Synopsis
Scar, Lust, Gluttony, and Greed are zeroing in on Laboratory Five -- but the biggest threat to Ed may be his own morality when he's tempted with the power he's sought for so long.
Full Synopsis
With Al doubting himself, he is no longer able to dodge the attacks of Barry, who continues to taunt him about his soul being artificially created. Just as Al questions about Barry having his memories when he was alive, the two notice someone jumping off the gate into the field. Barry declares all he cares about is carving people up and states he is who he is as he charges at the newcomer over confidently, ready to carve this person up. However, Barry is unaware that this person is actually Scar, who grabs his hand to avoid being carved up and states that Barry doesn't need to prove his existence because very soon he won't even exist after all. Destroying Barry's right arm, Scar recognizes him as a hallow like Al and is ready to finish off Barry, stating he'll find peace with God. Seeing Scar's tattoo, Barry pretends to know what it is to distract Scar long enough to set off a hidden bomb. In doing so, it completely releases the seal on the homunculus Greed, who was stored below the fifth laboratory and he quickly awakens, happily removing the remaining bonds from his body. The destruction Greed causes also releases the electronic locks in another part of the underground facility as Greed offers for anyone to come with him as the human chimeras imprisoned there see him.
Back outside, Scar wakes up, discovering that Al protected him from the rubble and they watch as Barry escapes. He taunts Scar to come in to learn the secret of his tattoo. Scar rushes inside, with Al following him closely behind. Back at the location of Ed and the Slicer brothers, Ed learns the explosives are for destroying evidence and the older Slicer Brother mentions while he doesn't know everything, he can guide Ed where he needs to go. Worried about the younger Slicer brother, the two admit there is no point in living with their hollow body in bad shape and even if they became human again, they would be executed due to them being mass murderers. Despite his efforts, Ed can only watch hopelessly as the younger Slicer brother destroys his blood rune, ending his life. After the older brother responds to what happened, Ed becomes determined not to let Al go through this, takes the helmet, and heads out.
Next door at the Central Prison, the guards outside see the smoke from the lab, while the ones inside question the tremors as they mention their orders to let out several prisoners for a military experiment. The former Crimson Alchemist Solf J. Kimblee, who has a life sentence, mentions the tremor was likely a bomb inside his cell. Kimblee is excited, having been reminded of the explosions he created from the war crimes he committed on friend and foe alike in the Ishval Civil War as he is removed from his cell. Envy—-under the disguise of Brigadier General Grand—-is in charge of escorting the prisoners. Lust is happy with this being able to complete their mission, only to learn from Gluttony that Greed is loose, signaling that they need to hurry before further interruptions can occur.
While traveling with the older Slicer brother, Ed learns there are no more traps due to no one getting past them before, and just as he asks who bonded his soul to the helmet, a group of chimeras attack. Ed has difficulty fighting them off due to his injures from his fight he had with the Slicers earlier. The chimeras are called off by a whistle, which turns out to be Mr. Tucker, now fused with a chimera body, despite having been officially executed three years ago. Ed is shocked to see Tucker alive and still bitter for what he did to his daughter Nina, but Ed finds that Tucker understands how he feels.
Meanwhile, Scar walks through the hallway, followed by Al, who politely wishes for the scarred man to stop hunting down Ed. Scar conveys to Al that he considers his tattooed arm as a sign to kill state alchemists. Al responds all Ed wants with the Philosopher's Stone is to restore him to normal. Disputing the danger of the stone, Al mentions Ishval having been destroyed for getting too close to the stone. Anguished, Scar reminisces the day he confronted his brother for breaking the taboo of using alchemy for human transmutation. Fast forward to during the war, his brother came out of his house, naked with his body marked with transmutation symbols, insanely questioning why Ishvala forbade alchemy and believes that Ishval was destined to be destroyed as Scar watched him walk off in horror. Comforting Scar, Al admits he and Ed only came to the fifth laboratory to confirm if the stone uses human sacrifices, but Lust and Gluttony arrive, interrupting their conversation. Scar demands Lust to tell him if his brother ever succeeded in bringing her back. Confused, Lust states she has no idea on what he is talking about. Al asks who are the two mysterious figures and Scar answers that they are homunculi.
Questioning Tucker about his death being faked and the unconventional alchemy skills he has learned since then, Ed demands that Tucker tell him who is in charge of the fifth laboratory. To Ed’s horror, Tucker's goal is to create a new chimera body for Nina which is why he wound up in his current form for trying to bring her back to life with it still being one step away to completing his research. Tucker then shows Ed a room which has a large amount of the refined red water from Dr. Marcoh's research. Tucker points out these uncompleted red stones are powerful, similar to the power that Cornello and Mugear previously used against Ed, and will be completed once it receives even greater power. As Lust and Gluttony attack Scar and Al, Tucker reveals to Ed that no ordinary alchemist can create the stone. Ed realizes that he is capable of being able to complete it.
Trivia and See Also
- This episode is adapted from content in Chapter 12: The Definition of Human and Chapter 13: Fullmetal Body.
- Fullmetal Alchemist screenwriter Sho Aikawa decided to expand upon the Fifth Laboratory story with this episode. This included adding characters such as Scar, Greed and Kimblee in order to engage viewers and set up future plotlines.
- The main goal of this episode was to portray parallel storylines (such as Ad/Scar, Ed/Tucker), in order to make the narrative more interesting.
- Episode 8: The Fifth Laboratory (2009 series)
Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 Anime episodes | |
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