Spoiler
This episode opens on a teacher at Asticassia explaining permet and its applications on a very basic level. I kinda feel like this exposition is something we really could've used much earlier in the series. They avoid using any actual technical terminology, but as with written explanations it's probably working by means of quantum entanglement. This would probably have been a good place to get into more detail about how permet works and how networks of it function, since that's apparently going to be very important going forward... a big missed opportunity for proper exposition in this series.
Also, YMMV, but IMO the regular Asticassia uniform looks a LOT better on Suletta than the Holder variant. Her red hair goes well with the uniform's red trim.
With the exception of her uniform, Suletta is so much her usual chipper self that you'd almost suspect the writers forgot about the events of the last episode if not for the other Earth House students remarking on how unnatural it is for her to be so cheerful after losing her title, her only connection with Miorine, and the Aerial all at once. Suletta derails this rare moment of introspection by showing up with a bowl of questionable ramen and just going on about her bucket list of things she wanted to do at school. Y'know what, they're not wrong... her being so chipper really is getting a tiny bit creepy here. Unfortunately, nobody's brave enough to actually talk to her about it directly before the show cuts away to the opening credits.
After the OP... is Guel wearing his dad's old suit? Guel's having a hard time as the new CEO of Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Apparently he's in talks with financing for the acquisition of a new subsidiary corporation and hasn't got the paperwork together yet. Miorine's apparently there helping him, and Prospera Mercury's on the line offering support too. Apparently Jeturk Heavy Machinery has a new-model MS they haven't unveiled to the public... which Prospera suggests they exploit for a publicity stunt to build up Guel Jeturk's credibility.
Also, YMMV, but IMO the regular Asticassia uniform looks a LOT better on Suletta than the Holder variant. Her red hair goes well with the uniform's red trim.
With the exception of her uniform, Suletta is so much her usual chipper self that you'd almost suspect the writers forgot about the events of the last episode if not for the other Earth House students remarking on how unnatural it is for her to be so cheerful after losing her title, her only connection with Miorine, and the Aerial all at once. Suletta derails this rare moment of introspection by showing up with a bowl of questionable ramen and just going on about her bucket list of things she wanted to do at school. Y'know what, they're not wrong... her being so chipper really is getting a tiny bit creepy here. Unfortunately, nobody's brave enough to actually talk to her about it directly before the show cuts away to the opening credits.
After the OP... is Guel wearing his dad's old suit? Guel's having a hard time as the new CEO of Jeturk Heavy Machinery. Apparently he's in talks with financing for the acquisition of a new subsidiary corporation and hasn't got the paperwork together yet. Miorine's apparently there helping him, and Prospera Mercury's on the line offering support too. Apparently Jeturk Heavy Machinery has a new-model MS they haven't unveiled to the public... which Prospera suggests they exploit for a publicity stunt to build up Guel Jeturk's credibility.
Spoiler
So... with the above firmly in mind, how does Miorine recognize at a glance that the new Jeturk MS is a Gundam?
This is not a setting where "Gundam-ness" is based on the appearance of the MS or the materials used in its construction and there is no way to tell, at-a-glance, that a MS's control system uses the GUND Format... or the Aerial would've been scrapped and Suletta banished back to Mercury back in episode two. So how does Miorine immediately recoginze that the new Jeturk MS is a Gundam? There is no reasonable explanation for that. They can't have known beforehand, because both of them are clearly upset about not knowing and say as much.
This new MS, the Schwarzette, is described as a next-generation MS by Guel. Presumably, taken in line with remarks made about other Jeturk MS's in this series, that means the Schwarzette is a 5th Generation Mobile Suit concept like the Darilbalde. Most of the MS's we've seen to date, like Guel and Lauda's Dilanzas, the Dilanza Sol, Demi, Zowort, etc. have been 4th Generation production MS's. Prospera confirms it is in fact a Gundam, and that its development started shortly after Shin Sei's appearance before the MSDC back at the start of the series. She assets that it isn't a violation of GUND-ARM Inc.'s rights to the technology since it was developed before GUND-ARM Inc. acquired Shin Sei's MS development arm.
Also, can I take a moment to say how unreasonably funny I find Prospera being telepresent for this not by the ubiquitous smartphones everyone has but by a tablet embedded in what has to be a 4 foot tall pedestal that rolls around on casters and a giant ball while being piloted by a Haro?
Miorine shoots down Prospera's suggestion of using the Schwarzette as a PR tool, announcing it as a joint venture between Jeturk and GUND-ARM, in order to build a track record to win the election of the Benerit Group's president.
This is not a setting where "Gundam-ness" is based on the appearance of the MS or the materials used in its construction and there is no way to tell, at-a-glance, that a MS's control system uses the GUND Format... or the Aerial would've been scrapped and Suletta banished back to Mercury back in episode two. So how does Miorine immediately recoginze that the new Jeturk MS is a Gundam? There is no reasonable explanation for that. They can't have known beforehand, because both of them are clearly upset about not knowing and say as much.
This new MS, the Schwarzette, is described as a next-generation MS by Guel. Presumably, taken in line with remarks made about other Jeturk MS's in this series, that means the Schwarzette is a 5th Generation Mobile Suit concept like the Darilbalde. Most of the MS's we've seen to date, like Guel and Lauda's Dilanzas, the Dilanza Sol, Demi, Zowort, etc. have been 4th Generation production MS's. Prospera confirms it is in fact a Gundam, and that its development started shortly after Shin Sei's appearance before the MSDC back at the start of the series. She assets that it isn't a violation of GUND-ARM Inc.'s rights to the technology since it was developed before GUND-ARM Inc. acquired Shin Sei's MS development arm.
Also, can I take a moment to say how unreasonably funny I find Prospera being telepresent for this not by the ubiquitous smartphones everyone has but by a tablet embedded in what has to be a 4 foot tall pedestal that rolls around on casters and a giant ball while being piloted by a Haro?
Miorine shoots down Prospera's suggestion of using the Schwarzette as a PR tool, announcing it as a joint venture between Jeturk and GUND-ARM, in order to build a track record to win the election of the Benerit Group's president.
This was literally the entire foundation of Vim Jeturk's plan to take over the Benerit Group and the reason he plotted to assassinate Delling Rembran while his son was the Holder. This was also the basis of Shaddiq Zenneli's two plans to undermine the Benerit Group... the first being to secure her himself and become the new President, and the second being to ensure that none of the Three Houses got her in order to open up the possiblity for this election in the first place. But that didn't go to plan because, at the last moment (lol, just like the first episode) Suletta threw a wrench into the works... by losing this time, handing the Holder title back to Guel Jeturk just as the engagement was set to be finalized by Miorine's 17th birthday. There shouldn't be any reason for them to worry about this election because Miorine and Guel should have voting control of enough shares of the Benerit Group for an automatic majority.
This is a BIG plot hole. A REALLY BIG plot hole. I'm not even five minutes into the episode and I've had to stop TWICE for major plot holes.
Spoiler
Prospera is apparently hanging out at Grassley Defense Systems, which outrages Miorine even more.
Bitchy and outraged are her two default emotional states, so that's nothing new really.
Meanwhile, Belmiria's working in a hangar somewhere on the Aerial and asks about a Mobile Suit in a file she's reviewing. Why she has to ask is a bit silly, since the visible document answers her question in the first sentence. It's a GUNDNODE, XGF-E3, a MS-type GUND-Bit for use with a data storm network that can support the expansion of a data storm network and will automatically defend and support the Aerial as a networked swarm able to share tactical information with each other. It's really kind of stupid to have Belmiria react like that and then show the audience the document clearly explanining the concept in plain and legible English. (The guy she's talking to says it out loud for the benefit of the non-English speaking audience.)
Shaddiq, meanwhile, is talking to Prospera about wanting to make GUND-ARM Inc.'s GUND technology part of the group's core business. It's a bit odd that he's talking to her, since she's not in charge of GUND-ARM Inc., Miorine is. I guess Prospera's counting on Miorine being too dim or distracted for her to properly punish her for meeting with rival companies to discuss trade secrets. Shaddiq claims Grassley is interested as a way to quickly regain credibility lost earlier in the series, while Prospera takes a jab at him for failing to recover the Gundams that attacked the Open Campus. She correctly spots that actually recovering the Lfriths even in a damaged state would've caused Shaddiq quite a bit of trouble, with the (correct) implication being that he was behind it. Miorine and Guel storm in, and Guel confronts Shaddiq about the breach of etiquette of going to one of GUND-ARM's subsidary companies without contacting the parent company first. Shaddiq's still planning to run for President, and drops the tidbit that he's already secured the support of Peil Technologies for his bid.
This is still a big damn plot hole, because Miorine's supposed to have voting control of Delling's shares and Guel the same for Vim's, which if all of the previous episodes claimed would be enough for majority control.
Suletta's still working in Miorine's greenhouses... that's kinda super creepy too. Miorine not only effectively dumped her in the most brutal way (well, for Suletta anyway), she's someone else's fiancee now. Chuchu at least calls hers out on it.
OK, respect for Chuchu increases fractionally. She doesn't pull her punches verbally OR literally.
Yup, Suletta is so deep in denial she's finding crocodiles. (OK that joke doesn't work in print.) Suletta is blaming HERSELF, saying that she broke her promise to Miorine and that it was stupid of her to think she was Miorine's equal. The denial and self-blame while hanging around her ex's garden is kinda creepy and stalker-ish, but she's at least showing some small sign of self-awareness that she and Miorine were never on the same level. They get interrupted by Lauda, who is still holding a grudge and wastes no time insulting Suletta... before weirdly boomeranging into a sincere (if a bit cold) expression of gratitude to Chuchu for having saved him during the Open Campus. It seems his laser-guided barbs hit home, since Suletta starts to get depressed. Chuchu declares they're going to see Miorine... then leaves Earth House's dormitory head behind over his protests. It seems nobody has much respect for the poor bugger. Suletta tries to weasel out of it, only to get hit by Chuchu.
Reinforced Person #5 is still loitering around Dawn of Fold's little hidey hole in Grassley's turf, annoying the locals. Nika asks if he's Elan Ceres and he actually admits he's not the same Elan Ceres they knew previously.
We get a look at an election forecast and it's way different to what'd been established previously. The projection shows Shaddiq carrying the election by an enormous margin (81% to 19%) and a breakdown. It's like someone forgot Jeturk Heavy Machinery exists at all on this chart. Based on what's presented here:
Bitchy and outraged are her two default emotional states, so that's nothing new really.
Meanwhile, Belmiria's working in a hangar somewhere on the Aerial and asks about a Mobile Suit in a file she's reviewing. Why she has to ask is a bit silly, since the visible document answers her question in the first sentence. It's a GUNDNODE, XGF-E3, a MS-type GUND-Bit for use with a data storm network that can support the expansion of a data storm network and will automatically defend and support the Aerial as a networked swarm able to share tactical information with each other. It's really kind of stupid to have Belmiria react like that and then show the audience the document clearly explanining the concept in plain and legible English. (The guy she's talking to says it out loud for the benefit of the non-English speaking audience.)
Shaddiq, meanwhile, is talking to Prospera about wanting to make GUND-ARM Inc.'s GUND technology part of the group's core business. It's a bit odd that he's talking to her, since she's not in charge of GUND-ARM Inc., Miorine is. I guess Prospera's counting on Miorine being too dim or distracted for her to properly punish her for meeting with rival companies to discuss trade secrets. Shaddiq claims Grassley is interested as a way to quickly regain credibility lost earlier in the series, while Prospera takes a jab at him for failing to recover the Gundams that attacked the Open Campus. She correctly spots that actually recovering the Lfriths even in a damaged state would've caused Shaddiq quite a bit of trouble, with the (correct) implication being that he was behind it. Miorine and Guel storm in, and Guel confronts Shaddiq about the breach of etiquette of going to one of GUND-ARM's subsidary companies without contacting the parent company first. Shaddiq's still planning to run for President, and drops the tidbit that he's already secured the support of Peil Technologies for his bid.
This is still a big damn plot hole, because Miorine's supposed to have voting control of Delling's shares and Guel the same for Vim's, which if all of the previous episodes claimed would be enough for majority control.
Suletta's still working in Miorine's greenhouses... that's kinda super creepy too. Miorine not only effectively dumped her in the most brutal way (well, for Suletta anyway), she's someone else's fiancee now. Chuchu at least calls hers out on it.
OK, respect for Chuchu increases fractionally. She doesn't pull her punches verbally OR literally.
Yup, Suletta is so deep in denial she's finding crocodiles. (OK that joke doesn't work in print.) Suletta is blaming HERSELF, saying that she broke her promise to Miorine and that it was stupid of her to think she was Miorine's equal. The denial and self-blame while hanging around her ex's garden is kinda creepy and stalker-ish, but she's at least showing some small sign of self-awareness that she and Miorine were never on the same level. They get interrupted by Lauda, who is still holding a grudge and wastes no time insulting Suletta... before weirdly boomeranging into a sincere (if a bit cold) expression of gratitude to Chuchu for having saved him during the Open Campus. It seems his laser-guided barbs hit home, since Suletta starts to get depressed. Chuchu declares they're going to see Miorine... then leaves Earth House's dormitory head behind over his protests. It seems nobody has much respect for the poor bugger. Suletta tries to weasel out of it, only to get hit by Chuchu.
Reinforced Person #5 is still loitering around Dawn of Fold's little hidey hole in Grassley's turf, annoying the locals. Nika asks if he's Elan Ceres and he actually admits he's not the same Elan Ceres they knew previously.
We get a look at an election forecast and it's way different to what'd been established previously. The projection shows Shaddiq carrying the election by an enormous margin (81% to 19%) and a breakdown. It's like someone forgot Jeturk Heavy Machinery exists at all on this chart. Based on what's presented here:
- Grassley Defense Systems owns a 34.83% stake in the Benerit Group
- Peil Technologies owns a 29.16% stake in the Benerit Group
- Delling Rembran owns a 16.72% stake in the Benerit Group
- Other stakeholders own 19.29% of the Benerit Group (presumably minor and subsidiary companies)
Spoiler
Elan Ceres (Real Grade) is upset that he wasn't put forward as a candidate to lead the Benerit Group, and is told that The Time Is Not Right... though we get the reveal that Peil's leadership is selected by a proprietary AI called the Peil Grade rather than having employees weigh qualifications and performance of other employees. Apparently the real Elan is the highest scorer on the Peil Grade, which is why he's a real power inside Peil. We actually get to see his report card too... he's ranked REALLY highly in every category except Mobile Suit Piloting. He's S rank or above in every single category except piloting, where he's carrying a C average. According to Reinforced Person #5, this is what prompted him to start selecting various body doubles when the dueling committee became the venue for chosing Miorine's fiance.
Reinforced Person #5 delivers some laser-guided barbs to the other Lfrith pilot, about being an empty person who's only pretending to fight for the sake of Earth. This causes her to flip out and attempt to stab him.
Shaddiq is apparently liquidating Grassley assets and selling them to Earth-owned companies under the pretense of preparing a ransom payment for the safe return of his father.
We see Miorine, Guel, and Prospera agonizing over the same report that we saw in Elan's meeting with Peil's co-CEOs. Why does nobody notice that Jeturk Heavy Machinery's shares aren't even counted? There is literally no line-item for them.
Apparently continuing unrest on Earth in response to Benerit's crackdown is driving Peil to align itself with Grassley. Miorine wants to go down to the Earth and talk to the armed protesters... which everyone else seems to find pretty ridiculous. She wants to take the Aerial to Earth as a show of force and negotiate to end the rioting in Quinharbor.
The gal from the Space Assembly League shows up pretending to be a lost employee. Apparently her name is Feng Jun, and she arrests/abducts Belmiria.
The head boy from Earth House is in a counseling room... the school counselor is a Haro? The hell, this room is some kind of confessional, and the person on the other side is the really snide gal from Bulion House.
Cathedral's showing their own exasperation with Miorine. They want her to take former top ace Kenanji Avery with her, the guy who was the lead for Volkfangr's suppression. It hasn't really been discussed in the series, but Guel's minor freakout here is because he's meeting his idol.
Earth House turned up to Miorine's office and are getting turned away at the door by a Haro demanding to know if they have an appointment. Suletta goes off into the hangars looking for Miorine. Apparently there's just no security anymore? Despite the fact that she doesn't own the Aerial, she takes it out. Apparently whatever happened in the previous episode is no longer in effect, since she's apparently able to converse with the system again and she doesn't show the signs of normal GUND use. It does... something... and now she's hallucinating still being in the hangar talking to Ericht, who is the Aerial's personality. There are apparently multiple Erichts inside the Aerial?
The Erichts tell her they don't need her anymore... that she was a stand-in because her consciousness, trapped in the Aerial, had no physical form to operate the Aerial. One of the Erichts collectively refers to them as the "Children of the Coven" and the main Ericht asserts they're all (presumably also including Suletta) "repli-children" (she literally says "repli-child") based on Ericht's genes. So I guess there it is... Suletta Mercury is a clone of Ericht Samaya. Possibly one of several.
Kids have no mercy, huh? Ericht flat-out says that they have no need for Suletta anymore because Quiet Zero will create a world where Ericht can live. It does something to the permet in her body that causes her to have a series of rapid-fire visions from the prologue, culminating in one where we see Elnora mourning her daughter's death while Suletta is still a baby. Apparently at Permet Score 8, Ericht can operate the Aerial without needing a pilot, and no longer needs Suletta at all. Holy crap she kicked her out into space! Luckily (or not), Prospera is there with a rescue beacon. She takes the Aerial and leaves to rendzevous with Miorine while Suletta has a breakdown in space waiting for rescue.
Reinforced Person #5 delivers some laser-guided barbs to the other Lfrith pilot, about being an empty person who's only pretending to fight for the sake of Earth. This causes her to flip out and attempt to stab him.
Shaddiq is apparently liquidating Grassley assets and selling them to Earth-owned companies under the pretense of preparing a ransom payment for the safe return of his father.
We see Miorine, Guel, and Prospera agonizing over the same report that we saw in Elan's meeting with Peil's co-CEOs. Why does nobody notice that Jeturk Heavy Machinery's shares aren't even counted? There is literally no line-item for them.
Apparently continuing unrest on Earth in response to Benerit's crackdown is driving Peil to align itself with Grassley. Miorine wants to go down to the Earth and talk to the armed protesters... which everyone else seems to find pretty ridiculous. She wants to take the Aerial to Earth as a show of force and negotiate to end the rioting in Quinharbor.
The gal from the Space Assembly League shows up pretending to be a lost employee. Apparently her name is Feng Jun, and she arrests/abducts Belmiria.
The head boy from Earth House is in a counseling room... the school counselor is a Haro? The hell, this room is some kind of confessional, and the person on the other side is the really snide gal from Bulion House.
Cathedral's showing their own exasperation with Miorine. They want her to take former top ace Kenanji Avery with her, the guy who was the lead for Volkfangr's suppression. It hasn't really been discussed in the series, but Guel's minor freakout here is because he's meeting his idol.
Earth House turned up to Miorine's office and are getting turned away at the door by a Haro demanding to know if they have an appointment. Suletta goes off into the hangars looking for Miorine. Apparently there's just no security anymore? Despite the fact that she doesn't own the Aerial, she takes it out. Apparently whatever happened in the previous episode is no longer in effect, since she's apparently able to converse with the system again and she doesn't show the signs of normal GUND use. It does... something... and now she's hallucinating still being in the hangar talking to Ericht, who is the Aerial's personality. There are apparently multiple Erichts inside the Aerial?
The Erichts tell her they don't need her anymore... that she was a stand-in because her consciousness, trapped in the Aerial, had no physical form to operate the Aerial. One of the Erichts collectively refers to them as the "Children of the Coven" and the main Ericht asserts they're all (presumably also including Suletta) "repli-children" (she literally says "repli-child") based on Ericht's genes. So I guess there it is... Suletta Mercury is a clone of Ericht Samaya. Possibly one of several.
Kids have no mercy, huh? Ericht flat-out says that they have no need for Suletta anymore because Quiet Zero will create a world where Ericht can live. It does something to the permet in her body that causes her to have a series of rapid-fire visions from the prologue, culminating in one where we see Elnora mourning her daughter's death while Suletta is still a baby. Apparently at Permet Score 8, Ericht can operate the Aerial without needing a pilot, and no longer needs Suletta at all. Holy crap she kicked her out into space! Luckily (or not), Prospera is there with a rescue beacon. She takes the Aerial and leaves to rendzevous with Miorine while Suletta has a breakdown in space waiting for rescue.
If it weren't for the presence of so many substantial plot holes that ignore or reverse things previously established in the series, I'd call this a pretty good episode. With them, it's still just annoying to watch.
It actually does something halfway substantial with the plot and premise, and we FINALLY get a proper reveal for what exactly it was that made the Aerial special.
Spoiler
Namely, that the reason it doesn't fry its pilot's brain with permet data storms is because the pilot isn't actually controlling it at all... the pilot was only ever a flesh proxy for a literal ghost in the machine who is actually controlling it. Without Ericht there, the Aerial would be cooking Suletta's brain the same way the Pharact did to Elan or the Lfrith did to its various pilots.
Spoiler
because Suletta Mercury is a clone created to unknowingly assist in the development of the Aerial's permet data storm network until it could reach a permet score where autonomous operation was possible.
Either Eri has pulled a "me's a crowd" as a data entity or Suletta is one of - possibly the last of - an entire series of Ericht Samaya clones (the "Children of the Coven") that were created and used to augment the Aerial's development by merging with it.)
This also carries the interesting implication that Suletta's memories of her childhood may not actually be real. We see Eri/Aerial download her own memories from the prologue into Suletta's mind. If there really were multiple Eri clones sacrificed to complete the Aerial (accounting for the many different Eris Suletta encounters) her own memories might be an aggregate of the many Eri clones that preceded her or one consciousness that's been transferred over the network into new bodies after each death.
Either Eri has pulled a "me's a crowd" as a data entity or Suletta is one of - possibly the last of - an entire series of Ericht Samaya clones (the "Children of the Coven") that were created and used to augment the Aerial's development by merging with it.)
This also carries the interesting implication that Suletta's memories of her childhood may not actually be real. We see Eri/Aerial download her own memories from the prologue into Suletta's mind. If there really were multiple Eri clones sacrificed to complete the Aerial (accounting for the many different Eris Suletta encounters) her own memories might be an aggregate of the many Eri clones that preceded her or one consciousness that's been transferred over the network into new bodies after each death.
