Episode
                  39: Trowa Returns to the Battlefield
                  Airing Date
                  2000-04-27

                 
            The title of this episode gives everything away, doesn’t it? Our 
            resident amnesia boy, Trowa, slips into his Taurus mobile suit 
            without recovering his memories and takes on the enemy operating by 
            sheer instinct. It’s pretty cool, you’ve got to admit, that the guy 
            can just cut through OZ’s Mobile Dolls like a warm knife through 
            butter when he probably doesn’t even know what he’s doing. Luckily, 
            Quatre’s right beside him in his Gundam Sandrock. After a few 
            minutes, the two old friends are picking off the bad guys like 
            sesame seeds on a crowded hamburger bun. Or something like that, 
            anyway.
            The coolest thing about this installment of Gundam Wing is that we 
            get a glimpse of what the five Gundam pilots can do when they work 
            together. At the end of a protracted battle between Trowa, Quatre 
            and Miss Noin against their enemy, OZ, the happiest-go-lucky Gundam 
            pilot, Duo Maxwell, shows up and joins in. With three Gundam pilots 
            working in tandem, what’s left of the enemy vanishes into space 
            debris. It’s too bad that Heero and Chang Wufei weren’t around to 
            complete the group but I suppose that’s the promise that keeps us on 
            the edge of our couches, right?
            The odd thing is that before he left Earth, Duo was approached by 
            members of the White Fang, who are battling OZ in outer space. They 
            ask him to join their ranks and when Duo turns them down, they get 
            in the guy’s face and pretty much threaten him. You realize that 
            just because the White Fang is fighting against OZ they might not be 
            good guys. I guess that old adage ain’t always true -- "the enemy of 
            my enemy is my friend." It looks nice on a T-shirt, though. Around 
            the same time, Zechs Merquise (or Milliardo Peacecraft, as he’s also 
            known) is visited by White Fang, too.
            Apparently these guys have taken a page from the Girl Scout’s book 
            on how to sell your cookies in the least subtle method. They ask 
            Zechs to join their ranks and to bring his Gundam Epyon with him. 
            After sitting through a stirring speech about how the Epyon is the 
            ultimate symbol of rebellion, Zechs seems to agree. We next see him 
            trudging up a snowy hill where he’s hidden the Epyon. What his next 
            move is is anyone’s guess.

                  The Backspace Boys -- coming soon to a planet near you. 
            Oh, yeah -- there’s the matter of Zechs’ sister, Relena, Queen of 
            the World. Installed as a kind of mute figurehead of the Romefeller 
            Foundation, it becomes clear that she might wield more power than 
            anyone -- including Duke Dermais -- ever suspected. The voting 
            members of the Foundation cotton to her pacifist leanings and there 
            are rumblings in the Senate that the Duke’s days are numbered.
            Finally, we catch up with Heero Yuy, who’s not up to anything big -- 
            he’s just gonna kill Relena in the name of everlasting peace.
            A ha! The title didn’t give that tidbit away, did it?

            --Ross Brooks, who gotcha. He really gotcha. Right?