Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 32

As episode thirty-two of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood begins, it seems like everyone is searching for someone - Ed and Al Elric continue their search for May Chang in the hope of learning the secrets of Eastern alchemy, Central's military are hunting down Scar once again (now with Kimblee at the helm of that particular "project"), and Roy Mustang seeks out Lieutenant General Grumman as perhaps his last hope of finding an ally to take on the corruption that has pervaded the military from top to bottom.


For a number of these characters, it appears that these searches and their individual paths look set to converge, with May Chang headed North and Scar (with Doctor Marcoh in tow.. or should that be Doctor Scarcoh now?) also eventually headed in the same direction. Meanwhile, the Elric brothers set off North as well, thanks to a tip relayed to them by Mustang via Major Armstrong.

Before this however, Alphonse and then Edward end up having a chance meeting with Selim Bradley, King Bradley's adopted son. While the importance of this meeting is a little difficult to gauge at this point, it does make for some wonderfully tense and barbed scenes between the brothers and the Fuhrer himself, mixing Bradley's seemingly domestic bliss and his dark secrets and plans in a most unsettling way.

Despite perhaps not being the most important plot points of this episode, those scenes certainly stand out in an instalment that was otherwise more about moving the pieces on the proverbial chess board tactically, putting characters where they need to be for the next stage of the series. While this doesn't make for an episode quite as rip-roaring as we're perhaps used to with Brotherhood these days, it would be unfair to refer to it as a "lull" in the series - Even in its quieter moments, it manages to pull enough together to remain compelling on a week by week basis.