Perhaps it's because this episode covers a single chapter rather than two and I'm used to the faster pace, but this episode seemed so bloated and dragged out. I understand lengthening the action for excitement purposes, and it worked, it was pretty awesome, but some of those other bits were just death. This episode was just not that great in the big picture.

Pretty much every scene with Roy Mustang in it was entirely worthless. Since he never deals with Pride, there's no reason to show him getting information about Selim. We'll never see Madam Christmas again, so acknowleding that she's Roy's adoptive mother is also a waste. The scene with him meeting with his subordinates is another thing that should have happened off-screen, but is played here for cheap sentimentality, your basic "don't die" speech from a shonen hero. Okay, the scene in itself doesn't bother me, but in concert with the previous scene it did. And did we really even have to see Roy and the gang kidnap the president's wife, too? Not only has this not sprung any kind of fruit in the manga thus far (105 chapters in), but cutting it down to them getting into the car would have made the same point just as easily as showing exactly how they did it. And since two of these scenes cut into the fight with Pride, it was extra annoying.

Speaking of the fight with the homunculi, it was good to see Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist, the main character of the story, actually do something that made some sort of difference (hope you like it, since you won't see him do anything of significance for quite a while). I liked his idea of imitating Greed by hardening his automail via the carbon elements in it. Still, though, why didn't Pride just continue at him? Eventually Edward would have lost his stamina and Pride would easily have been able to overcome him. I also wonder exactly what it is that swallowing Gluttony does for Pride, since in pitch dark he can't even use his abilities, so what good does it do to be able to find them with smell? If anything, he should have taken Alphonse while he had the chance and reorganized a new strategy, maybe bring Kimbley in or something. And poor Gluttony! I really did feel bad for him in the end.

The Xingese do kick ass, but boy are their abilities ever convenient to the point of annoyance. I still feel like they belong in a different series altogether most of the time. I can't wait for Greed to claim Ling's body again and for Ranfan and Fu to make their exit again. I know I'm probably in the minority, but these guys irritate the shit out of me, I don't care how much ass they kick. In fact, that's the whole problem with them, as soon as they arrive, they kick all the ass and nobody else really has the chance to.