Shin is as far from being an exposition king as you can get.
Given how reserved the character is, it is a clever way to develop him. Even though each episode has been self contained, those stories are used to show a little more of the pilot’s personality. The mystery around him allows the stand alone stories presented to hang together rather than just be the story of the week. Pieces of the larger story are slowly being moved into place as a little more of Shin is revealed in each episode. But they are not alone in the air and deadly confrontations are only beginning. Renting an unarmed F-4 Phantom, Makoto finds himself at the mercy of Shin. Now thoroughly irritated and suspicious, the pilot decides to take his fellow countrymen up on a plan to get some photos from the air. Having overheard the telephone call between Makoto and his employer, he shares the information with Shin. While gold fever consumes the base, McCoy has yet another game going. Since they are the aces of the base, they are not as desperate for money as the others. Yet Shin and Mickey refuse to take part, watching the whole affair with detached amusement. A clever use of jump jet capabilities by Kim puts him at the head of the race to find the downed aircraft. Soon the base is in a tizzy as McCoy leaks out the word, knowing he will make a lot of money on selling fuel, parts, and ammo to the pilots. It turns out the shot down transport is being looked for by the rebels and that it has something to do with gold on board. Sensing an opportunity for more money, the base’s resident Shylock, McCoy, cajoles to no avail and results to extortion to find out why he is doing this. While Greg the Bear is missing in the desert after being shot down, something is strange. The next day, an A-4 Skyhawk pilot named Randy is behaving oddly by buying fuel on his own dime for extra sorties. Whatever the case may be, his cool façade is showing cracks. Signs of stress are evident in the taciturn pilot’s demeanor with a hint that why he is there may have something to do with it. Inside the room, Shin has flashbacks to the near crash… and briefly of a man’s face. There he spies a calendar with its days being crossed off before the door closes. That vulture would be the photojournalist Makoto, who follows the tired Shin back to his room. His mood does not improve when he lands his damaged Crusader back at the base to find a vulture waiting for him. Surviving a brush with death brought on by his own error, the normally emotionless pilot looks haggard. What follows is an exciting, but one sided battle as the older MiGs are dispatched with style.īut all does not go right when Shin gets complacent and finds out that the defensive turrets on a Tu-95 Bear bomber are not there just for show. Sneaking up from behind, a playful bet is made over scoring the first kill.
It being night time, the radar equipped F-8 Crusader and Sea Harrier have a distinct advantage over the day light MiG-17Fs used by the rebels. Something unusual is hinted at by the base commander’s body language, but what has him acting that way?
Shin and Kim are already in the air for a patrol, so Saki orders them diverted to intercept since they should easily be able to handle the opposition. Things start with a bang when the Area 88 radar operators detect a transport flight escorted by fighters headed for an enemy airfield. Neither location is a comfortable one and if there is one word to describe the mood evoked by this installment it would have to be the word uneasy. That was my thought after watching the opening to this tense episode. At this point in the series, the base and the desert are almost becoming characters unto themselves, lurking constantly in the background and adding atmosphere to all the proceedings. It is time to get back to writing reviews to sharpen my skills of observation and writing. But a close call rattles the young Japanese pilot as the mystery around him deepens. With Makoto’s stalking of him getting to Shin, he decides to take action to find out why he is a target. A hunt for treasure inflames the greed of the mercenary pilots, yet that only serves as a backdrop for the main story.