Episode Twenty-Two: Backs in the Distance
Edward and Alphonse continue their fight with Scar until Winry shows up unexpectedly. Scar reflects on his past in regards to his brother and the Ishvalan War.Oh great, they got rid of the opening narration only to start putting in a summary of what happened in the previous episode. I don't like it. Go away.
I spent a majority of this episode putting my foot in my mouth, because everything I complained about in the previous entry has been fixed or, at the very least, addressed.
Let's start with Ling.
He's finally become worthy of my concern and sympathy, and that's due entirely to his dedication and commitment to his servant. For someone who seemed to see them as periphery, whenever they get hurt he snaps the hell out of his goofball routine and becomes an actual person. Props to him for running and jumping and fighting while carrying what is probably a 130+ pound person on his shoulders. They also let his ability to fight shine in general, as Bradley comments that he's trying to stay in his blind spot while the two of them go at it. I didn't even realize blind spots were a thing in battles. Go figure.
Ling's said before that the reason he's looking for immortality is for the sake of his clan, but it wasn't until he actually showed his loyalty to his people--his willingness to protect and defend Lan Fan--that I started to believe him. When Bradley calls her excess baggage, he gets pretty pissed and I have a feeling Ling's "A ruler's duty is to his people...without them he is no king at all" statement is going to echo throughout the rest of the series. We've already seen that the corruption in Amestris' government goes as far as the Fuhrer, and he tells Ling that there's no such thing as a "true king," so I wonder what the show plans to do with that concept.
I've got an idea, but I'm not sure whether or not it will come to fruition: The show is setting Mustang up to be that kind of king, as his reasons for wanting to become Fuhrer have nothing to do with power or authority. He's interested in protecting others--especially those he loves. His motives are entirely selfless.
Now that I think about it, that's a recurring theme within this show as well. Most of the relationships have been set up in a way that each party involved is willing to sacrifice themselves for the other. For heaven's sake, it's the reason the whole plot got started: Ed gave up part of himself for Al and now he's determined to fix the mistake they made. Both brothers are willing to go to hell and back for each other. Mustang will go to any lengths to protect his subordinates (and I get the feeling that it's especially the case with Hawkeye) and now we have Ling refusing to leave his servant behind even if it would make his escape easier. Hell, you even see it with Scar's brother in the flashback--he stands in front of him to protect him and gives up his own arm so that Scar would live, even if that meant that he died in the process. Then there's that scene towards the end of the episode where Ed jumps in front of Winy to protect her from Scar, but I'll get to that in a minute.
So speaking of that flashback, how 'bout the Ishavalan War?
Actually, I think the correct word would be massacre, as it's pretty clear that any significant amounts of warfare were reserved for the State Alchemists who wiped everyone out without much effort or resistance. We get a glimpse of the alchemist who blows things up (whose name I can't remember) as well as a little bit more in regards to Scar's brother. He isn't much different from his FMA counterpart, if less intense and more selfless. I can't remember if they explained the "right arm deconstructs and left arm reconstructs" concept in the original or if it was left a little ambiguous. I know they had his arm deconstructing things as the explanation for how he was killing state alchemists, but everything else about that is a bit...blurry.
They also establish here that Scar really did kill Winry's parents, and not in a very pleasant way. Not that there's any "pleasant" way to die per se, but he freaking stabbed them with a medical utensil in front of a bunch of other people.
What's curious, though, is the reason he killed them. He obviously wasn't in the correct frame of mind, but he's able to recognize the physical appearance of Winry's parents--blonde hair and blue eyes. The black and white of the flashback help to emphasize those features, since the bright blue eyes and the yellow hair are the only significant bits of color aside from some fire here and there. From what the show tells us, these are standard features of Amestrians. Or, at the very least, they're a common set of features, since just a handful of characters share them. Everyone seems to be a mixed bag rather than the homogeneous red eyes and dark skin of the Ishvalans (on a humorous note, Mustang is the only character who looks even remotely Japanese).
I've already mused about the possibility of a literal connection to WWI, but this would bring in elements of WWII, since blonde hair and blue eyes were the feature of the "pure" Aryan race and all of that craziness went down in WWII. It's possible that Amestris is some sort of distorted version of Germany (even though in the original the "mirror" world that Ed ended up in was England), especially when you look at the Fuhrer who resembles Hitler a wee bit:
Not to mention that Hitler went by the title of "Führer." The details would be mish-mashed and rearranged, kind of like what's happened with the Christian motifs, but it's interesting seeing them there in the first place.
Now.
Ed and Winry.
Like I was saying above, the amount of selflessness with these characters is...high. Part of what gives this show so much drama is the level of love and dedication that everyone has for each other, so you feel the anger and fear and despair when something happens to one of them. It doesn't even matter who it is--you can guarantee someone will freak the hell out over another character getting lost, injured, killed, or even a freaking splinter. In a good way, of course.
As much as Ed can be somewhat of a jerk when it comes to Winry (or people in general, tbh), he loves her probably as much as he loves Alphonse. He's willing to throw himself in front of her, on the ground, completely vulnerable, just to form a barrier between her and Scar--even if that means he dies in the process. And he does it without hesitation:
The only thing that stops Scar from killing Edward is the fact that his actions are exactly what his own brother did back in Ishval. Granted, I'm not entirely sure Ed would refrain from tearing Scar's face off if given the chance, considering how pissed off he is:
...but his protective instincts are admirable.
I also completely adore the way he handles the situation once Scar disappears. Winry is one of the few characters that brings out Ed's gentler side, and that's pretty evident in how he tries to calm her down. He doesn't reprimand her, doesn't yell, doesn't ask just what the hell she was doing there in the first place: He calmly asks her to let go of the gun and when she asks why she wasn't able to pull the trigger on the man that murdered her parents and tried to kill both Ed and Al, he responds in a way that I wasn't expecting:
He says that her hands are made to give life, not kill.
I honestly thought that he was going to say something along the lines of, "Because you're stronger than that" or another predictable statement, but he doesn't. I love how he pulls one of her fingers off of the gun as he points out each good thing she's done.
It's an especially interesting statement coming from someone who tried to recreate his mother and the fact that Winry is a woman. Way back in the episode where Winry helps to birth that baby, the pregnant woman has Ed and Al feel her stomach, and one of them makes the comment about alchemy not being able to do that which a woman can--create life (even though technically she's not the one creating; she's just, uh, housing the baby temporarily and supplying it with nutrients while it develops). It's a neat way to bring the concept back.
And I of course have to give credit to Al, who takes the opportunity to kick Scar in the face while he stands there staring at Edward and Winry on the ground, and then tells Ed to get her somewhere safe while he runs after Scar by himself. Al, you are precious.
Episode Twenty-Two: Girl on the Battlefield
Cooperation between Team Mustang and Ling Yao's band leads to the capture of Gluttony and the reveal of several game-changing details.ED GAVE WINRY HIS JACKET AND I THINK THAT'S REALLY CUTE.
ALSO HAWKEYE IS A PERFECT BEAUTIFUL HUMAN BEING.
...*cough* Anyway.
To speak my thoughts more coherently, I mean that I can't get enough of the relationships between these characters. I know I've beaten this concept to death, but they're all so wonderfully crafted. I love that Hawkeye leaves the room that she and Mustang have been hiding out in and then comes back just to tell him to stay out of the field. I really love how Roy is annoyed but also knows that it's just her worrying about him so he doesn't get mad.
I mean, SERIOUSLY ROY, WHY DO YOU NEED ANYONE ELSE. LOOK AT HER:
She's so awesome. You can't help but appreciate it. WIFE HER.
Ling is looking better and better, as is Lan Fan. It's cool how they're bringing back a lot of earlier plot elements, like Edward's trick that he pulled on Lan Fan to make her think he was dead. She does it to the Fuhrer this time and even he is like, "...well played." She's also willing to cut off her own arm for the sake of helping Ling and trusts him enough to know that he'll come back for her as she wanders around in the sewers of Central.
Not to mention that Ling is the one that takes down Gluttony and then lifts his giant body into the car with Hawkeye. That's intense.
I see May Chang is back after like, six episodes of not being around. Scar, for whatever reason, seems to be on board with the whole notion of her following him and is down-right grateful for her help. May Chang is definitely no meek little girl character; those knives she throws and the fast alchemy she performs is cool.
...I will say her panda is a little on the ridiculous side, though. Why is she so small? Is she a baby? Why does she know how to fight?! She's even drawn kind of strange on top of everything else:
I guess I'll file that under the "Because Anime" folder and leave it at that. At least Al has a new friend to pal around with him and his love of animals is so cute.
Oh, and for more cuteness, the whole scene with the three of them telling Winry goodbye on the train is precious. I LOVE THE SAPPY ROMANCE STUFF, I'M SORRY.
Hey, to the show's credit they've done a fantastic job building this romance up so it doesn't feel cliche or forced. When it does pop up they don't overdo it. At least Winry is starting to realize that she probably likes Ed in more than just a friendship kind of way. The question now is: Will Ed figure out that he's in the same boat?
Who knows. They'll probably drag that out like they do in every other story like this, ever (until the end, of course).
But in other news, I'm not sure what the coroner's deal is, as he spends the duration of his appearance being kind of a pit stain. One way to look at it is that he's the jaded, screwed up ex-soldier whose life was ruined because of Ishval, in which case I have some sympathy for him. He is right about Mustang constantly throwing himself into danger or getting into trouble, but Mustang also has the decency to tell the coroner that he doesn't have to help him if he doesn't want to (which of course he will help because deep down the coroner is a good guy).
So now the word is out that the Fuhrer is more than likely a Homunculus courtesy of Ling's little run-in with him earlier. We also find out that his son is adopted, which is interesting. I wonder where he came from.
And is everyone really fighting over who's going to take the stone? I'd imagine bickering is the last thing these guys need to be doing, since it's not like they've got a whole bunch of people on their side in the first place. They need each other as allies.
On the topic of Gluttony/the stone, I Googled what the heck an ouroboros is and there's a great bit of history behind the symbol. A lot of it is a bit on the, uh, pagan and witchcraft side of things (which I tend to avoid to be honest), but there are a couple of different meanings associated with it. The most common and more traditional way of looking at it is as a mark of cyclicality or constant rebirth, in a similar vein as the Egyptian legend of the phoenix. In 2nd century Egypt, the ouroboros drawing in The Chrysopoeia of Cleopatra contains the phrase "hen to pan," which is translated as "one is the all," and awfully similar to FMA's notion of "one is all, all is one." In alchemy specifically, it's a bit like the symbol for the duality of existence and reminiscent of the Eastern concept of yin and yang. The drawing of the snake eating its own tail is symbolic of creation out of destruction, life out of death.
There's a lot more to it than that, obviously, but most of it is over my head (and some of it is REALLY kind of...out there). Those were the relevant details that I was able to dig out of everything. You can go here and here to read more about it.
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