After a depressing week without an episode, Legend of the Galactic Heroes returns with a lot of plot points set in motion! From the mysterious Adrian Rubinsky asserting Fezzan’s influence across the galaxy, to Jessica Edwards’ decision to run for a position on the council, things are getting serious!
The episode starts with a peek inside the High Council of the Free Planets Alliance. My first impression of the group was quite positive because of the words of Joan Lobello, the Financial Secretary. His points on the pensions resulting from the Battle of Astarte and the budget costs of feeding five hundred thousand Iserlohn prisoners were valid ones, and he brought up the idea of a favorable peace treaty using Iserlohn itself as leverage against the Galactic Empire. Sounds great, right? Nope! As reasonable as it may sound to us viewers, the elected officials of the High Council are the extreme of democratic corruption. In order to secure their reelection in the coming year, they’d rather launch an offensive into the territory of the Galactic Empire rather than pursue a peace. I mean how dense can they be? They want to secure their political futures and maintain power, but launching an offensive into the powerful Galactic Empire is poking at the dragon they happened to defeat once. What if it completely backfires and the Galactic Empire comes ricocheting back with momentum after obliterating another fleet commanded by another stubborn commander? Then the Free Planets Alliance is screwed, these politicians will be sacked anyway, and even Yang might not be able to use his magic to save them. God the entire council is frustrating to watch!
Following the High Council scene was Yang turning in his retirement to Alliance Headquarters. Unfortunately for our history loving Yang, the military does not want to let him go and for good reason. Admiral Sithole doesn’t outright refuse Yang’s request but merely relays the desires of those above, going as far as to bringing up the Thirteenth Fleet as possible leverage over Yang.
C’mon man, just let the guy retire in peace! He’s done enough by capturing Iserlohn to solidify Sithole’s political position and The Free Planets Alliance’s sovereignty, he deserves to relax.
Huang Louis, the Secretary of Human Resources, brings up the point of the Free Planets Alliance overspending on the military, sacrificing infrastructure and education instead. Quite a common problem in this day and age it seems, and also a testament to how the original source material tackled problems that’ll forever be relevant. This entire segment was infuriating because it’s not like the council members never thought about the possibility of peace, btu rather brushed it off in favor of their political stability. Even Job Trunicht, who voted against the invasion, definitely has some secret motive. He makes it clearly known that he was against the invasion, which may be because he knows the invasion will fail. If it does fail, everyone on the council who voted in favor of it will fall out of popularity, while Job himself stays afloat. Clever, but he’s playing with millions of lives.
Yang’s dinner with Frederica Greenhill and her father was quite adorable, and I sense the blossoming of a beautiful ship! There’s an age gap for sure, but they’re both adults now and Yang acts like a college kid anyway, so I’m all for it. It was so cute to see Frederica perk up when Admiral Greenhill brought up the idea of marriage to Yang, and I’m curious how long it’ll take for this adaptation to let the ship set sail.
The economic supremacy of Fezzan was pushed quite heavily in this episode through Rubinsky’s video call. Quite the clever ploy by the neutral state to take advantage of the war and accumulate economic power. I’m curious how Rubinsky will tie into the grand war itself, and whether his string pulling will eventually put him at odds with either Yang or Reinhard. The man seems like the only true villain we have in this series, evil smile, bald head, wine glass! I’m sure he’d have a field day talking with Job Trunicht.
The episode ends with the introduction of political Jessica Edwards! Her speech was quite moving, and I’m sure it touched many citizens of the Free Planets Alliance. How many times will the politicians send soldiers to die, while they sit in the safety of Heinessen? After the millions of casualties at Astarte, I can see Jessica garnering a lot of support for her candidacy, but I’m very worried for her safety. The Patriotic Knights have come up before as a genuine threat, and I can only hope that Jessica’s revolution of sorts succeeds. The people of the Free Planets Alliance didn’t get to peek into the High Council meeting as we viewers did, but Jessica is right on the dot with her accusations. You go Jessica!
