Hagane no Renkinjutsushi – Fullmetal Alchemist Ep. 55
鋼の錬金術師 FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST Episode 55 review
Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood – 55

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Roy, Ed, Scar, and Riza head through the tunnels to Father’s lair where Riza takes the time to thank Scar for helping Roy. Briggs troops make the official announcement that they have General Clemin in custody so Olivier orders Buccaneer to not open any gates due to the sub-homunculi problem. Meanwhile, Sloth recovers and begins his rapid assaults on Olivier and Alex anew. They are saved when Izumi shows up along with her husband, who tag teams with Alex to beat Sloth until he is impaled by an alchemy-created spike on the ground and uses the last of his life. After formal introductions, it is time to remove the sub-homunculi from the building.

In Father’s lair, Hohenheim wants to know why Father chose that name and created seven homunculi based on the seven sins. Father isn’t interested in a chat and an alchemy battle erupts that Hohenheim loses. Father is going to take Hohenheim’s stone, but is shocked to learn he cannot do so. As Al and company arrive in Central, the Briggs forces take control over 90% of the HQ building. However, their celebrations are soon stopped when a transmission from King Bradley is heard, announcing that he will deal with the traitors and calling loyal soldiers to his cause.

Thoughts/Review:

I love it when good humor manages to get injected into such a dire situation and yet not derail the serious story in progress. That’s how I saw Izumi’s arrival to Alex and Olivier’s battle against sloth. It was obviously her when alchemy was used to breach the room. However, the unceremonious ejection of the dead sub-homunculi from her entry point made me laugh out loud. I had figured that Izumi might just show up to eliminate Sloth, but I only get half-credit for being partially right as she only slammed Sloth once. What I didn’t expect was for Sig to show up, display a mutual man crush with Alex, then they tag team Sloth to death. *lol* Some of that was so wrong, yet so funny. ^_^

Sloth’s death takes us down to three homunculi still alive, not counting Father. Who’s next?

Back to Olivier, I found it most interesting that she basically turned down the opportunity to take the throne. So, that resolves any conflict over whether she or Roy will end up as ruler at the end of the series.

I liked how the Central troops that had been there to arrest her ended up taking her commands and even tried to slow Sloth down to allow Olivier and Alex to escape. When Olivier actually collapsed briefly to catch her breath (another moment I liked for the fact it showed her humanity), the soldiers telling her to rest while they took care of the sub-homunculi made me smile. Olivier would have made a strong leader to be sure.

The alchemy battle between Father and Hohenheim didn’t go anywhere like I expected it would. I figured Hohenheim would go toe-to-toe with Father but instead, Father schools Hohenheim and the later confesses to not being much of a fighter. The fact that Father could not absorb Hohenheim’s philosopher’s stone doesn’t surprise me though. I immediately remembered Hohenheim addressing his blood drops (liquefied stones) by name in episode 36. As such, I expect that Hohenheim and the souls within him are working as one whereas Father is just enslaving his souls. In that regard, I’d say that Hohenheim would win in the end even with less than superior fighting skills.

Bradley’s return finally came and just the way one would expect the totalitarian ruler of a nation to return. Bradley, as Wrath, is going to kick some bottom for sure. Question is, how are they going to kill someone as skilled as Bradley is? He does have a weakness, but thus far has shown just how skillful he is when it comes to fights. I saw in the preview (which for some reason I watched this week) that Greed and Wrath fight, so maybe that’s how he’s taken out. It will be fun to see.

Things have slowed down quite a bit, but not in a bad way. Add the excellent humor and we’ve got ourselves another winner of an episode. ^_^