Was McGillis' secret plan really just:
"Everyone must bow to Bael."
"No."
"Well poop."
To be fair Bael wasn't the whole plan, just the last part - the secret plan was basically:
- Further the skunkworks AV tech that had gone out of favour.
- Encourage Gaelio to support Ein having the AV surgery to get the data.
- Use Tekkadan to take out Carta, so it can't be traced to him.
- Agree to marry Almiria.
- Use Tekkadan to discreetly discredit Iznario, so it can't be traced to him.
- Kill Gaelio.
- Usurp the political/military powers of 3 of the 7☆ families, and alter the power balance at top of Gjallarhorn (while still having a spotless record).
- Finesse the 7☆ council into allowing the fleet he usurped from Carta to operate freely outside their jurisdiction
.
- Use Tekkadan to make any other moves he can't, to keep him looking clean.
At this point,
the end game for him was still using subordinates to instigate internal rebellion against Gjallarhorn's less savoury actions + obtaining Bael. The two together, with his previous spotless reputation, would have had him ascend without problems. No one would have any legitimate grounds to oppose him, and the ones who have chosen neutrality now would have no reason to do so.
What fucked him over, of course, is that Gaelio didn't die, knows all the shit he did - and is allied with Rustal. So his spotless reputation (and the benefits it would have afforded him) are gone out the window. Gaelio revealing himself during the Hashmal incident forced McGillis' hand and he's had to try and brute force the latter part of the plan in a way that would probably have worked, but can't now without getting rid of Rustal first.
Love Rustal thoroughly dismantling McGilis' dreams both via broadcast and to Iok privately.
Rustal said it best: He's a broken child in a man's body (further adding even more creepy layers onto his marriage with loli-baudin) and as a child, he sees things in simple terms.
Well, that's great...
Who do we look to, to punch Orga in the face and call him out on his BS. Fucking tool...
They should really go into what is motivating Rustal, he's as sharp, well respected and feared. While he also seems to have a capacity for understanding, nobility and brutality. In the abscence of an Agnika Kaeru type figure in Gjallarhorn now he is probably the closest thing to it. And it's easy to see why McGillis had sought to be above him. I'd even say that he is probably closest to what McGillis wishes he was, and that might be an additional reason why he dislikes him.
This episode did make a few good points that the rest of Tekkadan have been to dependent on Orga though, and that pressure is what made him keep going until they ended up here. He's been out of his depth for a while now and they should have just settled with the success they had obtained after the end of S1.
I'm reminded of the episode where you find out Kudelia is looking after their money because they don't know what to do with it. If they don't know how to deal with that level of success, what would governing of Mars really do for them? If anything, it's an authority that should probably go to Kudelia instead.
_/¯
