Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 57) – Eternal Leave

Greed and Fu try to bring down King Bradley, while Olivier and Izumi interrogate a general to determine their plan. Meanwhile, Edward and the others find an alchemist protected by the failed members of the Fuhrer project.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 57) – Eternal Leave
What happened?
Fu seeks to avenge his granddaughter, Lan Fan and flies into action gainst King Bradley. Even with Greed’s help though, they are no match for him. Bradley manages to get Fu’s sword and it gets even worse. He cuts him down in no time, but Ling saves him at the last second. However, Fu is badly injured and breaks away from Ling, telling Greed to protect his body.
Fu charges at Bradley and grabs his head, revealing four explosives attached to him. Before they can explode, Bradley slices the fuzes off and Fu in two. Fu can’t believe he is going to die a failure. However, a sword appears piercing Bradley’s abdomen. Buccaneer drove it through Fu and into Bradley, seeing it as their only chance to go down fighting honourably. Greed takes the chance to attack, slicing through Bradley’s eye!
Izumi Curtis and Olivier Armstrong have found themselves a general and he’s willing to spill all, which isn’t a good move. His troops resign and join forces with Olivier. With the soldiers closing in, they head underground. Izumi explains to Olivier the great taboo of human transmutation and what she lost.
Edward, Scar, Mustang, and Hawkeye enter a small underground room and find a strange alchemist drawing a transmutation circle. Before they can attack he summons some backup. They are the failed members of the program that created King Bradley and are all very strong. They keep everyone away long enough for the process to begin. As soon as it does, Edward, Alphonse, and Izumi are broken down and taken through the portal.

What did you think?
We have a transmutation circle the size of the city, but that’s just the start. Eventually, it’ll be the size of Amestris. This episode was intense and wouldn’t let us relax for a second. The fight between Bradley and Fu was amazing and I loved the way Buccaneer jumped in there to save Fu’s honour and land a hit on Bradley. I’ve got to wonder if Bradley doesn’t have a healing ability the way the other homunculi do, especially as he ages and was created from a human, although so was Greed…
Regardless, that was exciting and heartbreaking all at once. I really enjoyed the discussion between Olivier and Izumi although did Olivier just say that Edward would be the only person she would consider breaking the taboo for? Did I hear that right? Surely not! Anyhow, I found the fight scene with the inspiringly named Gold-toothed Doctor to be infuriating. We saw Mustang burn up an entire room of immortal mannequins without hurting anyone else, but he couldn’t do anything about the crazy old guy drawing on the floor?

What have you learnt?
I’m a big believer in the power of characters and how if you get them right, the rest is golden. One aspect of that is making the characters’ actions consistent and believable. They can absolutely do stuff that may seem insane at that moment, but I feel like there needs to be a good reason. The fight scene with the Gold-toothed Doctor (they couldn’t have just not given him a name) failed in so many ways.
It did answer one thing and that was what would happen if Hawkeye shot the doctor. The subordinates would jump in the way and take the bullet. I’ve already mentioned how Mustang could have and should have finished everything pretty quickly, but what about Edward and Scar? We’ve seen Edward make walls of rocks jump out of the ground in an instant. Are you telling me he couldn’t have crushed the transmutation circle in this manner? Scar has been able to tear apart all sorts of obstacles, but not this time. I understand that plot can dictate how things go, but this was a lazy spot in the story development.

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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