Well, that was quick. Early on, I compared Father to an insanely-hard SNK boss, only to be corrected by somebody here who said he was actually more like a Capcom boss. Said user (whose handle I unfortunately can't recall) told me I'd have to wait and see how and I suppose I understand, now. Father was a big, screen-sized monster who soaked up a lot of dumb hits, and once he assumed his final form, all he needed was a fast hyper-special to be taken down. It's like the end of X-MEN VS. STREET FIGHTER all over again!
Speaking of leveling up, it was so good to see Ed finally sack up and destroy Pride instead of waiting for Mustang to do it for him. Although, I did feel like Kimblee’s presence was a wee unnecessary;complicating and diminishing what should've been Ed’s moment alone. Of course, Selim's annihilation yields some interesting tidbits about the homunculi's nature along the way, suggesting that he, Envy and Greed of a closer breed. His true form's a fetus instead of slug, of course, but he's still looking for host to prolong his unnatural life (also proving right my suspicion that this monster stole a kid’s body and froze it in place.)
Once again, I can't help wondering if the authors might've intended some symbolism to underlie all this, because there's definitely some ripe identity metaphors in the rejuvenated Father's resemblance to human Al (if he were hitting the weights and the juice, of course.) They're certainly being precise about the symbolism in the magic, what with Hohenheim's patiently-constructed countermeasure being some kind of inverted pentagram and all. I'm still seeing some shared currents with FAUST and FROM HELL, and am thus curious as to what specific occultist texts they must all be drawing from.
Wrath has been vanquished, at last, after a whole hell of a lot of effort on everybody's part. It's certainly a fitting way for him to address his feelings on his wife in such a tacit way and to indulge in some understated fatalism about his fate. However much of a monster he is, I’m sure the notion that his life’s been set on rails (an allusion to his assassination attempt!) would give him some pause in these final moments. His death scene elicits some real empathy, if not sympathy, and doing that without compromising the character in a schmaltzy way... that's a tough narrative accomplishment.
Watch this episode “He Who Would Swallow God,” 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
