Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 22

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 22
Winry stumbles upon Ed and Al's fight with Scar.

That's one sharp saber.

Summary:

Ran Fan is seriously wounded by Wrath's first attack, forcing Ling to carry her and fend off of homunculi by themselves. The two are knocked into a building by Gluttony, and inside Ran Fan let off a flash-bang to allow she and Ling to escape, but unfortunately Wrath is still able to see due to his eye patch.

Not the right time to make funny faces, don't you think?

Meanwhile, Winry pays a visit to Maes' grave with Gracia and Elicia. Afterwards, Winry walks on the streets and hears words of the Elrics fighting against Scar. Winry becomes worried about the brothers and decides to go find them, and the battle isn't hard to locate due to the constant explosions. In the back alley war zone, the Elrics and Scar continue to battle. The Elrics are waiting for Ling's signal which still hasn't come, and Ed is getting tired so the Elrics call time out and decide to talk to Scar instead. After a discussion about the use of alchemy, Ed confronts Scar about killing Winry's parents, and unfortunately Winry just happened to have arrived in the alley. Shocked by the revelation, Winry picks a pistol dropped by a soldier and points it at Scar, and Scar decides it's a good time to explain how he came to be.

Why doesn't the military cordon off the area to keep civilians out?

Scar may not have his arm of destruction back then, but he already had the moves.

It was during the Ishvalan War and the Amestrian military was approaching Scar's town. Scar's older brother was developing alchemy that's a fusion of Amestrian and Xingese styles, and some Ishvalans thought it'll be enough to counter the State Alchemists. The military and State Alchemists began their attack on the town and slaughtered many Ishvalans. Scar, as a warrior priest, fought off some soldiers and tried to get his family to safety, and before leaving Scar was entrusted with his brother's research. Unfortunately, Scar and his family were discovered by the Crimson Alchemist Kimblee. Kimblee proceeded to blow up Scar and his family, leaving only Scar and his older brother alive. Scar lost his right arm, and in a last ditch effort Scar's brother grafted his own right arm on to Scar using the alchemy he developed.

It's still your arm. Someone just tattooed you when you were asleep.

The seriously injured Scar was brought to the clinic run by the Rockbells. Upon regaining consciousness, Scar is shocked that he has his brother's right arm and became crazed. In his rage, Scar killed the Rockbells, wandered off, and fell into despair after seeing what's left of his town.

Good to see Ed fighting for his gal.

Back to the present, the Elrics are telling Winry to put down the gun. Scar tells Winry that she has the right to shoot him, but warns that she becomes an enemy the moment she pulls the trigger. Seeing that Winry's unable to shoot, Scar attacks Ed, who flips over Scar and puts himself between Scar and Winry. Scar goes after Ed but stops when Ed reminds him of his brother during the attack by Kimblee. Scar is then chased off by Al, leaving Ed alone with Winry. After taking the gun from Winry, Ed states that Winry's hands were made to give life, not to take them, and subsequently Winry cries in Ed's arms.

A rare EdxWinry moment. Enjoy it while it lasts.

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This was a captivating episode. There was a very good mix of action and emotional drama. The fight between the Xingese and the homunculi only took up the beginning of the episode, but the action pretty intense and ends with Ling and Ran Fan being in a whole lot of trouble. The main focus of this episode is of course the confrontation between Winry and Scar. Scar killing the Rockbells was still a senseless murder with hatred being directed at the wrong people, but with the flashback we at least understand where Scar was coming from. In a short span of time, Scar lost his family and his town, and somehow he has his brother's right arm. Those kinds of traumatic events tend to make people nuts.

As for Winry, her reaction to the new feels very genuine. On the one hand, she hates Scar for killing her parents, but at the same time she's just a normal teenage girl who has never seen combat. In not being able to pull the trigger, Winry maintains her status as an innocent character and as someone that Ed and Al need to protect. The whole sequence leads to a nice emotional moment between Ed and Winry at the end, and I liked how the scene transitions perfectly into the ED song.

There won't be nearly as much emotional content in the next episode, but the action will still be riding high for the Elrics vs. Scar and Xingese vs. Homunculi.