Episode Fifty-Five: The Adults' Way of Life
"A rebel victory is imminent and hope takes hold among Mustang and Armstrong’s troops. Central’s forces teeter on the brink of collapse - until their fallen leader returns to take control."Oh man, the banter that starts out this episode was much appreciated. Roy is such a douchebag sometimes, and I'm on Edward's side in this case. Hawkeye had already talked you down by the time Edward and Scar showed up? I don't think so.
I like the little moment that Hawkeye and Scar have here, as well. Hawkeye knows that Scar was the one that really brought Mustang back from his decent into madness and she thanks him for being willing to do what he did. Like everyone else, she's drowning in guilt over what happened in Ishval and doesn't expect him to care much about her gratitude, but Scar's grown enough at this point that he is able to recognize who the real enemies are--and Riza sure as hell isn't one of them.
The focus of this episode is on Olivier, Alex, and--surprise!--Sig and Izumi. Olivier and Alex are STILL trying to take out Sloth when we switch over to their part of the narrative. How many episodes has this dragged out now? Four? Part of the issue is that there are so many things happening right now that getting to everyone is taking time. That's another danger of a having a massive cast--you can't get to each character as often as you'd like because other things and people take precedent. As a result, Alex and Olivier end up looking a little...inept and I started to wonder how they hadn't collapsed already from exhaustion since it feels like they've been fighting Sloth for three days. By the time Izumi and Sig show up, I was relieved. They were finally getting some substantial help.
There were a couple of neat things about this chunk of the fight, though. Central soldiers are clever enough to grab one of Sloth's chains and use it to prevent him from striking both of the Armstrongs, even if it's only for a few seconds. Alex and Olivier also refuse to run away when they are told by everyone else to do so. Alex in particular makes a point to say he won't, with a flashback of him breaking down in Ishval hammering his position home.
Then Izumi and Sig show up and it takes them like, three seconds to beat Sloth down. The look on the Armstrongs' faces is great:
Naturally, Alex and Sig strike a friendship in seconds as they bask in the beauty of their own gigantic muscles.
The four of them take out Sloth after what feels like the ten-thousandth time they've impaled him. I guess either there's a limit to how many times a Homunculus can die before they stop rejuvenating themselves or the...stalactite-thing that he's impaled with pierced the stone inside his body. Regardless of how he died, I'm glad he's dead because that fight was getting tedious.
Izumi tells Alex and Olivier that she knows the Elric brothers and that it's likely they're running around somewhere in Central. There's a moment where Alex and Olivier share a glance and for the life of me I can't remember why. Is the Elric's presence a problem? Was there something they were supposed to be doing or going after? Or are they staring at Izumi? Grr...this is the thing I hate about long-running shows; I can't remember anything without a damn graphic organizer, chart, and character list. I brief flashback to something would be helpful. Sigh.
Anyway.
Hohenheim and Father finally get their reunion. Father is a lot colder and emotionless than I was expecting. He was never a very...animated person (no pun intended), but he did have more vibrancy in past scenes than he shows here. They also do a great job of showing how much power this guy has, as he spends the duration of his fight standing still and flinging things at Hohenheim rather than moving around. He's got enough skill and strength to take on a healthier, younger man without much effort. Or, the Stone does. I don't think his body is holding up too well.
Hohenheim makes a point that I brought up earlier: Father had always mocked the notions of family and community, and yet he takes the time to separate the sins within his human form and create a family of Homunculus. They call him Father and they sarcastically refer to each other as brother and sister. Hohenheim claims that Father's mocking of the human need for community was a cover for his own jealousy--he wants the very thing he claims to find meaningless. Father claims that he would never stoop so low as to be jealous of human, but I'm not buying that. If Envy is supposed to be a part of him, then it makes sense that Envy's jealousy of humans would come directly from Father's own sentiments.
By the end of the episode, the "rebel" forces have taken most of--if not all--the main gates at Central Command, and not for one second did I think that celebration was going to last. You could see Bradley walking in the background in the scene where Al, Marcoh, Heinkel, and Yoki are trying to get the wheel of their car out of a hole. Why they don't just leave it and keep walking, I have no idea. I have to admit, though, that when Bradley's voice came up over the phone, I actually jumped. That was so well-done, with the sudden silencing of the background music and the way Ed Blaylock says, "I'm back."
I'm left with frustration and worry now with what's going to happen.
Episode Fifty-Six: The Return of the Fuhrer
"Central’s forces fight with renewed vigor following Bradley’s return, and the Fuhrer himself enters the battle. His first opponent is an armored tank. His second foe is even tougher."As it turns out, Hohenheim has been carrying the souls of everyone that the Stone inside him absorbed and all of them are still very much alive in the spiritual sense. I find it mildly creepy that he's been walking around for what's probably close to a century with those people inside of him; not just that but he talked to each of them and got to know who they are. Which...looking at objectively sounds kind of ridiculous, since I'm not sure how you'd "talk" to someone whose soul is hanging out inside your own body. It's one of those things that I guess I should chock up to fantasy and not think about it too much, but at least Brotherhood does a good job of building to that point. They've dropped hints here and there--like with Envy's giant monster form--that the souls consumed for Philosopher's Stones aren't actually dead; the concept didn't just drop out of the sky. So it works on some level here.
Then they all start blowing Father up from the inside and it's great. Too bad that's not the end of everything right there.
Yes, apparently Father long ago "evolved" so that he no longer needed his body and instead has an actual physical form that he can use to walk around in the world. This part kind of confused me, because if he didn't need the body as a container to house him, why the heck did he keep it for so long? It was obviously getting older and growing weaker. He could have disposed of it and used his real shadow-person form and saved himself the trouble of dealing with a withering body. Maybe it was for appearances? Better to look like a commanding, powerful human than a creepy Homunculus? It would be nice if that was clarified.
This show is also developing a thing for people being eaten, and I'm not altogether okay with that. Father consumes his old body like it's an afternoon snack. That's disgusting.
Meanwhile, Bradley arrives back at Central Command and absolutely rips the place to pieces, people and tanks alike. I'd like to know what's in his sword, because that sucker can cut through anything. He spends a good bit of time chasing a tank through the palace (if creatures can eat their own bodies in this world, I guess it's only natural that a tank would have no issue blowing through a building like it's a paved road) before arriving at the roof where he meets up with Falman and Buccaneer and the rest of the Briggs soldiers still stationed there. Buccaneer gets the crap beaten out of him by Bradley, but somehow manages to stay alive. Then again, he's from Briggs; I shouldn't be surprised by his stubborn refusal to die.
I have to admit, Greed is continuing to surprise me. I'm not sure at this point whether or not he's becoming more heroic or if he's amused by the fighting and using it as a way to get in on his own bug against Bradley. Based on the behavior of all of these Homunculus, which has nuances and layers since the characters have a lot underneath their surface, it could be either one. Greed was always a bit of an outlier; his actions were based on his own interests, regardless of whether they were good or bad. Now, though, he seems to be gravitating more towards humanity, and I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that he's sharing a body with a human instead of possessing it for himself. Ling certainly has influenced him--in decisions that he makes or the fighting techniques he uses. I wonder what will become of both of them as this show keeps going.
The fighting in this episode is great. Well-animated, well-structured, dynamic, and interesting. Fighting in shows can be hit or miss with me, but everything that Bradley and Greed throw at each other here is entertaining as hell. It's so fluid and fast-paced. Of course, the real magic behind the success of a good fight scene is that you care about what's going to happen to the people involved; and the show has done a fantastic job of making sure I'm invested in all of these characters. I never thought I would be so concerned about Buccaneer's fate until I thought he had died. Oh, and I think it's hilarious that Bradley stabs him with his sword and that sucker stays in his gut because his abs are so impressive. Even Bradley is like, wut. It was clever thinking on Buccaneer's part, since it stripped Bradley of his preferred weapon and (theoretically) made it easier for them to attack him.
Falman gets a great opportunity to shine here. He was the member of Mustang's team that got the smallest amount of screen time and I had the least level of attachment to. Since I've come to the conclusion that this show can read my mind, they rectify that a little by having him step up to the plate and lead everyone while Greed takes care of Bradley. Even if his first reaction is to whine about it:
"But we've hardly got any men left here, what the hell am I supposed to do?!"
And then he orders everyone to take a machine gun and basically obliterate the men that are coming up the stars toward them like walking targets. Haha what. That's ruthless.
This episode sees the return of Old Man Fu, who locates Ling by using Greed's chi. For an old man, he's got some moves. This exchange also takes place and it's got to be one of the best lines in this series so far:
Greed: Thanks for the help. You really saved my ass.
Fu: I wasn't trying to save your ass. I was saving the body of the Young Lord.
Greed: Hm. Well, it's same ass.
Only this show would be able to make a butt joke in the middle of a crisis and it still work.
On a final note, Fuery and Ross have in interesting conversation in the hallway of the radio station. Thanks to Bradley's return, they were forced to throw Olivier under the bus to save their public face and protect Mustang. Bradley and his men will find out rather quickly that they weren't on the side of state after all, but the impression that they are gives them at least a little bit of time before the army comes for them. Fuery makes a comment about how it would be strange for Bradley to kill everyone in the station with his wife present, and Ross says that she doubts he has any real attachment to her or would care that she saw anything. I'm not so sure--his reaction when Greed broke into his house with Selim and his wife around looked pretty genuine, and the way he and Selim spoke about her leads me to believe they at least have respect for her. I don't think she'd be disposed of or allowed to witness something as brutal as execution so haphazardly, if at all.
Then again, who knows. Maybe Bradley is just really good at playing a loving husband.
General Thoughts
After two intense emotional episodes, this action-oriented set was a welcomed relief. What's great about this show, though, is even when the episode is more centered on fighting and action, there's still plenty of other things going on that keep you invested.At this stage in the game, this blogger is getting tired. It's been an incredibly long journey, I'm about to dive into a rough patch of schoolwork, and I have got to finish this series within the next two weeks. I'm hoping to fly through as much as I can over the next few days, but we'll see what happens.
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