Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing - Episode 17

The battle for Boreas may have been won by the Allied forces, but there are still plenty of pressing concerns for those fighting under Augusta's flag, not least the prospect of in-fighting between previously rival factions.

Perhaps understandably given their history, there's quite some tension between the remaining Glacies forces and the newly joined Third Fleet under the command of Ourang, bringing differences to the alliance that threaten to undermine their entire endeavour.

This worry certainly bears fruit when the Federation's First Fleet come calling at Boreas - although the Alliance's forces have more than enough air power to repel the intruders, they reckoned without some decidedly unsporting behaviour on their opponents part, with the First Fleet suggesting that they're in cahoots with their former comrades in the First Fleet.  Of course, this plays upon the Glacies' forces paranoia, turning them against their own side and allowing the Federation the upper hand in the subsequent chaos... at least, that is, until an old friend in the form of the Silvius puts in an appearance.  This latest battle still isn't over however, as the next phase of the Federation's plan to take Broeas swings into action - a plan halted by a bit of good, old-fashioned diplomacy of all things.

It's this ending to the episode which stretches the credulity of this week's Fam, the Silver Wing rather - after almost twenty episodes of war-mongering, conflict, death and destruction, all of a sudden a bit of paper from Augusta stops everything.  Couldn't she have done that in episode one, or at numerous other points during the series?  Following some more epic aerial battle scenes, this sudden resolution leaves the second half of this episode feeling rushed - as if the production team remembered that they're running out of episodes, put down the CG aircraft and rapidly scribbled an ending on a nearby napkin.  Hopefully there's more to it than that (and if nothing else Luscinia's plans are yet to be revealed), but this still felt a jarring twist too far in an otherwise great and gorgeously animated episode that ultimately left me a little disappointed.