FMA: BH ep 4 - An Alchemist's Anguish

[lettered]

Today is one of my weekend days, so two episodes! Possibly three! Luckily, writing these is slowing me down.

my_daroga's comment before this episode: "So far I thought this whole show was kind of the alchemist's anguish?"



HOLY FUCK.

WHAT THE HELL.

WHAT THE FUCKING HELL.

OH MY GOD I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE I JUST WATCHED THAT.

I'm not really someone who laughs awkwardly to relieve tension. my_daroga had to explain to me that part of the reason people laugh at Sacha Baron Cohen movies is they're uncomfortable. My response was, "Well, I don't do that when I'm uncomfortable." Apparently I do, because that was what I did, even though what happened in this episode was in no way funny. I just did not know how to react; it was hands over my face, barely able to watch the screen, SO MUCH SAD and yet, so little build up and so out of the blue that I wasn't really prepared to feel that way, not yet, not about these people I had known for such a short time, not something so extreme.

So anyway, that was fucked up, and I like fucked up, except I still don't even know what to really do with my emotions here. I mean, usually when I see something that emotional and twisted and dark and extreme--well, it either fails or succeeds. If it fails, then it wanted to be dark and fucked up, but didn't bring the proper attendant emotions and so thus demonstrated a poor understanding of what makes something visceral and hard to deal with. If it succeeds, it builds all the proper emotions into it and you're left reeling; you think about it in your head and want to fix it, or you want to brood about it, you want to live in it with the characters that experienced it, because even though it's awful, you want to deal with their pain, analyze it, make something out of it.

I think this definitely brought all the necessary emotion, but it did it so quickly that I feel a little unprepared for it, and I don't really know enough about Edward to really feel his pain--but I want to.

Anyway, they did a really, really good job building up the dog, Alexander, and Nina, the little girl. In retrospect, I probably should have seen something Truly Terrible coming along, because they did quite a bit to establish these characters and make us like them. When shows do that for a one-off character it probably means that character is going to die, but I suppose I just didn't think that Shao Tucker and his family were a one-off. I thought Tucker was going to teach Ed more about human alchemy, and that he would be a regular character for perhaps a while. I did consider the fact that I'd never heard fandom talk about Tucker, but when I considered I'd never heard fandom talk about Edward Elric, I assumed there was a lot I didn't know.

Anyway, the first time the dog leapt through the air, I thought it was going to be annoying, because Edward was going to have this stupid relationship with the dog where he doesn't want to be bullied about being small, and the dog is just huge and friendly. The second I saw it I thought about Belle and Sebastian, and then my_daroga mentioned B&S too. I really wish I could find that damn show; I loved it so so much and really wonder what it's actually like, seeing as how I was probably in kindergarten when I watched it all the way through.

Anyway, Nina was cute right from the beginning, and I loved Alphonse playing with her. It's cool to see such a tough-looking metal guy acting like a little kid. And then, unexpectedly, Edward warmed to both Nina and Alexander, and ran around the garden with them. I actually laughed aloud at this. It was just so cute and silly, and I loved Edward transmuting his arm to chase them. I also loved this evidence that Edward could get over himself enough to play and entertain a little girl. It made me think about how Alphonse seems to take his whole lack-of-body experience really well, which just must make it harder on Edward, who so far, really seems to blame himself. I like the idea that Edward can stop being serious for his brother's sake.

This should, of course, have been further evidence that something terrible was going to happen, but I just thought it was character-building. I hope the character that was built in those moments stays--that Edward is still able to act silly and playful from time to time, even after this happened.

There were other hints that the episode was going to be dark. I believe it was Mustang who told the Elrics about Tucker's previous experience with the chimera-who-could talk. They showed a shadow of the chimera with the voice-over explaining it said only one thing, "I want to die," and then it starved itself to death. At this point in the ep, my_daroga looked at each other with the "holy shit!" face, but I don't know. Again, I thought Tucker was going to be a regular and going to be their tutor; I assumed that we viewers were meant to assume (and we were!) that it was just some terrible accident. I mean, we're supposed to be getting the impression that messing around with live alchemy has these horrible prices.

(As a side note, my_daroga mentioned that she thought that it was interesting that though everyone is always shocked and awed by the Elrics--as I mentioned previously--they don't exactly seem . . . disdainful. If human alchemy is such a taboo, why aren't the Elrics more actively shunned? Instead everyone seems awed and horrified, but also . . . just treats them like normal human beings? I mean, I said that everyone's reactions would make the Elrics feel very much alone, which is true, but no one is actually casting them out because they did this horrible thing. I wonder whether that will come up?)

I forgot to mention how sad and likeable I found Shao Tucker in the beginning. my_daroga made a comment about how without a woman around, he certainly couldn't do the dishes himself--which is totally true! But I just felt sorry that his wife left him. They have these inter-title cards for where there are supposed to be commercials, and they introduce characters. This ep had one for Nina and Alexander, and then one for Tucker, where he just looks so downtrodden and defeated. I was truly sorry for him when he was talking about his wife leaving him because they were poor! And then Nina was so sweet with her, "But I have daddy to keep me company!"

I totally thought it was creepy when Tucker asked Nina to play with him the next day, but I thought that was just me picking up on icky pedophilia vibes, which I often tend to do just because I read everything into everything. NO IDEA that there was actually a reason for it to be creepy!

Anyway, when the Elrics get to Tucker's house the next day and no one is around, my_daroga said, "I hope he didn't do something terrible!" and I was all, what terrible thing could he . . . oh shit. OH SHIT. OH NO THEY DIDN'T--OH YES. THEY JUST DID! And we got the Nina/Alexander chimera. Then my_daroga commented that despite the horror of this scene, it did have a dream-like quality. So then I started thinking about--what if this is Edward's worst nightmare? Messing with human alchemy? Destroying the vulnerable ones that you love? And then the Nina/Alexander chimera called him big brother--and I know that in Japanese, that is an affectionate term that can be used for non-family members--but still! What if Edward was dreaming about Alphonse as a chimera type thing?

But then Edward started asking Tucker about his wife, and for one second I totally thought Edward thought that Tucker somehow had something to do with his mother's failed resurrection--but Edward failed to raise his mother four years ago, and Tucker's wife left two years ago . . . and then I got it. Oh my God! Just! That! Is! Some! Fucked! Up! Shit!

I'm still not really over it. I still don't even know what to really do with that.

Edward's reaction to everything was pretty powerful. my_daroga commented that Edward seems the type to act like he doesn't give a fuck right until the shit hits the fan, and then he gives all the fucks; he gave all the fucks all along but just didn't want to admit it; he gives so many fucks he can't even deal. It was just so heartbreaking to see the way he saw himself in Tucker, and hated it so adamantly; it was really well done the way that Tucker wanted to draw those parallels, when we know those parallels aren't really legit since the motivations are so different. And Edward wants to believe he's different, but blames himself anyway. Oh, the self-hate. It pushed pretty much every button I have.

Anyway.

Anyway.

That was fucked up.

Anyway.

But other stuff. We saw Riza talking to some other soldier people. One was named Havoc. Another one got named, but I don't remember him. He was like Radar from M*A*S*H, though. Still not clear on whether Riza is an alchemist. Same goes for these other guys. Someone on lj in a comment said she's a sniper, which doesn't sound very alchemisty.

Mustang's take on the whole thing was interesting and pretty defeated. He claimed State Alchemists have to . . . I don't remember, follow orders? But anyway, be ready to do bad things, even kill people. He sounded like he was warning Edward that Edward has to be ready to deal with stuff like this, and it was really unclear to me whether he meant that Edward had to be prepared to kill someone like Shao Tucker, or whether Edward had to be prepared to do what Shao Tucker did.

It was also interesting that Mustang considered what the Elrics did in Liore as a favor, and that hooking the Elrics up with Shao Tucker was his favor in return. It's unclear whether he didn't want to be beholden to the Elrics in particular--maybe he does despise them, for breaking the taboo? Or maybe he doesn't want to be beholden to anyone ever. In retrospect, that wasn't such a great favor you did those boys, Mustang; I hope you feel bad about that.

We also found out about an alchemist that's been killing State Alchemists. The episode started with a State Alchemist getting killed, and then the same guy came in and killed Tucker and the chimera. That was also some dark shit. I didn't recognize the killer. His eyes were red, but I'm pretty sure he's not the Crimson Alchemist. I can't remember if Lust and Gluttony's eyes are red. But anyway, he says he's killing in the name of God, so more evil!religion, which I'm not a fan of unless there's a counter good!religion (let it here be noted that I'm not such a fan of good!religion unless there's also an evil counter. I just want there to be ambiguity!)

I think on Tumblr someone would say that this hit me in the feels, but really it hit me in the wtf. I'm eager to see what happens next, mostly because I just can't get over how hardcore that was. I don't really want it to be hardcore like that every ep, but I really do enjoyed the issues it explored, how visceral it was, the wrong-wrong-wrongness of fucking with human life like that.

And God, that chimera was just so, so heartbreaking. It was really beautiful, too.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

Yeah, this is the one -- this is the story where every single person I've recommended FMA too sends me some kind of capslocky WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU, WHY DID I JUST WATCH THAT? And I kind of respect, storytellingwise, that it comes so early. And I totally agree about the way that Tucker comes across as a sympathetic -- or at least, pathetic in the classical sense -- character until we realize what a monster he is.

In retrospect, that wasn't such a great favor you did those boys, Mustang; I hope you feel bad about that.

Yeah, this is not Mustang's greatest moment. I think you have to know more about him before I comment on his motives, but he clearly underestimated or didn't take seriously what Tucker was capable of. (This reminds me of my 'favorite' terrible concept in fanfiction -- I've seen a number of fan authors of future fic who want to give Ed a child named 'Nina'; which, okay, I could see that, but then there are people who want to give Ed a child named Nina WITH ROY. So, like, "Hey remember that time when you sent me to live with a guy who was supposed to teach me alchemy and you were like 'eh he's cool' and then he turned out to be a depraved psycho? Now I'm grown up and we're in love so let's give that name to a kid so you will think about it EVERY DAY. Cool? Fandom maybe doesn't think things through, all the time.)

I think Kain Fury is the Radar-ish character. He's a sweetie.

[lettered]

I think you have to know more about him before I comment on his motives, but he clearly underestimated or didn't take seriously what Tucker was capable of.

Definitely. I mean, I don't really blame him. He didn't know! How could he? At the same time, he didn't seem all that sorry about it, so I'm interested to see more of what makes him tick. His response was very "these things happen," which is very sad/defeated of him.

let's give that name to a kid so you will think about it EVERY DAY. Cool? Fandom maybe doesn't think things through, all the time.

Ha! This is true.

I think Kain Fury is the Radar-ish character.

Fury! I think that was the other name I heard. Okay, cool!

[likeadeuce]

I got a kick out of how many of the soldier characters share names w/ Marvel characters who were created in the 60s -- Fury! Hawkeye! Havoc! -- and then Arakawa mentioned in one of the print volumes that she got the names of the soldiers from the names of aircraft (mostly US aircraft, but there's a Hakuro, which was Japanese, and I think Armstrong might be British?), which led me to assume that Stan Lee or whoever basically did the same thing. After that, I was just surprised there was never a Marvel hero named Mustang (which is a sweet little fighter plane apparently legendary among aviation nerds). Maybe it's the obviousness of Mustang being a porn name so they couldn't get it past the comics code ;).

[staranise]

Also, Mustang is a line of truly sweet muscle cars launched in 1964. I think it would have created some brand confusion.

[staranise]

I can never really parse how comon alchemy is in the general population, because we see things from the POV of people whose lives revolve around it. I fanwank that it's the kind of thing that, 100 years ago, was super-elite and confined to only a tiny portion of the population, and wider knowledge of it has spread unequally over the past couple generations. So no matter what, there's no basic visceral sense of "alchemists must always/never _____" because there's still some basic confusion about what alchemists are and do. The ban against human transmutation is more a statement of the fundamental laws of the universe than a widely-held moral belief.

[lettered]

o no matter what, there's no basic visceral sense of "alchemists must always/never _____" because there's still some basic confusion about what alchemists are and do.

Oh! Okay, this is interesting.

The ban against human transmutation is more a statement of the fundamental laws of the universe than a widely-held moral belief.

This is also interesting, but since you can try it, I'm sort of not sure why more people don't? Or perhaps people do do it all the time, but then again, people wouldn't seem so shocked by Ed and Al. I mean, a fundamental law of the universe is gravity, which is why people don't try jumping off buildings unless they want to die, but the result of Ed and Al's attempt isn't death or even complete failure--they brought something back, right? Still unclear on that. Anyway, I just think that if jumping off buildings actually resulted in floating a while and getting metal limbs, people would be trying it all the time in the hopes that they'd manage to actually "do it right this time" and fly.

But I'm willing to accept "taboo" is a bad translation. The word taboo makes it sound more like laws about incest than laws about gravity.

[staranise]

I think it's more like laws against putting your hand in a lawnmower. Wise people don't try it, and stupid people tend not to abound and flourish.

[likeadeuce]

Good description! I am fairly certain that Roy would be all over human transmutation if he had any reason to believe it worked. (Probably part of his fascination with the boys from the start. I can't remember exactly how it plays in Brotherhood, but the manga version of the scene where he discovers the boys basically starts as a Rupert Giles esque, "How dare you children mess with something beyond your control!!....holy fuck it worked, HEY COME WORK FOR ME!"

As far as actual religious-based taboos regarding alchemy...keep watching.

[staranise]

Oh, I think I just made sense of something. It's probably actually really rare for people to survive attempts at human alchemy. Al just gets totally sucked into the circle and would be missing-presumed-dead if Ed hadn't called his soul back; Ed got shown secrets of the universe and sent back without his leg. It's probably only seriously advanced/promising alchemists like Ed who get sent back at all, and they come back in mutilated forms and even crazier than before; just disappearing, like Al (which always confused me as this weird anomaly) is probably the more common outcome.

Which explains why it's the kind of natural taboo that doesn't need a lot of societal pressure to enforce, and why people for whom it worked (somewhat) are regarded with horrified fascination and pseudo-awe.

[likeadeuce]

Oh, I wonder if there's a way to pull off a 'disembodied alchemist brought back to life and bonded to an inanimate object' story? Alphonse's fate suggests it could be done -- I wonder if there's a way to accomplish it after a long time has passed? I feel like this could be great for either high farce or super angst.

[staranise]

No no no, this is a creeptastic ghost story. What if you could call back the souls of alchemists who have seen the Gate? What if a disembodied soul could try to get living alchemists to re-embody them? Ed and Al are the happy fluffy iteration on these concepts.

[likeadeuce]

I'm spooked just thinking about it!

(I was thinking it more like, "A disembodied soul gets trapped in a lunchbox.")

[lettered]

Ah, this makes sense.

[kate_nepveu]

An adaptation choice I can talk about!

When you said that this all came and went so quickly, I remembered that the first anime made the Tuckers into two episodes, but I couldn't figure out how because the manga confines it to a single chapter that this episode follows very closely. I checked my old posts (which apparently I should have been reading all along, except a two-way comparison, _Brotherhood_ v. manga, was about all I had brain for) and the way the first anime manages it is that it moves the Tuckers back in time: Ed & Al actually live with them in their house while Ed is preparing for his State Alchemist's test. So it builds up their relationship more gradually to really twist the knife.

I agree with other commenters that the taboo against human transmutation does not seem to be widely known (e.g., Cornello has to explain it to Rose) and so when people find out about it they're thinking about it in the context of the Elrics, two little kids who lost their mom and just wanted her back, instead of the context of some fundamental society-wide thing like incest today.