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Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood Ep 41 Reaction, "The Abyss"

🕑 Added 2022-10-18 03:41:47 +0000 UTC

Comments

Sam Revlej

The great thing about this show is that when it presents big philosophical questions and provides an answer through the characters, it's never framed as being the only answer. Different people have different experiences which give them different perspective. Ideally, we want to adhere to Ed and Al's no killing rule, but we can understand Major Miles' position and his practicality. It doesn't mean we'd know what to do in their place, but it allows for moral complexity, and not in the cliché "everyone has a dark side" way.

Jon

All this talk of tunnels and the underground and I haven’t heard a single secret tunnel reference lol.

fr0st

Just checking in, are we still getting the next episode of TOH soon, Kenny, or later this week or something? No worries either way, just to keep an eye out for the context I'm looking forward to the most

Void Weaver

I love all the moral quandaries this show brings about and can't wait to see your Enemy Music video reaction.

cosmotron

In conjunction with that, I think it's important to remember that the only thing separating Al from the souls in the philosopher's stone is the fact that he has a body. If we believe that Al is a person (which of course we do), even when he's just a soul in a metal shell, then every soul within the shell of a philosopher's stone is the same. And should be treated as such.

Jaime

I like your reactions specially when you come up with interesting ideas and views points. However, I'm afraid you won't enjoy the show if you over analyze every small detail. Maybe I feel you're looking for perfection sometimes

Letts React

Ah basically we asked them in the wrong order haha

fr0st

Huh, a little glitch with the questions, Kenny. You said lets go to the final question and then that's it for the questions right after that.

fr0st

A fun question about morality is that in this moment, Ed is saving his own life, but what if it was someone he loved like Winry or Al dying in front of him

MegumiMary

Ed using his own life-force in this sequence is one of my favorite moments

Danny C

Exactly. The rule between Ed and Al was that they wouldn’t use a stone to get their bodies back, but Ed had to use the stone to get out of Gluttony. But also worth noting that when he did use the souls from Xerxes, he thanked them, so even though he used other people, he still viewed them as people, rather than pure energy like other people who use the stones in the show.

Jerry Ferrell

The dilemma definitely reminds me of what Aang went through at the end of book 3. I do think ideals only have real value when they’re accompanied by action. While compromising your beliefs shouldn’t be the first course of action, I don’t think you can really wait for “another way.” If you don’t have the power to hold onto those beliefs , you need to actively find a way to do so, especially if the alternative is other people paying the price for your beliefs. Also it’s interesting to see that a lot of people see Ed’s ideals as naive and nobody really believes it’s possible for such ideals to hold out.

cosmotron

While it's true that Ed's actions got him hurt here, and I think it's important that he had to face those consequences, I also appreciate how balanced the story is about this situation. Ed says himself: "If this is the cost of showing mercy then I guess I'm going to have to learn to pay the price." I also think it's important to remember that Ed's issue with killing wasn't just about Kimblee, but also the two chimeras with him. They already have good reason to think the chimeras could be in a situation that makes them forced to comply, so killing them is a pretty different matter than killing Kimblee. I like that the show treats what could have been throwaway 'goon' characters as people with their own thoughts and agency. And, it's Ed's choice to spare the Chimera that also helps save him in the end. He saved their lives, and it was because of this compassion that they save him too. I like that.

Christopher Collier

Nice shirt Kenny! Where’d you get it?

Ethan Honza

I’m sure most people have already thought this, but even if Heinkel (the Lion) had found the Stone before Ed healed himself, I don’t think Ed would have used it, even if he was desperate. He would still choose to shorten his own life over using the Philosopher’s Stone, I think.

Chelly

this is really random, but Fullmetal is supposed to be one word. You’ve been spelling it like Full Metal. Doesn’t matter or anything, just wasn’t sure if you actually knew lol