Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 54) – Beyond the Inferno

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Title

Mustang has burnt Envy up so badly that only his true form remains. Now, to finish it once and for all, however, he’ll have to get past Hawkeye, Edward, and Scar to do so.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 54) – Beyond the Inferno

What happened?

Envy tried to fool Hawkeye into thinking he was Mustang, but he never stood a chance. She knows him too well. However, she’s not strong enough to take Envy in a fight and finds herself in a perilous situation. Luckily, a burst of fire emerges from a passageway and toasts Envy. Mustang emerges seconds later and tells Hawkeye to stay back. Envy is his!

Mustang attacks with flame after flame until Envy cannot maintain his alternate form. The green little creature emerges and finds itself under Mustang’s boot. He’s ready to finish it once and for all. However, Hawkeye has her gun aimed at him and is telling him not to do it. Edward and Scar appear and take Envy from him. Mustang is furious. He’s basically won. All he needs to do is finish it, but they won’t let him.

Edward tells Mustang to look in a mirror and ask himself if that is the face of a leader. Scar tells him he understands why he’s doing it and has no place to question him, but what kind of a ruler would he be if this was how he resolved issues. Finally, Hawkeye tells him that if she had to shoot him, she will and then once the fighting is over, she will end her life, taking the secrets of Flame Alchemy to her grave.

Mustang drops to his knees. He can’t lose Hawkeye, he can’t lose himself. Edward turns his attention to Envy. He believes he finally understands that Envy is jealous of humans. Envy can’t understand how they can get along after so many bad things have happened between them. He wishes he could understand. Envy breaks free of Edward’s grasp, drops to the floor, and pulls out his philosopher’s stone, ending his life.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 54 Edward finally understands Envy

What did you think?

Amazing. To think that they would successfully make us feel sorry for Envy after all the despicable and heinous things he’s done. It just goes to show that even a monster can fear death. Eventually, it comes for us all. In the end, Envy ended up as a pathetic shell of the thing it once was and not least because of his emotional state. He struggled with the ways humans had continued to surprise him. I think the unpredictability of humanity was what got to him.

Of course, there was more than just the Envy and Mustang pity party. We got to see more of Olivier and Alex trying to stop Sloth and an army of mannequins. I love how much larger-than-life the Armstrongs are. Alex is all showmanship, bravado, and bluster, which is fantastic to watch. Olivier, however, is the sort to take charge of everything and because of her confidence, it’s impossible to argue. Even the soldiers sent to kill her obeyed her orders without question.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 54 Alex Louis Armstrong is back

What have you learnt?

Roy Mustang had been consumed by darkness. His thirst for vengeance was seconds away from being his downfall. Had he not had people around him that are prepared to stand up to him and had he not had the presence of mind to hear their warnings, he could have become the monster he was trying to destroy. Hawkeye’s revelation must have been hard for Mustang to hear, and I think that’s why he caved without any resistance at that point.

With Scar and Edward, he would have fought them to get to Envy, but when Hawkeye revealed that she would kill herself once the fighting was done, he surrendered. At first, I thought that he gave in too easily, but on reflection, it was an easy decision to make. Hawkeye made it so. I thought it was also crazy how she had asked him to burn off the tattoo on her back to stop another Flame Alchemist and destroy her father’s work. It reminds me of Oppenheimer, one of the creators of the atomic bomb and how he demanded they be banned once he saw what he had created.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 54 Mustang has lost control

Other posts in the series

You might also like…

Mushoku Tensei Jobless Reincarnation Episode 8 Rudeus tries his new staff
Fire Force Episode 1 Special Fire Force

Lynn Sheridan The Otaku Author Header

2 Comments

  1. I imagine Roy would have fared much better if he could have taken Envy out in one shot. It was in having his vengeance unavoidably drawn out that he was slipping, being overcome by his anger.

    • Possible. It raises an interesting idea that the deed might not be as bad if it was quick and easy. At least, in the eyes of the attacker. But then when he killed Lust it was brutal, burning her over and over again.

What did you think?