Warning: THe following contains spoilers for Episode 17 of Gundam: The Witch From Mercury, "Precious Things" now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Gundam: The Witch From Mercury episode 17 is not the most action-packed episode in this season, nor does it contain a thrilling drama that unveils a major secret of the story. It’s not even an episode that focuses on the main character, Suletta Mercury, herself.
This episode is more about the people around Suletta. From those that are extremely close to Suletta, such as her mother and her fiancé, to the people that only sees her from afar, such as different people from the Benerit Group. It’s about people who are benefiting from her, or at least try to, while Suletta herself remains clueless to everything that’s happening around her.
Everybody Has An Agenda
Compared to the other teenagers her age in the school, Suletta is an incredibly shy, awkward, and naive girl. All she ever wanted by enrolling to the Asticassia School of Technology is to make some new friends. She even makes a list of what she wants to do together with her future friends, such as eating together, giving each other gifts, and other small things like that.
Defeating other people with her beloved Gundam Aerial, or engaging in the treacherous world of business, or involving herself into the politics of the Benerit Group, those kinds of things never cross her mind. Not even once. She simply followed what her mother asked her to do, and used this precious chance to gain some friends at the same time.
What Suletta failed to realize, however, is the fact that almost everybody around her has their own agenda. This episode is the proof for that statement. Make no mistake, people like Prospera, Miorine, Guell, and the other people around Suletta do care about her to some extent. At least that is the case from what we’ve seen thus far. Unfortunately for her, they will prioritize their own agenda over her. What makes it even worse, is the fact that most of their agenda involves Suletta and Gundam Aerial. So in a way, people around Suletta take full advantage of her without Suletta ever noticing it.
The Secret Plot
In this episode, we found out that the main reason Prospera enrolled Suletta to Asticassia is in order to collect combat data for Aerial, through the school’s dueling system. Miorine ends up using Suletta to climb the corporate ladder and takes Suletta out of the control and influence of Prospera. Guel used his last duel with Suletta to improve his reputation and the standings of his company. While Elan, the Peil Technologies behind him, and the rest of the greedy companies within the Benerit Group, are only interested in Gundam Aerial.
Sure, you can argue that Prospera is still Suletta’s mother, and she cares a lot about her wellbeing. Well, based on her recent actions and conversations, it seems that she doesn’t love Suletta all that much, and only cares about Aerial. You can also argue that what Miorine has done in this episode is not out of selfish reasons, but because she wants to protect Suletta. Unfortunately, in order to achieve that noble objective, she has betrayed Suletta’s trust, she has taken Aerial from her despite knowing that Suletta considers Aerial as part of her family, and she clearly broke Suletta’s heart into a million pieces.
As for Guel, well, despite saying that he likes Suletta, he ends up doing the same thing as Miorine, while also enjoying the benefits that he and his company will gain by defeating Suletta. So in the span of one episode, people that claim to care a lot about Suletta have actually taken everything away from her.
Suletta’s Downfall
This episode represents the downfall of Suletta Mercury. The witch has fallen, stabbed in the back by the people that she holds dear. So what’s next for Suletta? She no longer has Aerial, she has lost her position as the reigning champion in school, she is no longer engaged to Miorine, and Miorine herself has said some hurtful things that shatter her hearts. What’s more, Prospera has promised Miorine to never interfere with Suletta’s life, so it’s unclear whether Suletta can count on her mother to support her this time around. So what will happen next to the witch from Mercury?
Well, the story can go through a couple of different paths. This experience can turn Suletta into a hate-filled and vengeful person which can lead her to take refuge in a place that is the total opposite of Asticassia, which is the extremist group on Earth. This is not a far-fetched theory, considering she is already quite close to Nika and the girls of the Dawn of Fold. On the other hand, this traumatic experience can also put Suletta into a downward spiral of depression. In this case, she would likely rush towards her mother’s side, and no longer desire any kind of contact with the outside world. She will become a true puppet for Prospera.
The best course of action is actually for Suletta to undergoes a similar thing as Guel. We know how depressed Guel was when he realizes that he has killed his own father. But he manages to get through that tragic episode, and becomes stronger than ever. So which one of these scenario will likely happen? Well, the only way to know is to wait for the next episode.