Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 55 Review

Episode 55, "The Adults' Way Of Life"

"I AM SO THE MAIN CHARACTER!""I'm sure NOTHING will happen as I grab the Fuhrer's seat."

*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: An announcement is made to the Central Army that the Briggs troops have occupied Central HQ. One of the other generals inside tries to turn the Fuhrer's office into a new operations headquarters, but is attacked and killed by homunculi dolls. Meanwhile, Sloth attacks Olivier and Alex again, using his great speed. The other soldiers try to hold Sloth back, but he breaks free. Before he can attack again, however, Izumi arrives and slams him with alchemy. Then she throws him to Sig, who clotheslines him into a wall. The Armstrong siblings are astonished by this display of power. Alex and Sig team up and attack him, throwing him up, and Sloth lands on a spike that impales him. This time Sloth has run out of lives and crumbles away. Underground, Hohenheim confronts Father, suggesting that he created the homunculi out of a need to have a family. Father claims that he wants to become a perfect being. After a short battle, Father is surprised to discover he is unable to utilize the Philosopher's Stone in Hohenheim. Alphonse, Heinkel, Marcoh, and Yoki are in a part of Central when their car gets stuck. The Briggs troops claim victory in occupying Central, when suddenly Fuhrer King Bradley appears again.

Izumi saw how overpowered Roy had been and thought, "Let ME be overpowered, too!"Remember when I said you couldn't fit any more manliness into the screencap from the last episode? I guess I was wrong.

Comments:

Part of the fun of watching the Amestrian military government crumble are moments when the asshole higher officers get what's coming to them for siding with Father. While I really hate the homunculi soldiers as an element of the story, it is kind of a cruel hilarity to see these generals get chewed on. In this episode, one of those guys tries to take control of Bradley's office, only to get killed by the zombies. In an echo of that, Olivier enters later on, but instead of taking the seat, comments on how easy it would be to be sniped from that seat. Arakawa is excellent at this sort of thing. There's still a couple of generals left, at least, including Clemins, who they have tied up, and the Santa Claus looking guy.

The highlight of the episode, of course, is the Armstrongs and Curtiseseses...eses...eses... Izumi and husband finishing off Sloth. I'm glad Sloth started using his speed again, since he hadn't last episode and I was wondering where it went. Didn't do him any good, though. Poor lazy bastard. I wish we could have seen more of a team up with Olivier and Izumi, though. When I was reading the manga of this, I was sure they would clash since they're so similar, but they get along just well. It's kind of a shame to see this part of the story over.

Hohenheim and Father face off in this episode. It's one of the things I've been waiting for, for a while. Two powerhouses locked in combat. With all that power, you would think they'd be going crazy with alchemy, but it's actually a bit restrained. It's not disappointing, though. It's great to see Hohenheim's super casual nature even in battle. Not to mention, he's probably saving some of that power for whatever his real plan is to defeat his "twin". Father is unable to use Hohenheim's Philosopher's Stone, for some reason, and should get a little explanaton for that matter soon.

Oh hey, Alphonse is in this episode! It's been a few episodes since we've seen him, and he's back in action... helping a car out of a hole. Well, it's more than Edward did in this episode. Edward is bound to do something soon, though! Like... well, nevermind, he's not. Sorry.

The big revelation of this episode is that Fuhrer King Bradley is still alive and has returned to Central. Apparently, by walking. You can even see him in the scene with Alphonse and the car, walking by. I mean, it's no big surprise, the guy is a homunculi, and they're difficult to kill, even with a train explosion. The build up is great, too, with the Briggs soldiers celebrating their apparent victory, just to have it snatched away by Bradley's return.

The preview spoils the return of Greed, unfortunately, but hey, it'll be awesome to have another Greed vs Wrath battle.

This episode was pretty awesome. And the next episode may be even more awesome.

Father keeps his pimp hand strong.Guess who's back? Back again. Bradley's back. Tell a friend.

Overall Score: 4 out of 5



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