Mark Watches ‘Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood’: Episode 32

In the thirty-second episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Mustang meets with an ally in secret while Ed and Al have a viciously uncomfortable confrontation themselves. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch FMA:B.

Oh gods, it’s so good to be writing about this show again. I missed it!

  • Amestris’s ability to not understand what a cat looks like will always be the funniest part of this show.
  • Well, and Xiao-Mei’s pyramid of predators. That still cracks me up.
  • I wasn’t necessarily surprised by the plots involving Scar, Dr. Marcoh, and May heading north. I expected it, given how “The 520 Cens Promise” ended. But I knew from the episode’s title – “The Führer’s Son” – that this was going to ruin me. I had no idea. I WASN’T READY FOR THIS.
  • I can’t help but be endlessly creeped out by Solf Kimblee. Look, the man is a murderer who enjoys that he’s senselessly killed people. This is who the state aligns with! This is who they consider an ally! Granted, it’s a sign of how desperate Bradley and his officers are to catch Dr. Marcoh and Scar, but it also demonstrates how ready they are to associate with people like Kimblee. It’s this lack of morality on all sides that’s so disturbing. Kimblee craves violence, and the state condones it.
  • I wish that Lt. Grumman’s appearance didn’t seem to make a joke out of dressing in drag. Like, we’re expected to laugh at the apparent absurdity of men wearing women’s clothes!!! Hahaha isn’t that so weird!!! No, don’t make a joke out of that. It’s not funny. (Though I did like that Grumman chided Mustang for trying to say that he was being eccentric. That was a nice touch.)
  • This also resolves the bewildering plot introduced in the previous episode. So, Mustang reached out to his old colleague for help in dealing with his current predicament. I’m curious as to why Grumman didn’t seem too torn up about what Mustang revealed. Grumman is attached to being in the military, but he’s not heartbroken like Armstrong or Mustang were when they found out what the state had been up to.
  • HAHAHA GENERAL RAVEN ASKED GRUMMAN ABOUT A GROUP OF IMMORTAL SOLDIERS HAHAHA LAUGHING TO KEEP FROM CRYING.
  • Ugh, I really don’t want to be clueless all of the time, but I can’t figure this shit out! What’s the purpose behind causing and secretly supporting the uprisings in the west and the east? Why decimate these cities like this? Because clearly, the military isn’t opposed to genocide. So why foster civil uprisings? I DON’T GET IT.
  • I’m a big fan of characters doing research in the library. It’s happened so many times on this show! Sokka is quite proud.
  • NEVER FORGET: ARMSTRONG’S SEAL IS HIS HAIR CURL AND HIS MUSTACHE.
  • NEVER FORGET THIS.
  • Ugh, can we just have more of Major Armstrong?
  • Well, at the very least, WE ARE GOING TO GET MORE ARMSTRONGS.
  • MORE.
  • ARMSTRONGS.
  • MAJOR GENERAL ARMSTRONG. IN THE SNOW PLACE.
  • I AM SO EXCITED.
  • And then Selim shows up, and this episode rapidly becomes not okay forever.
  • It’s just so heartbreaking to watch. Selim has so much hope. Hope in his father, hope for his family, hope in the state. He implicitly trusts everyone, and HE. HAS. NO. FUCKING. IDEA. He has no idea what this family really is, and it’s going to destroy him forever. It’s not fair. It’s not fair!!!
  • AND THEN EDWARD AND AL ARE IN BRADLEY’S HOUSE
  • OH MY GOD
  • GET OUT
  • GET OUT
  • GET OUT
  • GET OUT
  • THIS IS UNBEARABLE.
  • EVERY SINGLE WORD IS DRIPPING WITH TENSION. EVERYTHING HAS A DOUBLE MEANING.
  • At first, it’s the loving, respectful things that the First Lady and Selim say about Bradley. They have no fucking clue. And it hurts because one day, they’re going to find out who their husband/father really is. How the hell do you deal with something like that? Not only is their father a laboratory creation, but he’s been responsible for genocide. And corruption. And a million other things.
  • UGH WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS.
  • AND THEN BRADLEY SHOWS UP HIMSELF.
  • AND HE’S SO NICE TO HIS FAMILY, BUT WE KNOW THAT EVERY WORD OUT OF HIS MOUTH IS A GODDAMN LIE, AND I WAS SO UNCOMFORTABLE I THOUGHT I WAS GOING TO THROW UP. 
  • The reference to Ed and Al’s family.
  • NO. 
  • no!!!!!!!
  • So much of this show is suspense and terror, but this was so unbearable. I hate how much power Bradley has, and I hate that I can’t figure out how they’re going to take him down while exposing what the military has done.
  • GREAT, HAWKEYE WAS OUTSIDE THE WHOLE TIME. Oh my god, my heart aches for her. This is what she has to do now! She has to accompany him everywhere and listen to him do shit like this.
  • It looks like everything is about to converge in the north, which is both exciting and terrifying forever. Scar, May, Dr. Marcoh, Kimblee, Ed, Al, and MORE ARMSTRONGS are all going to be in the same place. I can’t.

The video commission for this episode is now archived in my store for just $0.99! You can purchase the entire show at once for only $49.99 for 64 videos!

Mark Links Stuff

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About Mark Oshiro

Perpetually unprepared since '09.
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