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Episode 6
And now we reach the end of our journey with Episode Six of 0080.
We start off with Bernie and Al working on the fallen Zaku as they try to get it working again. Here’s a question….how come this zaku has managed to remain in the same place, UNTOUCHED, for so long. You’d think the Feddies would have snatched it up, especially after the Kampfer incident. It’s a wonder sometimes how they managed to win the One Year War. Al now has is Zeon Pilot insignia attached to his hat. Bernie goes over what they need including stealing the parts for repairing the Zaku from the downed GM’s within the colony. Once again, Bernie is sporting the Ultra cool, Char Aznable dark sunglasses look.
As they move through the city, they try to get to the remaining trucks that were left prior to the failed attack. One is towed away and as they get to the other, federation soldiers arrive to search it. Al once again uses is super acting skills and starts smashing the soldier’s jeep screaming that the feddies killed his dad and promptly starts to cry. Give the kid the Oscar. Bernie drives off with the truck while the soldiers are distracted by Al. Idiots.
Turns out they don’t have any projectile type weapon, which isn’t good news when dealing with the Alex but Bernie spots a Santa balloon and comes up with an idea. I bet he MacGyver’s something together with a balloon, a piece of gum and a thumbtack. Ah, now we know what he’s planning. Use the balloons to create a smokescreen and lead the Gundam into a trap. Sounds like a plan that’s coming together. We are then treated to a musical montage of Bernie and Al purchasing tools and heading off to the forest where the trap shall be sprung. This is like the A-Team but with J-pop type music. If the pair starts to dance though, I am out of here. This montage ends with the Zaku being brought back to a functioning status.
Bernie tells Al that he’s got a job for him to do while he’s off fighting the Gundam. Follow the orders on the disk and deliver the package that Bernie hands over. Looks like busy work to me but I suppose it’ll keep Al out of the battle area. They say their goodbyes but Al looks worried that Bernie may lose and die. Bernie reassures Al that he won’t lose. That night Al prays to god that he’ll be a good boy from now on if god will protect Bernie tomorrow and if god can protect the people and the colony.
The next day comes and Bernie boards his Zaku to face his destiny while Al is at the spaceport with his mother waiting for his father to arrive. Al’s father tells that during his trip they spotted a battle in which a Zeon ship carrying nuclear missiles was defeated by the federation. Oh no Beta!, Bernie is fighting for nothing. Al runs off the transport to go and stop Bernie since the colony is now safe. Too little too late as Bernie is heading to the Federation base and they scramble Christina and the Gundam. It turns out the Alex is fighting with only 500 rounds of ammo left for the Gatling gun making what should have been an unfair fight a tad more even.
The fight begins as Bernie leads the Gundam into the forest where is smokescreen has kicked in to create some cover. Christina is ordered to retreat but she disobeys the orders. During this, Al is in the forest trying to get to Bernie. Jeez kid, you’ll get stepped on at this rate. Bernie sets off the Balloons as a means to distract the Alex and makes his move destroying the Gundam’s Gatling gun. During this both Christina and Bernie get injured as the Alex got off a few shots at the Zaku while the Zaku slightly nicked the cockpit are of the Alex. Bernie tackles the Alex and forces it into some pre-placed grenades which appears to have damaged the Zaku more than the Gundam since the Zaku loses an arm in the sequence. All the while Al is still running and shouting try to get Bernie to stop. Too late kid. The two units look to face off for the final move as the Zaku takes the head of the Gundam but Christina stabbed the cockpit area of the Zaku with her beam saber, all being witnessed by Al. Man, is he going to be needing therapy after all of this. The Zaku explodes and blows both the Gundam and Al away. Al lands and hits his head on a tree and sees the burning wreckage of the Zaku or what’s left of it.
Federation forces move in and we find out that Christina is alive but unconscious. A soldier finds Al but he appears to be in a complete state of shock as to what he just witnessed. At this point, Al sees Christina being taken out of the Gundam and learns that she was its pilot all along. Al then just completely shuts down and goes into a complete state of shock. Man, if he wasn’t messed up already he should be now. We discover the disk is Bernie explaining to Al that the package is a taped confession with his ID papers and all the other information regarding why the Zeon attacked the colony in the first place, along with information about the nuclear missile attack. Bernie then explains to Al that he shouldn’t grow to hate anyone should he (Bernie) had died as that everyone was just doing what they all thought was right. He ends off saying that if he lives he’ll come back to the colony when the war is over to visit Al and also that he should say hi to Chris for him. Ok, I’m a cold hearted bastard but that was pretty sad to see.
We now see Al’s mother waking him up and it seems to be sometime since the incident and all seems to be “normal” in Al’s home. The date on a newspaper confirms this as it is indeed a few weeks later. As Al is leaving for school he is stopped by Christina who tells him that she’s been transferred to Earth and is moving away. She also appears to still be recovering from the battle as her arm is in a sling. She also says she wanted to say goodbye to Bernie and asks Al if he could do that for her. I wondered if they would find out about each other but I guess not. Al looks to be upset at the mention of Bernie’s name but tries to hide it. Christina then gives Al a kiss on the cheek before they say their final Good-byes.
During the school assembly, which is outside due to the damage to the school, where the details about the war ending are being discussed Al finally breaks down and starts crying. His friends try to cheer him up but he continues to cry. The episode ends with a pull away from the colony and into a space shot.
Final Thoughts: Not a very happy ending but it did suit the tone of the series. For a while there I was thinking that perhaps both Bernie and Christina would die together but things didn’t turn out that tragic. I suppose it could have been worse if they found out about each other but it was a nice twist that they didn’t. The taped message to Al was fairly hard hitting but very much summed up the message of the series.
Final thoughts on the series: Quite the change of pace from the normal fair of a Gundam series. Clearly a more story driven and less action driven series. It does make one wonder what happened to Al after this, did he live a peaceful life as Bernie wished or go on to do something else? And what about Christina? Did she ever find out about Bernie or was it just a lost love for her as she continued with her life? Would be interesting to find out if there's anything to it.
Definitely worth checking out as a whole but one shouldn’t expect a wing/seed type story here.
