Episode Forty-Six: Looming Shadows
"Those who have prepared to reclaim a nation find their plans exposed. The chaos multiplies after an assassin strikes down a mighty leader."Before I make any kind of intelligent commentary, I would like to state that the entire scene with Winry returning home and all that follows it are some of the best three minutes of this whole series. I have to admit that I'm on Winry's side in this case, as my jaw dropped the second the camera panned to the left to reveal Edward sitting at the desk with the sandwich in his hand and sweat dropping from his face. Everything that follows that is absolutely hysterical: The soft and sweet music that switches in a second once Winry realizes she isn't alone in her room, everyone pulling a gun on each other, the dog biting one of the chimeras' rear, Greed/Ling's face as he's holding the dog in the air, and basically every:
Single
Everything is just hilarious and so awkward. Why he didn't bother to inform her that he was in her room in the first place, I don't know. Edward isn't always the sharpest crayon in the box.
The scene does rapidly shift back to drama, though (once everyone but Ed has been kicked out of the room) as Winry tells Ed that she was worried about him. Of course, the whole thing goes from her fixing his automail to telling him what Al, Hohenheim, and Miles' allies in the North have planned to Ed turning into a complete and utter asshole.
I'm not denying that Winry is being idealistic in this situation. I get why Edward would be irritated. He's trying to protect the country, keep her and Pinako safe, as well as get his and Al's bodies back and more or less restore everything in Amestris back to some semblance of normalcy. All of these things are ridiculously outlandish when looked at rationally and with any level of perspective, and Edward knows that. He's a rational, logical person. Having Winry and Pinako go somewhere safe is not an unfair thing to ask. But Winry isn't seeing things the way he is. She's seeing his demand as a way to minimize her capability and reflective of the fact that he's almost giving up. Her frustration is coming from a good place--she wants Al and Edward to get their bodies back and protect the country, and she doesn't want either of them to give up making that happen, no matter how ludicrous the odds may be. She really is their champion in every sense, but the problem is that Edward isn't nearly as optimistic as she is and therefore her encouragement comes across as foolish naivety. He says later on that her "kind of wanting is dangerous. It's not how reality works." And he's saying that from his own personal experience, since he's living with the consequences of his and Al's own selfish wanting every day.
So he does the completely wrong thing and tells her: "You just don't know when to shut up." And then walks out.
This wouldn't be anywhere as big of an issue for me if it wasn't for the fact that it is never addressed. They don't even bring it up again. It isn't resolved. Winry was clearly hurt by his words, and Greed even makes a joke about it when Ed runs into him on the stairs. What he said was rude and cruel, yet the next time he talks to her you'd think nothing happened. On both sides. Winry doesn't say anything about it, and Ed goes back to his friendly demeanor.
And just so we're clear: I'd be pissed if Winry did the same thing. It isn't a gender bias, although I think Edward should be held at least a little more accountable as the man in this situation. Everyone makes mistakes, especially when they're angry. It's just so annoying and illogical that he never offers an apology for what he said. Edward can be jerk, but he's pretty much always realized it and apologized for it, at least in Winry's case. Maybe his parting words of: "We're gonna stop them, Winry. And Al and I will be home before you know it" were meant to be an apology? I don't know. It's kind of a half-baked, flimsy one if it is.
Anyway.
One thing I'm finding a little frustrating as these episodes play out is that I'm having a hard time following where everyone is going. Last time we saw Miles, he was in Briggs, and yet he shows up with Al--who's been in Lior--in Risembool at the opening of this episode. I had to re-watch parts of this episode to follow what was going on, especially the last ten or so minutes with Bradley and the snitch who gave him the wrong information. When I did finally process it, though, oh man was it great. Our heroes are some clever SOB's, that's for sure.
Riza, Breda, and Fuery are now back together (after the latter two became official deserters of the military) and I'm assuming are going to meet up with Mustang for their part of the plan in Central.
On the topic of Mustang, he has a curious conversation with Olivier who, despite how I had grown to like her, continues to slip back down the slope of my affections with her obnoxious and exhaustive behavior. Honestly, I'm starting to get a headache every time she's on screen. She's turned into the bitchy, screaming pain in the neck I was afraid she would be, and Mustang of all people seems to really exacerbate that facet of her personality. He gets a kick out of her reactions, though, I suppose because he knows that it's more steam than anything legitimate and she's still technically an ally. She seems to hate him almost as much as her brother, but it doesn't appear to be because of his actions in Ishval: her anger explodes when he makes a joke about how the flowers he gave her represent "lady-like charm." This says to me she may have been burned in the past and that's why she's so damn offended by Mustang, who is an unabashed ladies man.
And what was that line about him hiding an entire battalion in her mansion? Is he seriously planning on doing that? Because that would be fabulous.
There's also another addition to our forces, a group of Ishvalans that are prepared to fight for Amestris. Judging by the fact that their intended purpose through the mouth of the general who was given false information wasn't real, I'm curious what they will actually be doing. Regardless, it's cool to see more people coming together to help.
A final note is that Alphonse is having more and more issues with his soul losing touch with his armor, with each episode lasting longer than the previous. He's also captured by Pride and Gluttony, who we haven't seen in a while, and I'm nervous to think what they'll do with him. They can't kill him, and his soul keeps "floating away" for lack of a better term, so who knows.
Episode Forty-Seven: Emissary of Darkness
"A sinister voice rings out from the shell of Al's armor, and Ed and Greed find themselves under attack."You know, I love Edward and all, but sometimes he really gets on my nerves. I imagine this is a common sentiment.
I get why Edward would be so angry. I don't think his anger towards his father is unjustified. But even so, the way he treats him in this episode is horrible. Hohenheim has an incredible amount of patience and love for his son to let him punch him in the face with a metal arm, yell at him, and insist that the only reasons he's bothering to talk to him at all is because of the current situation. Not only that, but Hohenheim is still proud of Edward and is grateful for his help. He could not make it clearer that he truly does love his children (and their mother), yet Ed continues to be a stubborn ass towards him. Heck, one of the chimeras even says he's just stubbornly holding a grudge--which is true. That's exactly what Ed is doing. He's holding a grudge against his father despite knowing that there was probably a reason behind leaving him, Al, and Trisha. I think Ed knows it, too, because he gets offended at the suggestion; defensive. Plus, just a few minutes before, he had delivered the last words of his mother to Hohenheim and then proceeded to watch his father flat-out cry.
Edward knows. He knows his father isn't an evil or heartless person. And I wonder if his desire to hang onto his anger and hatred is because he doesn't want to admit those things to himself. He's spent so much time believing his father to be a monster, that accepting anything else would be hard, even if the truth is much better than what he had imagined.
I'm hoping at some point that his relationship gets better. It doesn't have to be perfect, but if Ed could tone down on the screaming and scathing criticism, that'd be nice.
In regards to the scene with Major Miles and General Grumman, I'm not totally sure how to interpret that. The voice actor for Grumman speaks his internal thoughts, but then Major Miles' voice actor says that he wouldn't be surprised if the plans that Grumman laid out were to be true. So does that mean Grumman actually said them, or is that what Miles' is imagining? I don't believe that Grumman is the kind of man that is looking for control of Amestris. He may be clever and wily and useful, but he also made a comment earlier about wanting to retire (which Mustang joked he'd never actually do). I'm assuming it was supposed to be Miles' skepticism at play, which makes a lot more sense. And to be honest, I'm not all that crazy about the notion of Grumman taking over and swaying plans in his favor. It's one more thing to add to an already quite complex plot.
The rest of this episode is pretty action-heavy. It's also a good thing that Greed is with Edward and Co., seeing as how he knows a heck of a lot of information regarding the other Homunculus. He's also now willing to switch around with Ling for advantageous reasons, and I have to admit that I think it's kind of charming how they're starting to interact in a more friendly fashion--even if Ling's body does belong to him and Greed's basically a parasite. I might be cool with the idea of them having dual ownership of the body. At least, for a little while.
It's kind of strange watching this part of the episode when I--as an audience member--can see everyone and they're not supposed to be able to see anything. Obviously, they can't animate everything in pitch blackness because then no one would have any idea what was going on. What's great about the dark tint of the animation, though, is that the red lightening that appears whenever they get a punch in on Gluttony really stands out. That's neat.
I'm hoping that Pride's...limitations and structure will be made a bit clearer over the course of the remaining episodes. It's still kind of confusing as to what he can and can't do, from the shadows that he now relies on to the "flask" that he's unable to leave. Selim's body is the container he uses to move freely, so how does that correlate to the flask? Does being in the body remove that limitation, or is the flask just really freaking big? I need some clarification. Hopefully there will be some.
Lan Fan is back! And she has an automail arm! She also kicks the crap out of Gluttony, which is nice, despite the fact that she doesn't completely kill him. You know, Philosopher's Stone regeneration and everything. Looking forward to what she'll be doing, for sure.
General Thoughts
Given that both of these episodes have a lot of Ed in them and not so much Alphonse, they're equal parts delightful and frustrating. Ed is a very hot and cold kind of character, and while I think he makes a wonderful protagonist, some of his behavior is...hard to deal with. It's a good thing he's surrounded by a cast of characters who balance him out when Al isn't around to tell him to shut up and quit acting like an idiot.In general, the supporting cast is one of the strongest elements of not just these episodes, but the whole show. Without them, there wouldn't be nearly as much life and humor and fun. Ed and Al are wonderful central protagonists, but I think what makes them shine more than anything is the fact that they're surrounded by such strong secondary characters that build them up and add complexity to the story. One of the things I believe might be why I wasn't as hooked on the last season as I was the previous two might be because the secondary characters weren't nearly as fun as say, Mustang's team or Alex Armstrong or Maes Hughes. Major Miles was about the most likeable person in Briggs, and even he took some time to grow on me. As a result, the world that they inhabited for a good chunk of that season felt...lacking. That's just my personal opinion, though. This season we've got lots of great side characters playing up and against Edward, so that works in its favor for me.
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