Tropes present in this episode include:
- Adaptation Distillation: In the manga, at the same time that Al and co. fight Lust, Lan Fan and Ling battle Envy and Gluttony, before Pride (who is only heard by voice, not seen) breaks it up by calling off the latter pair. This fight is completely omitted from the anime, with Al instead promising to tell Ling what he wants to know after he gets back before simply leaving him in his hotel room with Winry. In addition to causing a minor plot hole (see below), this also leaves Envy and Gluttony (who are often, especially the latter, seen together with Lust) mysteriously absent in the anime during the time that Lust is fighting Mustang's group.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
- The omission of Ling's and Lan Fan's above-mentioned fight with Envy and Gluttony creates a minor one. In the manga, this fight was where they learned about the Homunculi's ability to regenerate, which is why the two of them agreed to help the Elrics try to capture a Homunculus in the following chapters/episodes as part of their search for immortality. Since this fight does not occur in the anime, it is left unexplained how the two of them know about the Homunculi's regenerative ability, though there is the implication that they may have heard the Elrics talking about at least some of it when they came into their room through their window.
- The fight also explains why the Xingese can sense a nearby Homunculus (Lan Fan mistakes Envy for a huge group of people bunched up together until she realizes they are only one individual with a bunch of souls inside) and why they initially don't realize that King Bradley is a Homunculus (he only has one soul left in his body, so the Xingese don't notice anything usual). In the anime, it's simply explained as the Humunculi have a foul chi sense.
- Berserker Tears → Heroic BSoD: Riza when she believes that Lust killed Roy.
- Big Damn Heroes: Mustang returning and roasting Lust before she can kill Alphonse and Hawkeye.
- Bond Villain Stupidity: Rather than simply finishing off both Mustang and Havoc when she has the chance, Lust decides to prolong their deaths and make them more painful by letting them slowly bleed to death (with Mustang having to watch Havoc bleed out first before he does so). As a result, she leaves them alone, which allows Mustang to cauterize his wound and come after her, and also save Havoc in time.
- Character Death: Lust and Barry the Chopper.
- Eyecatch: Jean Havoc and Lust.
- Graceful Loser: Somewhat surprisingly, Lust.Lust: You killed me. I hate to lose... but there are worse ways to die than at the hands of a man like you.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Lust; her failing to kill Mustang thanks to Bond Villain Stupidity (see above) gives Mustang the chance to recover, pursue her, and ultimately kill her instead.
- Barry is killed when his mindless real body rubs his blood seal off of his armor, causing them both to die.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Lust to both Mustang and Havoc, but more notably the latter, whom she impales through the spine.
- Kill It with Fire: How Roy finally finishes off Lust: blasting her with his flame alchemy over and over until she dies.
- Left for Dead: After Lust stabs and badly wounds both Roy and Jean, she leaves them to bleed to death while she takes care of Riza and Al.
- Out of Focus: Ed only shows up in the final scene, with the rest of the episode focusing on Team Mustang and Al.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: Mustang lets one out before he starts to fry Lust.Mustang: Well spoken! I couldn't agree more.
- Scooby Stack: When Team Mustang is about to sneak into the Third Laboratory. From top to bottom: Riza, Mustang, Havoc, Barry, Alphonse.
- This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: In the English dub, when Riza believes that Lust has killed Roy, she screams, "You BITCH!!!" as she pulls out her guns and starts shooting her.
- Too Dumb to Live: Barry charges Lust, a homunculus with the power to expand and retract razor-sharp claw-nails that can pierce pretty much anything, with his cleaver. It goes every bit as well as you would expect.
- Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Lust would have succeeded in killing Mustang and Havoc if she'd been pragmatic and finished them off quickly, instead of leaving them to bleed out slowly and painfully, giving Mustang time to seal their wounds with his Flame Alchemy.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Mustang's response to realizing that Gluttony is a Homunculus and may still be alive.
