Episode
                  6: Party Night 
                  Airing Date
                  2000-03-13

            Heero Yuy is a great Gundam pilot -- that's indisputable. Still, 
            when push comes to shove sometimes it's better to be lucky than to 
            be good. In Heero's case, however, the guy's got both bases covered 
            -- he's an excellent fighter pilot and he's able to find himself in 
            the right place at the right time. Those kinds of gifts spell danger 
            for OZ and lifesaving news for Relena Peacecraft (formerly Darlian) 
            in "Party Night." 
            After returning to Earth after her father's assassination, Relena 
            isn't aware that Lady Une (and Treize Khushrenada, too) don't 
            consider the job completed yet. Walking around assimilating both her 
            father's death and the news that she's really a member of the 
            peace-loving Peacecraft clan, Relena has no idea she's got a giant 
            bullseye on the back of her head. Lady Une asks Treize for some 
            Mobile Suits to finish the job and Treize, playing with two caged 
            birds, gives her his blessing. 
            Treize lets the two birds free from their cage as Relena returns to 
            her gilded cage -- her posh school, that is. Perhaps it's just me 
            but after seeing Relena with her adoptive mother and later with her 
            schoolmates, the girl seems to carry herself differently -- there's 
            an inner strength to her now. Maybe it's her father's death, maybe 
            it's the news of her true origins, maybe it's what she's learned 
            about Heero from Doctor J. Something's different -- it's the 
            beginning of Relena's amazing arc from sheltered schoolgirl to 
            leader of the human race. 
            Lady Une, along with a contingent of Leo and Aries Mobile Suits, 
            attacks the school as an elegant party is being held. It's inhumane 
            that the Alliance would attack a bunch of schoolchildren but they do 
            and with full force. Luckily, what they don't know is that Heero Yuy 
            is a student there, too. He races to his Gundam and blows OZ out of 
            the sky. Treize, aware of what's happened, recalls Lady Une to their 
            home base. He's made a promise to Zechs Merquise to protect his only 
            living relative -- his kid sister, Relena (!). Those two birds 
            return to Treize, too -- they'd rather live in their cage with him, 
            it seems. It completes the circle and adds a nice touch to the 
            savagery which permeates this episode. 

                  My father's dead, I'm adopted, my boyfriend wants to kill 
                  me... and I've got nothing to wear to the big party tonight! 
            In other news -- Quatre figures out that there are several other 
            Gundam pilots like himself. The guy's so sweet -- all he wants to do 
            is meet them so he won't be alone anymore. Wufei continues his 
            savage attacks on the Earth's military while Trowa joins the circus. 
            Duo, laid-back dude that he is, takes some time off and catches some 
            rays. Heero, meanwhile, can't understand why he fought to protect 
            Relena. Maybe like Treize's birds, Heero's heart longs for a safe 
            place to spend with a companion. As he leaves the school for good, 
            it's clear that the world's luckiest pilot still has some learning 
            to do. And that's another lesson for another day. 

            --Ross Brooks thinks bird of a feather taste better dipped in 
            chocolate.