In this one, they’ve got a tank.

The Wild Cards are engaged in fighting on some planet and they come across an eccentric guy in a tank named Pearly. That is, like an actual military tank vehicle, not like the derogatory term for In-Vitros. The eccentric tank guy gets killed off early enough, so they can focus on a different eccentric guy they meet. This guy is a Major who has been stranded on the planet alone for months and has even learned some of the Chig language. The Wild Cards try to rescue this guy, but when the power cells for Pearly go missing, obviously the mysterious new guy who speaks the enemy language is the prime suspect.

But actually, the cells were stolen by Wang. He ran into some silicates and they are using the war crime confession he made under torture as a means of blackmailing him. He feels like he has to go along with them, until he fights back against them. He feels bad about it, though, and he is able to redeem himself by doing some fighting. In the end, it’s all good for Wang.

And instead of leaving, the eccentric Major stays on the planet with Pearly. No matter what, it was cool that they had a tank in this one.

This episode is a batch of little plots that are all kicked off by the Saratoga getting mail. All of the cast get something to do. I’ll cover the least interesting characters first: West’s plot here actually does follow up on his brother’s death last time, as he tries to make sure his parents are notified by something other than a form letter. Vansen’s sister has a baby and uses the name that Vansen always wanted to use for a child, and also she’s promoted to captain while distracted by that affront on her name-choosing. They deal with that stuff.

Meanwhile, Damphousse’s fiance breaks up with her (in a letter that answers a question I had last time, the Wild Cards have been out to war for a year now). Things get worse for her when she is blinded while on a mission (her psychic powers sure haven’t helped her lately). In the end, she gets better and meets a doctor who I assumed would be her new love interest, but he’s credited as “Ophthalmologist” so I would guess that guy ain’t coming back. Incidentally, West gets no bad news in the mail, so he spends the episode helping Damphousse and trying to get new boots.

Finally, McQueen and Hawkes, being In-Vitros with no family back on Earth, are not used to getting mail, but this time they do. They are notified that, in an attempt to reduce prejudice against In-Vitros, they will be starring in a propaganda piece about how they’re such good soldiers serving in the military. The documentary is made by an annoying guy (played by the Kenny Bania guy) who tries to get unrealistic shots and what. Hawkes at first tries to play like things are all good, no prejudice here, then snaps and attacks a soldier who has been slinging slurs at him all episode. Meanwhile McQueen tells a story about how a bunch of his fellow In-Vitros burned to death and he got in trouble for trying to help them. Still, we see the propaganda piece at the end and it ignores all that to say there’s no prejudice in the Marine Corps. Good old denial and lying.

I can’t lie, this one didn’t do much for me. It’s like this: West’s little brother has signed up for the war, and when he gets stationed to the Saratoga it stresses West out. Little brother is in a unit commanded by a foolish guy who wants to rush into battle to prove himself. So West spends the episode worried and little brother’s unit gets ambushed and, yeah, little brother ends up dead because war is bad. Pretty basic stuff. I’m not gonna say it was actively bad, but I was bored, so it sure wasn’t good. I hope, if nothing else, it actively colours West’s motivations going forth.

I don’t know how much time is meant to have passed since the war began, but when the “new meat” recruits arrive on the ship, the Wild Cards talk about how young they look, even though we’re in the first season. They’re acknowledging how the combat has mentally aged them, even thought they all look like young models.