Not even being subtle 
Also in the same scene they allude to a coming Zeon civil war (classic fascist infighting), which kinda adds higher stakes to Challia's quest to find the Red Comet.
Another banger episode, although we just speed ran a whole bunch of UC tropes all at once. Shiiko's a pretty good antagonist, and the stuff that happens in this episode is really going to push the main cast in interesting directions, so I'm all for what they're putting down even if it's a bit familiar- Tsurumaki was really channeling his inner Tomino in that (admittedly very cool) dogfight, right down to the comic panel cut-ins and dialogue.
(Also, something tells me that if they're in a rush to get through all this kind of story stuff early on, that they're planning some wild swings later, but that's just a hunch).
Remember,
Hey, at least it's on brand.
That said, this seemed more of the classic "Vet with PTSD haunted by the past throws away normal life to find closure on the battlefield in a tragic manner", it just so happened the character was a woman... which probably is it's own can of worms I'm not ready to unpack. Hurray for gender equality?
speculation, possible spoiler adjacent
I would not be surprised if there's some kind of Zeta style "ghost parade" involved with the Red Gundam. It's clearly somehow linked to Lalah's spirit, and I'm guessing that Shīko may be facing a similar fate.