They say that love will make you do crazy things. And that is true both in fiction and in the real world. Love will make a boy slay demons in order to save his sister. Love will also make a man slap another man on live TV. In the case of Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, love makes a grieving mother kill countless innocent people in order to grant freedom to her dead daughter.
There are a lot of bad/misguided people doing all kinds of bad things in Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, but the most devastating events that happened recently are caused by a maternal love. Not only that, love between siblings also turns into a problem that threatens the lives of other people around them. Episode 23 is the resolution to all of those family issues.
Guel vs Lauda
As the rightful heir to the house of Jeturk, Guel was always the shining star that stood atop the hill. Standing meekly behind this big man is his little brother, Lauda. Many people will be annoyed and jealous if they are forced to live in the shadow of somebody else. Add to that the loud whispers from the people around them comparing the two siblings and pointing out that Lauda is the lesser of the two Jeturk, it’s normal for Lauda to feel frustrated and even despise his brother.
But Lauda never feels mad about any of that stuff. On the contrary, he enjoys standing behind his brother. The reason is simply because Lauda genuinely loves and admires his brother. Even though Lauda is Guel’s half-sibling, Guel is also the first person who embraces Lauda and calls him his dear brother. That is why Lauda is more than happy to be his brother's right-hand man. That is also why Lauda began to have a warped sense of perspective when it comes to his brother.
When Lauda finds out that Guel is the one who killed their father, his mind finally snapped. He concocted a scenario in his mind where the one who cause so much grief in their family is actually Suletta and Miorine. They are the witches who ensnare his dear brother and blinded him with their foul deceptions. So he climbed on top of the half-finish Gundam Schwarzette, and fly out to kill Miorine. He will destroy everything that stands in his way, even if it’s his own brother. Love will make you do crazy things.
Suletta vs Ericht and Prospera
Prospera lost her only daughter, Ericht, decades ago, but she managed to find a way to salvage her soul and consciousness by uniting it with the most advanced piece of technology in the universe, the Gundam Aerial. Although Erich can only live within the limited data stream emitted by Aerial, Prospera is happy because her beloved daughter is still in this world.
So rather than letting her go, she came up with a plan that can help Ericht swim freely across the universe. She doesn’t care at all about the fact that her plan will basically mean a genocide on Earth. Because Prospera will gladly become a demon if it means she can free her daughter. Love will make a mother do crazy things.
In order to execute her plan, Prospera decided to abandon Suletta. But Suletta refuses to abandon her mother and her sister. Suletta knows the reasons behind her mother’s action, but she can’t accept the way Prospera goes about achieving her goal. Suletta doesn’t want her mother and her sister to be the cause of death for countless innocent people on Earth. So for the first time in her life, she uses another Gundam to fight against her sister and Gundam Aerial. Suletta knows she has no chance of beating them both, but she will keep trying to get close to them until her voice reaches their heart.
How To Make Space Opera Relatable
We mentioned in the review for the previous episode that unlike the other major Gundam series in this franchise that has a plot-driven story, Gundam: The Witch from Mercury focuses on crafting a character-driven story. In the original 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam, we follow the good guys as they try to bring down the bad guys. In Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, we follow an innocent girl as she tries to stop her mother and her sister from committing a devastating crime.
Gundam has always been a larger than life Space Opera. The Earth Federation vs The Newly-Independent Colonies. A bleeding-edge Mobile Suits vs a custom-made killing machine. The stories are so vast and out-of-this-world that it can be hard for the audience to connect and relate to the characters in the story.
That is why some of the most iconic space opera franchises, such as Star Wars or Guardians of the Galaxy, grounded their larger than life story with a simple tale of family (the Skywalker family in Star Wars, and the Guardians of the Galaxy family in the Guardians of the Galaxy). After all, it might be hard for us to relate to the plight of outer space colonies and mobile suit pilots, but we can always feel connected to the issues that happen within a family.
Experimenting with character-driven stories like this is a superb way to make this old franchise feel fresh again, which is pretty much what Gundam: The Witch from Mercury set out to do from the start. So on that front, this new series succeeds with a flying color.