Hi Mrs. Doubtfire, let me tell you exactly what my secret plans are!

Summary:

I AM PANDAR, destroyer of worlds!

After being led to an animal exactly resembling Ed’s super crappy drawing of Xiao May, the Elric brothers are at a loss to May Chang’s whereabouts. In fact May Chang is in East city at the train station, where she runs into a mysterious old lady, and decides to tell her all of her plans to travel to the north. Meanwhile Scar is hiding in the West and making is presence known to everyone as he continues to elude capture. The fact that Scar is being so conspicuous does not escape the attention of Kimblee though as the mega pimp himself searches for Scar’s whereabouts.

Meanwhile Mustang meets up with Mrs. Doubtfire Lieutenant General Grumman in front of Hughes’ grave, with the general disguised as the old lady that May Chang had talked to earlier. Mustang’s message via the brothel apparently was a secret message to meet up with Grumman. Mustang reveals what he knows about the Homunculus conspiracy at Central, and Grumman lets Mustang in on a secret. Apparently General Raven had previously asked Grumman if he was interested in an ‘immortal army’. Dismissing this as a fantasy, Grumman rebuffed Raven and was quickly shipped off to East city by the powers that be. Mustang floats the idea of Grumman taking power from the Central guys, and lights a fire of ambition in the old general. Before they part their ways, Grumman notes the picture of Xiao May in Mustang’s possession and he lets Mustang know that May Chang is headed to the north.

I really like how characters have their own distinct habits in this show. For instance, Ed always puts his hands up behind his head when walking as if he's slacking off (which of course isn't true as it takes quite a bit of energy to put your arms up like that but I digress...)

Having given up finding May Chang, the Elric brothers go to the central library to research Eastern alchemy. They soon realize what little there is about the topic. As Ed is sorting through his few books, Armstrong comes busting through the shelves to deliver a message.

Best. Entrance. Ever.

Armstrong lets Ed know that May Chang is headed up north, and gives him a special MUSTACHE STAMPED LETTER to give to the commander of the Northern defenses, a Major General Armstrong (dun dun dun!). As Armstrong and Ed talk, a small boy comes up to Al, fully surprised at meeting him. Apparently this boy knows exactly who Al is and is starstruck at having met such a great alchemist. Al tells the boy that he’s researching about Eastern alchemy to learn how to help people, and when Ed comes the boy is starstruck by him too. After calling Ed a chibi to get a reaction, Ed threatens the boy, and is suddenly accosted by armed guards as the boy is none other than Selim Bradley.

I like the stars, makes Selim into an almost mini-Armstrong

Meanwhile Scar and his hooded companion manage to escape the troops in the West using the old ‘jump onto passing train from a bridge’ trick.

Selim decides to invite the brothers over to his house to chat more, and there the brothers also meet his mother. King Bradley even momentarily steps in for a few tense moments as he gives the brothers the EVIL EYE for intruding on his personal space. Apparently Selim was adopted ‘from a relative’ and not blood related to the Fuhrer.

This scene really reminded me of the 2nd(?) episode of Last Exile (when Claus and Lavie deliver the letter to the Duke's daughter in that giant house) for some reason...

As the brothers leave the house, they have a bit of pity of Selim and his mom as they realize that they probably have no idea that King Bradley is a Homunculus. They do not dwell on this for long as they are pumped up about their upcoming trip to the North to track down May Chang.

Kimblee is proving to be pretty smart

Finally the episode ends with the escape of Scar and his hooded companion from a moving train. Kimblee quickly deduces that they jumped off the train mid-way and that they are likely heading either South or North. He makes a quick decision in his head where they have likely went as the episode ends.

Reaction:

Well I was waiting all week for what was promised to me to be an awesome episode but that never came. Sure the Grumman/Mrs. Doubtfire stuff was fun, and so was the Armstrong cameo, but this was a pretty dead episode altogether.

The few things that I took away from this episode were mildly interesting. It’s noted that Selim was adopted ‘from a relative’. I wonder if this has any significance whatsoever. It would be pretty interesting if Selim were actually a Homunculus himself (perhaps the yet to be introduced Sloth?!?), although I highly doubt this is the case. The real parallel that Selim serves to show is to show how everyone else in the world of FMA perceives King Bradley, which is as an honourable man working hard for his country. It’s easy for us as we now know he’s a bad guy to wonder why everyone would be on his side, but perhaps even the generals don’t know everything and are being tricked. If Bradley’s own family is so tricked by him, we wonder how much everyone else knows of what’s really going on.

The other important parallel that Selim serves is, he’s the child of a Homunculus. Considering the fact that Hoenheim looks exactly like Father, there’s still the big mystery of who he is exactly. It would be interesting to find that while the brothers are pitying Selim, perhaps their own existences are not so different in how they too were tricked as well.

Also, does the fact that the brothers told Selim what they were researching in the library matter? Will the Homunculus now get the idea that perhaps if you know about Eastern alchemy then that can be a key to defeating them?

Finally the last important thing of this episode was of course the fact that Kimblee is now solidly shown as having a brain. He’s able to pretty quickly figure out what Scar is doing. He recognized Grunman immediately. He’s also noted the irregularity of Scar being so conspicuous as well. I hope Kimblee continues to be a good villain and keeps this show interesting.

Just one thing before I end my post. I thought it was a bit odd that after Mustang reveals the treachery of Central that Grunman then decides to tell Mustang about Raven’s schemes. If Grunman knew about it before, why the hell did he send Mustang to see Raven in the first place back in episode 24? Is this just a plot oversight or is there something more to this, or is the old man just getting senile?

Next episode: Fight in the mountains, and… the other Armstrong. Can’t wait.

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