Author's Note: Because I am a horribly weak person, I cracked and finished the last eight or so episodes of the series in one sitting (plus being in grad school I wanted to get this done as soon as possible). I attempted to outline my thoughts at the end of each episode, but that quickly fell off as I blew through the ending. With that in mind, from this post onwards they will be written with the knowledge of how the story ends. I'll try and keep everything as authentic to my initial thoughts as possible, but there is honestly so much stuff happening in these episodes that it's hard to get everything down.
Episode Fifty-Seven: Eternal Leave
The battle for a nation’s soul descends into chaos. Bradley unleashes death on those who dare engage him. Beneath Central, the one responsible for the Fuhrer’s creation unleashes something far, far worse.Oh good god. This episode. After getting blindsided by the first two in this season, this one shows up and decides to take what's left of my fragile heart and rip it to pieces.
We start out with Olivier and Izumi bullying information out of that one bearded official who is, honestly, a big damn idiot for continuing to elaborate on the corrupt generals' plan. Does he not see their faces as he keeps trying to justify his actions? He's only pissing off Izumi and Olivier the more he talks, especially when he pulls out the whole "One is All, All is One" spiel. Izumi smashing him with the shoe was great, though. Almost cathartic in some ways, I think.
Then they conveniently find a secret passage that's been left open in the aftermath of the attacks in the Fuhrer's office and follow it down. I'm assuming that was for Bradley's use, but I don't remember the show ever specifying that it was there in the first place. It could have, I'm not sure. It's hard to remember a lot of things at this point.
Olivier redeems herself a little more here, as well. She cares about her men a lot more than she lets on and isn't afraid to sacrifice herself for their sake and that of the mission. On the flip side, her men have enough loyalty and trust in her to obey her when she says to get out and leave her behind if they have to. I love how she interacts with Izumi, too. We don't get to see two grown women have a conversation much in this show, so it feels a bit refreshing. Not to mention that I fully believe Olivier has compassion underneath her icy exterior. When Izumi tells her about her experience with human transmutation, she doesn't criticize her or call her a fool or do anything that you'd expect. She listens and then says she saw something similar when she first met Edward.
It's great that they bring that whole scenario up again because it fills us in a little bit on her character as a whole. I got the impression that there was something going on in her head back when I first watched that episode, but I didn't think it was admiration for what he was doing. One of the wonderful things about Edward is his absolute devotion to the people he loves. It's what carries him through a lot of this story and motivates him on many occasions, such as when Olivier ordered him to give her information regarding Sloth. I think it said a lot, too, that this frigid and stoic general was moved by his steadfast refusal to answer her questions even when she had no idea why he was insisting on staying silent. She could see his desperation in his eyes and that clued her into the possibility of him not answering her for the sake of someone else. He wasn't a dog of the military and he wasn't acting like a soldier. He was acting as a person willing to throw away his own safety for the sake of another.
Switching over to Edward, Scar, Hawkeye, and Mustang, there's even more going on.
I have to admit, I liked watching these four dorks work as a team. Scar's palled around with so many different people at this point that he could probably be helpful with anyone. The four of them together is basically having the four most badass characters doing what they do best: fight.
As is typical, the show answered my earlier question about what the heck happened to the failed candidates for kingship as well as where they came from in the first place. Apparently they were abandoned babies that they took in and used as candidates, kind of like an orphanage if orphanages ran countries and brainwashed/psychologically ruined children. Once Bradley had been chosen as the new Fuhrer, that horrifying gold-toothed frog-man took the "leftovers" and used them more or less as his minions. They have deliberate and calculated actions as Scar points out (and are a genuine threat to all four of them), although whether or not those soldiers have minds of their own is unclear. They're drawn with pretty brain-dead features and they don't say anything, obeying the gold-toothed man on command.
The banter between Hawkeye and Mustang never ceases to disappoint:
Hawkeye: You keep leaving your back wide open, Sir.
Mustang: Well I've gotta give you something to do.
Mustang, stop. You are not that cool.
They reveal in this episode as well that the five laboratories were five "points" on the city-wide transmutation circle, which is activated by the gold-toothed man (GTM) while they're down in that...ambiguous underground location (seriously, where the hell are they, again?). He activates the circle and Izumi, Ed, and Al are transported...somewhere. We don't know where specifically.
The fighting between Bradley, Ling/Greed, and Fu is epic. So fast and awesome. Lots of cool tricks and moves on everyone's part. I love the creepy way Bradley's eyes turn red and everything slows down right before he lands a blow on Fu. There's a monster-like quality to it.
Ling and Greed are becoming more and more interchangeable; the line where one starts and the other begins is starting to blur. When Fu goes to launch himself as a human bomb against Bradley, Greed is right there with Ling when condemning him as a foolish old man. It says a lot that Fu and Lan Fan would be so willing to lay their lives down for him. Ling's ideas on leadership are as noble as they were back in season two, and Bradley comments on his refusal to let any of his people die again. You can see the direct juxtaposition between Bradley's corruption and Ling's selfless sacrifice.
We have another character to bite the bullet. At least Fu is given an honorable death by way of Buccaneer, who lands a lethal blow to Bradley, finally. I have to admit that it was a clever move on his part, especially since I was under the impression that he was too close to death to perform such an attack. Bradley gets a nice blow to his all-seeing eye courtesy of Ling/Greed, and I'm hoping that that means Bradley becomes a far easier combatant to face off with.
Episode Fifty-Eight: Sacrifices
"Mustang must make a difficult choice: will he break alchemy’s greatest taboo? Or will he watch the person dearest to him die? Meanwhile, it grows ever more difficult to discern where Ling ends and Greed begins."These episodes have, for the most part, managed to keep the three or four different story threads that are weaving into the larger narrative pretty straight, but I will say that, starting probably back with Oliver and Alex, this is where the fights tend to drag themselves out. This episode is the finale for the Greed/Ling and Bradley fight which has been going on for...three episodes now? My issue is that, after a while, I start to get annoyed because these fights, in reality, aren't taking three episodes-worth of material to get to completion. They're spread out over several episodes because of all the other plotlines that need to be taken care of in the span of twenty-four minutes. I wouldn't say that this is a huge problem, but it's noticeable, especially when the rest of the series flew by the seat of its pants up until this point. The constant re-treading also makes the events of each episode start to blend together in my head.
Ling and Greed are getting more and more intertwined, even though Greed is the one that still occupies a larger level of control over the body they're sharing. I don't think Greed is telling people to stay out of the fight because he wants to do it himself; he wants to protect them and prevent them from getting hurt judging by his joint reaction with Ling to Fu's attack against Bradley. I like how this change has been gradual (as gradual as they can make it in the limited amount of screen time either character has had since Greed first took over) and does feel authentic. Greed is seeing value in Ling beyond his body and Ling appreciates Greed's power and can see through his outward desire to "have everything." If Greed truly just wanted to "rule the world," he wouldn't have bothered to carry out Buccaneer's request of defending the gate.
What I think is probably the most interesting element of this part of the episode, though, is the fact that Ling's servant does die and there's nothing he can do to save him. His desperation to find help and then the realization that, even with all of the power of a Philosopher's Stone inside him, he still isn't powerful enough to save someone, is heartbreaking. His statement of: "I finally gain immortality and I can't even save one of my subjects," is where his idealistic perception of ruling is shattered. You can't save everyone. Death in inevitable and irreversible, which then ties into two other facets of the show: Mustang's desire to protect everyone he loves at all costs and the Elric's initial belief that they can cheat death and resurrect their mother. The interpretation would be that it's foolish to believe either of these things are possible.
(As a quick side note, what the heck was up with the guy who shot Ling in the head? Where did he come from? Why did he shoot him? And it's not like he played any significant role, either. He shoots Ling/Greed, grumbles about him being a monster, and then dies. Ling/Greed heals. Nothing happens. What was the point of including that scene?)
We can kind of see the juxtaposition of this idealism with Olivier who, after hearing about the death of Buccaneer, is clearly upset and devastated over the loss...but she isn't willing to let it render her useless. She recognizes the inevitability of death. She honors her men, but doesn't lament them. "Love for the dead is pointless. We fight to keep them alive, that is all," is what she's said before.
The next plot line jumps to Ed, Izumi, Hohenheim, and Alphonse, who have all been gathered to be "sacrifices" for the grander plan that Father has in mind. I have to admit that the...bizarre image of Hohenheim inside the newly christened version of Father is a little ridiculous. Hohenheim's limbs are sticking out in several directions, including his head, and Father looks like he eats a little too much cake or maybe has a few more beers than he should.
I have no idea how Father managed to wrangle Hohenheim into his body in such a fashion, but I don't think I honestly wanted to see it, anyway.
Aside from the freaky image of him swallowing a full-grown man, though, I don't find this design to be particularly intimidating. In fact, when I first saw it, I laughed. He looks like a a chubby dude in a body suit with eyes painted on it. There's nothing commanding about him in the slightest. I prefer the human "rubber bag" that he previously occupied to this...thing.
But I do love how Ed openly insults him and he doesn't even react.
This is also where I think the thematic differences of Brotherhood and the original FMA can be seen really well. In the original series, the focus was on the Elric brothers and their journey. They never escaped the spotlight of the show, regardless of how many other side stories were weaved into the larger narrative. Brotherhood doesn't take that same narrow approach; it's got a stable of characters that are all important to the plot that need as equal amount of attention to be paid to them as possible otherwise things won't make sense. With all of the juggling the writers have to do to make sure everything works out, this whole section of the story--arguably the most important--is pretty sidelined in a lot of these later episodes. The earlier scenes with Ling/Greed and Bradley take up a good third of the episode's running time and both Oliver's scene and this one are stuck sharing a second third.
Because we all know what happens in this particular episode that's the most memorable: Hawkeye.
I knew something was coming with her because if you pay attention to the title cards, they tend to highlight characters that are either going to play a major role in the plot of that episode or have something drastic happen to them. Based on what happens here (and all of the dozens of other moments where Roy steps in to save someone he cares about i.e. Gluttony's attack on Hawkeye and Fuery), I was anticipating the GTM to have one of his minions fix a sword at her throat and give Roy the ultimatum of "Perform human transmutation or we will kill her."
I was not expecting them to actually slit her throat right there.
And poor Roy--you can see how much he's struggling to make up his mind about whether or not to give in to what the GTM wants him to do. He's never going to escape having Hughes as a leverage point with his enemies, which sucks, because it's not like he can control the fact that his best friend died. For a brief moment I thought he was going to let Hawkeye die...but of course that can't happen. He gave orders for none of his men to die, remember? I knew that was going to come back into play.
However, this whole scene makes me question Mustang's dependence and loyalty to Hawkeye (and vice versa). Earlier, I made the comment that their relationship seems to be leaning more in the direction of romantic attraction than purely platonic affection. At that point in the story, it was still a little ambiguous, and even now there are people who believe that their relationship is strictly a professional one. I'm not going to question anyone's interpretation--the way you see something is your perspective and that's fine. But frankly, I don't understand how you can't see any romantic attraction between the two of them.
I may end up writing more on this later because Hawkeye's character is a bit of a conundrum in general, but this little tidbit here regarding her use of the pronoun "あなた" or "anata" in the Japanese version/manga should be enough to make you pause. I've seen varying sources of information and lots of people bicker over it (native Japanese speakers and non-native alike), but the general consensus seems to be that the word should a) probably just be avoided if you can b) never be used when addressing someone of higher rank than you and c) has a connotation of familiarity because wives frequently use it to address their husbands. One of the ways you can translate it is as "honey" or "dear" or some other term of endearment.
I'm just saying. We lose that in the English version, but I'm not convinced that Arakawa was trying to be ambiguous with their feelings, especially considering that Roy returns the informality even though he was addressed in what would have been considered an extremely rude and presumptuous fashion by someone who is, socially and professionally, his subordinate.
My point in all of this is that the two of them exhibit what could be considered, under ordinary circumstances, an unhealthy attachment and dependency on each other. Riza is the one that gets thrown under the bus for this a lot, but Roy is just as guilty. And while I'm not going to sit here and comment on that larger issue (because that is a whole new post in and of itself), I will say that, for me, the only convincing explanation for that type of co-dependency--in this context--is romantic love.
Also, a shout-out to Travis Willingham's spectacular acting here. Mustang tends to have some clunky lines every now and then (probably in part due to translation and animation limitations), but everything said in this scene is delivered with natural, emotional conviction.
They do finally address the notion of Roy being a sacrifice, which was mentioned way back in like, episode 17 or 18 and then...disappeared. The gold-toothed guy realizes that they're short a candidate and it's a damn convenient coincidence that Mustang is there. It's implied that he had always been one of their candidates and that the GTM would have had to go get him from the radio station where he thought he was hiding out had he not, you know, popped in for a visit. There was also the issue of whether or not someone had to open the portal in order to be considered a sacrifice, which is clarified here, though it's done in a stilted, awkward way in light of the fact that Mustang's candidacy was ambiguous for twenty-something episodes even without the caveat of him not ever having opened the Gate. As a result, the GTM's explanation almost sounds meta in its delivery--like the men he's referring to are the writers who forgot that they were lacking their fifth sacrifice. It's a little giggle-worthy but also makes me scratch my head.
We're left with Mustang appearing to agree to do the human transmutation as Hawkeye lays dying a few feet away. Talk about a cliff-hanger.
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