Picking up where we left off . . .
Mustang and Hawkeye head down the bell tower and find a car so they can meet up with Havoc and Barry. We get another moment of great character work here. Hawkeye does thank Mustang.
Mustang's a serious man though, at least, when he has to be. And swear the way Hawkeye's glance hangs on him speaks so much about their relationship. But there are other corners of the internet dedicated to that, so . . .
Time to get back to the action. They find a car and meet up with Barry and Havoc, and they're quickly joined by Alphonse. There, they pursue Barry's Body (it makes sense in the story, trust me), and as they do, they deliver a bit of necessary exposition.
Exposition can weigh down your story if not integrated naturally (and by naturally, I mean it has to make sense for the characters to be telling each other this info. Remember, people in real life don't tell each other things they already know), and it's important to keep it short and interesting. The audience needs to be reminded that the monster is a homunculus, and the homunculi have ouroboros tattoos, and Alphonse is able to corroborate this information.
The delivery of this information works because it feels natural. This is new information to Mustang and the others, so it makes sense for Alphonse to explain it. I also think it's a nice detail that Mustang struggles to accept this info at first. That works because 1) it is natural to disbelieve something as crazy as a homunculus and 2) it allows for some conflict between characters so they can flesh out the ideas more, and 3) this disagreement allows the characters to repeat some of the information, highlighting it for the audience to remember. Really good bit of writing here.
The gang follows Barry's Body (again, this doesn't really need to make sense) to the secret laboratory #3. I love how they peer around the corner, each head comically stacking above the others. Fullmetal Alchemist does little bits of comedy like this so well. It's just another way to keep things interesting between all the action.
Mustang then gets another moment to shine here. He realizes that because the body ran back to the lab—a military lab—the corruption he's trying to sniff out must circle back to the military. Mustang is content with learning this information, and he knows he doesn't have permission to storm the premises, so he prepares to leave, but Barry goes rushing in after his body.
Mustang doesn't let this opportunity go to waste. He sees it as an easy opportunity to gain entrance to the secret lab, saying he's chasing a dangerous criminal (and he is. Both Barry and Barry's body are dangerous.)
I want to take a moment here and talk about the logic of this sequence. We've just covered a lot of distance. Only a few moments before, we were in a bell tower, fighting a homunculus, they were then hailed by Havoc and Barry, then joined by Alphonse, then following Barry and Barry's body to the secret lab. Which is exactly where the story needs them to be.
If your confused now, I don't blame you. But you know what. It makes sense. You're not confused when watching it. It's very clear how one moment leads to the next, how each piece of action was set up before, and how it adds to the story.
As they pursue Barry though the secret lab, the they need to split up. Mustang and Havoc go one way, Hawkeye and Alphonse another.
And now it's time for things to ratchet up again. With our team divided, our apprehension picks up again. We're literally wondering what's around the next corner because they're literally entering into a shadowy, underground labyrinth. And, because Fullmetal Alchemist doesn't waste a second of screentime, we soon find out.
Mustang and Havoc run into Lust. And she's got the tattoo, so, if we were paying attention, we know means she's a homunculus.
So much great information is delivered in the next few minutes I think I could write chapters on it, but things escalate quickly. Mustang, being ever the commanding officer, makes sure Havoc hasn't revealed any sensitive info about their jobs to Lust and then he demands if she knows anything about the murder of his friend Maes Hughes. Remember how that death was the domino that triggered so much of this action? Everything is interrelated!
Lust admits to knowing Hughes and taunts Mustang. So he shoots her.
"On your knees," he commands.
This would be brutal, but she can heal like all homunculus can, and she gets back to taunting him immediately.
"It's going to take more than your capable of to get me on my knees."
Hopefully all the kids watching miss all the sexual innuendo there, but it's here—and I appreciate it.
The action is picking up, and if we remember our writing lessons from before, we know that these beats need to alternate between tension and release. We need to worry about what's going to happen to our main characters, and then think things are going to be okay, and then fear they're going to get worse.
And boy, do they ever.
He shoots her again, and she turns her hands into claws and fights back.
She then shows them her philosopher's stone—which is probably a dumb thing to do. But bad guys always need to reveal their master plans so the audience can follow what's going on. So Fullmetal Alchemist acknowledges this.
Mustang comments: "I've got a funny feeling the only reason you're telling us this is because you don't plan on letting us live."
Some writers call this "hanging a lantern," meaning that if you have to do something that will stretch your audience's suspension of disbelief a bit too much, have a character address it in world. That makes it funny and more believable for the story.
Lust then slashes Mustang's gun, but he's quick to slip on his glove and is about to use his fire alchemy to attack. But then she breaks a water pipe and . . .
The alternating beats of action and tension are incredibly here. Mustang has power, then she's got the upper hand, and then we think he's going to get her and then. . .
Even though Mustang and Havoc have to flee, Mustang realizes he can convert the air and water in the room to hydrogen gas. There's some very good exposition here—Mustang has to explain his plan to Havoc because really, it's we, the audience, who need this info to understand what Mustang's doing—
And that's what he does.
I also love that it's Havoc who tosses in the ignition flame here. Just more teamwork from Team Mustang. These guys are so great. They need each other, and I love how they all help out and get a moment to shine.
The room turns to flames and Mustang and Havoc reenter. Mustang's got the upper hand now, and after all this action, the audience is ready to take a break.
We get a little bit of backstory about Ishval, and a quick intercut to show Hawkeye's worried. But she's a soldier first and carries on with the mission at hand, even though the sound of the explosion clearly troubles her.
Then we get some more light banter between Havoc and Mustang. Havoc makes fun of Mustang's inability to make flames because he's all wet, Mustang snaps back that his smoking will kill him, and somehow this light banter works. This, I'm not sure I can explain, but it does.
We think we can relax now, that Mustang's won. Because he's the hero and that's what heroes do (it's also what he just did with Gluttony back at the bell tower, so we thing we can assume. . . )
Mustang is certain he's killed Lust, but he warns Havoc to continue to keep an eye out.
"For all we know, she could still regenerate," Mustang tells Havoc. "So stay alert."
If there's a term for this, it's not hanging a lantern, but because Mustang said this, the astute audience member should know what's about to happen. But we're so caught up in the story at this point, we're don't realize what's about to happen.
So when Lust does regenerate and skewers Havoc, we're shocked. Her long, claw-like fingers slide right through him.
She taunts Mustang again, telling him Havoc's a gonner. But Mustang refuses to give up.
He shoots Lust again, and this time, wrenches the philosopher's stone from her chest.
Again, how quickly this story goes from Mustang winning, to Lust winning, to Mustang again. . .
This is what I think we need to learn from this. Alternate beats of worry and relief as things continue to get more intense and stakes rise.
Remember back when we thought Riza Hawkeye was going to die in the first part? She was just being strangled. And that's scary, sure, but that's not five finger blades through your back scary. This is what I mean by escalation.
Anyway, the music swells, Mustang is being heroic and victorious all over again. He runs to his fallen friend and prepares to use the philosopher's stone to heal him with medicinal alchemy.
But Lust still isn't beaten. She returns to their sexual innuendo joke ("it seems you should buy a girl dinner first, before you stick your hand in her chest.") Not the greatest line ever, but good to double back and return to story beats previously set up.
And now, she skewers Mustang too. Blood pools at his side and he falls.
She mentions something about being sad to do it, "him being a prime candidate and all." And if you've seen this show before, you'll know that line is important too, even though we don't need to pay attention to it now. It just shows how well these writers know what they're doing.
After shredding his ignition gloves, she leaves him to die, telling him she wants him to watch Havoc "bleed to death. And then you can die."
This moment is little, but it at least explains why Lust is leaving Mustang alive. It might seem stupid, but it works.
Now, maybe my critical readers are thinking, "she left him alive, so he's obviously gonna live!" But let me tell you, when you're emotionally locked into the show, when you've watched Mustang get the upper hand over her once, and then twice, and then lose badly both time, right now, all you're thinking is, "I can't believe it. She killed Mustang. She really did."
And you're going to have to turn into part three to find out how it ends.
Comments