TRY NOT TO DIE

The scene where Bradley and Hawkeye talk while drinking tea often gets interpreted by fandom as Bradley subtly bullying Hawkeye for not being able to be together with the person she loves, while he can. I disagree.

And it is not even the case that she is not able to marry. She can. With just one simple trick she can have that: quit her job. She chooses not to for obvious reasons.

I think the scene is way more about Bradley and his humanity than it is about Hawkeye’s shitty love life. And about choices. Bradley asks Riza’s opinion on her head of state and son being homunculi. She tells him that she thinks it is sad that his family is a lie when his family is something that the people of Amestris deeply believe in. It’s sad to her that he is playing pretend at being human. 

He agrees he plays pretend. None of his position and achievements he earned on his merit. He plays pretend at being a dictator too. He gives the orders but does not come up with them. His whole life has been pre-planned for him. Bradley publically having a son was planned for him. 

But he chooses his wife. He does not pretend that. He loves her. It’s his human side shining through. Hawkeye is upset about the state of her country and that its leader is a monster. But here Bradley displays something so human to her, in loving his wife. And yeah that is shocking to her. Up until now, the protagonists have only thought of the homunculi as evil monsters that are nothing like themselves that need to be destroyed. But they are similar. Both of them have feelings, desires and families.

To Hawkeye, Bradley was on top of the country in the ultimate position of power making the decisions. But it turns out he was not in control at all and did not choose this life. Hawkeye did choose her life’s path and all the murders she committed are a result of that. So who is the real monster now?

I am a raccoon biologist and one of the few people in the state allowed to take in captive bred raccoons that had been possessed illegally. The raccoon in the photos is Moonshine, but she is currently at the animal sanctuary where I work as I had been quarantining multiple new intakes from an abuse case. I still have two males (Rum Tum Tugger and Electra) left in my home enclosure as we are getting them neutered and then hopefully sending them to an AZA accredited zoo.

X-Files