Before agreeing to Prospera’s demands, Miorine adds the stipulation that if she succeeds with Quiet Zero and Benerit’s election, Prospera must leave Suletta alone. Prospera immediately agrees, which definitely doesn’t imply how much or little she values Suletta, but she does warn Miorine that it’s unlikely for Suletta to willingly parts way with the Aerial. Well gee, I wonder what the plot of this episode is going to be?
We then see Shaddiq form an alliance with Peil. In return for their support in the election, Shaddiq promises to give Peil ownership of Gund-Arm Inc. and the Aerial. Funnily enough, Peil’s board suspects Shaddiq has something to do with Sariu’s disappearance, having noted that Shaddiq couldn’t get away with supporting Gundams if his father is around. I wonder if they might use this tidbit as dirt against Shaddiq, should throwing him under the bus prove to be more beneficial to them than the current deal.
Back at Asticassia, El5n tries once more to steal the Aerial. This time, he confronts Suletta directly, first by taking advantage of her feelings towards El4n and then by threatening with force. Guel, who is able to re-enroll into the school with Lauda’s help, intervenes and forces El5n to leave. This is in fact Guel’s one victory so far in this show and if that isn’t funny/sad enough, bear in mind that he’s not using his mobile suit for this. Funny how Guel comments that he could never figure out Elan. Why, it’s almost he’s a completely different person or something. To avoid punishment from Peil, El5n hides in Grassley House. I assume that he’s figured out their connection to Dawn of Fold and is using that as leverage against them. At Grassley House, El5n befriends Norea, which I must admit is a funny interaction. A Spacian boy trying to survive face to face with a girl who just wants to kill Spacians? That could be the plot of a whole episode and I’d be more than okay with that.
Guel takes the opportunity to thank Suletta for inspiring him to persevere and confess his feelings towards her one more time. I almost forgot this was part of Guel’s character, what with him having a lot of other crap to deal with these past couple of episodes. I figured Suletta would turn Guel down so I admire Guel taking it like a champ, even admitting that he figured Suletta already has someone special (spoiler alert: it’s Miorine). The growth this guy has had so far has been great.
After overhearing the conversation, Miorine announces that she wants to see Suletta win one more duel as the latter’s gift for her seventeenth birthday and she picks Guel as the opponent. Miorine then tells Guel in secret about Suletta’s unhealthy loyalty to Prospera and that she wants him to win the duel and claim the Aerial as part of her plan to set Suletta free. In return, Miorine will let Guel marry her and she’ll help Jeturk with its financial recovery. I love that Guel immediately knew that something isn’t right and even after Miorine explains everything, he’s never fully on board with the plan. If it wasn’t for the fact that winning would benefit Jeturk, I don’t think he would’ve agreed to work with Miorine. Also, something poetic about this final duel. Guel is the first rival Suletta fought in these duels and now he’s the last. This plot element ultimately comes full circle. Meanwhile, Miorine originally wanted to get out of an arranged marriage with Guel. This time around however, she actually wants it to happen.
I was curious how exactly Guel could defeat Suletta. The fact of the matter is that the Aerial is currently undefeated and presumably the most powerful Mobile Suit in the show. He does receive an upgraded version of his signature mobile suit, the Daribalde, and it does put up a better fight against the Aerial this time around, but the Aerial still proves to be more powerful. Also hindering Guel is the fight triggering his trauma from killing Vim and failing to save Seethia, causing him to make mistakes he otherwise would’ve avoided. Perhaps it’s only natural then that Guel ultimately wins with outside help. Thanks to some sort of virus Miorine uploaded into the Aerial, the Gundam shuts down right when it reaches a high enough Permet Score, thus allowing Guel to disarm its head antenna and win the duel.
Given that Miorine needs Guel to win and she knows better than anyone not to underestimate Suletta and the Aerial, it makes sense that she resorted to sabotaging the Gundam. Guel taking advantage of the shutdown is a bit surprising, considering that he prefers to win on his own merit. I suppose that just speaks to how desperate he is to save his father’s company. I do enjoy the irony of his victory. Like, this is the one major win Guel has had so far in this entire show and he’s not even the least bit happy with it.
Seeing as this is Suletta’s first loss so far in this entire show, the episode had to go big and it sure didn’t skip a beat on that. Having Suletta talk about her future marriage with Miorine right when she thinks she has Guel beaten is bad enough but then this episode goes a step further by having Miorine confront her after the duel. Not only does Miorine reveal her sabotage, she also personally strips Suletta of her Holder status and more or less tells Suletta that they’re breaking up. It’s a devastating note to end the episode on. I am a little stunned to see Miorine act so coldly in this scene. Like, does she actually need to need to cut ties with Suletta in order to execute her plan. Perhaps she thinks that Suletta would still run into Prospera if the two of them stay as friends so to ensure Prospera never lays a finger on Suletta again, she decides that they can’t see each other again.
Honest question: why are birthdays so cursed in this show? First, we had Eri’s birthday, which ended with a massacre. Then, we had El4n’s birthday, which ended with his death. Now, we had Miorine’s birthday, which admittedly doesn’t end with anyone dying but the result still isn’t a happy one. What a strange omen. Thank goodness we haven’t gotten to Guel’s birthday. Imagine what kind of disaster that would entail.
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