With Operation Odessa in full swing, the White Base hurries to reach the battlefield. Amuro finds himself lost in thoughts of Matilda and her death. He and Sayla take off in the G-Armor for a practice flight so that she can learn the controls. Elsewhere, Gaia and Ortega honor the memory of Mash, but M’Quve doesn’t care for the display. He reminds them of their duty, and Gaia vows they’re going to avenge Mash regardless of M’Quve’s orders. Amuro and Sayla fly near a mountain range and spot the Zeon forces. Amuro sees a small plane take off from the Zeon camp and identifies it as an EFF Dragonfly. Bright orders them to return to the ship, but he changes the orders when Amuro tells him about the Dragonfly. Bright wants them to investigate if there is a spy in the EFF. A squadron of Dopps approaches the White Base, and Mirai figures that’s probably due to the spy also. Amuro and Sayla follow the Dragonfly back to the Big Tray and land on it. Soldiers pull guns on Amuro, and he identifies himself as the Gundam pilot. Judock informs Elran that he is to sabotage his own forces so that M’Quve can focus on attacking Revil’s forces. Amuro is taken to speak with Elran and shows him the photo of the Dragonfly and says he can prove Judock is a spy. Elran thanks Amuro and then pulls a gun on him. Amuro is shocked that Elran is a spy too, and Elran shoots at Amuro. He’s about to shoot again, but he is shot through the door by a soldier. They tell Amuro they got the whole conversation on video and thank him. Amuro yells at Elran and says he is disgusting. He says that no matter what his reasons were, dozens of EFF soldiers died because of it. The soldiers tell him the court-martial will handle Elran and that he has to return to the White Base. Amuro returns to the G-Armor and takes off to return to the White Base.
Revil’s forces continue attacking M’Quve, and the White Base fights off Gaia and Ortega. The Guntank is too slow, and Ortega damages it as it returns to the ship. Amuro and Sayla arrive and attack the remaining Black Tri-Stars. The Doms move too quickly and are able to damage the G-Armor. Amuro tells Sayla to fly behind a mountain so that he can separate the Gundam from the G-Armor. The G-Armor is damaged, so Sayla returns to the ship. Amuro attacks Gaia and Ortega and fights off the both of them. On the ship, The damaged G-Fighter is separated from the G-Armor and replaced with the Core Fighter to form the G-Sky, piloted by Hayato. With Elran’s sabotage out of the picture, M’Quve’s lines are breaking down because the EFF is fighting at full strength. M’Quve calls Revil and threatens to fire a thermonuclear missile unless Revil withdraws. M’Quve is serious about the nuclear missile, despite the fact that such weapons are prohibited by the Antarctic Treaty. Revil orders his troops to continue, and M’Quve fires the missile. Amuro is told by Bright that he has to cut off the missile’s targeting system before it detonates. Amuro says nuclear missiles are prohibited, and Bright sends him specs for the missile that were released when the Antarctic Treaty was signed. He jumps onto the G-Sky and slices Ortega’s Dom in half. Gaia chases him and knocks the Gundam off of the G-Sky. Amuro jumps up and slams his beam saber into Gaia’s Dom, destroying it. The G-Sky approaches the missile, and Amuro cuts off the head, causing it to explode harmlessly without detonating. Revil’s forces defeat the Zeon, and M’Quve escapes to space on the Zanzibar. He doesn’t mind the loss because he produced enough resources to keep fighting for a decade. Operation Odessa ends in success for the EFF, and the crew of the White Base meet Revil.
Here we finally get to see the often mentioned Operation Odessa. Those familiar with movie 2 know that this episode was cut, and the story was changed to say that the White Base didn’t make it in time to participate. Well, now we see that the ship was there, and they were a crucial part of the EFF victory. For a battle that has been built up so much, it was crammed into one episode with the resolution of the traitor thread. This really should have been a two-parter. Elran is finally exposed as a traitor, but his reason for helping M’Quve is never explained. Perhaps he was promised money or a military position if the Zeon won the war. The Black Tri-Stars are finally killed off here, so we never have to see them again. M’Quve really is a devious man if he was willing to violate the Antarctic Treaty and use nuclear weapons to pollute the Earth. We haven’t seen the last of him. Now that Odessa is over, it looks like the war is turning in the favor of the EFF.
Mobile Suit Gundam Info
Director(s):
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Ryoji Fujiwara (movie 1)
Writer(s):
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Masaru Yamamoto
Kenichi Matsuzaki
Yoshihisa Araki
Hiroyuki Hoshiyama
Mechanical Designer(s):
Kunio Okawara
Yoshiyuki Tomino
Character Designer:
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Musical Composer(s):
Yuji Matsuyama
Takeo Watanabe
Format:
43 episodes; 3 compilation movies
Airdates:
Japan 04.07.1979 – 01.26.1980
U.S. 07.23.2001 – 09.12.2001
Theatrical Release:
Japan 03.14.1981 – 03.13.1982
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