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Phase
17: Cagalli Returns
Review by Chris April 10, 2003 With the battle over, Mu returns to the ship. The Desert Dawn guerillas gather around the Strike Gundam, and Natarle wonders if they are potential allies. Murrue says they won't know until talking to them, so she leaves the bridge and heads for a hatch. She and Mu arm themselves with pistols and leave the ship to talk to the guerillas. Murrue thanks them for helping her, and the leader introduces himself as Sahib Ashman. He says there's no need to thank him because he was only fighting the enemy and wasn't necessarily trying to save the Archangel. He recognizes Mu by his nickname and is surprised to see him in the area. Sahib asks why they are in the area, and Murrue asks him if would consider allying with her. He answers that he'll think about it as soon as her soldiers put their guns down and the pilot comes out of the Strike Gundam. Murrue agrees and orders the soldiers to stand down and Kira to disembark. He gets out of the Strike Gundam, and all the guerillas are shocked that the pilot is a kid. Cagalli sees him and asks him why he's piloting that thing. She tries to slap him, but he grabs her arm and stops her. He recognizes her from Heliopolis, and she breaks her arm free and slaps him. In Gibraltar, Yzak and Dearka speak with Rau in a video conference. He tells them he is glad they arrived safely on Earth, and he orders them to continue pursuit of the Archangel. Dearka sees that as saying they're not allowed to return to space, and Yzak begins removing his bandages. A large scar runs underneath his right eye, and he vows that he will get Kira. In Libya, the Archangel flies low through a canyon and lands at the guerilla base. Sahib takes Murrue, Mu and Natarle into a room filled with computers and maps. He explains that their guerilla group is made up from volunteers from various towns fighting against ZAFT occupation. Mu asks Sahib who Cagalli is, and he answers that she's their goddess of victory. Cagalli goes outside and apologizes to Kira. She says she was worried bout him after Heliopolis and never expected he'd become a pilot for the Alliance. He tells her a lot happened and asks why she is with the guerillas. Mu, Murrue and Natarle discuss battle plans with Sahib and how they will escape to Alaska. Sahib says that the desert is too big for ZAFT to cover, but their attacks have increased since they occupied the Victoria spaceport three days earlier. He says that the South African Union was fighting ZAFT until they were abandoned by the Alliance. In his eyes, the Alliance and ZAFT are the same because they only only come to pillage and conquer. Sahib asks how high the Archangel can fly, and Natarle says it can't fly too high in the atmosphere. Sahib says that they'll have to either break out through Gibraltar or find a way to the Indian Ocean and then the Pacific Ocean. Mu wonders about the governments of those areas, and Sahib tells him not to think too far ahead because the Lesseps is in Banadiya. On the Lesseps, DaCosta reports to Andy that they are ready to move out, but Andy is more concerned with the coffee he is brewing. Andy tells his men that they will be attacking the town of Tassil to pay back the guerillas for yesterday. At the camp, Sai, Miriallia, Tolle and Kuzzey sit around talking. Kuzzey wishes he hadn't stayed, but Tolle reminds him he'd have died if he went on that civilian shuttle. Flay walks by asking where Kira is and leaves. In the hangar, Murdoch finds Kira working on the Strike Gundam and asks what he's doing. Kira replies that he's refining the adjustments he made to the motion control system during the battle. Cagalli asks her friend Ahmed El Fasi if he's seen Kira because she forgot to ask his name again. Ledonir Kisaka takes her aside and reminds her not to slip up and let people figure out who she is. She walks away and runs into Sai and Flay having an argument. Flay grabs onto Kira, and Sai tells him to mind his own business. Flay says it is Kira's business because she spent the last night in his room. Andy has his men give the citizens of Tassil a warning before the BuCUEs attack. Kira tells Sai to stop harassing Flay and says she was the only one who has cared for him. The two of them begin to walk away, and Sai grabs Kira. Kira quickly twists Sai's arm behind his back and knocks him into the sand. Kira tells Sai he must know that he'd lose in a fight between them. Sahib is informed that Andy's forces are attacking Tassil. Following the battle from last episode, we're presented with yet another supposed character development episode. While I certainly appreciate character development, this is quite annoying. Switching off between action and nothing every other episode is becoming quite predictable. While other shows develop their characters during the lull between combat, with this series it seems as if the story is just being padded out during what is supposed to be character development. Throughout this whole episode, nothing of any importance happens until the encounter between Kira and Sai and Andy's attacks. As for that, it seems that Kira is falling more and more into Flay's plan and is now breaking away from friends like Sai. She doesn't care about him at all, but since he's rather disturbed to begin with he can't see that. Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
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