Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 29) - Struggle of the Fool

Envy delivers Edward and Alphonse to Wrath who threatens Winry if they don’t play nice. Greed delivers a message to them from Ling before leaving them with some advice, Edward’s not about to give up!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 29) – Struggle of the Fool

What happened?

Edward and Alphonse were told to clean up before they were taken to see Wrath. While they were alone, Alphonse revealed that Mei Chang was inside of him. He couldn’t have left her and she still needs help. Envy came in and dragged them to see Wrath… or King Bradley. Edward and Alphonse were shocked and thought back to the moment he visited them and warned them not to meddle and to suspect everyone!

Upon hearing Bradley’s plan, Edward threatened to quit as a state alchemist. However, Bradley warned him that something would happen to Winry if he did. He also told them that they could continue to look for their bodies as long as they didn’t interfere with his plan. Mustang agreed to continue within the military, too, although his intentions aren’t entirely clear.

After checking on Winry, Edward and Alphonse were met by Greed who warned them about having attachments and how someone might use that against them. He also gave them a message to pass on to Lan Fan who was still recovering. They also delivered Mei Chang to Doctor Knox for treatment.

Mustang told Hawkeye and Armstrong about Bradley and gave Armstrong the chance to walk away. However, he did that in Ishval and didn’t plan on making the same mistake again. What is the Major planning?

Edward discovered that his alchemy had returned to him and heard that other alchemists had issues earlier that day. Was Father able to turn off all of the alchemy in Amestris? He considered how Scar and Mei Chang were both able to continue using theirs and wondered if it was somehow different. Could he learn both methods?

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 29 Alphonse and Edward

What did you think?

So, I was right about Mei Chang being inside Alphonse. I had wondered if Scar was in there too, but he was still wandering the sewers where he came across Doctor Marcoh. It would appear that Doctor Marcoh used the souls of the Ishvalan people to create a philosopher’s stone which is probably the source of Father’s power. The idea that there are different types of alchemy is fascinating and will make Edward that much more powerful if he can master several types.

I love Major Armstrong and can see him going on to create a rival faction within the military to counter Fuhrer Bradley. It definitely has the makings of a huge internal conflict although Hawkeye is definitely in a spot of bother being so close to Bradley all the time. This series really is epic!

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 29 Alex Louis Armstrong

What have you learnt?

It looks like we’re going to see the full story of the Inshvali conflict and it promises to be quite the harrowing tale. We’ve seen bits and pieces here and there so I’m looking forward to really understanding what happened there and who was behind it. I wonder if there’s someone that created Father with the philosopher’s stone, but who? I originally considered the idea that Hohenheim made Father or the other way around, but what if someone else made both of them?

That’s the great thing about long sprawling epics like this. Things change all the time as more and more information becomes available. I’m looking forward to being able to look back at the entire series and think through the way things were revealed. I’m also looking forward to the moment that Ling regains control. They certainly teased us with that in this episode. Bradley’s reaction to it was priceless.