Episode
                  25: Quatre vs. Heero
                  Airing Date
                  2000-04-07

            Hmm. What do you say about an episode that’s simultaneously great 
            and way too talky? I guess you mention the gripping fighting scenes, 
            the friends versus friends drama that fuels them and, of course, the 
            standard Achilles heel of Gundam Wing -- too much damn talk. In the 
            end, though, "Quatre vs. Heero" was a pretty strong outing not just 
            because of the action scenes, but because of the implications 
            involved when the giant robots fought. Hey, everybody loves it when 
            giant robots fight (especially in outer space) but when there’s some 
            juicy personal history involved, well, it’s like the sprinkles on 
            your ice cream, ain’t it?
            If you’re reading this, you know what happened -- Quatre’s gone a 
            tad crazy after 1) watching his father die in space and 2) climbing 
            into the cockpit of the Wing Zero. Heero and Trowa take him on but 
            are severely overmatched. No diss on the boys, but the Wing Zero is 
            just that good. Although they put up a great fight, Quatre blows 
            Trowa away (literally) and winds up causing Heero some major damage, 
            too. There’s hope that the fight wasn’t a total waste of time when 
            Quatre jumps from his Gundam to see to Heero’s injury. Time’ll tell 
            in future episodes if he’s still bent on destroying anything and 
            everything he comes across.
            So that’s the great stuff. The majority of the second half of the 
            episode revolved around the more verbose Romefeller Foundation -- 
            it’s not just that those old farts talk more, it’s that they don’t 
            say much when they do. First Treize Khushrenada tells Duke Dermail 
            that he doesn’t believe in the practice of employing Mobile Dolls in 
            wartime actions. Then Lady Une attacks Tubarov on the MD lunar 
            production base and allows Duo and Wufei to escape.

                  It looks like I'm sticking my tongue out at you, doesn't it? 
            This leads to a pretty cool sequence when the boys climb into their 
            partially rebuilt Gundams and take on the Mobile Dolls and kick some 
            automated tail. Did I mention the part when Tubarov shoots Colonel 
            Une from three feet away but the bullet takes about five minutes to 
            reach her? She drops her helmet (and probably one of her 
            personalities) and falls to the ground. Tubarov -- 1, Lady Une -- 0.
            Here’s what I really liked -- Quatre fighting his friends and 
            experiencing some major guilt yet he KEPT ON FIGHTING. That’s cool. 
            It’s like Luke hacking away at Darth Vader after learning that the 
            guy’s his dad. Some things are so wrong they just smell bad, yet we 
            can’t turn back. I think that’s kind of where Quatre’s at right now. 
            He’s angry, he’s confused, he was probably too young and naive to 
            have even become a warrior. But here he is controlling the most 
            awesome fighting machine in the history of humankind. And you can 
            bet he’s not going to pull his punches. And that, my fellow 
            Gundamaniacs, earns points in my book. I’m sure Quatre Raberbe 
            Winner will sleep better tonight knowing that.

            --Ross Brooks' book is available at your local online bookstore.