... ah well, back into this mess.
The episode opens with Sarius Zenneli meeting with representatives of Cathedra to demand to know why the regulatory organization under the Mobile Suit Development Council is refusing to do its job and bring formal charges against Prospera and Suletta Mercury, the Gundam Aerial, and the Shin Sei Development Corporation. When you think about it, he's right to be pissed... this is literally in "You had one job" territory, as they were quite literally founded to hunt the witches and expunge the taint of GUND Format use from the Benerit Group. Cathedra's representatives refuse to answer any questions and show the CEO of Grassley the door.
On his ship, he meets with Wim Jeturk who orders champagne from the stewardess after delivering an I-Told-You-So and then announces that Delling is going to die.
Suletta is singing the GUND-ARM Inc. corporate jingle to herself in Miorine's greenhouse when Shaddiq shows up. It's interesting to note that even after their duel Shaddiq doesn't really show Suletta any respect. He still insists on calling her "Mercury-chan" using the name of the planet not her actual surname, and there's a definite element of mockery to his interactions with her. Apparently it's been two months since the 6v6 duel he lost and the Aerial and Miorine have been gone for two weeks on a business trip that apparently also involved getting the MS repaired. Shaddiq apparently made some special arrangements to delay the duel challenges that came in while the Aerial was out of commission.
There it is, Ladies and Gents... the smoking gun. Suletta really is too goddamn stupid to realize when she's being insulted or mistreated. Miorine doesn't
ask Suletta to look after the greenhouses for her. She simply orders her to do it, and it's not because she likes or trusts Suletta... it's because nobody else wants to put up with her. Suletta is happy about this for some reason. Even Shaddiq seems quietly depressed by how readily Suletta accepts Miorine's abuse.
Suletta gets a call, and it's more verbal abuse! In her usual incredibly rude manner, Chuchu starts chewing her out for "wandering off" when there is a GUND prosthetic leg test scheduled.
Remember that problem the show has where the writers introduce an obstacle for the protagonists and then completely forget it exists fifteen minutes later? Yeah, that's back... with a vengeance.
OK, hold up. Last episode, GUND-ARM Inc. had no money. THEY. WERE. BROKE. They literally say at one point that the remaining budget after acquiring Peil and Shin Sei's GUND-ARM research teams isn't even enough to feed the goat they keep on the grounds. How do they now, two months later, have the resources and funding to prototype cybernetic implants based on banned technology! It's not even just money, where did GUND-ARM Inc. get the resources and manufacturing capability to turn out a fully operational set of prosthetic legs based on GUND?
Not that it's not funny to watch Suletta, the only GUND-equipped person present, squatting on top of a robotic pelvis and legs and wobbling around frantically as she attempts to balance herself. Oddly enough, their first prosthetic test seems to work perfectly. Everyone has now magically forgotten how opposed they were to... everything... and are now singing Miorine's praises.
OK, I'll give them a little credit... for once they do actually attempt to address how one of the obstacles was overcome, but in a way that's equally unbelievable for a different reason. Somehow, GUND-ARM Inc. was able to sell bonds despite having no money and no resources to guarantee the bonds against. Even stranger, Delling Rembran is giving GUND-ARM Inc. sound business advice. Even weirder, Miorine and Delling seem to be having something approaching "a moment" as she gets actual praise from him for her management of the business. She apparently also bought a ship, and is now lamenting the need to find a train a crew when she bumps into the lady who was helping her run away in the first episode. Apparently that woman belongs to the "Space Assembly League", whatever that is.
And now, we learn that Sarius Zenneli is nearly as terrible a judge of character as Suletta.
"Someone like Jeturk could never pull off anything that bold." - Sarius Zenneli
Oh, my sweet summer space-child, not only is Wim Jeturk that bold... this wouldn't even be his first attempt in the course of this series. Hell, his previous assassination attempt would have been an unqualified success if not for him receiving the news of his son's defeat and loss of the "Holder" title at exactly the right time. The specific timing of that victory is the reason Delling is still alive.
Shaddiq actually advises his father to join the assassination plot. His reasoning is actually sound too. The reason the Holder is so valuable is that Miorine is Delling's sole heir and will inherit his stock portfolio including his shares of the Benerit Group. Each of the Three Houses has enough shares of the Benerit Group on their own to achieve majority control of the conglomerate should Delling die while their scion is Holder. Shin Sei, on the other hand, would not gain a majority stake in the Benerit Group if Delling were to die while Suletta Mercury is the holder. The entire Holder system would be largely irrelevant and have little impact on the selection of Delling's replacement as President of the Benerit Group.
Sarius threatens to take away Shaddiq's position in Grassley if he fails...
In the mean time, GUND-ARM Inc. tries and fails to get permission to film in public spaces... #realityensues
Guel Jeturk is missing? Talk about your odd cuts... he's working on a spaceship under the alias "Bob". Guel Jeturk was a CELEBRITY. He was the most celebrated duelist at Asticassia and the sure-fire groom-to-be of Miorine Rembran and the man who would secure Jeturk's dominance over the Benerit Group. There is NO CHANCE that he is going unrecognized doing manual labor just by covering his hair with a hardhat.
Hey wait, is that Earth? If so, that doesn't exactly seem like the rough neighborhood we'd been led to believe. This group of people are apparently living in an abandoned late 20th or early 21st century Japanese school and running a farm on the school grounds. OK, yeah, it IS Earth. Seems to be in pretty good shape, by most standards. Abandoned neighborhoods and all don't exactly scream "choking overpopulation' and "industrial hellhole".
Shaddiq contacts this mysterious potato farmer to ask for his assistance in attacking a Benerit Group plant in space in order to assassinate Delling. Apparently it's Nika's family?
More classist talk from Earth House, who are now squatting in the Dueling Committee's lounge. Belmiria seems to be pretty happy with her lot in life now, though, having apparently returned to her original dream of doing work in medical prosthetics.
Oh boy, Elan's back... and this one smiles. I wonder, are we looking at the real Elan Ceres or Reinforced Person #5? He's... hitting on Suletta, so I'm guessing it's the real deal. He asks her out too.
Oh that's dark, saying that he's changed because of her. DARK!
AND THERE WE GO! Someone had the brass ones to actually point out what I've been saying all along in-series. Apparently it's even common knowledge in-series! Miorine is using Suletta as a shield so she won't have to get married, and doesn't actually give a damn about Suletta personally.
He even goes for a kiss before she finally loses her nerve and runs away.
NOPE! It's a new Reinforced Person... the real Elan Ceres is kicking back and talking about how much more like his real personality the new guy is.
Suletta has a freakout when she sees people in the greenhouses and tries to force them out, only to discover they came with Miorine. Ouch, talk about a slap... Miorine hired some farm workers to tend to her greenhouse pods and invoiced it to GUND-ARM Inc. She does actually thank her, in a very offhand way, for looking after the greenhouses while she was gone. Miorine even encourages Suletta to go out with Elan. Let's just go up and draw a literal line under that "I told you so" moment. She plans to hire Elan for GUND-ARM Inc too, so that they'll have another tester and won't be so dependent on Suletta.
She's FINALLY starting to realize she's the Useful Idiot and not a friend.
Plant Quetta's quite the massive construct... all the Fronts seem to be too. Delling meets with Prospera Mercury there. HEY, and there's the Gundam Lfriths that we've been musing on... I guess the reason they show up behind Delling in the OP is that they're the ones here to kill him! Poor "Bob" seems to be quite the GUND-ARM magnet... first getting his sh*t wrecked by the Aerial, and now two of the Aerial's siblings are there to wreck his sh*t again.
So, Shaddiq's endgame is a bit more ambitious than expected... he's not just out to scotch the de facto selection of the Benerit Group's next President, he's out to cause it to break up into smaller megacorporations.
All in all, the series is starting to feel like it has at least a vague semblance of direction... but it's still massively over-reliant on "things just happen" rather than having a logical build-up to events or the characters having consistent motives.
It is nice to see that I was right all along in my interpretation of Suletta and Miorine's "relationship" though. It's abusive, built on manipulation, and apparently everyone in-universe can see it too!