Great writeup as always Pete.
Gamlin is indeed a bit more complex than people give him credit for. I love the bit at the beggining when he's trying to hack into the military records to find out info about Basara's ride. He looks like a total psycho.
It's cool to see Basara at this point in the series when he's basically a unknown except in some circles, and see the eventual evolution into a galactic legend.
One thing I found interesting as well, is the revelation that Gepelnitch actually specifically requested a sample of musician's spiritia. Maybe it's just a case of trying to ascertain whether all musicians share Basara's propensity for high spiritia readings. Or maybe its a reflection on part of the series creators as to how artists may posses a higher level of feeling.
My favourite quote from the episode is when Gamlin and Basara are racing through the corridors of the Mark Twain and an high strung Gamlin asks what Basara's connection to the military is.
"What's your connection to the military?! What unit do you serve in?!"
"The rock band Fire Bomber!"
One last thing.
When we discussed episode 5, I focused on how much music from earlier Macross' is used on M7 to balance Fire Bomber. While in episode 5 there was a lot of Macross Plus stuff, in this instalment we got at least 3 Macross II tracks. It may not be canon but they sure use a lot of music from it. The 2 very 80s sounding ones (Mylene shower scene: It's because it's That Future/Pop Band playing after Fire Bomber: Banana Moon of Love) are sung by Yuko Sato. And the sax number is actually the intro from my favourite Macross II number "For Now a Friend" sung by Tomoyo Sato.
Towards the end of the chapter Basara plays the acoustic guitar only version of "My Soul for You". If anyone has that number please let me know I've been trying to get it for years!