Episode
                  10: Heero - Distracted By Defeat 
                  Airing Date
                  2000-03-17

              
            Whoa. Now that we're in the double digits (this is episode 10), the 
            foundation that's been laid in the first two weeks of "Gundam Wing" 
            is growing above ground and in unforeseen ways. 
            For example, characters that we might've thought would be 
            interesting together but so far haven't interacted yet -- like Lady 
            Une and Miss Noin -- meet and spark. Others -- like Zechs and Heero 
            -- who've interacted before but only briefly, are given the 
            opportunity for more screen time together. Again, the results are 
            surprising. In fact, you've got to admit that it's very hard to 
            predict where exactly all the characters in the After Colony years 
            will wind up. If "Gundam Wing" is a free-flowing river, then anyone 
            can be swept up in a current and thrown together, if only for a 
            moment. Conversely, we suspect that others will probably be crashed 
            upon the rocks. Who'll be left standing when all's said and done is 
            a mystery. In the meantime, though, let's talk about Lady Une and 
            Lucrezia Noin. Meow. 
            Lady Une is the superior of the two and second only to Treize 
            Khushrenada. Yet the moment the two women meet, Lady Une takes an 
            instant disliking to Noin. In fact, she seems threatened by her. 
            Noin, who's far above petty emotions and is arguably the coolest 
            character on the show, clearly doesn't like Une but mostly because 
            of the heat she's taking off her. You can't blame her for that. At 
            the episode's end, after taking crap from Une during an entire 
            battle -- which Une severely misplays AND sees her betray the sense 
            of honor which nearly every character in this universe lives by -- 
            Noin is given the delicious task of relaying a message from Treize 
            to Une. Basically a bitch-slap across Une's tight mug, you can see 
            the pleasure in Noin's delivery. The message, strangely enough (and 
            this might be lost in the Japanese/English translation) is "Be more 
            elegant, Lady." Sting! 

                  From now on, everyone will hate me. Is that understood? 
            In another strange scene at the episode's opening, Treize tells 
            Zechs he can't wait for him to take his mask off. Me, too, to be 
            honest. But there's something in Treize's delivery plus the way he 
            repeats it twice which gives the scene a strange homoerotic bent. 
            Again, this might be due to a poor translation but it's worth 
            mentioning. In a world where, much like Japanese culture, every move 
            is worth a thousand words, you can't help wonder what the heck's 
            going on. Later, when Zechs and Heero face off in their respective 
            Gundams -- and I'll not mention how Zechs miraculously has mastered 
            the Tallgeese after nearly dying in his previous outing -- Heero 
            steps out of his Wing Zero and hits the self-destruct button. 
            Provoked by Doctor J's surrender and his promise that he won't allow 
            the Gundams to be taken by OZ, Heero risks his life to honor his 
            mentor. Zechs, overcome by Heero's age and bravery, allows Trowa to 
            retrieve Heero's battered body and then retreat. If Lady Une has no 
            moral compass, then Zechs, Treize, Noin, Heero and the other Gundam 
            Boys don't take even one step without consulting theirs. Their next 
            move will prove their sense of honor. 

            --Ross Brooks traded his moral compass for some X-ray glasses.