FMA: BH ep 5 - Rain of Sorrows

[lettered]

At the end of the previous episode, I wasn't thinking about how the Elrics didn't witness the murder of Tucker and the chimera. It does make me wonder about the end of that episode--when we saw Edward mourning on the steps, with Mustang walking down them saying that (paraphrasing) sometimes an alchemist has to do what an alchemist has to do, I assumed they knew Tucker and the chimera were dead. They didn't know--so, does that mean the Elrics just left Tucker there? I would not let that man out of my sight; Tucker is obviously unhinged! And Tucker just let the Elrics go? I assumed he didn't tell anyone the truth about his wife for a reason; I assumed he wouldn't want anyone to find out about what he did to Nina, so it's weird to me he just let them go.

But I'm glad there was some follow-up. I think one of the things that really threw me about that last episode was it really did feel like a one-off. It was something contained within a single episode; it wasn't built up over time and the horror didn't unfold over time, so it helped that the next episode was partially about dealing with what happened in the last.

Anyway, in this episode, we finally find out about the Ishval Civil War. It's been mentioned several times, and now it seems like it was definitely Mustang who fought with McDougal, which was mentioned in the first ep. Anyway, here's what I got: Ishval was a province where people started worshiping a god called Ishval. Is that right? Because all the God-fearing guys now worship a God called Leto. Anyway, the followers of Ishval wanted everyone to follow the one God, and there were uprisings because of it.

Bradley sent soldiers to quell the uprisings, but they weren't doing so good. Ishval followers had red eyes. The murderer from the last episode, whom we are now calling Scar, also had red eyes. Or was it Cornello? Do Lust and Gluttony also have red eyes? I felt like I mentioned this in a previous post, but I can't find it now. Anyway, they showed a brief scene of the red-eyed Ishvalan zealots, with a guy leading them who looked to me like the Crimson Alchemist. We haven't seen him since episode 1, so I could be wrong.

So then Bradley sent some alchemists, and the alchemists slaughtered everybody. Good work, guys! Okay, so we're finally getting a suggestion that Bradley has done something questionable as Fuhrer, and that maybe those who want to bring down the nation sort of have a point. We also see Mustang leading the alchemists, which sheds some (dim) light on some of the things he's said:

1) At the end of the last ep, he told Edward that alchemists have to do what they have to do. Perhaps this is because Mustang has done Terrible Things. He did it because he was ordered to do so; he knows it was wrong, and tries to tell himself it was necessary.
2) When Mustang first recruited the Elrics, Mustang hit it pretty hard that you're only not an alchemist if you're a coward, whereas Hawkeye was hitting it pretty hard that being an alchemist should be a choice. I get the feeling that Mustang feels like there isn't actually a choice; it's a dirty job, and someone has to do it.

I'm officially a little interested in Mustang now; mostly because, as previously mentioned, I love me some self-hate. I love it even better if the person really has behaved in a morally questionable manner. The Elrics trying to bring their mom back is a "bad" thing, but they were young and it's understandable. Slaughtering a lot of people during a civil war is probably something you should hate yourself more for. At this point it's unclear whether Mustang actually does hate himself, but here's hoping.

I say a "little" interested in Mustang, because there was also this silly/stupid moment in this episode that made me say, "Come on; really?" When the Elrics are fighting Scar, things started to look really bad. I started to wonder how they were possibly going to get away, and I figured Mustang could come save them. But it was raining, and I actually said to my_daroga, "Too bad Mustang is useless on a rainy day, or he could come kick some ass."

So then Mustang shows up . . . and forgets that he can't firebend in the rain? Really? And Hawkeye has to repeat a line that, on the first time around, was freakin' awesome and hilarious and the main thing in the first ep that caught my interest . . . and on the second time around just cheapens the first? I wonder if people are going to mention that the events of the first ep aren't in the manga, so Hawkeye saying it here is really the first time she says it. It would also make a great intro to Hawkeye--but too bad. We already got that, and even if our intro should have been Hawkeye kicking Mustang out of the way--because that was amazingly badass--it wasn't. I am disappoint.

That said, Hawkeye kicking Mustang out of the way was still pretty darn cool. Also all of her shooting. I tried to pay attention to her outfit, likeadeuce, but I can't remember if anything was different.

This whole battle against Scar was amusing and cool and also sort of silly. Armstrong is fighting Scar while everyone else stands around and talking about Scar's powers. It's great because we get some information about Scar that helps us understand who he is and what is going on, but some of it was very, "Is he going to level up?!?" and all of it made me think, "Uh, guys, a little help?" for poor Armstrong.

But anyway, Armstrong is back! I guess I knew he would be a major character because he rips off his shirt in the (hilarious) end cartoon credits. He does seem to be very keen on ripping his clothing. That's the main thing I've got from him so far as a character.

The other things that happen in this episode are all Edward and Alphonse. They have a conversation near the beginning in the rain, dealing with their feelings about what happened with Nina and Alexander. Edward has some existential and metaphysical questions about what alchemy really is vs what life is. Alphonse--for the first time, really--says he wants his body back. At this point, Alphonse seems to be more willing than Edward to do Questionable Things to restore them back to normal.

Then, during the fight with Scar, Alphonse tells Edward to run, and Edward doesn't. Edward is willing to make a deal to die if Scar won't hurt Alphonse. The absolute panic in Alphonse's voice was really well done by the Japanese voice actor; he sounded so desperate, and Edward was lying there, pretty defeated.

After the military comes in and Scar gets away, Alphonse is furious with Edward for not running, and for being willing to sacrifice himself. It was a really good, heartbreaking scene, and Al's arm falling off was the absolute perfect touch. It really helped emphasize how young Alphonse is, how upset he is, and brought the perfect amount of levity to a really sad scene. It also made me think, Now they have to see Winry! How else are they going to repair Al and restore Ed's arm? And then--yay! They conclude they will go see Winry, and there is a shot of Winry with mechanics' goggles! Yippee! I'm excited to see her grown up, and am wondering what the Elrics feel toward her now. ...My guess is that there will be awkward romance.

Oh! The other thing that happened in this episode was Cornello hooked up with Lust and Gluttony, who are enjoying watching the town of Liore destroy itself. They did this by pitting the believers against the non-believers. This does seem to be a little bit more ambiguous regarding religion--obviously, this ep painted the people in Ishval as zealots, but also made those fighting the Ishvalans look pretty bad too. Now, Liore is being ripped apart not just because of believers, but because of those who want to fight the believers as well.

Then Cornello put on his real body, which is Envy. Envy looks like a badass, and appears to be a different gender, which is nice. I was surprised that they were Envy, though; I'm trying to think of how what we've seen of Cornello so far embodies Envy, and I'm not sure how they do. But one of the follower-dudes being freaked out by the body change and Gluttony eating them was pretty cool. Gluttony in general is just really dark and horrifying, which is great, since he's kind of cute, too. This show is just doing a really good job of being straight up creepy.

I am hoping that this next episode with Winry doesn't have Edward shaking his fists at the skies again. I love angst and I love melodrama, but it's a little much if his whole world gets crushed every single episode. I'm glad we're going back to Winry, but I'm kind of sad that it's just when we were starting to get more of Mustang and Hawkeye.

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

I also agree about the useless in the rain comment, both its repetition and its general sense. (I had the same reaction to the repetition of the speech about the % composition of the human body in episodes 2 and 3.)

Gluttony and Armstrong are my mirror-image examples of combinations of traits that shouldn't work and somehow do.