Episode
                  43: Target: Earth 
                  Airing Date
                  2000-05-03

            Dorothy Catalonia is a rat. Pure and simple. First she spends her 
            time whispering in Relena's ear when Relena is made the token Queen 
            of the World, then she talks her grandfather into running away to 
            space (where he gets blown up by White Fang's Mobile Dolls) and now 
            she's squirmed her way onto the Libra space fortress and is egging 
            Zechs Merquise on to destroy the Earth. Not that Zechs needs any 
            help -- the guy's war crazy enough as it is. 
            In "Target: Earth" Dorothy has somehow beaten Relena to the Libra 
            and is safely ensconced just beside Zechs for the entire episode. 
            Her twig-like eyebrows twitter with excitement as Zechs gives the 
            order for the Libra's laser cannon to power up and fire. "Gundam 
            Wing" fans everywhere hope that the karma train (or would be karma 
            space shuttle?) doesn't float past Miss Catalonia at the series' 
            end. The girl deserves a good smack when all this silliness is done, 
            eh? 
            On the whole, I found "Target: Earth" to be a really well 
            put-together installment of this politically charged soap opera. 
            It's got nearly everything necessary for good drama -- massive 
            armies, helpless civilians, scared circus animals, giant robots and 
            heroes regaining their memories. Toss in a romance or two and you've 
            got every demographic group in the palm of your giant, metallic 
            hand. Then again, considering that most of the characters are 
            fifteen years old, romance might not be the first things on their 
            minds. Still, it'd be cool to catch Heero & Relena macking in the 
            cockpit of the Wing Zero, wouldn't it? Maybe that's being saved for 
            the finale. Sigh. We can only hope. 

                  Time to pluck those eyebrows, Dorothy. 
            So here's the dirt -- OZ, former military leader of the Alpha 
            Quadrant, has got its back pushed so far against the edge of the 
            Milky Way that they get desperate. They force their way onto colony 
            C-421 and hold the place hostage. This enrages the Gundam boys, 
            who've reunited aboard the Peacemillion. While their Gundams get 
            their 3,000,000-mile oil change, the White Fang powers up the 
            Libra's laser cannons and prepares to destroy the entire colony. 
            Dorothy's eyes nearly roll back in her head like a shark working 
            through dinner. But Trowa, who's still not exactly himself, spots 
            his "sister" Kathy on the colony and he springs into action. He 
            grabs the Wing Zero and heads toward OZ's Mobile Dolls. He manages 
            to save the day but not before the notorious Zero System restores 
            Trowa's memories. Maybe now he'll remember where he left his 
            hairbrush. 
            Just as we all think everyone's safe, the Libra fires its cannon -- 
            not at the colony but at Earth! A nuclear-sized explosion erupts and 
            every wide-eyed soul this side of Pluto knows what next. It's Treize 
            Khushrenada's turn. Great. More battles, more deaths, more giant 
            robots. Dorothy must be wetting her panties. 

            --Ross Brooks, who fears bumping into Dorothy in a dark alley.