Short Synopsis: The big climax of Gundam 00
Episode Rating: 7,5/10 (Good)
And so, most of the conflicts are solved in this episode. All because Setsuna couldn’t stand to see all of his friends dying, which unlocked some sort of hidden powers in his Gundam which made it shoot out tons of GN Particles and allowed everyone to settle their difference. I’m not exactly sure what drug it used in order to resolve nearly every single conflict apart from the ones around Ribbons, but I guess that the overall message is that conflicts shouldn’t be solved by brainlessly fighting each other without listening to the other party. Nice, I guess, but a bit unrealistic. Ah well, at least I’m glad that it wasn’t Marina’s song that ended up saving everyone.
In any case, for all of the different conflicts that were solved in this episode, some were good and some were bad: Saji vs Louise was as horrible as ever, though the conclusion between Ali al Sarshes and Lockon was very solid and a very good gunfight. Marie vs Smirnoff basically went nowhere, and Billy vs Sumaragi was cheesy but served its purpose I guess.
Ribbons was pretty pathetic, though. The entire series has established the guy as some sort of evil overlord without any flaws whatsoever. And in this episode he just lets some random guys take over Veda without even an attempt to stop it. He should have known that all innovators could link to Veda, and since he’s such a 1337-hax0rz, he could have easily taken measures to prevent others from accessing Veda. And yet he acts all surprised when Tieria turns out to be alive, using the same trick he used a few episodes back.
I think that the big problem with this episode was that the “ultimate power” was a bit too convenient and selective: it was exactly what this series needed in order to wrap up every hanging thread: everyone conveniently gets healed, it conveniently calls the ghosts of some dead characters who help taking over Veda, while other dead people don’t appear at all, it conveniently cancels out Ribbons’ brainwashing on Louise, it conveniently clears most useless hatred. It’s just too convenient!
Overall, with one episode left, I have to say that I liked the first series better. Sure, Setsuna was pretty annoying back then, but at least his impulsiveness had a certain charm to it, which isn’t something I can say for Saji and Louise. It had a solid build-up with a great climax, and took place in a world that actually felt alive with a complex political structure. The second season focused much more on action and the characters, which all were either a hit or a miss for me.
On a positive note, I do have to admit that I really liked the background music of this episode. Great soundtrack.
Regarding Louise, it was said in an earlier episode that when 00-Raiser went Trans-Am it cut of Ribbons link to Louise, so that wasn’t really convienient, it was just a given. Remember, QBW work through GN-Particles too like pretty much everything in this show.
Anyway after the sheer convenience of Clannad’s happy ending this is practically nothing to me. Especially since it was far more adequately foreshadowed than Clannad’s ending with the Light orbs and time travel ever was. So hooray for relativity.
So, did Setsuna become the first Newtype or what ?
Things went too well for the good guys in this episode, but can’t do much about it since they have two miraculous devices whereas Ribbons had none.
Wasn’t the first season about solar energy and stuff? They really went in a different direction with season 2.
Well….I must say, this was an interesting episode.
I’m now wondering how the finale is going to be like, is it going to be plain and simple or are there more surprises waiting to happen? After Tieria talked about humanity encountering another “will”( based on the subs)in space I wonder if we’re going to see a sequel to gundam 00. Well just one more episode to go.
Since a few episodes back, I’ve already given up all hope on this series story-wise. I agree the first season was a LOT better, and the plot twists were very surprising (like the appearance of the Thrones). But this was just, meh, too predictable.
@Siixioma: Not nearly as predictable as what you just said.
as a whole, i guess you could say the first season was a tiny bit better, but the first half if this season was definitely better than the first half of the first season. and it is funny that so many people at different sites try to act like what Setsuna did came out of nowhere. we have seen the GN particles at work before, this was no different at all, only in its vastness. you want healing, how about the fact that Setsuna is still alive even though it was stated that that gunshot wouldnt should have killed him by now, or like what Kaioshin sama said when it severed the link between Louise and Ribbons back when. this didnt come out of his ass, sure, you could say it was a bit ‘corny’ because things worked out for most people, but that isnt a bad thing. it is just a “You’re Mileage May Vary” sort of thing.
i should have known there was gonna be more hidden powers. GN particles shooting all over the place and resolving all the conflict? im a bit dissapointed…