I’ll be honest: It’s weird seeing Suletta in the standard drab Asticassia uniform, but in true Suletta fashion she’s decided to take her fall from grace in stride: by going forward. She still has a wish list, and so she starts knocking items off, from asking “a cool question” in class o eating lunch with friends. Her cheerful attitude doesn’t sit quite right with her Earth House chums, particularly Chuchu.
Guel isn’t wearing his white Holder’s uniform, as he’s joined the ranks of High Schoolers Doing Adult Business, taking over Jeturk from Lauda. His new fiancée Miorine is also in a snappy business suit, a clear visual sign that they’re too cool for school. Mio has a Benerit Group presidential election to win, but neither she nor Guel have the track record to get the time of day from the real adults.
As with Shaddiq and his girls, there’s an air of “playing at being adults” to them, but the fact is with their fathers dead or incapacitated, Mio and Guel have no choice but to step up, regardless of whether they’re ready or deserving. It’s a blow to Mio to learn Shaddiq is also in the running for president, and also in the lead thanks to his alliance with Peil.
Suletta still tends the greenhouse I assume Mio has abandoned due to her new hectic work schedule. Lauda stops by to toss another “Mercurian wench” barb her way, but when Chuchu gets in his face, he, Petra, and Felsi thank her for saving his life. She’s not sure what to do with that, but is still pissed that Suletta is taking this the way she is.
But from Suletta’s perspective, Mio did nothing wrong. Suletta broke her promise never to lose a duel. Though, if she knew it was Mio who hit the kill switch on Aerial she might think differently. As for Nika, she’s still in purgatory with a dour Norea who just wants to kill Spacians and an Elan looking for something to do with Peil backing Shaddiq.
As protests on earth spread and grow more violent (which I believe is Shaddiq’s doing), Mio, while in confrence with Guel and Prospera, believes speaking to the Earthians directly is the kind of bold move that could help her make up her huge deficit against Shaddiq. At the same time, the Earth House arranges to have Suletta meet with Mio.
Bel runs afoul of Jun Feng. And then there’s Martin, who sold out Nika. He goes to a designated school counseling booth to speak to an automated Haro, only to be busted by Seceila of all people, calling him a “dirty rat.” This episode checks in on literally everyone.
When Suletta parts ways with her Earth buddies to see Mio, she ends up in a dark hangar, reunited with Aerial. She hops into the cockpit and flies out into space, where she admits to Aerial that she’s not so sure she’s gained two by moving forward. It hurts not seeing Mio.
That’s when Gundam’s light trim turns from red to blue, and Suletta finds herself in a kind of virtual construct where she meets Eri’s avatar face to face. Eri tells her she “filled in” for her admirably, and tells Suletta she’s one of her “repli-children” created from her genes.
Once Permet Score Eight is reached, Eri doesn’t need a pilot. Quiet Zero, which Suletta knows nothing about, will create a world where Eri can live, so Suletta isn’t needed anymore. So she urges Suletta to stop clinging to her, and to mom.
With that Suletta is ejected from Aerial’s cockpit, and drifts through space in a spin until caught by Prospera. Her mom tells her everything is just as Eri said, and it’s time she go back to school, which she says has all she needs “to fill her heart.” Both Eri and Prospera want Suletta to live freely, as Mio does, but without a bride, or duels, or Aerial to pilot, Suletta is feeling particularly empty and useless.
If the episode began with Suletta pretending everything was okay and moving forward, the end of the episode shows her in full existential meltdown. Everyone and everything has conspired to strip away all of the things she had used to define herself up to this point. Seeing (but notably not hearing) her sobbing as she floats in space sure feels like rock bottom.
The question is, what will become of this newly empty vessel; this blank slate that is Suletta Mercury? I am extremely interested to find out if she’ll finally move forward for real, and if she’ll chooses to reject the path of safety and tedium her mother, sister, and bride have laid out for her.
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