機動戦士ガンダム /Kido Senshi Gundam episode 20
Mobile Suit Gundam – 20

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:
 
As Amuro sulks in prison, sure that Ramba Ral will attack, Bright and the other bridge crew discuss Amuro as they wait for the go order to begin Operation Odessa.  Because Amuro did not take Gundam to the Zeons and in fact returned to White Base, Bright has hopes for him.  Ryu, fresh from a visit to Amuro in the brig where he slugged Amuro for his attitude, feels confident that Amuro will be OK.  At Ramba Ral’s parked Gallop, he makes plans to attack White Base with three new Dom mobile suits.  However, Ramba’s activities are causing M’quve problems and so M’quve arranges for the new Doms to not make it and sends one of his men to tell Ramba that they were destroyed.  Ramba decides to attack even without the reinforcements, coming up with a plan using his lone Zaku, the Gallop, and two Cui units.

Back at White Base, Sayla wakes Ryu to send him after Hayato, Kai, Howard, and Maximilian, who’ve left the ship without authorization.  Ryu takes off in the dune buggy, tracking their ATV.  After Ryu leaves, Bright confides his fears over Amuro’s desertion to Mirai.  Meanwhile, it doesn’t take Ryu long to locate the missing foursome as they’ve stopped to rest.  Hayato tells Ryu that they aren’t needed on White Base now that Amuro’s back and they are seeking a Federation troop to join with.  As they talk, Ramba’s Gallop is heard and Ryu realizes that White Base is about to be attacked and so leaves to return to the ship after the dust cloud from the distant Gallop passes.  Hayate, Kai, and the others decide to return as well.

White Base detects the approaching Gallop and Bright orders Mirai to get them out of there.  Ramba has deployed the two Cui units and the Zaku and they make their approach undetected.  Sayla launches in Gundam once the Zaku unit attacks and Bright has Frau Bow release Amuro, ordering him to man a weapons station.  Amuro aids in the ship’s defense while also giving tips to Sayla, who defeats the Zaku unit.  When White Base becomes aware of the two Cui units, Bright realizes the intent is to board the ship and thus he orders the crew to prepare for boarders.  Ramba has his men deploy in jet packs to White Base where the Zeon troops are surprised to see so many kids instead of Federation regulars. At the same time, Bright orders Amuro to relieve Sayla in Gundam, which he does.

As Ramba makes his way to the second bridge, he encounters Sayla, whom he recognizes as Princess Artesia.  She remembers him from her youth but they can’t talk long as Bright and Ryu arrive in support.  Ramba’s delay is a costly one as many of his men are now dead and the mission to take over White Base is a failure.  He contacts Hamon to tell her to attack White Base in the Gallop when Bright orders Amuro to destroy the second bridge with Gundam.  Amuro’s attack kills the remainder of Ramba’s men and his final act is to leap out of the ship and explode a grenade.  Amuro tries to contact Hamon to let her know Ramba is dead, but the Gallop continues its charge, forcing Amuro to toss his energy mace into the armored unit, destroying it but not before Hamon and bridge crew are able to safely eject.

Thoughts/Review:

So, exactly what is M’quve’s game here?  I ask because clearly, M’quve doesn’t want Ramba to know about his mining operations.  As I see it, Kycilia knows all about it and wants the mining to continue and M’quve is keen to do just that.  So, why hide this from one of their fellow Zeon troopers unless Kycilia and M’quve are doing something that’s not for the war effort?  It really does seem that Ramba’s being around has upset the applecart.  One would think that M’quve would want White Base destroyed and thus allow Ramba to do so and then go back to where he came from.  Instead, M’quve goes the opposite way and now Ramba’s out of the way with Hamon to follow (or so I should think).

Speaking of Ramba, the writers do an interesting piece of writing by using him to further explore Sayla’s past a bit while at the same time providing a believable means for his troop to not overcome the inferior crew of White Base.  Seeing Sayla threw off his timing completely and thus made it believable for me that he was no longer able to take over White Base.  A blog commenter recently remarked that Ramba is like a samurai and that came out to me in this episode when Ramba committed suicide rather than be taken prisoner.  It is interesting that Ramba apparently had a big impact on Amuro since Ramba’s death seemed to bother him.

So, why does Ramba address Sayla as “princess” (himesama) and by the name “Artesia?”  Clearly, her name was “Artesia” at some point in time (confirmed by her remembering Ramba from her childhood) and her father was named Zeon Deikun.  That suggests that he was the ruler of Zeon at some point and that Sayla was a member of the royal family.  This also means that this thing between Char and Sayla is real and they are likely siblings.  With all this in mind, how did a former Zeon princess end up on a Federation installation (Side 7) to fight with the Federation forces?  For that matter, what happened to her family since Char is probably her brother?  If she’s a princess, then that suggests her family used to rule Zeon.  I’m guessing her parents died somehow which led to the Zabi taking over.  However, I’m just wildly guessing here based on how things feel at the moment.

Going back to Amuro, I guess he’s officially out of the dog house.  I guess Amuro was so sure that Ramba would be attacking that he was fully dressed in uniform by the time the alert sounded within White Base.  I liked how when Bright gave Amuro an order to man a weapons station, Amuro did it without bitching.  I figured for sure he’d whine about being the only one to pilot Gundam but instead, he not only manned his station but provided assistance in the form of advice to Sayla.  Now that Bright has returned Amuro to Gundam status, it will be interesting to see if Amuro and Bright have further clashes in future.