Episode Report Card Daniel: B+ | 49 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Oh My God! They Killed Eddie!
By Daniel | Season 4 | Episode 5 | Aired on 10.06.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.Nucky gets an early-morning call from Willie, who's been arrested — but not charged — in connection with Henry's death. Willie's parents don't know, and Nucky's happy to help keep things that way — he's less happy, though, that the liquor came from him, via Mickey Doyle, and this is the first he's hearing about it. There's a little bit of hassle from the assistant district attorney because Henry's father is a major contributor to the Republican Party and wants heads to roll, but Nucky manages to make his connections work, while teaching Willie the benefits of clamming up. In the end, Willie's roommate Clayton (you know, Scootch) is arrested and Willie walks.
It's election day in Cicero, with Van Alden leading the Capones' thugs to intimidate plant workers by a polling station. But Van Alden's light approach doesn't impress either the thugs or the plant workers, and things quickly devolve into a riot, where the severely outnumbered thugs are beaten, and Frank Capone is shot to death by a group of special anti-mob police, sending Al Capone into even more of a rage. "Every fucking thing that crawls is going to pay," he tells Van Alden, unaware that, during the riot, Van Alden considered shooting Al in the back. But GUYS GUYS GUYS: Van Alden did coke!
Gillian crashes through rock bottom to hit another rock bottom, attempting to seduce a judge and then being escorted from Tommy's school. But Roy knows about the heroin now, and he's not running away.
Nucky had to handle the Willie thing on his own, because Eddie Kessler is nowhere to be found; he's in a room being interrogated and lightly beaten by Agent Knox, who wants him to give up the goods on his employer. Knox — who picked up a little German in the war — has done his homework on Kessler, too; Eddie left Germany in disgrace with a mistress and stolen funds from the department store where he worked. This is the weak link Knox is exploiting: forcing the loyalty-is-everything Kessler to choose between giving up his boss or sending him back home in shame to Germany, where his sons have gone so far as to change their last names to avoid the association. Fatherhood trumps employment, with Eddie admitting to the exchange with Ralph Capone, on Nucky's orders. Satisfied that Eddie has been broken, Knox lets him go, warning Eddie he'll be in touch. Eddie returns home to Nucky, who's pissed off that Eddie was gone a whole day, and the heart-crushing reason is because he had to wear mismatched socks. Eddie's lost forever the family he left in Germany, and Nucky will never be a substitute (made explicit earlier when Nucky reassured Willie in part by explaining to him the importance of blood). Eddie straightens his affairs, and steps out a hotel window. I didn't get the sense that The Albatross was suicide-enabling tall, but given the end of the show, it'll seem like a cheat if Eddie isn't dead next week.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He's had as much Season 4 screentime as Kelly Macdonald so far. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!It’s dark, the telephone’s ringing, and we hear a call to Nucky from his very distressed nephew Willie, who says he needs his help. Then we see some scenes of an open window, ocean view, birds in a cage, an empty single bed, a music stand holding songs by Franz Schubert, books of "Old Surehand" on a shelf, Nucky yelling and knocking in vain for Eddie. Tom has to tell a perplexed Nucky that Eddie hasn’t been around today, and Nucky tells Tom to bring the car around.
Eddie’s in a room with windows being covered with newspaper by the Bureau of Investigation agent who isn’t Agent Knox, but Agent Knox is there too, offering Eddie some tea. Eddie takes some prompting even to just refuse the tea. Meanwhile I am distracted by the aftermath of a chair avalanche behind Kessler, like WHAT ARE THOSE CHAIRS DOING THERE. There’s a little discussion on the syntax of using "you’re welcome" after someone says, "No, thank you," and Knox’s colleague -- Selby, that’s it -- cracks that Kessler speaks better English than Knox does. Knox asks Kessler if he learned English in "Prussia, I guess you would have called it?" Kessler doesn’t answer; he just wants to know why he’s here. Knox is basically "You tell me" about it, since people don’t just get hauled off the street for no reason. He refutes Kessler’s protestations of innocence by pointing out Kessler had a pistol up his sleeve, which Eddie attributes to protection… from Apaches. While we ponder the possibility of Boardwalk Empire adding Apache attacks to the mix, Knox and his buddy pretend like they’ve got no choice but to let Eddie go. But Selby, at first, offers Kessler his walking stick and then pulls it out, forcing Eddie to stumble and giving Knox a pretence to keep him there, that he seems unsteady and should stay for a while, for his own good.
The Pflaum for Mayor campaign is marching through the streets, blaring a message of honesty and crime crackdown from roof-mounted speakers, pissing Sigrid off since it’s so early. Van Alden -- attempting to feed his very fussy son -- sportingly points out that it’s election day and they have the right to campaign. As for Sigrid’s political cynicism -- she says people should just do as they’re told -- he tells her that wouldn’t be very democratic. Now, if you’ll excuse him, the Capones are here, so he’s off to help rig the vote. Nothing more democratic than that!
Outside the house, Frank notes its unfinished state, and tells him to put some grass down and spruce it up. "That’s the summer project," says Van Alden. And people think he’s no fun! The sound of a factory whistle in the distance has Frank note the "morning shift" and hustle Van Alden into the car so they can get to work. Van Alden looks back at his wife in the window, holding his son up to wave goodbye. Van Alden musters up the best smile he can, but as usual, it looks like he just realized his dog farted.