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

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.

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.

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.

Other posts in the series
- Series Review
- Episode 1 – Fullmetal Alchemist
- Episode 2 – The First Day
- Episode 3 – City of Heresy
- Episode 4 – An Alchemist’s Anguish
- Episode 5 – Rain of Sorrows
- Episode 6 – Road of Hope
- Episode 7 – Hidden Truths
- Episode 8 – The Fifth Laboratory
- Episode 9 – Created Feelings
- Episode 10 – Separate Destinations
- Episode 11 – Miracle at Rush Valley
- Episode 12 – One is All, All is One
- Episode 13 – Beasts of Dublith
- Episode 14 – Those Who Lurk Underground
- Episode 15 – Envoy From the East
- Episode 16 – Footsteps of a Comrade-in-Arms
- Episode 17 – Cold Flame
- Episode 18 – The Arrogant Palm of a Small Human
- Episode 19 – Death of the Undying
- Episode 20 – Father Before the Grave
- Episode 21 – Advance of the Fool
- Episode 22 – Backs in the Distance
- Episode 23 – Girl on the Battlefield
- Episode 24 – Inside the Belly
- Episode 25 – Doorway of Darkness
- Episode 26 – Reunion
- Episode 27 – Interlude Party
- Episode 28 – Father
- Episode 29 – Struggle of the Fool
- Episode 30 – The Ishvalan War of Extermination
- Episode 31 – The 520 Cens Promise
- Episode 32 – The Fuhrer’s Son
- Episode 33 – The Northern Wall of Briggs
- Episode 34 – Ice Queen
- Episode 35 – The Shape of This Country
- Episode 36 – Family Portrait
- Episode 37 – The First Homunculus
- Episode 38 – Conflict at Baschool
- Episode 39 – Daydream
- Episode 40 – The Dwarf in the Flask
- Episode 41 – The Abyss
- Episode 42 – Signs of a Counter-Offensive
- Episode 43 – Bite of the Ant
- Episode 44 – Revving at Full-throttle
- Episode 45 – The Promised Day
- Episode 46 – Looming Shadows
- Episode 47 – Emissary of Darkness
- Episode 48 – The Oath in the Tunnel
- Episode 49 – Filial Affection
- Episode 50 – Upheaval in Central
- Episode 51 – The Immortal Legion
- Episode 52 – Combined Strength
- Episode 53 – Flame of Vengeance
- Episode 54 – Beyond the Inferno
- Episode 55 – The Adults’ Way of Life
- Episode 56 – The Return of the Fuhrer
- Episode 57 – Eternal Leave
- Episode 58 – Sacrifices
- Episode 59 – Lost Light
- Episode 60 – Eye of Heaven, Gateway of Earth
- Episode 61 – He Who Would Swallow God
- Episode 62 – A Fierce Counterattack
- Episode 63 – The Other Side of the Gateway
- Episode 64 – Journey’s End
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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.