Following the attack on Asticassia, Suletta and co. help with the relief effort. Suletta in particular offers survivors the tomatoes that she’s grown at Miorine’s garden. She’s probably right in assuming Miorine would let her do this but it would be funny if she later grows a bunch more tomatoes just in case she’s horribly wrong. At one point, Secelia asks Suletta why she’s doing any of this. I don’t know why Secelia is so nosy here but this does bring up the fact that Suletta’s actions here are entirely her own and that is worth acknowledging after seeing Suletta follow Prospera’s orders most of the time.
Due to Shaddiq’s arrest, Miorine is automatically chosen to be Benerit’s next president. Not that Miorine intended to win this way but it is funny to think that she ultimately wins simply because Shaddiq screwed up that much. Miorine pays Shaddiq a visit in prison, which makes for an interesting scene. Even though Miorine thinks Shaddiq did things the wrong way, she still acknowledges that he had good intentions and that she’s just as guilty for resorting to methods similar to his. It goes to show that Shaddiq is one of her greatest what-ifs.
Right as Miorine steps into her new role, Peil rats Benerit out to the Space Assembly League, giving the latter faction all the evidence and support they needed to suppress Benerit with force. Got to love how Peil will do just about anything for self-preservation. Sarius offers himself and Grassley as scaepgoats for Miorine to use to save Benerit’s reputation though Miorine refuses, not wanting to more lives to be lost after Prospera’s attack on Earth. I have to hand it to Sarius. Although he isn’t above doing shady stuff, his ultimate goal has been preventing things from getting way worse. And honestly, given the nature of Gundams in this show, I can’t really blame him for always opposing them.
Funnily enough, we don’t really need to worry about the Space Assembly League. Before they can even lay a finger on Benerit, they encounter Prospera, who has commandeered a battle station where the Aerial can execute Quiet Zero. Due to Quiet Zero’s ability to hack technology and the station’s own weaponry, the League’s fleet is utterly decimated. As chilling as this scene is, it does remind me just how underdeveloped the League is in the lore. These guy barely do anything in this show and the one time they’re about to do something, they’re already written out of the plot. They are easily the most wasted element in the show so far.
Back at Asticassia, Guston and Belmeria approach Suletta in the hope that she can reason with Prospera. Suletta however has finally accepted that Prospera never loved her and she argues that her mother won’t listen to her. Guston then reveals that the Space Assembly League recovered a powerful Gundam from Vanadis, the Gundam Calibarn, and he proposes for Suletta to use that to confront Prospera. Belemeria warns that the Calibarn has no safeties against the data storm, meaning if Suletta pilots it, she’s as good as dead. Despite the huge risk, Suletta agrees to the plan.
I find it crazy that Suletta is getting a new mech this late into the series but to be fair, I have no idea if it’s that common or not for the main protagonist of a Gundam series to get a new Gundam at the end of their respective series. Whatever the case is, I really like how poetic this all feels. Suletta taking on a new Gundam is a great way to denote her finally achieving independence from Prospera. Having her take a Gundam from Vanadis harkens to Gund-Arm trying to honor Dr. Nabo’s original intent with the GUND technology. I’m also excited at the possibility that Suletta’s final opponent is the Aerial. That could be an amazing way for her to overcome Eri’s shadow and prove herself as her own person. I am concerned at how well Suletta will handle the data storm. Up until now, she had Eri do all that heavy lifting. You’d think since she’s a clone of Eri, she might be able to tolerate the strain just fine but I’m inclined to think that the show might not make it so easy for her, in order to better contrast her against Eri.
Not wanting Suletta to take on the burden alone, the Earth House gang decide to accompany her in the upcoming battle. El5n also decides to join the crew, having overheard everything while laying low. His only condition is that he does not pilot a Gundam. Frankly, I have no idea what Earth House could possibly do to help Suletta. I guess Chuchu could try and shoot something but everyone else? I can’t help but think they’ll just be there for Suletta in spirit. As for El5n, I can actually buy him wanting to help. Even though Norea is gone, he likely still wants to see the world that he wanted to explore with her and helping Suletta is his ticket to achieve that. Plus, it’s a nice way for him to redeem himself for how he treated Suletta in the past (which he does actually apologize for in this scene).
Over at Jeturk, Lauda has begun to blame Miorine for all of Jeturk’s misfortunes and the episode ends with the implication that he’ll commandeer the Schwarzette to take revenge. Lauda having so much animosity towards Miorine barely makes sense to me. Like yeah, Miorine had some part to play in Jeturk’s downfall such as Guel’s losing streak in the duels. But for much of this show, Lauda has largely been pinning everything on Suletta. It makes no sense for Lauda to suddenly change targets. Also, are you freaking kidding me? Lauda gets the Schwarzette? I figured Guel would never pilot it but this show is out of its goddamn mind to hand over such a cool looking mech to this dickhead.
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