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In the dead of night, Andy Waltfeld, ZAFT’s legendary “Desert Tiger” strikes! As Kira struggles with adapting to fighting in the desert, Andy watches, impressed. But the Gundam’s energy is running low, and only the timely intervention of a group of resistance fighters saves the day. They decide to cooperate in an attempt to defeat Waltfeld. After the battle, Kira will have come face-to-face with the man known as the Desert Tiger. And in the future, that meeting may interfere with his duty as a soldier.

Back on the PLANTS, Athrun visits his fiancée, Lacus, and they talk briefly about Kira. Meanwhile, on the PLANT Supreme Council, their parents debate plans for Operation Spit Break, their retaliatory strike against Earth.

The Archangel’s arrival on Earth isn’t going to break any records of perfection and they’ve managed to find themselves back in the sights of the enemy right away. How are they going to evade the influence of ZAFT and get to the Alaskan base?

Episode 16: Burning Sandstorm

The Desert Tiger gathers his troops nearby the silent Archangel, and his first attack against the enemy is going to be to test the ability of their opponent. Realizing their successes against Le Creuset, he’s going to be careful of this unknown enemy. The bridge crew of the Archangel is still getting ready for their eventual departure and is prepping ideas which will keep the ship invisible to enemy detection, but before that is possible the enemy’s attack commences. With the alarm, all members awaken and we get to see that Kira was sleeping with Flay when he rises and heads to pilot Strike. After launching, Kira runs into immediate trouble… he’s sinking into the sand under the weight of his Mobile Suit, but the enemy aren’t going to give him a reprieve. Attacking with shelling and 5 BuCues they intend to occupy Strike while keeping the carrier under a constant barrage. Kira is able to adapt Strike to the sand environment on the fly which greatly improves his mobility, but against superior numbers he can’t effectively counter-attack. Slowly but surely, the power levels of Strike are draining and soon he won’t be able to move.  They are under constant fire but thankfully, a resistance cell arrives and tells Kira of a trap that they’ve set up for the BuCues. Having no choice but to follow, he leads the BuCues right into a bomb field which claims all of them.

Episode 17: Cagalli Returns

The leaders of the resistance greet the Captain and La Flaga, and explain that the fact that they were helped was more of an opportunity to hurt ZAFT than help them. The girl from Heliopolis sees Kira come down from Strike and her first instinct is to punch him for saving her. After calming down, she tells the leaders that it is safe to help the Archangel crew and they begin transporting the vessel back to their forward base. Unfortunately, such a large 

undertaking draws attention and the Desert Tiger’s group is able to follow them back to their base. The leader informs the Captain that their trip to Alaska is going to be very difficult, and that there are few paths that they are going to be able to take there; and he suggests that first they are going to have to defeat the Desert Tiger before they can proceed. We finally learn that the girl’s name is Cagalli, and that she has been helping the resistance as a sort of technical expert 

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(although the group refers to her as a Goddess of War). Flay also spends some more time meddling, when Sai tries to talk to her about her decision to see other people she brings up that she spent last night with Kira. Sai is furious and when Kira tells him to drop it, he attack Kira; but Kira’s quick reflexes make it a serious mismatch and he pushes Sai away. With this he explains that Flay is the only person who cares about how stressful it his for him to pilot Strike. But his soliloquy is ended by the impending attack by the Desert Tiger’s forces. Ever the gentleman, he’s warning his opponents of an impending attack so that non-combatants can flee.

Episode 18: Payback

The village is in ruins but thankfully, no civilian was killed. But this states that the Desert Tiger does not consider the rebels to be a serious threat and hopes that eliminating their supplies will weaken their resolve to fight. But the rebels are furious at seeing their homes burned and families hurt, and so they do a mass counter-attack without any coordination. The crew of the Archangel would like to help prevent a slaughter against the BuCues, but the ship would not be able to turn the tide so the Captain order Kira to launch in Strike. Rebels are launching propelled grenades at the BuCues, but not damaging the powerful armor and they retaliate and are wiping the floor against the would-be attackers. On Cagalli’s jeep, her caretaker jumps to safety with her just as the vehicle was hit, leaving the driver seriously wounded. When Kira arrives, he quickly disables one of the suits and is trying to neutralize as many of them as possible. The Desert Tiger orders his man out of the damaged one, and takes control himself. Now co-coordinating the defense, Kira is now up against a more organized attack and is being stressed. With a new found resolve, he destroys 3 of them before they retreat. On the ground, Kira chastises the rebels asking if they were trying to kill themselves. Cagalli runs up to Kira and yells at him, stating that they were fighting with their emotions. He then slaps her, and asks what she can protect with just her feelings.

Episode 19: Fangs of the Enemy

The constant stress that Kira is putting on himself is starting to become severe – he’s now sleeping in Strike and not leaving. Obviously, this is not good and the Captain and La Flaga are discussing ways to help him. For lack of a better idea, the Captain decides to give him the day off and sends him into the nearby city for some R&R. He and Cagalli are going to do some shopping while Lieutenant Natarle and the rebels go to a local contact to get some additional weapons. While stopping for some lunch, the pair are approached by the Desert Tiger who wants to chit-chat with them; but an attack by Blue Cosmos tries to kill the ZAFT leader. Using his quick reflexes, Kira is able to save Cagalli and provide some protection for his nemesis. Once a ZAFT group arrives to bring the leader to safety, he offers to drive the two to safety, which ends up being his home. At the house, the Desert Tiger speaks candidly with both Cagalli and Kira about what it will take to end the war and reveals that he knows both of them are his enemy, and that he realizes that Kira is a Coordinator. Although he has the upper hand and a chance to kill the pair, he does not take it and instead lets them return. Back on the Archangel, Sai continues to stew over the situation with Flay and Kira; as a sort of proof to himself, he gets into Strike and tries to pilot it. Instead, he crashes the suit into the deck of the ship while trying to walk. Seeing what Sai did, Flay leaves the room crying.

Episode 20: On a Calm Day

Shifting the story away from Earth for now, Athrun is visiting his fiancée Lacus back in the PLANTs. The pair talk about the separation that they’ve had to endure lately, and Lacus wonders how Kira is doing. She also mentions to Athrun that Kira still has Birdy, and how they both talked about Athrun. Elsewhere, Nicol visits with his parents. His father is a member of the council, and he voices how he is more inclined to follow councilman Zala’s ideas over Clyne’s. So we are seeing more of a push towards a military resolution. Back on the Archangel, Sai has been placed into solitary confinement for a week for his actions with Strike. Kira wants to talk to his friend, but he is stopped, as most think that it would just upset Sai again. When Flay tries to “help” Kira, he doesn’t want to be consoled by her and instead walks away to be alone.

Disc 04 of Gundam Seed was more dramatic than usual, spending quite a bit of time setting up characters and plot instead of just having action. A nice change of pace in this disc.

- Tazman

(September 17, 2005)

"I think the portrayal of puppets on TV is deplorable."

"You play a professor."

"Not a good one. I'm drunk half the time."

           - Warren and Gil (Greg the Bunny)

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