Episode
                  49: The Final Victors (series finale) 
                  Airing Date
                  2000-05-11

            When all is said and done, everyone in the Gundam Wing universe is 
            willing to give their life for peace. What's odd is that war is the 
            only common currency between the Gundam boys, the space colonies and 
            the global Earth nation. You'd think that with such a strong, 
            universal desire for pacifism that all the battles that rage on 
            wouldn't be necessary. Then again, if that were the case, this would 
            be one boring series. As it turns out, everyone desires peace but 
            only after one heckuva good brawl. "The Final Victors" allows 
            everyone to get their ya-yas out on the battlefield before settling 
            down for an eternity of pleasant conversation. 
            Zechs and Heero are finally allowed to go toe to toe without 
            restraint. In between knock-out punches, they debate their personal 
            paths to a life without war. Surprise -- they disagree. After much 
            verbiage, Heero's the victor by unanimous decision. Before he can 
            thrust his giant robotic hand in the air, though, he rushes off to 
            prevent the Libra from crashing into Earth. In the most exciting 
            sequence from the entire series, Heero zooms through the Earth's 
            atmosphere, risking cooking himself in the Wing Zero. He zips ahead 
            of a big chunk of the Libra and struggles to get a lock with his 
            Buster rifle. Moments before they both crash, Heero fires and the 
            Libra chunk disintegrates into millions of lucrative space 
            souvenirs. This is what Sci-Fi anime is all about and we love it. 
            The rest of the episode neatly ties every loose end up in a nice 
            package. Quatre, who in the previous episode was run through by 
            Dorothy Twigbrow's sword, is fine. He's even joined by his loyal 
            servants, who show up just in time in their Mobile Suits to help 
            destroy the Libra. Zechs either does or doesn't give up his life to 
            aid in that destruction -- but safe money's on Zechs somehow 
            surviving for another adventure in the future. The five Gundam 
            scientists give their lives, and take Quinze with them, when they 
            detonate the Peacemillion's engines in order to reverse its 
            collision course with the Earth. Miss (Goody Two Shoes) Relena is 
            made Vice Foreign Minister of the newly formed Earth Sphere Unified 
            Nation. And finally we assume that the five Gundam boys hang their 
            helmets up and retire to a life of public appearances and Tang 
            commercials. 

                  Now it's time to say goodbye to all our company. 
            So now that it's all over, what are we left with? A romance between 
            Heero and Relena which was more spiritual than physical, the desire 
            for real life Gundams to be built so we can each own our very own 
            and the stern belief that too much philosophizing about peace, even 
            when it's played over battles between giant robots in space, can be 
            a bit too much of a good thing. Still, when most cartoons are about 
            dogs with the munchies who're afraid of their own shadows or pocket 
            monsters so sugary watching one episode creates instant cavities, 
            it's worth applauding a series which takes heady ideas and makes 
            them palatable for fans of every age. If all that Gundam action must 
            come with an equal amount of wordy debate, then bring it on. Just 
            don't skimp on the giant robot in space part. Thank you. 

            --Ross Brooks thinks he could handle the Zero System.