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Gundam 00 Season 2 Ep. 10: Light of Heaven

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Summary

In 2298, Billy sits with Sumeragi on a bench at the Union’s International University. He mentions that he read her graduate thesis on using unmanned combat vehicles. She says she plans to become a strategic analyst after college, while he plans to work with Eifman on mobile suit research. Billy is impressed that Sumeragi is graduating at 17, but she’s embarrassed and says she has a long way to go before catching up to Kati. Billy recalls that she’s a gifted strategist that the AEU is looking to scout. Sumeragi says that as an analyst, even if wars can’t be stopped, perhaps certain tactics can end them quickly. Billy then says he’ll be lonely after graduation because he won’t be able to see Sumeragi anymore. Kati then walks up and compliments Sumeragi on her thesis, and she wonders if they’ll meet again on the battlefield. In the present, Sumeragi wonders why Kati joined A-LAWS. In the Middle East, Sergei gives Kim a report on the Kingdom of Suille. Kim thinks Suille is a problem because they oppose the Federation’s plans for the Middle East, and other countries may follow if they take action. To stop that from happening, Kim says the Federation is sending A-LAWS to the region. At the Katharon base, leaders discuss the Middle East situation. Shirin comments that even as the region’s best-armed nation, Suille can’t hold out against the Federation’s military power. She suggests using the information Suille has on the Federation’s tyranny in the Middle East as a way to turn public opinion against them. Ikeda, the former JNN reporter, offers to help set up contact with Suille’s royal family. After the meeting, Marina asks Shirin about how things are in Azadistan, but Shirin explains that the country is sealed off. Shirin tells her she needs to fight the Federation as the princess, but Marina says fighting will just make things worse. Marina thinks to herself that she understands what Setsuna felt like when he lost Krugis. In space, Kati receives orders from Goodman to pursue the Ptolemaios 2, which is believed to be headed to Lagrange 3. Kati thinks about Sumeragi and wonders if the friendly fire incident they were involved in years before led her to Celestial Being. Patrick walks in with food, and she yells at him for entering without permission. Revive wonders how Celestial Being will respond when Bring Stabity attacks them. The Ptolemaios 2 goes on battle alert, and Marie feels something through her quantum brainwaves. Setsuna launches first in the 00 Gundam and opens fire on Bring’s Garazzo, which blocks the attack with a GN field. Bring then attacks with his beam saber claw and destroys one of Setsuna’s swords. Lockon provides cover fire from the Cherudim Gundam, while Tieria mans the ship’s weapons. Bring then retreats, and Lasse notes that that happened very quickly. He wonders what’s going on, and Sumeragi explains that it’s a message from the enemy that they’re in the area, as well as a chance to show off their new mobile suit. Tieria thinks to himself that the Garazzo must’ve been piloted by an Innovator, and the GN field information came from Veda. He also wonders why he hasn’t told everyone about the Innovators yet. At the orbital ring, Rindt tells Goodman that preparations are moving along smoothly.

The Ptolemaios 2 enters the asteroid field at Lagrange 3 and docks inside Celestial Being’s hidden asteroid base. When the crew heads over to the base, Mileina is happy to see her mother, Linda. Ian explains that some of them have never met her before, and Saji notes that she’s quite young. Sumeragi asks Ian to hurry with the ship’s repairs because A-LAWS is in the area. A young woman named Anew Returner says they’ll need at least five days for repair and resupply. The rest of the crew doesn’t know her, and Ian explains that she was recently scouted by Wang. Ian then says that Anew is amazingly talented in everything from astrophysics and mobile suit engineering to regenerative medicine and cooking. Klaus gets a message from Ikeda that he’s set up a meeting with Suille royalty, and division head Mahar leaves for the meeting. A child from Suille asks Marina why everyone can’t just get along. At the asteroid base, Linda shows Setsuna and the crew the 0 Raiser, which can properly control the 00 Gundam’s Twin Drive System. They also have a look at the GN Archer, a transformable support craft for the Arios Gundam. Marie speaks with Saji and asks him what’s wrong, and he says he doesn’t know how to atone for all the people that died because of him. He says that he can’t fight or kill, but he has to do what he’s capable of. He asks Marie if she’s going to stay with them, and she says she will as long as Allelujah is around. She says she’ll never be separated from him, and Saji says he wishes he could do the same with Louise. On a Baikal, Louise has a panic attack. Kati looks over the Garazzo and yells at Patrick when he requests a new mobile suit. Revive sees Bring and says he’d never expected to have Bring in A-LAWS. Bring explains that Memento Mori is about to be activated. Ribbons tells Regene that using Memento Mori will speed up the reorganization of the Middle East and the unification of mankind. He also thanks Wang for her assistance in building Memento Mori, and she says she has high hopes for the future the Innovators will create. Nearby, Ali says hello to Nena, and she yells that he killed her brothers. She then pulls out a gun, but he quickly disarms her and tells her she’d be wasting her life. At the hidden base, the 0 Raiser is connected to the 00 Gundam to test the capabilities of the combined 00 Raiser. At Suille, Mahar meets with the ruler. In space, the Memento Mori laser is activated on the orbital ring. Goodman gives Rindt the order to star the countdown. Ali reports to Ribbons, and Ribbons tells him to watch what’s about to happen. Memento Mori opens fire, and the laser blast completely destroys Suille’s capital city. At the asteroid base, Setsuna activates Trans-Am, and Anew reports that the 00 Raiser is exceeding 290 percent of normal output. Setsuna wonders if this is the true power of the GN Drive. As the GN particles spread, Marie suddenly has a quantum brainwave reaction that Sergei is in danger. Sergei’s Guyana is then hit by the shockwave of Memento Mori’s blast. Tieria has a strange feeling while in the shower, and Hallelujah is awakened after four years.

Commentary

This episode hits a few interesting points, starting with a flashback that shows Billy, Sumeragi and Kati together at college. We see that back then Sumeragi and Kati were friendly rivals, but it’s also clear that Billy had a thing for Sumeragi even back then. There’s also some politics at play here, with the Kingdom of Suille starting trouble against the Federation. This leads to Ribbons unveiling his version of one of Gundam’s most time-honored cliches, the giant death laser. He immediately uses it to wipe out Suille, and it turns out that Wang helped build it. We’re also introduced to Anew Returner, who kind of has to raise some suspicion as someone scouted by Wang. On another note, it’s interesting to see that Ikeda, the former reporter, is now a member of Katharon. I guess he and Shirin want to stand up for something, unlike Marina, who seems content with her daycare service (of sorts). Aside from the Memento Mori blast, the episode ends on a few interesting notes with all the 00 Raiser’s GN particles setting off strange reactions, including the return of Hallelujah. It’s about time he returned, and it’d be nice to see him cause some havoc.

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Gundam 00 Info

Director:
Seiji Mizushima

Writer:
Yousuke Kuroda

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kanetake Ebikawa
Takayuki Yanase
Hitoshi Fukuchi
Kenji Teraoka
Naohiro Washio
Kunio Okawara
Seiichi Nakatani

Character Designer(s):
Yun Kouga
Michinori Chiba

Musical Composer:
Kenji Kawai

Format:
50 episodes; 3 compilation movies

Airdates:
Japan 10.06.2007 – 03.29.2008 (S1);
10.05.2008 – 03.29.2009 (S2)
U.S. 11.24.2008 – 02.09.2009 (S1);
06.29.2009 – 09.21.2009 (S2)

Video Release (SE):
Japan 10.27.2009 – 02.23.2010
U.S. 09.04.2018

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