Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 33) - The Northern Wall of Briggs

Kimblee tracks down Scar and attempts to take him head-on, which might be a mistake. Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse arrive at Fort Briggs and discover that too might be a mistake!

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 33) – The Northern Wall of Briggs

What happened?

Kimberlee is hot on Scar’s heels but lost him somewhere before West City. They were on the train, but now they’re not. He tries to work out where they could have gone and eventually follows the clues to an old mining path. Since Central, Scar had left a pretty clear trail and now he’s vanished. It’s as if he was trying to lure them away from something.

It would appear that Scar is now heading North and after a little more investigation, they get a lead on someone matching his appearance, travelling with a man with dark hair. It has to be Scar. Kimblee decides that now it’s his turn to take control and orders everyone else to stay out of his way. He finds Scar on a train and soon realises that sitting in a cell was not good preparation when facing someone that’s been fighting for his life every day.

Meanwhile, Edward and Alphonse make it to the North and head towards Fort Briggs. They are soon intercepted by a soldier with a large automail arm who is determined to cut them down, believing them to be spies. They manage to survive long enough to realise that they are standing in front of Fort Briggs and are being addressed by the commanding officer – Olivier Mira Armstrong, and she’s not the most forgiving person.

Mei Chang and Doctor Marcoh arrive at the location that Scar gave them and discover his brother’s research. Will it be their salvation or their ruin?

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 33 Solf J Kimblee

What did you think?

I enjoyed the cat and mouse game that Scar and Kimblee were playing and it did enough to make Kimblee’s efforts feel like they would have led him to Scar’s location, along with the military detective work. That all made sense. The fight was great too, however, I’m kind of bothered by the way it ended. It was interesting to see Kimblee realise that he was hopelessly out of shape compared to Scar and had lost his edge. My problem is that shouldn’t have been a surprise and just showed how overly confident Kimblee is. He was lucky to come away with his life.

Then, we had Edward and Alphonse heading towards Fort Briggs and that was also a lot of fun. I enjoyed their journey and then the misunderstanding that led to them fighting one of the soldiers stationed there. It would appear that they got lucky that Olivier Mira Armstrong decided to see what was going on and not just left it to her men. Goes to show how hostile the environment must be up there that they fight first and ask questions later.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 33 Scar

What have you learnt?

I finally got to see some more of Olivier Mira Armstrong which was great, especially as I predicted she would be like General Esdeath from Akame ga Kill. Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting it to be quite so on the nose. Both are the leaders of a hardy army and command utter respect and obedience. Both are harsh and don’t take any nonsense. Both follow the belief of survival of the fittest. Both wield a sword. Both believe in judging someone’s worth for themselves. Both have an affinity for ice.

Normally, I’d be wondering who came first and whether one was copied from the other. In this case, I believe it was Olivier Mira Armstrong who came first, however, if every series had a character like Olivier or Esdeath, you would hear no complaints from me. I’m just excited that this is just the beginning or her involvement and can’t wait to see how it develops.