FMA: Brotherhood ep 4 summary + manga notes

Summary: It’s late at night in Central and the Iron Blood alchemist, Basque Gran, meets the state alchemist serial killer on the streets, after a brief fight Gran meets his end. During the investigation Führer King Bradley stops by the scene of the crime informing his troops this must be delt with quickly. After getting back from Lior Edward gives his report to Col. Mustang and expresses curiosity in the field of biological alchemy, Mustang decides to introduce them to the specialist to return the favor for what they did in Lior. Shou Tucker, the Sewing Life alchemist, is the most knowledgeable person when it comes to making chimaeras, at his house the brothers tell him why they want to research that field and are given access to his library. After awhile of nonstop reading they wind up playing with Tucker’s daughter, Nina, and dog. At the end of their first day at Tucker’s house one of Mustang’s men comes by to pick the brothers up and tell Tucker that his assessment is coming up.

A few days pass like this with Ed and Al studying at Tucker’s house and playing with Nina as Tucker falls into despair over his upcoming assessment and the poverty he will have to go back to if he fails. Two years ago Tucker’s wife left him and he obtained his state license by creating a chimera that could understand and speak the human language, but it died shortly after it was created. When Ed and Al visit Tucker’s house on the day of his assessment they find him in his lab with a chimera that can talk; while speaking with the chimera Ed realizes that it’s Tucker’s daughter and dog transmuted together just as it was Tucker’s wife two years ago. Enraged, Ed attacks Tucker and beats him after he says they are the same comparing his experiments with their attempt at human transmutation. Al has to step in to stop Ed from Beating Tucker to death and upon seeing Nina in that state Ed realizes what he is doing.

Tucker is placed under house arrest and Ed tries to come to terms with his own helplessness, before Tucker can be tried he is killed by the state alchemist serial killer who then also kills what used to be Nina knowing that she cannot be turned back to normal.

Manga notes: (spoilers impending) They skipped chapters three and four and went right into chapter 5 with only a passing mention to the events in the mining town and Yoki… Anyway, at least there will be no instances of old characters being reused as filler material as in the first anime. Also, Gram’s death was never shown in the manga, they just put it in the anime for the fun of it, but at least he died when he was supposed to die this time around.