Case 42: Battleship Libra

At long last, justice arrives in an explosion of musical combat! The evidence has been considered, the songs have been recorded, the votes counted, and the amicus curiae briefs lovingly dismissed! All that remains to be revealed is… THE VERDICT. Is Mobile Suit Gundam Wing RAD… or is it BAD?

The War for Earth is over, which means it’s time for the film-length, mostly-canon, sort-of epilogue to Gundam Wing! All our favorite characters scramble over one final, violent hurdle to reach their happyish endings (except for the Gundams themselves, who all get blown up). Is this the coda the series deserves? Does it do enough to make up for the stumbles of episode 49? Is “Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz” RAD… or is it BAD?

The final battle for Earth’s survival. The final ride of the Old Weirdos. The final duel between Heero and Zechs (finally). There are many ostensibly final things in this episode, because it is the final episode of Gundam Wing! Can the show’s writers stick the landing on this dazzling and confusing floor routine? Will our heroic space-faring psychos survive to see a world at total peace? Is “The Final Victor” RAD… or is it BAD?

Treize versus Wu Fei! Quatre versus Dorothy! It’s the back-to-back brawls that this series has been building to all along, apparently! Meanwhile, Duo smuggles the Weirdos to the location of their heroic atonement, and Heero finally, at long last, tries a little tenderness with Relena before speeding off for the ultimate(?) showdown with Zechs. Will a new world emerge from the ashes of all this conflict and monologuing? Is “Takeoff into Confusion” RAD… or is it BAD?

Treize leads the Earth Armada on a desperate assault against Zechs and the forces of the White Fang! The Gundam pilots refuse to help him fight the Libra but then they… fight the Libra anyway, so Treize is probably like, “Cool, whatever!” Sally Po unleashes her inner Klingon, and both Zechs and Noin find their willpower nerfed by love! Can justice prevail when character arcs finally collide? Is “Collision in Space” RAD… or is it BAD?

The consolidated forces of Earth finally quit with the bawlin’ and make with the brawlin’! With Hilde’s stolen data disk in hand and Hilde presumably in a coma somewhere, Heero jacks a White Fang carrier and attempts to rescue Relena from captivity while pretending he totally doesn’t care that she is in captivity. Milliardo decides to reject Treize’s offer to settle this whole thing with a duel and instead invites Treize to duel the business end of Libra’s gigantic beam cannon. Treize is saved in a timely fashion by a highly unlikely figure from his not-too-distant past. Can justice move as quickly as Lady Une coming off an extended hospital stay? Is “Milliardo’s Decision” RAD… or is it BAD?

Hilde foregoes the cushy life of a junkyard lessee to work as a covert infiltrator for Team Gundam! Mercurius and Vayeate return to the battlefield, too! Will Hilde’s predictable sacrifice give the Gundam Boys the upper hand against Evil Zechs? Will Mercurius and Vayeate tip the scales of war, or will Duo send them back to the scrap heap from whence they came? Is “Signs of the Final Battle” RAD… or is it BAD?

Relena goes forth to talk some sense into her brother but ends up getting tossed forth into a locked room while Zechs unleashes a dangerous and unpredictable new weapon: the terrifying mind of Dorothy Catalonia! Quatre hooks up to the Zero System because nothing bad happened the last time he did that. Sally Po saves basically every protagonist, but will anyone say “Thank you?” Is “Go Forth, Gundam Team” RAD… or is it BAD?

The five Gundam pilots reunite, finally forming the figurative Voltron of moody teen space soldiers. Trowa jacks Wing Zero and, predictably, nearly blows up a colony. Villainous Zechs channels his inner Grand Moff Tarkin and sets out to prove that the Libra is now the ultimate power in the universe (or at least the stretch of space between Earth and the colonies). Libra’s beam weapon is powerful, but it can’t roast justice! Is “Target: Earth” RAD… or is it BAD?

Lady Une returns, significantly less dead than was expected but significantly more comatose than one would hope. Treize explains to her that he only took over for Relena because the Blessed Burrito Queen was unprepared to do gangster stuff. Wufei plugs his brain into the Zero system and it tells him to rejoin the main plot. Relena’s Frontier Airlines flight to space might have many stops, but there’s no stopping space justice! Is “Battleship Libra” RAD… or is it BAD?