Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood - Episode 39

While the last episode of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood left us with Winry captured by Scar, who is on the brink of escaping his the clutches of his would-be captors once again, you couldn't help but feel that there was rather more to this scenario than first meets the eye.

Come this thirty-ninth instalment, those feelings are confirmed, as we're taken back a little way to see just what happened in that otherwise abandoned building before Scar's "escape". Needless to say those inverted commas are there for a reason, as Scar's big show of carrying off Winry is just that - A show to allow them both, along with Doctor Marcoh and May to escape from Kimblee and company's clutches.


While this plan appears to be successful (thanks in no small part to a rather well-timed blizzard which stops any pursuit Kimblee might otherwise have taken part in), once again that game of chess which has been shifting this way and that across recent episodes means that there's another sting in the tale for the Elric brothers, with news that Scar and friends' promise to escape to Fort Briggs might well be a death sentence in itself given the changed situation there. All hope appears to be lost, with no way of giving chase to let Winry and the like know what's going on... or is there? Sometimes being a soul attached to a suit of armour has its uses, and I guess a blizzard is one of them, although it seems that Alphonse is going to have more on his plate than just snow as he finds himself confronted with a decidedly uncomfortable vision.

While this could be thought of as a slower moving instalment after recent weeks, it is none the less full of fantastic moments - Winry's scene with the captured Scar was played out almost perfectly, the developments regarding Al and his body are a very interesting development, the game of chess between Bradley and his cohorts and the Elric brothers and their supporters never ceases to fascinate and entertain, and we even got a glimpse as to who the main players in the game being enjoyed by the Homunculus and their creator might be. In other words, the New Year break has done little to dim Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood's lustre.