Episode 36, "Family Portrait"
*****SPOILERS*****
Synopsis: Hohenheim recalls the circumstances of his leaving his family. At Briggs, soldiers explore the underground tunnel Sloth had been digging and encounter a living shadow who kills them. While Olivier is trying to keep her act up with General Raven, the meeting is interrupted with news on the return of only a horse, with the arm of one of the soldiers still attached. Raven orders that Sloth be returned to the tunnel and it covered up. Miles keeps Kimbley busy, but is irritated by him. Olivier gets Raven to admit that the government had killed the Ishbalans "because they were a weak race" and fed up with his arrogance, she kills him and has him covered along with the hole. She reveals that another passage had been made into the tunnel by Edward. Kimbley visits Ed and Al at their prison cell with a guest in tow: Winry Rockbell.
Comments:
John Swasey always plays the best fathers, doesn't he? He plays Gendo Ikari in the Rebuild of Evangelion movies. He plays Hohenheim in this. Well, at least Hohenheim means well. Neither of them are going to win "father of the year", but for different reasons. I really enjoy Swasey's sort of distant, whistful, sad sound. Though I sort imagine Hohenheim with a deeper voice, this suits him just fine, for the reasons I mentioned, as well as it being clear the VA cares about this role. It's more than I can say for Scott McNeil's portrayal in the first series.
I really love Trisha's English VA, too. Though she doesn''t sound as sweet as the Japanese VA (who played sexaroid boomer Sylvie in episode 5 of Bubblegum Crisis, by the way), she seems very nurturing. She sounds very caring and I absolutely believe her love for her husband and children. She's one of those unsung good performances in both FMA dubs.
Olivier continues to be masterfully portrayed by Stephanie Young. When she's contemplative and calculating, she has this confident bemusement about her. When she's commanding her troops, it's a sound of complete control. When she's enraged, damn, she gives me chills. I really love her in the scene she kills General Raven. She's probably the best performer in this entire dub.
I still disliked Eric Vale's Kimbley. He really just sounds like he's trying way too hard to sound "wicked", but in a manner that doesn't seem very enthused, more just trying to come off as a type of "bad guy voice". He's clearly not having as much fun as the Japanese VA.
Unfortunately, Winry's returned at the end of this episode, which means more of Caitlin Glass' performance. Eh, I guess I can't be too upset, since she was improving somewhat. I'll just have to wait with open ears to hear if she'll remain decent.
Overall ENGLISH DUB Score:
3.5 out of 5