I was largely (if not totally) on the mark regarding Father and Hohenheim's unholy relationship… and it feels vindicating. For the life of me, I can’t recall what the actual name is, but there’s a creature in Tibetan Buddhism’s esotery that monks create as dopplegangers of themselves through sheer will and imagination. Father isn’t precisely that, but he’s quite close. Even if there's no Tibetan mysticism, here, this episode actually did feature a lot more traditional occultism than we’ve seen so far. Father’s form prior to his “incarnation” is actually what homunculi look like in “real" alchemy - - that is, a mess of flesh in a glass bowl.
The pieces of the puzzle are locking together. This time, the callback isn’t as obtuse as all these re-appearances of military personnel have been. I actually do remember that episode where the Alchemical kids came across the ruins of Xerxes (Greece?) and wondered aloud about the summoning circle mosaic there. I'm sure if I re-watched it, there'd be probably lots of "Oooohs" and "Ahhhhs" on my part now that I could understand what all the cryptic dialog was alluding to.
Obviously, something fishy went on with Hohenheim’s marriage. I get the significance of those cryptic conversations he and his wife had about him being a "monster," but I also remember there being some idle comments about him not being able to conceive. Thus, I’ll reiterate my theory that Ed & Al were created through alchemy. Maybe my imagination’s still too captured by the whole notion of Sidious creating Anakin Skywalker with unnatural Sith magic, but my theory would certainly offer a hell of an explanation for why these two kids happen to be such good alchemists at such an early age.
I couldn't tell how serious Mustang was in his request, but seeing him get shot down by Olivier was a hoot. And, man, the cypher he and Hawkeye use was pretty brilliant, but anybody who was listening in on them at the cafeteria must've thought they were the most redundant conversationalists ever with all the names they were repeating, again and again.Watch this episode, “The Dwarf in the Glass”,” below and decide for yourself, then read my comments on the previous episode here.
Tom Pinchuk’s the writer of HYBRID BASTARDS! & UNIMAGINABLE . Order them on Amazon here & here . Follow him on Twitter: @tompinchuk
