Sometimes it pays to look up.
Summary:
In the industrial district, the enemy commander tells his forces to shoot everyone except Mustang. However, the Central soldiers didn't notice Mustang's men on the roof beams, and the tables are quickly turned. Mustang's intent for walking into a small room is to determine what the enemy wants, and now it's confirmed that Central only wants him to be left alive. This fact shocks Mrs. Bradley, but Mustang reassures her that he and his group will protect her with their lives. After getting the information they want, one of Mustang's men shoots the enemy commander in the leg and the group exits the room.
Mustang and his group continue to fight their way through the streets of Central, and their strategy involves injuring but not killing their enemies. This information is eventually relayed to General Clemin, who responds by sending out more troops against Mustang's group. In Central HQ, Olivier Mira Armstrong is telling the other generals to put her in charge of the troops so they can capture Mustang more quickly. The other generals tells Olivier that she's only here as a hostage so that the soldiers at Briggs won't rebel, but Olivier tells the other generals that her soldiers will carry on what they are doing with or without her. Somewhere within the city, Bucanneer and the rest of Olivier's subordinates emerge from their hiding place (Armstrong mansion's basement) and start their attack against the Central troops.
I wonder... who's the person with the glowing red eyes?
I scream. You scream. We all want ice cream.
Meanwhile, Mustang's group is starting to run low on ammo. While taking a short break, Mustang and his group talk about how Olivier was hiding her forces inside her family mansion. The enemy quickly finds them and Mustang's group are forced into battle once again. The Central forces realize that Mustang's group is running out of ammo and plan to step up the attack, but suddenly a truck breaks through their lines from behind. The truck stops in front of Mustang's group and out the back pops Riza's friend Rebecca, and it turns out the truck is filled with weapons and ammo. Mustang goes to talk to the driver and is shocked to see that the driver is Maria Ross. After stunning the enemy soldier with a tear gas bomb, the trucks drive past the enemy lines once again but this time with Mustang's group inside. In the truck, Mustang's subordinates are surprised that a lot of the weapons were from Xing. Meanwhile, Mustang asks Maria who ordered her to help him. Maria stops by a telephone pole and a phone is set up for Mustang to talk to Maria's "commander". Mustang picks up the phone and is shocked to hear Jean Havoc's voice on the other side. Havoc is currently running a store that sells everything from groceries to weapons, and he jokingly asks Mustang about how he'll pay for all the help. In response, Mustang states that Havoc will be treating on this occasion.
Back from vacation and ready to go.
Your one stop shop for everything.
At the edge of the forest, Ed and company look towards Central and sees smoke rising from the capital city. The group realize that Mustang has made his move, so they decide to use the confusion to sneak into the underground and destroy Father's lair. Scar remembers the entrance to the underground that he and Mei used before, so the group decides to head to that location. Heinkel, Yoki, and Dr. Marcoh will stand guard while the rest of the group go into the city. Before leaving, Ed walks up to the big mound of mud and tells Al about what they are planning to do, and Al wishes his brother good luck. Also inside the mound, Pride is tapping on Al's head with a tree branch.
This is how I negotiate.
Back in Central headquarters, the other two generals demand Olivier to call of her forces, but Olivier takes control of the situation by force by cutting one of the generals in the arm and shooting the other. Somewhere in the city, Brosh runs to a military blockade put up by Major Armstrong. Brosh gets pissed off after Armstrong informs him of Mustang's activities. A subordinate arrives on the scene and whispers to Armstrong that his sister is in the Central command room. This little piece of information is also overheard by Fu, who is walking around in the city trying to find Lin/Greed. Fu cannot track Greed because of a large presence of "ki" coming from underground, and Fu notes that the presence has gotten stronger since yesterday. Deep down below the streets, Father is listening through the network of pipes for the tapping sound that Pride is making.
Ed turned out this way because you weren't there to educate him, Hohenheim.
Looks like Hohenheim has a thing for young women.
In Central, May runs back into the alley entrance to the underground with Envy in tow. Ed and the rest of his group have made their way to the same location, but the entrance is now too heavily guarded. Ed then remembers that the Third Research Facility also has an entrance, and so the group makes its way there. After taking care of three guards at the door, Ed and company make their way into the facility to the dark hallway Ed remembers. From that point on, the group splits into two teams, with Hohenheim and Ran Fan as one team while everyone else goes the other way. A while after the split, Hohenheim tells Ran Fan that he's fine on his own so she can go look for Lin. Ran Fan thanks Hohenheim and leaves through the ventilation shaft above the hall.
The one-eyed zombie choir makes its debut performance.
Somewhere else within the facility, an army official forcibly activates the immortal army despite protests from a researcher saying the procedure is not ready yet. After being injected with Philosopher's Stones, the hanging mono-eye corpses come to live with a blood-curdling scream that is heard throughout the facility.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FMA:B continues to roll and things are really moving along now. There are so many things in this episode that was worth mentioning. Most of all though, I loved how Ed, Mustang, and Olivier's forces are moving in parallel and how the narrative weaved everything together. It's just shows that this was a well-planned battle plan by the good guys and really gives an air of grandness for this upcoming showdown.
Commenting on specifics within the episode, this episode saw two surprise returns in Maria and Havoc. It's not well explained, but I think Maria probably returned with Fu and Ran Fan. It's great to have Havoc back as well. Even though he can't fight on the front lines anymore, Havoc is still helping his old friends from the sidelines. Mustang needs all the help he can get these days. Aside from Maria and Havoc, other characters that haven't appeared in a while such as Buccaneer, May and Envy also made appearances just to add to the point that this is final battle and everyone who matters is going to appear sooner or later.
Moving on to the progresses of the different groups, it's clear that Mustang still has plans for Mrs. Bradley even though Central forces have abandoned her. She is still the Fuhrer's wife so there is strategic value in having her around. Thanks to Mustang drawing away attention, Olivier and her forces are able to make their moves. Olivier was as awesome as always when she abandoned her charade and took control in the meeting chamber. Lastly, Ed's group has made it into the entrance to the underground. While Ed and most of the guys continue on one way, Hohenheim goes the other way and Ran Fan leaves to look for Ling/Greed. We'll find out why Hohenheim decided to go in a different direction soon enough.
At this point, things are going according to plan for the good guys, but there are some ominous signs in this episode. Back in the forest Pride is still tapping on Al's head, and now Father knows where Pride is. Underground, May is still being led on by Envy. Finally, there are also the screaming one-eyed zombies to worry about. Freakish things that let out blood-curdling screams are probably bad news, and these zombies seem to be pretty close to where Ed's group is.
Next episode should be more of the same stuff as this episode: exciting battles and fast developments. Definitely looking forward to it.
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