since Prospera told Suletta that she’d have to kill in order to protect Miorine, the show has to follow up on it. But even with that bit of foreshadowing, this scene still comes completely out of left field. I’ve gotten so used to seeing Suletta fight non-lethal duels and this whole season also made her seem like she wouldn’t hurt a fly. Even knowing that the show might have Suletta commit murder, it’s still stunning to see her go through with it. I certainly didn’t expect the scene to be so brutal either. Like of all the ways to kill that guy, why did Suletta resort to squashing him like a tomato? It feels overkill and that helps the shock of this scene. What especially amazes me is that Suletta absolutely didn’t have to go this extreme. She could have easily guarded Miorine, either with the Aerial’s GUND-BIT drones or with the Aerial’s own mainframe. There really is no reason for her to kill the guy and yet, that’s the route she went with.
I’m especially curious as to how this scene affects Sulleta’s relationship with Miorine. Like maybe, Miorine could accept that Suletta was trying to protect her but because Suletta killed the soldier so brutally and so casually, she instead sees Suletta as nothing but a psychopath. Further complicating things is the fact that these two are engaged. For the longest time, Miorine seemed content to have Suletta as her groom and she even admitted in the last episode that she’s felt happier with Suletta around. But now, it’s looking like Miorine hopes someone else can beat Suletta in a duel. I also love how this scene flips our familiarity with these two. For much of Season 1, we’ve following Suletta and getting to know Miorine. After this scene however, it feels like Miorine is now the viewpoint character and going forward, Suletta is the big mystery character that we’re trying to understand.
On that note, I’ve reached the end of Season 1 and I’ve now fulfilled the fourth and most likely final episode review poll. Thanks again to anyone who participated in this poll, as well as any of the past ones, and sorry again that this took longer than it should’ve. As for Witch from Mercury itself, I quite enjoyed the first season, more so as I progressed through it. What really carried the show for me is Suletta and Mio’s relationship, watching these two grow closer and figuring out if they really do have romantic feelings towards one another. The supporting cast is quite large but there was something compelling with seeing all the different factions plot against each other and there are some standouts here and there such as Guel, the show’s residential punching bag. I didn’t talk about it too much but the action in this season is highly entertaining and as one would expect from a franchise this famous, there’s plenty of awesome mech designs to find here.
As some of you may know, I was only “contracted” to cover the first season for the poll. That said, I have decided to continue these episode reviews with Season 2. I don’t think I’ll get to it immediately but it’s definitely on the to-do list. Aside from enjoying Season 1 enough to continue watching, I have to know what happens next after that crazy cliffhanger.
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