Naked Winry!!! (click for larger)

This week’s post was delayed a few days due to my being at… the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver! YAY! GO CANADA!

Summary:

I like how Yoki steals the fork and knife

As we continue from last week’s cliffhanger, Hoenheim acknowledges his son, and quickly runs away to get back to work, thus avoiding any small talk with Al. Undeterred and eager to talk with his father, Al goes to help out with the rebuilding of Lior and to chat. Meanwhile Winry is invited to take a BATH INSIDE THE DESERT as she listens to Rose tell her how great Ed was for totally calling out Leto, the late priest of Lior. As Al chats with his father and tells him what he already knows, Hoenheim questions Al what he would do if he was on the side of the enemy, but Al has unwavering belief in his father, and Hoenheim decides to tell him everything he knows.

Meanwhile Bido (lizard tail dude) continues on with his search for Greed and accidentally sneaks into the secret factory where the Eva production models immortal army is being produced. In a neat tie-in with the previous episode, we get to hear the end of Olivier’s conversation with the other general as he explains that the army would be made up of dolls which were created to be perfectly obedient and powered by the souls of those in defeated enemy countries.

I wonder if they sell credit default swaps?

Back in the North, Ed enlists the help of the chimeras who saved him to take out some money from the bank from his alchemist account. This proves to be a perfect way for the military to trace where they were all hiding. When the soldiers march into their hideout they do not recognize Ed as he’s not wearing his red coat. After one of the soldiers mistakenly insults Ed by telling him they’re looking for a chibi, Ed goes on a rampage and takes out all the soldiers.

The finger 'guns' rock. All that's missing is a tongue clicky sound.

As more soldiers arrive, the chimeras pretend to take the still unidentified (by the army) Ed hostage as they run off in a stolen car. The soldiers have better snow tires though and soon catch up, but Ed has a plan. He decides to pimp his ride to create a supercar, the Homer the Ed. With that they manage to elude their pursuers. Now safely away, Ed ponders where Al and company might have gone.

Hoenheim finishes telling Al everything -  the fact that he’s a giant Philosopher’s Stone and is immortal. Unfortunately for the Elric brothers, Hoenheim’s sperm wasn’t immortal and they are as ‘human’ as can be (albeit trapped inside an armour for Al). Al asks about Father’s plan, and shows Hoenheim what they know. Hoenheim explains that it is too risky to destroy the tunnels as they’d have to defeat Pride who is too dangerous. Instead they should focus on the fact that Father likely already has all his plans ready but is in fact waiting for a particular day signified by the sky above (a solar eclipse perhaps?). He also lets Al know that the only way to defeat Father is to destroy his containing shell, the shell in the form of Hoenheim.

Poor Bido... that's why you don't become friends with villains

Shocked by his earlier discovery of the ‘immortal army’, Bido runs off only to run into GreedLing. While he recognizes that Ling is probably Greed in a different form, Greed has no memory of him, and kills him off despite Bido’s pleas that they are friends. As he kills Bido, Greed feels a sudden wave of anguish, and we flash into his mind as emo face distortioned Ling tells him that he just killed his friend. Ling explains that even though his memories of his previous incarnation were wiped, bonds of friendship are not wiped out so easily and Greed gets even more sad upon realizing what he just did.

I hope Pride doesn't kill GreedLing

The episode ends with a newly mad Greed intent on getting revenge on Bradley for his killing of old Greed’s former friends.

Reaction:

Overall a pretty good plot episode, with a bit of everything. The little bit of Winry fan service was a nice addition, as I feel that we really haven’t seen enough of her lately. It’s nice to see that her proportions are really back in full force and not just in ED#3.

The bit of father and son bonding between Al and Hoenheim was nice. It’s nice to see his reaction when Hoenheim realizes that not all of his sons hate him. Now that he’s told Al everything and how to seemingly ‘defeat’ Father and also of the promised date, the story really is getting to the final parts. Of course it’s still a mystery as to how exactly Al will remove Father from his Hoenheim shell. Presumably Hoenheim will tell Al how to do it, but then again maybe not.

As for Ed’s hijinks, I did enjoy them very much. His little rampage after the soldier called him a chibi was brilliant. The later ‘kidnapping’ was funny as well, as was Ed’s pimped up car.

Finally, we learn of the nature of the big lie that all the generals have been told about their ‘immortal army’. First of all, the ‘army’ currently in creation are all just inanimate dolls, and will likely never be anything more than that. Somehow I don’t think Father’s real plan is to use the souls of Amestris to create an army, but I could be wrong. Secondly, Father has tricked them into thinking that they will use souls from other places to power the army. I wonder how they will all react once Olivier fills them in on the truth, if she’s able to at all without being branded a traitor and killed immediately.

Next episode we’re going to hopefully have a ridiculously awesome fight between GreedLing and Bradley. I’m hoping that Bradley will start losing so that Pride will decide to interfere, and as GreedLing is about to lose, a newly powered up RAN FAN will reappear to save the day! Oh a man can dream can’t he?