Episode 4
In this second arc (or season 2, as the show markets itself), a giant meteorite is again heading towards Ogikubo. Space Patrol has been recruited to stop it by blowing the space rock up.
Our three heros pile into a rocket, where Luluco starts to panic that they’re in over their head, but Nova talks her down. Chief Over Justice explains that each 
Space Patrol member will transform into their Judgement Gun Morphing mode to launch the person ahead of them. Midori handles the initial launch, and once in the air Nova launches Luluco towards the meteorite. Ironic, since she was the one who was the most against the mission.
Once up in space, Luluco plants the explosives on the meteorite, but the rocket’s arm gets stuck somehow, and she can’t get loose. When the Chief contacts her on her communications screen, he tells her to use Judgement Gun Morphing on the meteorite, and then maybehopefullyshe’llgetluckyandmakeithomesafe. Luluco starts to protest until Nova appears on her monitor and talks her into going along with the Chief’s plan.
So the rock blows up and Luluco’s capsule falls back towards Earth. Its layers peel away one by one until she’s just a gun tumbling through the atmosphere. Suddenly out of nowhere, a redheaded woman appears and scoops up Luluco. It’s Luluco’s mother! She had been inside the meteorite falling towards Ogikubo. Luluco’s mother holds her tight as they streak through the atmosphere towards the planet, but what’s that pirate-looking ship hovering up in space…?
Episode 5
If you thought that there was going to be a happy reunion between Luluco and her mother, think again. The two crash into the Space Patrol office, reducing it to rubble. In the center stands Luluco, held up in the air by her shirt by Luluco’s mother. She shrugs off the role of mother, insisting she is now Space Pirate Lalaco Godspeed.
We get a brief flashback showing Luluco’s parents fighting, with Luluco stuck in the middle pleading for them to be normal. In the present, Lalaco scoffs at Luluco’s continued attempts to have a normal life, telling her that if she continues to dream like that she’ll never get anywhere in life.
Suddenly from overhead Lalaco’s space pirate ship looms over Ogikubo. An anchor descends with space pirates on it, so Luluco, Nova and Midori transform and start shooting. Lalaco is able to deflect their attacks, leaving them in a scorched pile on the ground. Chief Over Justice takes this opportunity to transform into his Justice Gun Morphing mode, and he and Lalaco fire at each other. His attack does no damage to Lalaco in her gun form, but Lalaco’s beam destroys the Chief’s gun form.
Lalaco reveals that her little bug spy from the first episode is the reason why Luluco’s father was frozen into an iceberg. He must have been the one who dropped the forbidden capsulte. I had always thought that the little big seemed out of place in that scene, but now it is perfectly clear why that little bug had been included. With Luluco’s father frozen and out of the way, Lalaco is able to carry out her master plan – to literally lift Ogikubo into space and auction it off to the highest bidder. As she’s lifting Ogikubo into the air, Lalaco also kidnaps Luluco’s father’s frozen body, leaving Luluco with a slice of his head. (Btw that will never not be creepy, either.)
My thoughts: There’s some nice foreshadowing in the beginning of episode 4, with Nova’s interpretation of the full moon. Luluco hopes that it will lead to a romantic meeting between her and Nova, but as we see it heralds a meeting between Luluco and her mother.
What else… I’m not very impressed with the manipulative way Nova treats Luluco. He acts like he knows of her crush on him, and he uses that against her in order to get her to do something. I hope that that changes before the end of the season, even if they don’t end up together as a couple.
Also, holy shitballs is Luluco’s mom ever a wicked bitch or what. New least favourite character alert! Who’s my favourite character? Midori. I like her character’s sassiness, and her seiyuu Mayumi Shintani is awesome.
Lastly, I think it’s awesome that space pirates are in this anime as well. I feel like there are a few references to FLCL in this series, and space pirates might just be one of them.