Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 19
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 19
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 19

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Roy hears Riza is under attack as Riza empties her weapon into Gluttony without success. Gluttony is about to eat Riza when Black Hayate attacks Gluttony from behind, biting a spot Gluttony can’t reach. Cain arrives and tossing Riza a spare weapon, both empty their guns into Gluttony the moment Hayate gets clear. They drive Gluttony to the tower window but he doesn’t go out. Gluttony regenerates and is about to attack when a flame attack blasts him out of the tower. It is Roy, who’s arrived just in time though Riza scolds him for jeopardizing the undercover mission.

Hayate and Cain are left behind while Roy and Riza head to the street. Riza thanks Roy for saving her. Getting into his car, Roy picks up Havoc when Al arrives. Since Al has figured out their mission regards Hughes’ murder, Roy has Al come too. They follow Armor-Barry who’s chasing Body-Barry as Riza reloads and talks about the obese monster that attacked her. Al figures out it is a homunculus from the Ouroboros tattoo it had on its tongue. Mustang finds the idea of a homunculus impossible but Al remembers what Greed had said and Riza saw the impossible, meaning homunculi have to be real.

The chase leads to the 3rd Laboratory and while Roy is ready to call it a night, Armor-Barry will hear nothing of it and races in. Roy decides they can use this as a diversion to gain entrance to the lab without question. As Armor-Barry races through the building looking for his body, Roy and company enter with the cover of pursuing the killer. Roy and Havoc head off in one direction while Al and Riza go another to try to find both Barry’s. Roy and Havoc find stuff they shouldn’t and are engaged by Lust, whom Havoc knew as his girlfriend Solaris. Seeing her large breast size, Roy understands how Havoc could be easily fooled.

Roy shoots Lust but she regenerates. Roy plugs her a few more times but she regenerates, leading Havoc to realize she’s a homunculus. Lust is impressed that Havoc figured it out and opens up her chest to reveal a Philosopher’s Stone, which is her core. Roy understands that Lust has no intention of letting them go. They flee out of the room after Lust soaks Roy.

As Lust slowly moves to follow, Roy plans to convert the water on the floor to its gaseous form and with Havoc tossing in a lighter, Roy transmutes then ignites the gas. Roy knows they nailed her as he smells the burnt flesh, but Lust regenerates and stabs Havoc from behind with her fingers extended. Before Lust finishes regenerating, Roy plugs her again and takes her Philosopher’s Stone. Her body dissolves but regenerates around the stone and she stabs him.

Outside, King Bradley arrives and tells the soldiers he heard of the killer being on the loose here. He says he will assist Col. Mustang but turns down the soldier’s offer of assistance.

Back in the lab, Lust fully regenerates and removes Roy’s transmutation glove, deciding that he should watch Havoc die. Meanwhile, Al and Riza find Armor-Barry who’s found his rotting body. Lust comes in on them and demands to know why Barry the Chopper helped Mustang. Barry explains that he did it because it amused him. Lust is not happy that she’s had to kill two canidates for sacrifice and when Barry attacks, she destroy’s his armored body. Lust approaches and a frustrated Riza realizes that Lust must have killed Roy. So she empties three guns into Lust but to no avail.

Lust is going to kill Riza but Al steps in the way, determined not to let anyone else he cares about die. When he produces a weapon without a transmutation circle, Lust realizes that Al has opened the Door. Al takes an attack from Lust when an injured Roy arrives. Realizing what Roy plans, Al quickly erects a barrier for him and Riza to hide behind while Roy repeatedly blasts Lust with fire attacks.

Lust is amazed that Roy is alive and that he used blood to create a new transmutation circle on his hand. Roy understands that he has to keep “killing” Lust until she can’t regenerate any more. Lust attempts one final attack but comes up short and can’t regenerate any more. She concedes defeat and says that being defeated by someone like Roy is not bad but she looks forward to when his eyes are changed due to suffering. With that, she dissolves as does her Philosopher’s Stone.

As Al and Riza tend to Roy, King Bradley stands outside the room. Instead of attacking, he leaves. That night, Al returns to a worried Winry despite his damaged form. In the lab, Armor-Barry isn’t quite dead but Body-Barry drags himself to the piece with the soul anchor. With tears in his eyes, Body-Barry destroys the anchor symbol, killy Armor-Barry before dying himself.

Over in Resembool, Ed discovers his father at Ed’s mother’s gravesite.

Thoughts/Review:

Again with the unexpected endings — Hohenheim appears. Totally didn’t expect that.

I’ll tell you one thing I didn’t like about this episode — Havoc is left hanging in the wind. I don’t know if he’s dead or alive the way the episode ends and that frustrates me.

I do think that Lust is completely dead though, considering Greed has been killed. Man, I didn’t expect that either (her death, that is). I wonder how Gluttony will handle this. I figure not too well.

Riza got the “cool” marks last episode, but you have to give Roy his props in this episode for improvising a method of regaining his flame ability, but then blasting Lust until she died. Cain also gets cool points as he comes off as nerdy but in crunch time, he was there for Riza.

So, now we know how the homunculi are created — the Philosopher’s Stone. I remember that those stones are created through human sacrifice, so Father must be planning to kill certain powerful people to create a perfect stone (or something like that), otherwise Lust wouldn’t lament having to kill Mustang.

I’m actually surprised that King Bradley didn’t ambush Mustang, Al, and Riza. As Pride, I would have thought he would have eliminated those three for learning too much. Maybe Bradley has a plan to deal with them.

If it hadn’t been for the annoyance of dropping Havoc, this would have been another really good episode. As it is, it is only good but I do look forward to the next episode.