Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 9) - Created Feelings

They survived the destruction of the fifth laboratory, but Alphonse is struggling with the possibility that he may now even be real. Could he be a constructed soul with fabricated memories? Is it possible to prove either way?

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (Episode 9) – Created Feelings

What happened?

Edward woke in the hospital bed, covered in bandages and in a great deal of pain. That wasn’t the end of it. Denny and Maria told him off. Maria even slapped him across the face. Even so, they were terrified that Edward would then discipline them as State Alchemist automatically hold a position equivalent to major. Of course, Edward wasn’t interested in that and admitted that he was in the wrong. He probably deserved the slap.

He was expecting things to get worse though. Next, he had to call Winry to ask her to come to see him and fix his arm again. She was surprisingly pleasant, but that was because she left out a screw which was probably the reason his arm failed. Winry hopped on a train and rushed over. When she got there, she was met by Alex Louis Armstrong and taken to the hospital.

Winry felt terrible for what she did, but when she learnt that Edward would have kept fighting and probably been injured more, it made her error all right. In fact, it probably saved his life. So, she only charged him for the call out and failed to mention the omitted screw.

Meanwhile, Alphonse was struggling to process the information that Barry the Butcher had planted in his mind. Was Alphonse real or had he been created as a puppet for Edward? Things reached breaking point and Alphonse snapped. Edward apologised and walked away. Before Alphonse could say anything Winry hit him with a spanner and told him about how Edward blamed himself for what he did to Alphonse.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 9 Alphonse questioning his existence

What did you think?

I thought this was an interesting topic for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to look into, however, I don’t think they really went deep enough. Admittedly, that could be an entire series on its own so I also understand why they just brushed the surface. The idea of reality is a fascinating one. All we know is what we can experience. Outside of that, anything could be happening. What happened before us and what happens afterwards will always be uncertain.

I was glad to see Winry called in to act as the go-between for the brothers. She’s known them as long as they’ve known each other and was perfectly placed to help resolve the conflict. It also gave us a chance to see more of Maes and his interesting outlook on life. There are some wonderful characters in this series and there will no doubt be more to come as there are another fifty-five episodes to go.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 9 Alphonse and Winry

What have you learnt?

I’m kind of curious about Alphonse’s armour and why Edward hasn’t adjusted the size or shape. Presumably, he could change it to make it similar to his own size. I get that the design is quite iconic, but that’s just because of its existence. Obviously, I don’t know enough about the rules of alchemy in this series so there may be something stopping him.

Anyhow, we’ve seen that Scar is still alive and from the dreamlike flashback to the civil war we know that he was attacked by the state alchemist that is locked up in jail and is able to manipulate blood. He was the one that Isaac tried to free in the first episode. I feel like there’s more to this connection than we’ve been shown and it’ll probably lead back to Lust, Envy, and Gluttony. But where will the trail from there lead? Who is the father that Lust speaks of? Could it be Fuhrer Bradley or maybe Edward’s missing father? So many questions!