Episode Eighteen: The Arrogant Palm of a Small Human
Ed and Armstrong are taken to the Xerxes ruins where they find out the truth about Lt. Ross' murder. Team Mustang discover Barry the Chopper's real body and chase him through the streets of Central.You know what.
Screw you, Brotherhood, for abusing my emotions.
I feel like, at this point, my heart has been jostled around so much that it's a miracle it's still in the correct place inside my rib cage.
So this is the episode we find out what the hell happened with Roy and Ross--and as I expected, we weren't given the whole story in the previous episode. It turns out that Roy created a dummy that resembled a human and burned it bad enough that no one would bother to take a second look to check. He stuffed her in a nearby dumpster and had Havoc (I'm assuming) whisk her off to the Xerxes ruins where she could hide in safety. Meanwhile, Roy stayed back in Central to make sure no one suspected anything as well as began the next "phase" of their plan in finding Hughes' killers. Edward and Alphonse running into him wasn't part of the plan, so he improvised and made himself look like a complete freaking tool so even Ed would be convinced he had actually killed her.
There are a couple of details in this plan that weren't explained well, which tends to come with the whole "let's put a situation out of context so that a good guy looks bad" trick. Braeda told him that a burned-to-bits body wouldn't stop the doctor from doing a dental check to which Roy says he's got everything under control. But...they never explain how he managed to bypass that detail. The doctor did, in fact, check the teeth and identified the body as Maria Ross, but it's never stated what Roy did to either bribe the doctor into saying it was her or trick him into thinking it. As easy as it is to assume that Hawkeye was in on the whole thing, her involvement is kind of vague and she put on one heck of a good show when it came to being pissed off at Roy even when there was no one else around.
Overall, though, it was a decent twist. Like I said, I wasn't ever convinced that Roy killed Ross, but the initial shock and, frankly, the balls he had to be a complete pit stain for the duration of that episode after her "death" was what hit me.
And I thoroughly enjoyed Armstrong's reaction to finding out Ross is still alive. Him ripping his shirt off and her running away as he tries to grab her into a giant hug...that's great.
I kind of think that dragging Ed and Armstrong out to Xerxes may not have been necessary, even though they say that it was done so that Ed wouldn't get in the way of whatever Mustang was planning back in Central. Yet, Ed doesn't stay there for very long. At least, that's not what I'm led to believe. They have their little powwow in the ruins where Ross appears to prove she isn't dead, Braeda explains everything, and Ed runs into the Ishvalans--then he gets back on a train for Risembool. It felt more like they put him there for the sake of having an excuse for some exposition because there is a LOT of it in this episode.
I'm not complaining. Sometimes exposition has to be given out and at least here it's done in an interesting fashion and not simply regurgitated by someone for the sake of it. We get some more information regarding the origin of alchemy--legend though it may be--and Ed finds out how Winry's parents were killed. Oh, speaking of, there's another deviation from FMA: Mustang isn't the one responsible for their death. It was Scar or, potentially, Scar's brother depending on how this story is using that character.
Ed still looks bizarre with his shirt off and those many-toned muscles. Just saying.
Not to mention I see some ribs poking out on the side there and it makes the whole thing even worse.
I can't say enough how glad I am that Roy and his team in general are more prevalent in Brotherhood. Every time they're on screen it's guaranteed to either be funny or interesting and I friggin' love it. The fact that they all disguise themselves as women working in a shop as a code for when they're communicating over the phone is hysterical.
"A customer was getting fresh with Jaquelin." That is...that is beautiful.
I'm having a bit of a hard time following how Barry's human body appeared in the story and why Team Mustang know about it. I'm sure there was something about it in a previous episode, but I can't remember. I still think keeping Barry around is a silly idea.
We've also got quite a cliffhanger for this episode. The prologue for the next one implies that something happens to Hawkeye and I'm kind of not prepared for that so let's not, Brotherhood. Let's not.
Episode Nineteen: Death of the Undying
Mustang and his team have their first run-in with a Homunculus and Al joins them in searching for Hughes' killer. While chasing Barry's human body into Laboratory Three, they meet up with Lust, who is prepared to wipe all of them out.I'm...not sure where to begin with this one.
I guess I'll take this from the top.
The opening scene certainly succeeds in getting our attention. They don't shy away from blood and Hawkeye is legitimately terrified of Gluttony (who wouldn't be?). There's a great moment with Roy as he hears the gunshots coming from the other line and when he gets no response, a flashback of Hughes' body in the phone booth pops up and he slams the phone down. It's obvious what he's going to end up doing without him having to say a word.
One of the central traits of Mustang as a character is that he is incredibly protective. It's the main reason why he wants to become Fuhrer--not for the power or opportunities it presents him. He just wants to be able to protect those he loves from being hurt. It's probably one reason why Hughes' death affected him so deeply; he wasn't able to prevent a close friend from being killed and I guarantee there's some blame that he puts on himself, even though he never says as much. So when he knows that one of his close subordinates--who have established an odd type of family within themselves--is in danger, the last thing he's going to do is sit around and let them get hurt.
...and then Hawkeye shuts him down by yelling at him for leaving his post. Right after he scorches Gluttony to oblivion and saves her ass and Fuery's.
That entire lecture moment was hilarious, especially looking at Roy's reaction and how he lets it happen. He doesn't even fight it--he tells Hawkeye that she's right. You get the impression that these kinds of things have occurred before and he lets it ride out without making her even angrier.
Al gets some action in this episode! Well, sort of. I love how he hitches a ride with Mustang's unit while Barry runs on the outside. Poor Al barely fits inside the car.
Side note: if you pay close attention, you'll notice that the car has its steering on the right, as the Japanese drive on the left side of the road.
But yes, it's nice to see Al having his own moment of being useful apart from Ed. This entire scene in the car is a lot of fun, and part of that is the quippy dialogue from both Hawkeye and Mustang:
Mustang: I doubt it. I scorched him off the ledge.
Hawkeye: Yeah, and I shot him in the head. But he didn't really seem to mind.
Mustang: Hold on. I rendered fat boy into a bubbling puddle back there. Are you telling me he's still alive?
Al: Probably.
Mustang: Wonderful. Just a never-ending parade of freaks lately, huh.
Mustang's face when Al says they're up against Homunculus is great, too:
The only complaint I have about this episode is the boob joke, and not because it's...a boob joke. It comes at another point in time where, like the cartoony tentacle moment back in a previous episode, it feels out of place. It stops all of the momentum of the scene and takes away some of Lust's intimidating presence for a moment. I don't have an issue with jokes about boobs, but I'd prefer they made them at a time when Mustang and Havoc's life wasn't being threatened.
As for Lust's character...holy crap. They amped up her villain qualities even more than I realized. She's ruthless here--and downright gleeful about it. She's enjoying the violent and twisted things she has to do and even though she laments having to kill a "candidate for sacrifice," I get the impression that she's not that torn up about it in the end. Not to mention this shot is incredibly disturbing:
By the time this scene is over, she's stabbed both Mustang and Havoc and left the room all but giggling to herself.
Then we get the plot point about souls being incompatible with bodies that are not their own--which freaks Al out. I don't know how much he has to worry about in the scheme of things, since his body isn't even human, but who knows. This show has thrown enough curveballs at this point that I'm not willing to toss the notion to the side.
My favorite moment of this episode comes when Hawkeye finds out that Lust "killed" Mustang, and not because I'm a sick person and enjoy other people's misery. The emotion that this scene conveys is so damn powerful it leaves you speechless. She goes from shocked to furious to filled with despair in less than a minute and you feel every single one of those emotions. It works for a couple of reasons: One, the show has done a great job of building that bond between Mustang and his underlings, Hawkeye in particular. Two, the animation of her facial expressions is just amazing. The bigger budget was SO not wasted:
And three, Coleen Clinkenbeard does such a wonderful job voicing her. She gets all of that emotion out even in only a few words.
Oh, and they say the word "bitch," which I wasn't expecting. I think it's appropriate given the situation.
Al has one of his best moments so far when he stands up and protects Hawkeye who is too stricken with grief to do much of anything. He stands his ground even when she tells him to get out and save himself, and I think Al speaks for the audience when he says he's sick of watching people die. It's wonderful to see him take initiative when Ed is often the character that does so. Al shines the brightest when he's given the opportunity to help people.
Now that fight between Mustang and Lust.
Good. God.
It's not even so much a fight as it is a barbeque.
And if I was being honest, I'm not sure how he managed to kill her with that fire--why it was so special that it had the ability to do destroy her more or less impervious body. That may just be me, but it wasn't all that clear.
Even so, I'm not sure what's more disturbing in this scene: Lust's agonizing screams as she being scorched to death or the actual physical representation of it. I mean, holy crap WHAT IS THIS:
That's not for children, that's what that is.
Props to the voice actress for her, though, who does a wonderful job of making her sound so incredibly twisted and sultry at the same time. I love that last bit of dialogue that she says to Mustang: "You killed me. I hate losing. But there are worse ways to die than at the hands of a man like you. I love how cold and focused your eyes are. I look forward to the days those eyes will be wide with agony." It's so creepy and unsettling but said in such a beautiful way.
You know, I'm beginning to think I have an issue with the way abs look on anime characters in general and it may not be only Ed. Something about Mustang's abs don't come across as appealing at all and in some ways not even anatomically correct (though I know they are). They remind me of Dragonball Z and I hate the style of that show. He's drawn in such a stocky fashion that seeing that amount of muscle on him registers "BS" in my brain.
I don't know. At the end of the day, it's a total nitpick, but I can't help but look at that and think "No."
Then there's that shot of the Fuhrer putting away his sword and walking off after he realizes that Lust is dead. I have no idea what on earth is going on with that, but I guess I'll find out later. My assumption is that since two of the three people in the room are "candidates" he wouldn't bother killing them.
That last scene with Winry and Ed is so sweet. It cracks me up how she screams "Moron! Welcome back!" at him and poor Al has no idea how to respond. It's nice to see the two of them have a moment together without Ed, since it doesn't happen that often.
AND THEN HIS ARM FALLS OFF AND BREAKS THE WHOLE MOMENT AND IT'S ACTUALLY REALLY FUNNY.
After the emotional roller coaster this episode presents us with, that last joke is one place where breaking the mood doesn't feel jarring.
Geez, they even manage to get some emotion out of Barry when his human body finds the blood seal on the armor and, while bawling his eyes out, destroys it so they both die. You can see that the soul transmutation isn't a good thing regardless of where it's put--in a suit of armor or in someone else's body. I imagine the soul that had been put in Barry's body was in agonizing pain, enough that the chance to kill himself brought him to tears. That's horrible.
BUT OH BOY IT'S DADDY ELRIC COME BACK TO RISEMBOOL.
Again, I want to make a note of the wonderful facial expressions that this show conveys, with Ed in particular. You see so much go across his face as he's watching his father stand by their mother's grave until it all builds up into Edward's anger:
It also says a lot that Ed calls him Hohenheim and not "Father" or "Dad."
They blended the OP song with the twenty seconds or so of this episode, which is a nice touch. There's been so much sad orchestral music in the twenty three minutes that I imagine the director was like, "For the love of God, please put something else there besides a melancholy string piece."
This cliffhanger leaves me in great anticipation for the next episode. I'm looking forward to what Ed will do when he speaks to him.
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