Full Metal Alchemist Ep 20, "Father Before the Grave"
Added 2022-08-09 20:35:40 +0000 UTCEnjoy! next episode coming after we watch more tomorrow/the next day!
Comments
I think y'all miss interpreted an earlier episode. They made the body from scratch the same way Mustang made the corpse he burned to hide Maria Ross. Making the body isn't necessarily human transmutation because you know the exact composition of the body. They expected the body to morph to their mother's because her soul would attach to it and they'd be able to transmute it. But they went through the portal before finishing it and so they just created a random, deformed body.
Nilan Lovelace
2022-08-13 17:17:00 +0000 UTCHot take, What if Father has a change of heart in the final fight and sacrifices himself in order to return the boys bodies to normal?
Drucifer93
2022-08-11 17:16:06 +0000 UTCIts also exactly why Hohenheim "tested" Ed at the grave with his blunt comments and muttered "hes exactly like me when I was his age". Was probing Al to figure out who he had become and how to properly deliver the message he wanted to to his kids.
Sparky
2022-08-11 16:41:05 +0000 UTCI was trying to be subtle with my comment and not give too much away. And yes, I agree that Ed wouldn't have listened. I still think my interpretation of why he doesn't just ask Ed is also valid. It's probably a combination of the two.
Dana
2022-08-11 10:01:40 +0000 UTCY'all have such wild speculations. Like, the man literally says "Get out of the country, something bad will happen" and then that he is sad he won't be able to enjoy her cooking anymore and instead of connecting the two, y'all are like MURDER?? xD
fr0st
2022-08-11 04:52:27 +0000 UTCAs for why he does it that way, would Ed have listened to anything he told him the way he is right now?
fr0st
2022-08-11 03:53:24 +0000 UTCIt's not really an interpretation, it's nearly spelled out with him blatantly glancing back at where Ed is standing hidden after saying what he needs Ed to hear.
fr0st
2022-08-11 03:53:00 +0000 UTCThis is a really good summation of the episode. I just wanted to add that I think the reason Ed is convinced that they can get Al's body back is because they now know they couldnt possibly get what they originally wanted. I think deep down both brothers thought that this was a just punishment for having played with the souls of the dead and didnt really deserve to be redeemed, but now they know that they only hurt themselves. So what they did was not unforgivable. I think this is also why Alphonse says that he cant take being in this body anymore, because he finally feels like his punishment doesnt match his crime.
John Henry
2022-08-10 18:07:02 +0000 UTCOne thing to think about re: Hohenheim and the scene with Pinako where he asks about the body Ed and Al brought back. It has always been my interpretation that he knows that Ed is outside listening in, and he asks that question of Pinako so that Ed will hear it and question it himself. I think he already knows the answer, but wants to lead Ed to that reveal. I think this because we see him noticing Den, Pinakos dog, and how she is growling at him, being protective, but then suddenly moves out of the room (because she noticed Ed and wanted attention). We also see in the scene earlier where he hovers over Ed sleeping that he isn't exactly good with emotional connections (he was always distant with them), which is why I think he doesn't just straight up ask Ed himself. He does it in a roundabout way because that's the only way he can think of to do it. Just my thoughts on that scene.
Dana
2022-08-10 15:43:38 +0000 UTCYesss this episode!! The whole series is awesome but for some reason these next few eps are one of my favourites π
minimonie__
2022-08-10 05:48:51 +0000 UTCOkay, okay, okay, this is always my favorite episode when it comes along because I get to give the spiel, so here goes: What Ed and Al did was this: they gathered all of the necessary ingredients to make a human body, and then that's exactly what they did. They made an empty, lifeless human body, because despite having all the physical parts, they had no soul to put in it. Now, as a result of the boys committing the taboo, Ed lost a leg, and Al lost his entire body, but JUST his body. His soul remained in that room, and in an effort to keep him alive it latched onto the nearest compatible vessel, the human body they had just made. However, either because they were just kids or because of the nature of human transmutation itself, the body they made was f**ked up beyond all recognition, so it very quickly died, ejecting Al's soul. This is why Al sees through its eyes for a very brief moment, because his soul entered it before being rejected. Afterwards, Ed was able to draw Al's soul back and bond it to the armor, because Al's body was the only price he paid. His soul was still free, and therefore could be brought back once again through human transmutation. So what this episode does for the boys, and also for Izumi, is it tells them that what they tried was always impossible, which is a bummer, but it also means that they didn't cause their loved ones to suffer and die a second time. They just made empty, messed up bodies that had no souls, and therefore died instantly. This is huge for the boys because now a huge burden has been lifted off their shoulders (i.e. Winry's "were his shoulders always so broad?") They now know that it wasn't a mistake they made that caused it to fail, it was just what would have always happened. As for why Ed believes this means he can get Al's body back, I'm not entirely sure of his reasoning, but I think essentially it boils down to: I pulled your real, actual soul out of the portal after it left the mom-corpse, which means you CAN pull things OUT of the portal that have been pulled in (Al's soul wasn't part of his toll, so Ed was able to call it back even though his body was taken), which also seems to imply that those who die of natural causes don't enter the portal when they die? Otherwise they should have been able to get their mom back? Again, this last bit is purely speculation on my part. Ultimately, I think this episode more or less serves to give the boys renewed hope for their future.
R. Lewis
2022-08-10 05:05:27 +0000 UTCI love all of the speculation about hohenheim, so close on somethingβs yet so very far on others
Manuel Pagan
2022-08-10 03:44:27 +0000 UTCYES EVERYTHING IS GOING AS PLANNED! Ahahahahahhaha
Juan
2022-08-10 02:35:13 +0000 UTCTry to remember the name Pinako, a later episode will make more sense if you remember who that name belongs to. Most reactors have no idea who Pinako is when they hit that episode.
Racso Rhodes
2022-08-10 00:47:45 +0000 UTCHere is a personal head Cannon kind of thought. If the grabbing the soul of the Dead is the stumbling block then the very first and only time it could have successfully been done with 100% certainty if you go by the biblical story of our world. Able who was murdered by Cain would be the first and only time human transmutation could be used to bring back the Dead. However I personally think that it's something else that's the stumbling block. It is impossible to reclaim a dead soul and the cost of generating a brand new soul outside of the natural biological means is exorbitantly difficult and costly. After all the Elric Brothers sacrificed a leg and an entire body and weren't able to generate a New soul.
Calvin
2022-08-10 00:41:30 +0000 UTCIt's no great surprise that Ed was able to stand taller and with his shoulders spread wide because he didn't feel like he had that pain weighing down on his shoulders anymore.
Calvin
2022-08-10 00:36:28 +0000 UTCThe pacing of this show is so good. When I first watched this I remember I never really thought of the weight of what they believed they did. They thought that their mom died, they brought her back as a deformed dark mass of a human and she died a second time. To have that relief off of their shoulders π
april π
2022-08-10 00:29:56 +0000 UTCThis just goes to show how important it is to take time to heal. The Eric brothers, as well as Izumi have been carrying around this guilt since their attempts at human transmutation. But none of them have really had the chance to be able to process it, due to fear of the truth and shame of the action itself. The sheer amount of information they revealed in this episode, as well as all the characters relieving some of their burdens is a welcome change of pace.
imcalledgpk
2022-08-10 00:02:52 +0000 UTCIve seen this episode so many times now and between Ed/Al/Izumi realizing they didn't make someone suffer twice and Al's "I can't take all the nights by myself" make me tear up every single time immediately
Cam Fuse
2022-08-09 23:55:30 +0000 UTCTheres so much more coming to fill in the blanks for you guys and i cant wait to see how it affects your theories.
Spaceyz
2022-08-09 23:47:22 +0000 UTCVery excited to see how you two think of Hohenheim as we get more information about him
Danny C
2022-08-09 23:41:08 +0000 UTCOne of the things that I really appreciate about this series (and Attack on Titan for that matter), is that we don't have all the information. We are getting it in dribs and drabs just like the main characters. But when the reveals come, all of the pieces slot into place, even things that seemed unrelated and then you go ohhhhh... OHHHHHHHH. Oh no. hahaha. This series is such a masterpiece of writing :)
CorgiSnapz
2022-08-09 23:12:26 +0000 UTCAn amazing detail in this episode is that disabled people in real life with arthritis, or amputees, or people with metal in them can feel weather shifting and often can have severe pain in the rain or extreme weather like cold. The scene of him digging up what he believe was his mother was both physically and emotionally very painful for Ed, which is why he was so sick from it.
ImpJ
2022-08-09 23:00:47 +0000 UTCJust to remind here something from the 2nd episode: They filled a big tray with all the elements that supposedly make up the human body (ammonia, gallons of water, etc) including their blood for βsoul dataβ. So, the proverbial body that wasnβt their mother could have come from those elements that seemed to be there for that, kinda like what mustang did for Maria Ross, just more complex, since it was meant to be a functioning human and look like their mom, but it seems they got their math/chemistry wrong, if that is the case.
Gabriel Aguiar
2022-08-09 22:38:12 +0000 UTCTheir predictions are so awesome
Eric Heim
2022-08-09 22:30:14 +0000 UTCCopied this comment a long time ago to share. Here's the mental math Ed did to confirm Al can come back: 1. People can't be brought back to life 2. Al's soul is currently in the suit of armor 3. Al's either alive, or his soul is fake 4. He confirmed it was really Al and not a fake 5. Which means Al's body has to be alive somewhere 6. And since he pulled Al back from beyond the gate, that's probably where his body is 7. And if he can pull Al back, there has to be a way to pull his body back too.
TB
2022-08-09 22:19:32 +0000 UTCYou guys are willing to die on several hills considering you don't have all the needed information.
Mten10th
2022-08-09 22:16:44 +0000 UTCYou guys are gonna loose it when you realise what the 2 headed dragon is π
JaΓ©-De Milton
2022-08-09 22:01:26 +0000 UTC
