SYNOPSIS

The colonists leave Brazillier, having resupplied, and Cosmo arranges a private meeting with Karala. Meanwhile, Sheryl proposes to Bes that they use Earth's super-computer - Gloria - to analyse the Ideon data. Bes refuses, as he believes the Buff Clan will follow them there. The ship does receive a message from a colony named Dabora Star that will allow them to land - however Bes again overrules Sheryl. Cosmo questions Karala over the defences of the Buff Clan Earth, but she's unwilling to help an open war develop. Soon after, she's kidnapped by Sheryl at gunpoint - Sheryl, Hatari and some others decide to take a Karioka shuttle to Dabora Star. Unable to raise anyone onboard the shuttle, Bes sends the Ideon units after it. The shuttle plays into the hands of the following Doku, whose force easily capture it. Doku himself faked the Dabora Star call as bait. He now plans to use the Karioka crew as hostages, and exchange them for the Ideon.

Cosmo, Kasha and Moera meet up in space to try to work out what to do. Cosmo comes up with a plan - to send the units across one at a time, then throw their spacesuits overboard, fooling the Buff Clan into thinking they've left the ships. As the Ideo-Delta is delivered, Doku releases Karala and Sheryl, with the Karioka following after the other two machines are seemingly handed over. Cosmo's plan goes perfectly - Kasha is able to force the docking process and form Ideon, and they retake the robot from the Buff Clan soldiers onboard. However, once Doku cottons on the Ideon comes under heavy attack, with a Zigg Mack causing heavy damage. However, he's unable to land a finishing blow, and Cosmo destroys his Zigg Mack, killing him. When the Karioka returns to the Solo Ship, Karala takes full responsibility, saying she intended to go back to the Buff Clan. Cosmo realises something is up - he follows Sheryl, who admits the runaways made Karala carry the blame, and Karala agreed, believing them to be more important to the colonists than her. Karala is imprisoned for her 'escape attempt'.

NOTES

Hatari Naburu: Hatari is the only named regular who's in on Sheryl's mission. This is pretty odd, as otherwise Hatari is the ultimate generic good soldier (he doesn't even talk back to Bes - even Bento gives Bes lip at one point...) to the point of blandness. So quite why he breaks ranks here is a little unclear - he doesn't seem to have a particular problem with Karala, and he doesn't seem mad on Sheryl. I guess it's because he's about the only pilot who isn't on one of the Ideon units... But then Joliver is later shown to be capable of piloting too. I'm not sure such an action would fit with him either, but the chippy engineer would probably be a better match than the loyal Hatari.

Lotta Banda: Lotta seems to have got over her problems with Karala quite well - Karala seems to be helping her with the farming operation.

Deck Afta: Deck, however, still doesn't trust Karala.

Cosmo Yuki: Cosmo really doesn't like Sheryl - he only plots to save her to put Sheryl in the debt of the Ideon pilots. Not that the others show any objection to this - indeed, Kasha is all for just attacking Doku, hostages be damned. Cosmo is still undecided on Karala - he clearly has little love for her at this stage, but he's not as ready to demonise her as others are.

The Solo Ship: At Brazillier, the colonists add a shuttlecraft called the Karioka (a standard Earth Union design). The type has limited defensive armament and seems to have a crew of around half a dozen.

Earth Union: Presumably Dabora Star is a real colony, even if the distress call is faked. I'd guess it's the next closest to Earth past Brazillier.

REVIEW:

Despite the worthy sequence of Cosmo confronting Sheryl at the end, and some good characterisation for the selfless Karala, this is a rather shaky episode. Too many things happen simply to hurry the plot along - Sheryl is somehow able to organise a minor conspiracy since leaving Brazillier, where coincidentally they pick up a shuttle she can take.

Also coincidentally, Doku hatches a plot requiring hostages just as a weak shuttle leaves the Solo Ship alone for the first time in the series (the Solo Ship didn't even have any secondary craft until this episode). He's also probably the worst negotiator in history, allowing Cosmo to run the whole hand-over of the Ideon, barely checking a thing. And while everyone believing Karala took half-a-dozen people hostage with a pistol is meant to convey that people simply want to believe it because she's an alien, it's just too unbelievable - even Bes doesn't argue.

Even the fight scene's rubbish - one minute the Ideon's on the point of destruction, next it does that bloody arm detaching thing and just kills Doku. Argh.