Back on the Sodon, we see one of Challia’s lieutenant, Comoli Harcourt (Akane Fujita), release Machu from her prison cell and return her possessions. Not going to lie, the image of Haro trapped inside an security bag is a great visual gag. I’m surprised Haro could fit inside that. Machu is informed by Comoli that her phone is being monitored and she’s limited to text messages for the time being. Upon turning on her phone, Machu is greeted with countless notifications from her mother. I understand that things are extremely awkward between those two but I really wanted Machu to respond back to Tamaki. She owes her mother that much after disregarding her for so long.
Comoli brings Machu over to Challia, who asks Machu about what she knows about Shuji and if she’s heard of the Rose of Sharon. Machu recalls Shuji wanting to go to Earth in search of a rose of some kind, which is news to Challia. Not sure how Shuji had heard of the Rose or why he’s interested in them but then again, I still don’t know much about this character. After the interrogation, Machu receives new messages from someone who contacted her earlier in the show. The mystery person is somehow able to hack into Sodon and help Machu escape with the GQuuuuuuX. To the surprise of his crew, Challia lets Machu escape.
Machu crash lands in a body of water near Mangaluru, India and she gets rescued by a couple of maids working at a brothel. The maids explain to Machu that a friend of theirs had predicted of her arrival ahead of time. Later in the day, Machu meets said friend, a Newtype named Lalah Sune (Hina Yōmiya). Lalah is another returning character from 0079 and presumably one of the biggest ones to come back. From my understanding, Lalah is originally the love interest of both Char and Amuro.
Lalah’s reintroduction is where things get really wild this episode. So even though she’s never met Char or Amuro in this timeline, Lalah is somehow still aware of their love triangle thanks to some visions brought to her by her Newtype abilities. When Machu later tries to escape the brothel, Lalah decides to stay behind so that she can one day meet Char. Upon returning to the GQuuuuuuX, Machu discovers a mobile armor and she’s shocked to discover that its pilot looks just like Lalah. Chalia has the mobile armor retrieved and he remarks that it’s likely from a different world. To say I’m lost would be an understatement.
In all seriousness, I’m guessing that GQuuuuuuX has revealed itself to be canon with original UC timeline via a multiverse. The only thing that makes me doubt this is the alternate Lalah. I’m vaguely aware of what happens to 0079‘s Lalah so I doubt that version of the character is the same one discovered by Machu. Still, I don’t know how else you could explain GQuuuuuuX‘s Lalah having visions of her other life or how there’s two of her running around in this timeline. Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about this development. At this point, GQuuuuuuX has proven itself to not be particularly friendly towards new Gundam fans but I don’t really want the show to get even more confusing. And maybe I’m just uninformed on this but having characters experience other timelines and bringing in alternate versions of them feels a bit of a stretch within the internal logic of the Universal Century.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX on Amazon Prime Video
Xenodude Scribbles 
One of the most famous works of alternate-history fiction is Philip K. Dick’s novel The Man in the High Castle, which is set in a world where the Axis Powers won World War 2. It was adapted into a live-action TV series about ten years ago. The novel has a book-within-a-book called The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which depicts a world in which the Allies won the war, but not the same way as in the real world. In the book-within-a-book, the war ends with the United States and the British Empire as rival superpowers instead of the US and the USSR.
Anyway, that’s pretty much what’s going on here. Lalah’s dreams are comparable to Dick’s book-within-a-book: a world where the “right” side won the war (from the UC canon point of view) but where the details were different, namely Char dying in the war instead of Lalah.
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