By Joe R
Nothing from Chicago this week, so you'll have to wait a bit for the further adventures of George Meuller: Flower Shop Employee. Eli gets released from jail to the indignity of Mickey Doyle's custody, because Nucky is too busy rolling around in the hay with his new showgirl mistress in New York and wondering if there are any other guys she's rolling with. While there, Nucky meets his new go-between for government payoffs, an eccentric weirdo named Gaston Bullock Means. He also meets with Rothstein, and we see the two men continue to have a cautious but respectful business relationship, though they would both like to get to the bottom of who killed Manny Horvitz.
Meanwhile, Gyp Rosetti is skulking around Tabor Heights, acting weird and barely restraining himself from killing everyone. He learns that with the absence of that highway Nucky wanted to build, Tabor Heights is the last place to fill up gas in New Jersey before reaching New York. He uses this to his advantage by buying the services of the local law enforcement and squatting on the filling station. When Mickey, Eli, and Sleater lead Nucky's convoy of liquor towards New York, they find Rosetti won't let them fill up in Tabor Heights. Everybody draws their guns and Bobby Cannavale hams it up real good, but the end result is that Nucky's guys have to turn back, which means Rothstein won't be getting his shipment.
Chalky gets a visit from Samuel, his daughter's suitor, and after an awkward checkup (Samuel's a doctor, or at least aspiring to be), Chalky decides he approves of him. Too bad Maybelle is resisting Samuel's marriage talk because she thinks he's boring. She's holding out for someone "interesting," like her daddy. Of course, later, after a night at the juke joint where Samuel gets his face slashed and Chalky's men beat his attacker into a bloody pulp, Maybelle might reconsider the virtue in "interesting" men like her daddy.
Margaret continues to have awkward, sexually-charged interactions with Owen Sleater, but when she can find the time to do other things, she follows up on the women's health thing at the hospital. After meeting with the woman who miscarried last week, she once again speaks to Dr. Mason, who is snippy as ever with her, as he sees her as nothing more than a rich lady whose urge to help the poor will be fleeting. Margaret tries to put him in his place and prove her resolve, but I have a feeling the proof may be in the follow-through. Also, Margaret and Dr. Mason should hook up.