Episode Report Card Daniel: B+ | 55 USERS: A- YOU GRADE IT Purnsley Breaks All the Commandments
By Daniel | Season 4 | Episode 7 | Aired on 10.20.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close."You ever wake up, have a vague feeling of unease? Like something's wrong but you can't put your finger on it?" Nucky in a nutshell. The people and circumstances surrounding him are swirling, spiraling in on him a little tighter each week; Eli relays his concerns about Agent Knox (real name: Jim Tolliver) and the peculiarly monogrammed handkerchief. Eli's not that worried about it, until he learns that Agent Elliot has supposedly left the Bureau without a trace. He asks Gaston Means to check into Agent Knox again, and gets nada in return, but we learn that Means knows is much better acquainted with Knox (and knows his actual name) than he's letting on. And Nucky has a fight with Eli, after preventing his brother from killing Willie for dropping out of Temple. Eli would probably understood if he knew his son killed Henry, and that his class material and conversations are incredibly relevant to his situation.
The "Libyan" community is getting restless about the growing presence and effects of heroin in their midst, but this charming Dr. Narcisse seems to have a few thoughts on how they can strengthen the community again. Deacon Cuffy knows who's really responsible for the heroin, which is why Purnsley winds up stabbing him in the church, which I can't imagine will go over well with everyone.
And sure enough, Daughter is in thrall to Narcisse, but much more creepily than we might have thought; her mother was a prostitute, and Narcisse was the john who killed her, and then raised Daughter. She's reporting back to him on Chalky, too.
Gillian is busy kicking heroin, which gives Roy Phillips some kind of rehabilitation boner. Loyalty is so important to this guy that the day after he met Gillian, he began divorce proceedings against his wife.
And Al Capone is on a bit of a rampage after his brother's death. He figures O'Banion is responsible, but Johnny Torrio won't let him act on that because of the business O'Banion and Torrio have together. That goes out the window when a suspiciously timely police raid puts Torrio in a spot of legal trouble. Good god, imagine Al Capone when his boss isn't cramping his style?
Oh, and Margaret works for a brokerage firm, whose clients now include Arnold Rothstein, er, "Abe Redstone." Rothstein and Margaret agree to keep each other's secret, for now. These things have a way of coming to light sooner or later. God willing.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Pro tip: Don't get too close to the guy you're threatening to expose for his heroin dealing when there are no witnesses around. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!We open with one of those old time-y pinhole fade-in effects, letting us see the headline about Leopold and Loeb being grilled in a child murder case. The full view shows us that a policeman on the street is reading the Chicago American, right before Al Capone strides up and, without a word, shoots him in the face, setting bystanders screaming, and then hops into a getaway vehicle and speeds off. The crowd gathers around the dead policeman. They appear to be motivated more by curiosity than concern. Did 911 exist back then? I don't think anyone's calling it anyway.
Eli has gone to see Nucky to show him Agent Knox's handkerchief with the JMT monogram (the large middle T being a last name, making more sense than the JTM that I read last week). Nucky's not too worried about it. Eli's not sure it's a big deal and either just says it's weird. "Who carries around another man's handkerchief?" he asks, and Nucky points out that apparently Eli has been doing just that himself. Eli says Knox just gave it to him to blow his nose, and Nucky, again rather logically –- albeit, erroneously -- says maybe someone gave it to Knox so he could blow his. Oh, for a time when men would loan each other their fabrics sodden with human excreta! At any rate, Eli wants to get Knox's boss on the horn, for peace of mind.
So Nucky bellows for "Sid," who is the new Eddie, only if Eddie were overweight and stupid. It takes some doing for Nucky to get his message across that he wants Sid to get Agent Elliot on the phone, and the brothers Thompson roll their eyes at each other while poor Sid lumbers off. He's doing his best, guys! Eddie's a tough act to follow!
Eli asks what the word is from Tampa, and Eli says they get the first shipment in a few days. Eli heard about the black eye, too, and is not buying Nucky's "I walked into a door" excuse, and I wonder if it has ever happened in real life that someone has blackened an eye walking into a door. I feel bad for whoever does that, because no one will ever believe it. Not even Eli, who hasn't seen that excuse used on television a thousand times! And it turns out that no one in Florida did believe Nucky's "rogue possum" excuse, because Eli talked to McCoy, and hears that Sally is a real pistol. Nucky calls McCoy a fucking idiot, adding "I banged a door." "After you banged her," says Eli, and Nucky appears to realize it's pointless to continue denying it.
Anyway, Sid comes back in to say he couldn't get a hold of Agent Elliot —and he couldn't leave a message because the proxy he talked to said Elliot doesn't work there anymore. This troubles Nucky, while Eli looks at him all, "You see? You see?"