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Gundam Wing Ep. 17: Betrayed by Home, Far Away

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Summary

Several Leos inside a space colony come under attack from three Tauruses, with the battle quickly spreading to space. The Leos are easily dispatched by the more advanced Tauruses. Dressed in a less militaristic manner, a glassless Une asks the Alliance forces to surrender and claims that OZ has come to space to spread peace. Une orders the unmanned Taurus mobile dolls to return to Barge. Professor G watches the mobile dolls and concludes that OZ is starting a war just for the fun of it. Addressing colony representatives in a video, Une says that space citizens deserve freedom, but were oppressed by the Alliance. After the video ends, the Colony Area D representatives begin debating Une’s statement. One of the representatives thanks Une and says he sees the future of the colonies with OZ. Quatre and Duo monitor news about the colonies, including a report that OZ is using Tauruses to clear out old space mines. Quatre points out that by offering assistance OZ is able to gain the cooperation of the colonies. He believes that only the Gundam pilots can stop OZ, but Duo asks how they get to space. Quatre thinks that with OZ preaching peace they can’t use the colonies to threaten the Gundams. The two load their Gundams onto a stashed transport plane and take off. As the Area D representatives debate OZ’s offer, one of them wonders if this is an attempt to atone for Heero Yuy’s assassination decades earlier. An elderly advisor objects and states that OZ can never be trusted. One of the representatives says Une at least can be trusted, but the advisor points out that she’s been part of many bloody operations in the past. Elsewhere, several Taurus mobile dolls under the command of Nichol detonate a space mine field. As Une changes back into her uniform she receives a report that a Gundam factory was found at Colony 13087 in Area D and an engineer was arrested. Une heads to the detention center and pulls a gun on Professor G, demanding to know if he built the Gundams. He answers that he only built one out of the five, the Gundam Deathscythe. He says it was a coincidence that four others were developed simultaneously. Une then gets a report that Duo and Quatre are attacking the Singapore spaceport on Earth. Duo and Quatre face heavy resistance, so Quatre suggests going after the HLV launch facility. Duo saves Quatre and tells him not to overdo things, but Quatre says they have to fight and get the attention of the other pilots.

The Area D representatives watch a video of Duo and Quatre attacking OZ and conclude that the Gundams are a nuisance that should be denounced. The elderly advisor says that the Gundams are fighting against the odds and asks why the colonies can’t support them. Duo cuts down a tower and destroys several Leos. He watches a news feed and sees the Area D representative declare that if the Gundams attack OZ they are an enemy to the colonies. Duo can’t stand to hear it, but Quatre tells him it’s ok if the colonies don’t understand at first. Quatre and Duo are both knocked down by enemy fire and are pinned down. Duo thinks he’s doing the right thing and asks why he has to die in a place like this. Wufei appears and says they are doing the right thing. He destroys several Leos and states that those who are right have to be strong. Duo pulls up a news feed again and sees that Heero and Trowa are also fighting OZ elsewhere. Heero blasts several Leos and says that if everyone else is heading for space to fight OZ, he’ll do the same. Trowa destroys several fighter jets and believes that all five pilots feel the same peace in their hearts about what they’re doing. In space, Une and Nichol approach a colony with a Taurus squad. Several Leos on the colony wall spot a Gundam factory and report that the engineer is resisting. The area around the wall then explodes from a beam blast, destroying the Leos and two Tauruses. Une orders the mobile dolls to fire their beam cannons, but Nichol warns that the cannons could destroy the colony. Une responds that OZ doesn’t tiptoe through battles and that it isn’t their fault if the colony is damaged. Doctor J then offers to surrender and emerges from the factory, where he set up a duplicate of the Wing Gundam‘s buster rifle to blast the OZ suits. Duo loads the Gundam Deathscythe onto an HLV while Quatre holds off the attacking Leos. Quatre decides to stay behind and cover Duo and Wufei while they escape. Wufei says he’ll show his appreciation by making it to space. Quatre activates the self-destruct sequence and is surprised when the Gundam Sandrock raises its shield and opens the cockpit on its own. He then escapes from the cockpit and takes off in a space shuttle after Duo and Wufei escape. The Gundam Sandrock then explodes and destroys the surrounding Leos. Doctor J is thrown into a jail cell with his four counterparts and says he’s amazed everyone finished their Gundams. Une is informed that the Gundam pilots have launched into space and gives orders to fire, but the power generator suddenly fails. Doctor J declares that OZ will regret letting them live.

Commentary

A few developments in this episode help push the story along. The Gundam pilots have been separated ever since the events in Siberia, and they’re further isolated as a result of the betrayal by the colonies. Une makes a complete transformation into a peace loving person by letting down her hair, taking off her glasses and putting on a dress. The show completely fools the gullible colony representatives, but the same old Une is still there when the uniform and glasses come back. Given how differently she acts in these two getups, it’s clear she’s starting to form a split personality. Duo and Quatre hatch a plan to get the attention of the other Gundam pilots and head to space. It works, but at the cost of self-detonating the Gundam Sandrock, which almost shows some sentience at letting Quatre disembark. Finally, all five of the mad scientists are captured, and the militaristic Une hopes to make use of them and their engineering skills. That’s not exactly going to work for her.

Original Review: January 29, 2001

Overall Rating
3.5/5

Gundam Wing Info

Director(s):
Masashi Ikeda
Shinji Takamatsu

Writer(s):
Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Akemi Omode
Toshifumi Kawase
Masashi Ikeda
Katsuhiko Chiba

Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Hajime Katoki
Junya Ishigaki

Character Designer:
Shukou Murase

Musical Composer:
Ko Otani

Format:
49 episodes

Airdates:
Japan 04.07.1995 – 03.29.1996
U.S. 03.06.2000 – 05.11.2000

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