GundamReviews

Gundam 00 Season 2 Ep. 21: The Door of Change

0
Summary

Saji asks Setsuna if there weren’t any other options besides killing Anew, but Setsuna answers that there weren’t. Setsuna says he’s sure Lockon would’ve died if he hadn’t taken that shot. He also senses that something is confusing Louise, and Saji notes that Setsuna has been acting strangely lately. When the ship’s power is momentarily cut for a systems check, Saji is surprised to see that Setsuna has glowing Innovator eyes. Feldt reports to Sumeragi that they’ve received an encrypted message asking them to come to the abandoned Eclipse space colony at Lagrange 5. At Eclipse, a wounded Wang and Hong Long attempt to flee from Nena. Tieria is suspicious of going to Lagrange 5 with so little information, but Sumeragi explains that Setsuna insisted on it. Ian calls the bridge to lodge his approval because Linda and the remaining Celestial Being staff are at Lagrange 5 constructing new weapons, so he thinks they can upgrade and repair the Gundams. Allelujah asks Soma to pilot the Ptolemaios 2 since Lasse is in the infirmary. She accuses him of just trying keep her away from the fighting, and he points out that he made a promise to Sergei. Sumeragi tells Setsuna that the ship will take a detour to draw off the enemy while he heads to Eclipse. Setsuna asks Saji if he’s coming along, and Saji agrees to go if they’re saving someone. Saji turns down another corridor, and Lockon approaches Setsuna. He apologizes for what he did earlier and says he’ll fight as a Meister. Lockon vows that he’ll defeat the Innovators of his own will and pulls a gun on Setsuna’s back. Setsuna continues down the corridor, and Lockon doesn’t pull the trigger. Setsuna then launches in the 00 Gundam, followed by Saji in the 0 Raiser, and they dock to form the 00 Raiser. Goodman orders his fleet to continue pursuing the Ptolemaios 2, and he thinks to himself that he won’t rely on the license holders anymore. Hiling expresses surprise at Anew’s defeat, and Revive recalls how easily they were taken out by Setsuna. He believes it’s more than just the Gundam’s skill, and he thinks Setsuna is becoming the first human Innovator. Andrei tries to speak to Louise as she pops pills, but she tells him to leave her alone. Graham tells her they have a mission, and Andrei asks to come along. On Earth, Shirin dresses Klaus’ wounds, and he tells her they’ll be going into space with the coup remnants. He says he doesn’t want to be pessimistic and says that Marina’s song is spreading throughout the world because people desire peace. At Eclipse, Hong Long wonders when Nena started working for the Innovators, and Wang yells at him to think for himself. She says that she was forced to become the head of the family because he couldn’t, so her life became twisted. She wants to change the world to get a future that only belongs to her. Nena says over the radio that’s a stupid reason, and she comes into the room and opens fire.

Hong Long jumps in front of Wang and shields her with his own body. Nena shoots him several more times, but he pushes Wang out of the door and tells her to live on. Nena then shoots Hong Long in the head, and when Haro asks why she isn’t chasing Wang, she looks to Regene and says it isn’t necessary. Regene thinks to himself that this will accelerate his own plan, and he spots the 00 Raiser approaching. Setsuna heads out on foot because he can’t get to the rendezvous point in a mobile suit. He’s surprised to find Wang inside the colony and notices that she’s injured. She gives him a piece of paper with Veda’s coordinates and tells him they have to seize Veda before the Innovators move it. Setsuna asks her to come along, but she says she can’t go. He then returns to space and finds Graham’s custom Susanowo holding Saji and the 00 Raiser hostage. Graham stands atop his cockpit without his Bushido mask, and Setsuna recognizes him. Graham wants to fight Setsuna in single combat and says he wants to settle everything that the Gundam has caused. What he feels has gone beyond love and hate, and he thinks it’s destiny. Setsuna thinks to himself that Graham has become twisted by Celestial Being’s existence, so he decides to fight. Setsuna and Graham then attack each other with swords while Wang escapes in a small shuttle. However, Nena appears in front of her in the Throne Drei. She tells Wang that she just got close to Wang so that she could live, but her role is over now. Nena then destroys the shuttle and calls that punishment for using people as objects. She says she’ll do anything to make sure she stays alive. Ribbons then speaks to her through Haro and says she’ll have to be punished for acting on her own, so someone has been sent to deal with her. She assumes that it’s Ali, thus giving her a chance to avenge her brothers, but she’s blind sided by a shot from the Regnant that blows off the Throne Drei’s left arm. The Regnant’s bending beam then blows off the Throne Drei’s legs, and Setsuna calls out to Louise to not fight for revenge. However, Graham presses his attack and tells Setsuna to pay attention. Louise transforms the Regnant into mobile suit mode and unleashes her claw fangs, which blast the Throne Drei apart, leaving only the cockpit. Louise then crushes the cockpit, killing Nena. Andrei spots the Regnant floating near the Throne Drei’s wreckage and overhears Louise regressing into a child-like state, asking her parents to praise her. Graham fires a beam cannon at Setsuna and says he’s lived for this moment, even if it meant becoming an Innovator puppet. With the fight at a stalemate, Graham and Setsuna both activate Trans-Am, and the particle density causes them to see each other in a strange place. Setsuna says he now understands why Aeolia created the GN drives – to guide humanity to innovation, which he’s now undergoing.

Commentary

With this episode, it becomes pretty clear that we’re approaching the end. Celestial Being now has the location of Veda, so obviously they’re going to go after it. There’s also a definite theme of revenge running through this episode. Much like his brother, Lyle pulls a gun on Setsuna and takes aim, but he doesn’t give in to his desire and stops. Quite a few characters meet their end in this episode, namely Hong Long, Wang and Nena. Hong Long died to protect Wang, which is pretty much how you’d expect him to go. We finally learn that Wang wants to change the world because she was forced to lead her family when she didn’t want to. Sounds like a pretty weak reason to collaborate with the Innovators and contribute to the deaths of countless innocents. Nena, being the kind of person she is, gets exactly what she deserves with the comeuppance from Louise. Unfortunately, Louise is so far gone that she’s getting to that Zeta Gundam Cyber Newtype level. We also get to finally see Graham unmasked, and he reveals his motivation (in part). While his initial fascination with the Gundams turned into hate by the end of season 1, he’s gone beyond that now. Even after donning his Bushido mask, he’s still got that pride as a Flag Fighter underneath the surface. Finally, the biggest revelation this episode is that Setsuna is becoming the first human Innovator, which explains quite a few things. I guess this is the result of being exposed to all those 00 Raiser particles. It’s interesting that Regene doesn’t seem at all surprised by that happening, while at the same time Revive figured it out for himself.

Overall Rating
4/5

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

Comments

Comments are closed.