Gundam AGE Episode 4

White Wolf

Well, things were action-packed last episode and now we get some character development and a few mysteries as well. The guy in the above picture, Wuulf Enneacle, gets a shower scene, which is sure to send the fangirls into fits of squee. The man also seems very particular about his cologne. He comes off as pretty arrogant and womanizing (poor Ensign Milliais... or is it lucky Ensign Milly?) kinda like Roy Focker but a little more abrasive. He doesn't believe that a kid like Flit can fight and fly in the Gundam. Captain Grudek doesn't think so either because he appoints Wuulf as the head of the Mobile Suit team and doesn't seem to care if Wuulf wants to take the Gundam. Speaking of DAT BEARD, we finally see what he looks like without his cap and visor. And was it just me or was he looking at some kind of family photo on his desk? Perhaps Grudek has lost family to the UE?

In any case, Wuulf swaggers into the lounge acting like he's all that, blowing off Ensign Zinger (no that's not his name, just a nickname I picked up from MechaTalk) and hitting on Ensign Milliais (with help from possibly clueless Dique). Then we see him in the hangar where he gets into an argument with Flit and it all winds up culminating in a duel with paint guns at 40 asteroids. Something to be noted here: Emily doesn't seem to like the fact that Flit now considers himself the Gundam's pilot and she actually volunteers Flit to fight Wuulf for possession of the Gundam, secretly hoping he'll lose. She seems to be the kind of main female protagonist that's going to spend a lot of time worrying about the hero Gundam pilot. I know this show is intended more for kids but I really don't hold with this attitude much, given that not a lot of the Gundam females I've seen have not been subject to it. Maybe Relena to a point and/or Flay.
In any case, the duel between Flit and Wuulf is highly reminiscent of the fight between Kou and Monsha in Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories, but Wuulf doesn't set off my douchebag alarms like Monsha does. And just like in the training sequence in Macross Frontier, enemies show up to interrupt the fun. And this time they're accompanied by a big, BIG, honkin' mothership/battlecruiser of some kind, equipped with a cloak.

This thing looks mean enough to blow up several colonies on its own and it might even have been present when Nora went down, just under cloak. Flit and Wuulf escape with their skins, with Flit actually impressing Wuulf some. He plays it cool though and I really think that he'll be an okay guy, just with a jerk-streak in him. The Diva is on course for a new colony? So we'll see where we go from here, especially with Grudek's ominous pronouncement in his quarters that he's figured out what the UE are. I doubt that we the audience are going to be told but it'll be interesting how this secret knowledge plays into the narrative.

Other things: Why has the original captain still been forgotten? Did Grudek blow him out an airlock? Maybe it'll be solved in the next episode.
The Genoace Custom seems to be a lot more effective so far than normal Genoace suits
I'm really not looking forward to the introduction of this little red-head kid in the next episode. Something about this kid just sets off ALL my threat alarms. He looks younger than Flit, Emily and Dique so I really hope he doesn't turn out to be Yurin's gratingly annoying little brother or something. And why do I get this feeling that he's going to steal the Gundam and take it for a little joyride? Time will tell...