Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood 42

May figures out the secret to Scar's brother's research, while Hohenheim visits Lior.

Al: I am not a toy. Stop trying to put the wrong pieces together for your own amusement.

Summary:
Al wakes up and finds himself inside a house and in pieces. To carry Al, Scar's group had to disassemble him. May and Marcoh continue to mull over the book from Scar's brother, but they haven't gotten anywhere. Marcoh and Winry then turn their attention to reassembling Al, and this inspires May into breaking the bindings of the book to rearrange the pages. After spreading the pages out on the floor using the passages as clues, May connects the dots and reveals the Philosopher's Stone transmutation circle. Marcoh is disappointed that this is the secret and starts losing hope, but Al suggests that they turn the pages over. The group follows Al's instructions and May connects the dots once again, and this time it shows a different transmutation circle based on Xingese alchemy.

So this was a connect-the-dots puzzle book.

Kimblee to Pride : I know I look great in my pimp suit and scarf, but you don't have stare at me like that.

Meanwhile, Kimblee is walking through the mining tunnels trying to track down Scar's group, but he loses the tracks. Instead, Kimblee walks into a boarded-off side passage which led to the tunnel Sloth dug. In here Kimblee is approached by Pride's shadows, and Pride tells Kimblee to go back to Briggs and create bloodshed. Kimblee warns that it's not going to easy as the Brigg soldiers and disciplined and strong, but Pride states that they are going to use Brigg's strength to create the bloodshed.

Out of Mustang's subordinates, looks like Fuery got transferred to the worst location.

Back at the Briggs, Miles returns and informs Buccaneer and Falman that Ed, Kimblee, and Kimblee's two subordinates have gone missing. Later, Falman calls Breda who is out in the west. Breda tells Falman that there has been heavy fighting in the west and in the South where Fuery is stationed, Falman is frustrated that his side can do nothing while the bad guys are on the move. Somewhere underneath the Briggs mountains, Sloth has finished digging his tunnel.

Aren't you immortal? Why do you have to eat?

Walking on water is easy when you can transmute with your feet.

In Lior, the people are busy rebuilding their war-torn city. Rose and the roadside cafe owner serve up lunch to the workers, and during lunchtime they are approached by Hohenheim who is hungry from his travels. After filling up on Rose's soup, Hohenheim asks Rose and the cafe owner to lead him to old headquarters of the Sun religion. Rose and the cafe owner leads Hohenheim to an underground passage within the old headquarters. The passage is flooded with poisonous water, but Hohenheim builds a bridge with his alchemy and walks over the water. The passage eventually leads to the tunnel that Sloth had dug, and Hohenheim is quickly confronted by Pride's shadows. After several unsuccessful attempts to block Pride with his alchemy, Hohenheim stumbles back into the passage he came from and discovers that Pride's shadow cannot leave the tunnel. Now in a safe position, Hohenheim comments that Pride's form is reminiscent of Father's original form in a flask. Pride asks Hohenheim to come with him to Father, and Hohenheim states that he'll visit Father even if Father didn't ask. Hohenheim then walks back to the entrance warns Rose and the cafe owner not to let anyone go down the passage. Rose wonders what Hohenheim was doing inside the passage, and Hohenheim answers that he had declared war.

You can't get me. Na na na na na!

Up in the north, the guards on top of the Brigg's fortress spot columns of Drachma soldiers approaching through a blizzard. The Drachma soldiers are being aided by Kimblee, who tells the Drachma commander that he has forces inside the fortress who will cause chaos on the inside while the Drachma forces attack from the outside. The Brigg's forces quickly respond by loading up their cannons, and the two sides starts firing at each other.

While people in the south have learned about trench warfare, looks like these guys are still stuck in the 19th century with their marching columns, which is pretty much the worst formation you can have when going against artillery.

In a northern town, Zampano calls into Central to report that Marcoh is hiding among the slums of Asbec. After answering the call, Envy prepares to go up north to retrieve Marcoh.

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After the action episode last week, this week FMA:B is back in build-up mode once again. The good guys finally have some heading as to how to stop Father from destroying the country. I don't remember how Scar's group figured out the transmutation circles from the research, and I think I know the reason why: it was just not a very memorable moment. Flipping the pages and connecting the drawings was clever, but it's not especially notable when compared to all the other important moments in the series. For something that could prove to be the winning formula for the good guys, I was expecting a grander revelation. Maybe my expectations are just too high.

Other than connect the dots, this episode also featured Hohenheim's visit to Lior where things seemed to have calmed down after the Central/Homunculi induced conflict. The roles of Lior and Rose in the manga/FMA:B are very different from the first anime. In this series, Rose is just a side character trying to live in unstable times, and Lior is just a town trying to recover from a conflict. They other no other importance beyond that. As for Hohenheim, he is starting act against Father's plan, but at the same time he hasn't done much. The only part that I found interesting with the visit was that Pride's shadow cannot exit Sloth's tunnel. Based on what Hohenheim said, Pride's range is limited to the tunnels and Central. I guess there must be something special about the tunnels for Pride to extend his shadows this far. I don't know if this limitation of Pride will amount to anything though.

The episode ended what looked like a bad note with Drachma attacking Briggs and Envy coming after Marcoh once again, but the preview once again gave a lot away. I'm looking forward to the Marcoh vs. Envy battle though.