The target audience for these summmaries are those people who haven't seen it all, but are so hooked they have-to-have-it-all-NOW. You know who you are. Don't mind my dry sarcasm, and I'll try to keep my personal comments separate.
Please note that more often than not, all 'quotes' are paraphrases- not exact quotes.
The hostages have been crammed onto the transport planes- quite uncomfortably. Kyouko and the teacher worry about Kaname, Shinji cries out of happiness for seeing an M-9 in action.
Melissa wants to find Kurtz, Sousuke, and Kaname...but a Mithril chopper has found the remains of a damaged M-9 in a nearby river, assumably Kurtz's. No sign of the pilot, or the others. Kalinin firmly orders a withdrawl. He explains enemy reinforcements have gathered, and that they can't spend any time sticking around. He orders the chopper to blow up the remains of the M-9, and for the retreat. Melissa can only comply.
Back in the woods, Gaulun has stashed his AS. He sees Kalinin's chopter. He gets a report from base. A guard has spotted two human figures making their way off base- one a young woman. Gaulun doesn't seem unhappy.
Kaname has to support Sousuke as they make their way through the woods on foot. It begins to rain and they stop for a moment at the base of a tree.
There's a small med kit in his jacket pocket- when Kaname gets it for him, an snapshoy falls to the ground. It's of a younger Sousuke, sitting on an AS with a group of people.
Sousuke tells her they were his commrades while he does what he can for his messy injury.
It's not a pretty scene.
He tells her not to worry about his injury, and that they have to leave as the enemy will be following.
He gets up, but she doesn't follow...
She yells at him to stay away from her, and they face off, in the rainy, dark woods.
(dramatic)
Sousuke understands why she might be afraid of him, but really, all he wants is her home safe. He asks her to believe in him, and after a moment, she steps foward...
At which Sousuke yells at her to stay back- whips around his auto to aim at the intruder- and ends up with his gun in Kurtz's face, and Kurtz's gun in his face.
Kurtz is injured pretty badly, and falls over.
On the Danaan Melissa is following Kalinin, demanding a an hour to go back to search for Kurtz. He explains why he can't allow it, but she doesn't accept it. She asks him how he can be so cold, and he replies that he has to be.
He leaves her outside the bridge. Tessa knows he is there to discuss ways of rescue. She tells him that currently there isn't anything the Danaan can do, but since there is a chance they are still alive, there may be something they could do soon.
Kalanin decides they may have to use 'that'- the Arbalest.
Sousuke is pushing Kurtz in a wheelbarrow through the woods, and they try to figure out what went wrong in the AS battle. Gaulun's AS easily withstood Kurtz's direct fire, and Kurtz took a massively damaging blast and he has no idea what could have caused it. Kurtz is really pretty badly injured...
Later, they've approached a cliff, the edge of the forest. Only an open valley ahead of them, and Kaname sees what Sousuke sees- the danger they'd be in if they were to go out onto it. Sousuke has a plan- they have to split up.
Sousuke and Kurtz will remain behind, to distract the enemy, while Kaname makes her way alone to the coast, with a comm unit that would allow her to contact any nearby allies, who would pick her up.
He tries to reassure her telling her that it's their duty to protect her, and that she has to leave.
A moment passes, and she refuses. Sousuke is surprised by her vehemence. She tells him he must be a idiot, how awful it is to think something like it's alright to die anytime, and how awful it is that she's been rescued by such a freak as him.
He doesn't know what to say.
Kaname sort of calms down, and wants a plan that will allow all three of them to escape.
Sousuke tells her there is no other way, but she won't give up. The situation gets more heated with every line that's said.
She suggests a fire as a distraction, or something like that...
He explains to her that he chose the plan most likely to work, and Kaname still refuses.
Finally he has enough, and points the auto at her, demanding that she *will* do what he's said.
She's taken aback, but not much- she asks if he really would shoot her if she doesn't do what he wants. He says yes, that it would be better for her to die than be captured.
The moment breaks for Kaname, she smiles and approaches him.
This isn't what Sousuke was expecting...
Que sappy music.
She tells him that she believes in him, and that she's been able to go on because he's been there with her. She asks for them to go home togther...and then they're in each other's arms, it's one of those say-each-other's-names moments.. (Chidori.....Sagara-kun....).
And Kurtz clears his throat.
Kaname falls away out of embrassment, and Sousuke has to listen to Kurtz telling him he lost. For Kurtz agrees with Kaname, that perhaps the fire idea isn't a bad idea. (perhaps he's not as willing to be a sacrifice)
Sousuke gets mad- they'd be risking discovery. But maybe... Kaname says maybe there's something friendly flying overhead to see...
Sousuke still protests, but Kurtz remembers seeing a pic of the enemy base taken by a spy satellite. The timestamp said 1530...and it's now about 250. Sousuke gets it right away, and Kurtz lays some praise on Kaname, who's pretty lost now.
They explain to her that satellites pass above the same place every 12 hours, and the next pass is due in about 40 minutes. Sousuke says it may be difficult with the cloudy sky, but it may be worth a try.
Sousuke heads off to set the signal, and Kaname asks him to promise him he'd be back. He does.
They wait.
Kaname looks at the picture, and later asks Kurtz what he knows about the reason for their mission. He doesn't know anything...
Sousuke finds a farm, and pours out fuel- it's 310 and the sky is still overcast...
Kurtz wants to know what happened to Kaname, and she isn't really sure. Drugs, and videos of wierd words....Kaname fades into techno muttering- she's talking about secret AS stuff which startles Kurtz- she shouldn't know any of that stuff.
Kaname 'wakes' up and doesn't know that she's said anything...
She has no idea how she knows what Kurtz tells her she just said.
It really upsets her, and perhaps those drugs from earlier are starting to take effect....and Kaname goes a little loopy.
She sees the words, knows the knowledge she shouldn't know, and she hallucinates a girl hung from a branch. She freaks, and seems to believe *she's* the one being hung- she grabs at her collars and rips them open while a really worried Kurtz has no idea what to do...
A shot of Sousuke, flat on his back, waiting for the sky to clear before its too late...
Kaname seems to be mostly over it, Kurtz asks her if she's alright. She's worried about how she really is....and Kurtz falls over from his own pains...
Sousuke watches a small patch of sky clear, and ignites the signal, watching as it burns...
Kurtz is upset as his current state, unable to do anything, helpless- Kaname tries to reassure him, but then Kurtz's nature gets the better of him as he can't help himself from checking out what's exposed of Kaname's body...and she sees...
A helicopter flys over a field lit with fire- it says 'A67(?) ALIVE'
The fire burns out, and uniformed men discover the discarded fuel cannister
Kaname's holding shut the neck of her clothes, and asks Sousuke how it went. He can't be sure it was effective....and runs to Kurtz when he sees him collapased.
Kaname just stands with her back to them, and flatly tells him she's sure Kurtz is alright- guys like him don't die easy. It takes a moment, but he asks her what happened, to which there isn't an answer.
They wait, and Kaname and Sousuke talk. She wants to know what will happen when they return, he tells her he'll be reassigned and will leave. A streak in the pretty (now clear) sky warns him, and he pushes her into their chosen cover. They've been found. Kurtz is armed with a handgun, Sousuke still has the auto, and they prepare for enemy fire.
They're totally surrounded- and they know there isn't much they can do.
Kaname tells of a movie she'd seen- two american men running from the government. One is too serious, and the other a playboy. They're surrounded by the enemy at the end....
Kurtz interrupts and says he saw it, and says the pretty heroine was being really nice to the playboy, Kaname smiles at him. Sousuke asks what happens, but she says they didn't show it. The movie ended with them surriounded, charging out.
Now the shooting starts- she ducks and they fire. Kurtz says they should make a final scene to remember, and Kaname cheerfully agrees. Sousuke apologizes to her, for not being able to go home with her.
Kaname says she doesn't regret anything, while spent shells fall all around her.
But Sousuke sees something and yells wait!, as Kurtz gets a shot at an enemy sitting in a tree...
A capsule falling from the sky...the enemy falling from his perch....the capsule breaking up letting loose an AS...as the AS falls to earth, so does the enemy...
Silence as they look....an M-9 Kurtz wonders...No! says Sousuke as he takes off- evading enemy fire he gets in and starts the thing up.
A recording by Kalinin greets him, telling him this AS is the ARX-7 Arbalest.
The Danaan is laying off the coast, and will surface briefly, at 430, to retrieve them, if they can get there. He says the ARX-7 is a very expensive prototype, and to please return it. It's callsign is 'Al'.
Al's sensors report 5 enemy AS, and as Kurtz and Kaname can only watch, Sousuke moves to deal with them. End
Oooh, the most beautiful episode!
Visually, this episode kicks Cowboy Bebop's ass, and I love Cowboy Bebop. Although Bebop was able to maintain a high visual quality, unlike FMP :(
(I'd cry with happiness, like Shinji, if every episode looked like this, so maybe it's better that they don't. Naaaahhhhh...)
Just check out the backgrounds. So pretty- it's a really pretty nighttime forest.
And for the most part, the characters looked so...lush. Particularly in the beginning, with Kaname and Sousuke at the tree.
What I would change- the sappy moment. Hell, just change the music, it's so...loungy! ew
I don't even mind the panty-shots. (and I'm a girl) For the most part, they are pretty realistic, considering the situation. Who cares, when you're stuck behind enemy lines, trying to stay alive? However, I do think Gonzo was quite liberal, I mean, they didn't have to go with all of those camera angles.
Time is such a big deal in this episode, that's why all the watches.
On the fire signal Sousuke leaves- I'm pretty sure it says 'A67 ALIVE'
Alive is obvious. 6 and 7 are Kurtz's and Sousuke's numbers, repectively. In episode 1, Melissa refers to Kaname as 'the angel', and Kurtz calls her this in episode 5, so I assume that's why the 'A'.
Here is a cap of that...
(of course the show is in japanese, so they really call her 'tenshi', but Mithril documents and screens are in english)