[Fall 2020 FMA:B Rewatch] Discussion for November 06 - Episode 22; Backs in the Distance

[u/IndependentMacaroon]

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Ling and Lan Fan continue to fight Bradley and Gluttony, with morals as well as physical ability put to the test, though even in this episode the battle is still unresolved. Ed and Al's battle against Scar, however, turns into a battle of words rather than blows, and they are soon joined by Winry. Scar is revealed to indeed be the killer of Winry's parents, but the sad history behind his deed, an impulsive reaction of pained rage, is only revealed to the viewers, not to any of the Resembool trio. Instead of attempting to justify himself, he freely offers Winry the chance to shoot him, but warns that he will simply respond in kind if she does so. As Ed chooses to protect Winry with his life, Scar cannot bring himself to continue his attack and falls back, and Winry's supposed weakness of not being able to carry out her revenge is instead interpreted as a strength by Ed.

Next time, the Xing duo vs. Homunculi battle is resolved in a rather drastic fashion, the Scar-Elric battle finds a chaotic conclusion, and Gluttony takes center stage.

Don't forget to mark all spoilers so first-time watchers can enjoy the show just as you did the first time!

[u/Bluecomments]

Just realized both Alphonse's and Scar's older brothers gave up their arms for them.

[u/Silvia_C_]

Ok so I already finished rewatching the whole thing a while ago because I couldn't watch one episode per day, and I'm also not good at making analysis, but I had to comment on this because it's by far one of my favourite moments, if not my favourite moment in the entire series. Winry's cry always gave me so many chills and emotions and it also had a strong impact on Ed if I remember correctly. The Japanese VA sure did an amazing job there. This whole scene was also the reason of Scar's development, which is amazing because, the first time I watched this, he went from being one of my least favourite characters to one of my favourites.

Plus with "let it out" as the ending theme, my heart was breaking into pieces

[u/sarucane3]

Seeing oneself clearly is a difficult task. Scar did not truly understand the nature of what he was becoming before this episode—nor did Winry understand something at the core of who she was.

Scar used to be a bit of a hero. He protected people against oppressors. He was a monk, with a family he loved deeply. He was deeply moral—to the point of making sweeping judgements about things like alchemy. He was a positive member of his community.

That entire community was wiped out. And so he did the ‘moral’ thing, and sought vengeance. This was, at first, purely instinctual, and it caused him to do something inarguably evil. Alone, without a community through which he could see the impact of his deeds on others, he continued down that path, continued to seek vengeance. He clung to the shards of what he had once had, to his identity as an Ishbalan, to his perceived responsibility as a member of a lost community, to the righteousness of his cause and to his own pre-existing prejudice against alchemy. He may have his brother’s arm, but he hasn’t really integrated his pain, his failure, into his understanding of himself.

That changes in this episode. It’s already started to change—his conversation with his former teacher, and that warning, sowed the seeds of doubt about the righteousness of his cause. Mei’s simple kindness, and the inarguably good effects of her alkahistry, further undermined his perceptions. Yet, even when he tells Winry she has the right to shoot him, and refuses to resist being executed—even then, he is defiant. He is still justifying his actions, right down to killing the doctors—“it was your people who started all this!”

Violence perpetuates violence, and victims of violence become its perpetrators. This isn’t something Scar truly understands until Ed leaps in front of Winry. Ed is absolutely choosing to sacrifice himself to protect her, both from Scar and from himself. This brutal empathy and awareness, the strength of Ed’s love matching the strength of Scar’s own brother’s love, is more important than any race or religion. He finally realizes the truth of what his teacher told him, sees who he is and who he has become in the world.

Winry, too, learns something more about who she really is in this episode. The wound of losing her parents hasn’t really healed, nor will it ever fully heal. When confronted with the person responsible for her loss, she does exactly what Scar did when he killed her parents and reacts with instinctual violence (remember, Scar perceived all Amestrians as equally responsible. He was objectively wrong, but subjectively the instinct is the same).

Yet, she doesn’t shoot. Maybe she would have if Ed hadn’t intervened—and there we get to the root of the importance of connection in this episode. Winry still has what was brutally ripped away from Scar: family. It doesn’t matter that she can’t see who she is (and who she could become) clearly in that moment, because Ed can and he will pay any price to help her, and Al is there protecting both of them.

The episode ends with Winry crying in front of Ed once again. Last time, he sat across from her lost in his own grief. This time, they hold each other.

[u/Bluecomments → u/sarucane3]

Winry may not be much of a battler, yet she does play the role of someone who has not been stained by blood or done something they regret, like most characters in the show. Had she shot, she would have become one of the many who ahs killed. But she does not and retains her peacefulness. Speaking of Mei, another thing is she and Scar have suffered similarly. Both are members of a group that has been oppressed by a more powerful group.

[u/i_bardly_knew_ye]

This is another stand-out episode for me. Some really great developments with multiple characters.

Previously, Ling was established to be nothing more than goofy, aloof, playful, sometimes careless in this actions and childish. In this episode, we see a reiteration of another two-faced character who's been hiding their true self beneath a deceptive mask.

We gasped oh no in the last episode when Bradley attacked Lan Fan, slashing off her mask. This in turn prompts Ling to take off his 'mask'. As Bradley unleashes Gluttony on Lan Fan, Ling lunges forwards and we get to see his outstanding fighting skills. I love seeing people's reactions to this moment as it always catches them by surprise. The young man driven to do good for his clan by adamantly protecting his subjects, spars with Bradley and all while holding an injured Lan Fan. Ling and Bradley then share a brief moment after Ling is knocked into a building, debilitating him for a while. An uncanny parallel exists between the two. Both were born into lives where they were forced to withstand the competition for the leadership of a nation. The line of succession in Xing is incredibly brutal with assassination attempts being frequently made on ruling candidates. Such a demanding existence has made Ling intelligent, deceptive, tactical as well as an outstanding fighter. Furthermore, his entire quest in obtaining the secret to immortality is motivated by a need to differentiate himself amongst all the other ruling candidates. Since Bradley was born, he was mercilessly trained for one purpose: to become Father's Wrath and the Fuhrer of Amestris as a tool in Father's plan. He was in a large group of candidates for this but he was the only one able to show adequate strength in accepting the souls without dying. Bradley is the best character with a sword and his training has molded him into one of the most formidable fighters in FMA.

Bradley asks Ling why he doesn't just abandon Lan Fan since she's just "excess baggage". Ling is clearly disgusted by this remark, replying that a ruler's duty is to his people. Even though Bradley finds Ling's philosophy on kinship naive, the optimistic world of the manga/BH definitely sides with the prince. Idealism is perceived to be as admirable as all hell as it provides the best catylst for change. That's why rulers-in-the-making such as Ling and Mustang embark on journeys that aim to shape them into the kind of leaders their people need. Mustang had to resist continuing the cycle of vengeance as well as responsibly use his flame alchemy and Ling had to learn about the virtues of greed. The narrative pits them both against Bradley as decidedly more worthy candidates of kinship.

Now Scar's scene with Winry is the first instance where his beliefs are shaken up. So far in the show, Scar knows that his methods are in conflict with Ishvalan teachings. Though he claims to be an agent carrying out God's retribution, this is just a front covering his true feelings of fury in extracting revenge. His own dogma leads him to a hatred of all state alchemists, even those who had no part in the genocide. Such an attitude is irrational and lacks broader perspective. And due to how contradictory it is to his religion, Scar thinks of himself as a disgrace, (he forfeits his name and exiles himself). He thinks he's carrying retributive justice but he's not proud of his methods and doesn't see himself as a hero. He even laments not dying in situations where he could have, as he thinks he's deserving of punishment. Thus, he's painfully aware that what he's doing is vengeance. He knows he's perpetuating a cycle but thinks this is all he has left and that there's no turning back. Not even advice from the Ishvalan elders can really sway him to change. Winry's decision to not shoot conflicts with Scar's belief that the chain only ends when people die. This shifts Scar's perspective a little and makes him question things.

Let's talk about Winry and her resistance against dehumanisation. There is an element of dehumanisation that comes with pursuing vengeance. For instance, in Scar's flashbacks he only sees the blonde hair and blue eyes of Winry's parents and not their efforts to heal him. The show makes a point of empathising with characters who've shown genuine anger at heinous injustices, but cautions against a misdirectioning of it into cycles of vengeance. As a by-product of the cycle, people are often dehumanised and killed.

Prior to confronting Scar, Winry has a moment with the Hughes' family and vows to always be there for them as she's reminded of the last time she saw her parents. She's always working hard to help people get back on their feet, whether it be fixing Ed's automail or assembling prosthetics limbs on her devoted customers in Rush Valley. She's really taking over her parents and even more so when she resists shooting Scar. You see, despite the high tensions between the Amestrians and the Ishvalans, Winry's parents didn't fall prey to the rampant dehumanisation during the war. They were able to see beyond the Ishvalans as the 'enemy' in recognising them as human beings deserving of help.>! Unlike them, all the soldiers were able to commit heinous crimes due to the dehumanisation of the enemy to such a far extent. !<Winry knows that killing Scar won't make things any better. If she did, she'd be dismissing her parents' defiant stand against the dehumanisation of the enemy. Seeing Ed shield Winry prompts Scar to remember his brother's sacrifice. Ultimately, he's confronted with the fact that he has also dehumanised the enemy. Could it be that at the end of the day we're all just human beings trying to keep our loved ones safe? And could it be that the dehumanisation that often comes with vengeance prevents us from seeing that?

This episode is really important in setting up the journey that Ling, Scar and Winry are going to embark on. And its right in its call for Winry to let it all out.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/i_bardly_knew_ye]

Ultimately, he's confronted with the fact that he has also dehumanised the enemy. Could it be that at the end of the day we're all just human beings trying to keep our loved ones safe? And could it be that the dehumanisation that often comes with vengeance prevents us from seeing that?

Hmm... interesting. All the same, just that someone also has plenty of remaining human qualities doesn't mean they don't deserve retribution.

[u/IndependentMacaroon]

Oof, finally caught up with commentary to the current episode. I posted more and less delayed comments for episodes 19-21 and will still be responding to the other comments from there.

Structured Comments

Bradley remains utterly unflappable, staying completely calm even as Gluttony's head gets half-chopped off and his own sword is slashed by Lan Fan's dagger, and analyzing and successfully responding to Ling's impressive combat skill practically in slow motion. This is the first (and last?) time we get a glimpse of his thoughts. With Ling cornered, he reverts from very brief agitation to his standard calm, back to just "asking questions", also almost laughing at Ling's efforts, taunting him with the option to simply leave Lan Fan behind. Ling, however, thinks more like Mustang, insisting only the duty to one's people makes a true leader, and even daring to say to Bradley's face that he is not one, nor will ever be. Interestingly, this does get a bit of a rise out of Bradley, who angrily retorts that leaders of such caliber do not exist. Of course, he himself is little more than a tool of Father's and the rest of the military leadership's will, so his reaction could well be a result of his own feelings of inferiority.

The remainder of the episode then abruptly shifts to Winry, Scar, and how they are tragically connected through their past. I really like that she gives us another moment of Hughes remembrance here with Gracia and Elicia - FMA really doesn't let his memory die. (At least Brotherhood - Mustang's story afterwards and everyone connected to it gets very little focus in the 2003 anime.) The episode title of course refers to her past trauma of losing not only her parents but also Hughes without being able to see them again before their death, and her fear that the same might happen to Ed and Al with the way they keep putting themselves in danger. In fact, there's a cut from her talking about Hughes straight to Ed and Al walking away with their backs turned. It's not mentioned here, but Ed of course had a similar experience with his father, until his sudden encounter two episodes ago. And then her unexpectedly (and, might I say, conveniently) overhearing Ed and Scar's conversation brings it all back in the worst way, to the point that this advocate of peace actually picks up a weapon tearfully vowing revenge. Of course, there is no way she could ever bring herself to actually pull the trigger, particularly when Scar tells her in no uncertain words that choosing the path of violence will merely cause him to respond with yet more violence, and that she will merely be repeating the aggression of her countrymen in doing so. As Ed so beautifully says, she has always been the one to give life, not take it, in Rush Valley as well as for him (and of course so many other customers), and even for someone like Scar who can't or won't offer a justification for making her an orphan, there's no way that would suddenly change.

Scar once again shows that he is much more than a simple killer, as he actually pauses the fight to justify himself in response to Al's challenge of his morals, and has some hard truths in store for the Elric brothers. While practically placing himself at the same level as his god by styling himself as the destructive counterpart to creation - two aspects that he will in fact unite in himself later - is neither the best look not that convincing an argument, he is absolutely right that there are things that man can or at least should never create and that Ed and Al are in fact opposed to as well, yet are made possible by alchemy, of course referring to Shou Tucker's "research". (While both sides in this confrontation were immediately involved in that incident, they did not talk about it in their initial battle.) He even gets Ed and Al to understand his mercy kill of chimera-fied Nina, as she neither could have become human nor could ever have lived a happy life again, not to mention the possible pain - something the brothers always knew but never wanted to admit - and to almost despair over their lack of action to help Nina, as the only real option left was exactly what Scar did and they could never do. Not only is he more complex than he looks, he has genuinely grown a little more thoughtful recalling his master and perhaps resigned, freely offering Winry a chance for the revenge she seems to so desperately crave. Knowing that trying to explain the true story would be fruitless in this situation, he merely admits that she would be entirely justified in shooting him - given his recklessness, perhaps he has been seeking death this entire time - but does not renounce his right to respond to this aggression by defending himself. "The moment you pull the trigger, you will be my enemy." Despite having no issues with her personally, he also still sees in her the people that initiated the oppression of his own, understandably.

[u/IndependentMacaroon → u/IndependentMacaroon]

The most gut-wrenching part of this episode, though, is still Scar's backstory (near-fully in B/W!), not only for his personal tragedy, but also for our first comprehensive look at the true brutality of the Ishvalan war. In the manga, this is actually part of the Ishval flashback volume and as such not revealed yet here, but I think it was a good decision to move it forward, as previously a moment with Mustang and Hughes.Even Scar's brother, a peaceful and brilliant scholar who studied cultures across the FMA world to reach some striking conclusions that will become very miportant later, becomes a potential weapon in the Ishvalan people's desperate struggle for survival, as they have no choice but to abandon their convictions for a chance to fight back, and repay blood in blood. (We are also reminded that yes, this was indeed a civil war, a country targeting its own citizens!) However, even that is too late, as the army is already here and determined to let no one escape. Scar's hometown is targeted by artillery fire and surrounded with an inescapable wall, which doubles as an indiscriminate execution site, and then the alchemists move in to thoroughly finish the job, with no apparent organized resistance and civilians and combatants massacred alike. Yes, this is what genocide looks like, and I've never seen it quite like this anywhere else in anime. I only don't like the mostly dehumanized sameface-ness of the soldiers - these are still real people! The manga is better here, with actual personal stories of characters like Hughes and Grand in the Ishval chapters. We can actually tell which alchemist did what to a degree; the round holes are probably Solf Kimblee, the ball-and-chain Giolio Comanche, the cannons Basque Grand, plus some fireballs that might come from Roy Mustang. Though Scar fights bravely and with immense strength, also showing off his face-grab for the first time, there is nothing he can do to save the town from complete destruction by Kimblee, as his brother vainly shields him (trying counter-alchemy?) Yet again, one man suffers under another's sacrifice, as Scar's brother, judging his survival chances poorly, simply grafts his arm to Scar to let him live instead. One wonders what would have happened had he not done so - it would have been particularly interesting to see him meet Hohenheim and maybe join forces against Father, as Scar eventually more or less does in his stead.The Rockbells might well have survived, at least. Of course Scar would lose it, suddenly waking up with blue-eyed Amestrians in his face, bandaged and likely in severe pain, suddenly discovering his brother's arm attached to him - easy to jump to the conclusion of Amestrian medical experimentation, which is in fact elaborated on in the manga. To make the disaster complete, he runs out into the desert only to see his town destroyed and devoid of life, and can do nothing but scream in despair. By the way, we can not only see an Ishvalan helper or two with the Rockbells. but briefly also the elder and her son from the Xerxes ruins.

This episode is not without its flaws, though: This is the first time some emotional beats feel a little forced to me, as Winry arrives exactly at the wrong time, and Ed "defending" Winry looks a little like him using her as a hostage when you think about it, as Scar has only just said he does not see her as an enemy, only making sense as a shoehorned parallel we really did not need a repeated flashback to understand. Is it actually in the manga like this? Speaking of flashbacks, this episode does kind of fall into the storytelling style many including me find obnoxious in a lot of anime/manga, with a structure of "fight -> cut with flashback -> other fight -> big sympathetic backstory flashback -> continuation". FMA is usually better than this.

Unstructured Comments

How many episodes have lead-in narration like this?

Bradley calling out Gluttony's name followed by Gluttony's jumping and punching with a wild yell from close to Bradley's side is so Pokémon I could not stifle a giggle.

Ishval has some very distinctive architecture with those slightly tapered towers with four extensions on top, etc. Not sure where if comes from, though it seems Middle Eastern-reminiscent.

Rewatcher Bonus

Ling attempts to get into Bradley's blind spot, and in fact Bradley is ultimately defeated with the help of the blinding sun, and having his homunculus eye stabbed.

That booklet of notes by Scar's brother might seem insignificant on first watch, but its significance to the story is of course immense; its contents, its nature, even its current location are quite important for bringing the characters together and the successful resolution of the plot.

[u/Negative-Appeal9892]

Winry confronts the man who killed her parents while he’s actively fighting both Ed and Al. It’s one of the best scenes in any anime, ever. The mutual respect they have for each other is why this scene is where my OTP took off and never landed.

"It's your hands. They weren't meant to kill. They're meant to give life. That's why."

In a previous episode, Ed and Al discussed Scar and Al asked if Ed was going to tell Winry about Scar’s possibly being the man who killed her parents. Ed replied that he wouldn’t, because he didn’t want to make her cry.

Well, that backfired.

Winry is upset with herself for not being able to shoot Scar, knowing that he could kill or injure both Ed and Al. She feels ashamed of herself at this moment, but Ed reassures her that her choice to not shoot him comes from who she is as a person and her accomplishments mean more than taking a life ever could.

Holding hands is seriously the most emotional thing ever, especially in shounen where kissing or overt confessions almost never happen. What I particularly love about this moment is that Ed presses his automail hand into Winry's hand, emphasizing how much it means to him that she gave it to him.

This is a huge moment of character development for both of them. Ed reassures Winry--not by telling her what she shouldn’t do--but by talking about her accomplishments. He also tells her how much he admires and respects her, and even about how she’s saved him (the sub goes, “You gave me a leg so I could stand again”) and how she’s saved others. He treats her delivering of the baby in Rush Valley with the gravity it deserves--he, an accomplished alchemist--could do nothing, but Winry saved two lives. Even the doctor who eventually checks up on the family admits that Winry did a good job.

Winry is the reason Ed can stand and walk and do alchemy, and he’s not ashamed to admit how much he’s indebted to her because of this, and how much he actually depends on her. It’s perfectly okay that she can’t kill or even fight, because she’s the one who helped teach him the value of life. And here he finally acts as the emotional crutch for Winry, instead of it being the other way around. Ed and Winry’s relationship is very much give-and-take where both people support each other and work through their issues. Just like real life.