The death of "Big Jim" Colosimo has sent ripples out, through Chicago (where Al Capone stomps on a reporter asking about Torrio's involvement) and beyond. Rothstein and Luciano summon Frankie (the trigger-man) and threaten him to spill who ordered the hit.
Meanwhile, the roadside whiskey heist leads Van Alden to set his sights on Nucky. Nucky pays this forward by giving Jimmy a new round of fresh hell for the shootout (which killed either four of five people, they're not sure). Nucky refuses to let Jimmy back into the organization, telling him if he wants to be a gangster, he can operate on his own. He also demands another $3,000 from the whiskey money. Jimmy doesn't have it, of course, and since Capone blows him off on the phone, he gets the cash by pawning the necklace he just recently bought for his showgirl mother-type-figure who's barely old enough to be his big sister.
...What's that? Oh yeah, we're led to believe that Gretchen Mol is Michael Pitt's nudie-dancing mistress ... only to get the oblique-as-hell intimation that she was married to Jimmy's no-good dad and sacrificed quite a bit to keep food on the Darmody table. Developing ...
Knowing that Van Alden is on his tail, Nucky sends Eli to the hospital to give Margaret the message that Hans was a bootlegger who pulled off the whiskey heist, and that's all there is to it. Despite a home visit later from Van Alden, she must've kept on-message, because she later pays a visit, and they have another sweet "getting to know you now that I've had your husband killed" conversation.
Meantime, Nucky is trying to help local pervo George get into the pants of the 19-year-old with expensive tastes who he's been escorting all over town. When she turns out to be a big ol' tease, though (despite George getting Nucky to invent the Miss American Pageant in order to make her feel pretty), George decides to drive her back to Baltimore in the middle of the night. Since there very well may be only one road in and out of Atlantic City, they wind up on the same road as last week's massacre. When the girl relents and decides to give George a roadside handy, the pair are horrified to discover a desperate and bloodied bootlegger running towards them, screaming for help. So five, then.
Previously: Jimmy went behind Nucky's back and teamed up with Al Capone to steal the whiskey shipment Nucky sold to Arnold Rothstein. After killing Rothstein's bootleggers, Jimmy gave Nucky a wad of cash, while Capone took the booze back to Johnny Torrio, who when offed his Chicago mob contemporary "Big Jim" Colosimo. It was all a bit confusing, but if they keep killing off major players like that, we'll be down to a manageable number soon enough.
The opening shot, of snow falling down over Colosimo's funeral procession outside a giant Chicago cathedral is so beautiful, you almost want to turn off the episode right here. There are giant crowds of onlookers and gawkers, but also press, who badger Torrio with questions about his possible involvement. Both Torrio and Capone give the reporters the brush-off. Also, when we see Colosimo's coffin loaded into the hearse, there's a wreath of flowers with a signed note from Nucky Thompson.
Back in AC, Nucky is unsettled as he reads about Colosimo's murder in the paper. You can tell he's unsettled because he's short with Harlan, the black man currently shining his shoes. Eddie enters the office and announces that Agent Van Alden is here to see Nucky, and before Nucky can even say "Who?" Van Alden strides through the door, presenting himself as the "Senior Prohibition Agent" for the Bureau of Internal Revenue. He expresses his frustration at having to wait since 9 AM. Nucky says he doesn't keep regular hours, as he -- much like Atlantic City -- "march[es] to the beat of [his] own drummer." The ensuing conversation is full of Van Alden stone-facedly asking (in a manner that's more like accusation) about the massacre on the road out of town the other night, and Nucky playing the smooth, fakely affable public servant. Nucky remarks on Hans Schroeder, the "guilty" party, and how it's no wonder a "Hun" is the guilty party, given the level of brutality.
Van Alden isn't buying Schroeder -- a petty drunk, by all records -- as the guy behind the heist. "Innocent people don't wind up dead in fishing nets," Nucky offers, insincerely but also completely truthful in this case, though only he would know that. "Not even in Atlantic City?" Van Alden fires back. Nucky changes course, then. Asks if Van Alden is a fan of the Hottentot. When Van Alden says he doesn't go much for theater, Nucky, his impatience showing, asks what exactly Van Alden does go for. Van Alden ignores that and says he went to the Schroeder home but found Mrs. Schroeder wasn't there -- any idea where she might be? Nucky non-answers by wondering if Van Alden should be straying from his assigned "bailiwick" of booze-patrolling. Managing as much of a smirk as his heavy face will allow, Van Alden says he marches to the beat of his own drummer too. As soon as he walks out the door, Nucky's smooth façade bubbles over into irritation, and he orders Eddie to get Eli on the phone.
Out on the Boardwalk, a charming gentleman is shouting and handing out flyers for the Ku Klux Klan. Between this, Jimmy's shoe shine, and a later scene with the Commodore, this issue is riding on a strong undercurrent of race relations. Inevitable, I suppose, both for the time in history as well as this particular tale of white men protecting their own little corners of the sky against perceived usurpers. Anyway, Jimmy Darmody shrugs the Klan guy off and proceeds to a storefront, where he spots an ornate necklace in the display window. If he's looking to treat himself for a whiskey heist well done, I do think that will bring out the deadness in his eyes.
Back at the hotel, Nucky is hailed by a George Baxter (though Eddie has to remind Nucky of the guy's name), an instantly irritating and slimy sort who introduces Nucky to Claudia, a "chippy" he picked up in Baltimore. She's too young and too pretty for him, but she's just the right amount of high-maintenance (and she sounds exactly like Kelly Kapoor from The Office). George tries to impress her by telling her what a "big cheese" Nucky is (and thus, what a big-cheese-by-proxy George must be for knowing him), but while Nucky humors him, Claudia just wants to go roller-skating! Nucky gives a thinly-veiled "O...kay then" and is on his way, as you get the feeling George wasn't built for roller skating.
Margaret is in the hospital, still recovering from her beating/miscarriage. The nurse tells her a "Mr. Thompson" is here to see her, so Margaret actually gussies herself up before the nurse lets him in. It's a limited gussying, sure, just tying a blue ribbon around her hair. But it's the effort. Alas, it's all for naught, as it's Eli Thompson who's come calling. He wants to talk to her about her late husband, and most importantly to impress upon her just how very much Hans DID jack the whiskey shipment. But Margaret protests, saying Hans was "never in trouble a day in his life." Not sure if that's supposed to be a sign of the times or a battered woman thing, but either way, Margaret has a hard time seeing the full scope of the man, huh? Anyway, Eli leans on her and says it's at least possible Hans was into bootlegging. And if the FBI comes asking, that's what she'll say. WINK WINK. Margaret still resists, which leads Eli to threaten having the county take her children. You know, I have to wonder if perhaps the other Mr. Thompson would've had better luck here. Maybe Eli senses it too, because he then says Nucky sends his regards. Also an envelope full of cash. Margaret takes it but looks ... troubled. Quick, somebody remind her she can buy way nicer hair ribbons with that kind of cash.
Van Alden is in the local Fed office, giving his boss the Nucky Thompson rundown. "He lives like a pharaoh," Van Alden says, as we see Nucky getting a massage from Eddie's manly, industrious hands, driving away in his Rolls Royce, and other signifiers that hey, Van Alden ain't lyin' He's got a piece of every business -- the while town basically lines up to pay him off (again, we see this happen while Van Alden talks about it). One interesting tidbit: he keeps getting elected at least in part because of his popularity with the "darkies" (Van Alden's word), who totally worship Nucky, or at least what he can do for them. Van Alden's boss interrupts and reminds Van Alden that they came to town building a case against Rothstein -- what about him. "Frankly," Van Alden says, "I'm beginning to think Thompson is the bigger fish."
Down at the jailhouse, Nucky gives Eli shit for dumping Hans's body at sea. He needed the guy identified -- which, Eli notes, he was -- but that was basically only because they got lucky and a fish net picked him up. It's a valid point, but it looks like Nucky's looking to take out his frustrations -- at Van Alden's visit; at not being able to see Margaret -- on someone else. Eli takes it quietly, though. After he leaves, Nucky proceeds down the hall to where Mickey Doyle is in his cell. Mickey thinks he's getting sprung, but no such luck: Nucky tells him he's out ... as in out of business. Chalky White (Omar from The Wire) is going to be taking over his territory. Nucky explains it in dispassionate terms -- the Feds know who Mickey is now, he's toxic -- but obviously he not at all broken up about having to do it. Nor about having his hands "tied" an unable to even bail Mickey out of jail. Mickey wails about being stuck with his "slanty-eyed" cellmate. Nucky: "Think of it as a way to broaden your horizons." I like that Nucky seems so offended by Mickey's ignorance.
Jimmy's at home, brooding out the window, but when Angela and Tommy return home, he suddenly lights up and scoops Tommy up, announcing "Merry Christmas!" Despite it being over a month after the holiday, Jimmy bought a tree, lights, and presents, obviously not having been able to on the holiday proper. "Nucky gave me a bonus," he lies to Angela, before presenting her with a jewelry gift box. It's not however, the ornate necklace he was peeping earlier, but a more muted bracelet. Hrm... He also gets her one of them newfangled "vacuum sweeper" machines, but when Ange turns it on, Tommy gets frightened by the sound, and she carries him off to calm him down. So much for Christmas, at least according to Jimmy's crestfallen face.
Meanwhile in NEW YORK CITY, your diligent recapper just spent the last ten minutes staring at the establishing shot of the Times Square of 1920 -- the lack of skyscrapers is obviously most striking, but I'm also struck by how the flattened base of the "V" where Broadway and 7th Ave. cross each other still looks remarkably of itself. (Also of note: the Hotel Astor, which was demolished in 1967.) ANYWAY, Rothstein is playing pool in a finely appointed billiards room when Luciano shows up with Frankie Yale, who we all recognize as the guy who popped Big Jim last week. Seems words gets around, because Arnold and Lucky know too. I'm still in love with the Rothstein/Luciano dynamic, which sometimes (like now) comes across like the yappy little pup begging the bigger, calmer dog to let him tear into this guy. But Rothstein knows what he wants (in this case: who ordered the hit on Colosimo) and how to get it, so he opts for a more steady handed intimidation tactic: he tells Frankie a story, about a pool-hall braggart who used to be able to swallow billiard balls halfway down his gullet, then regurgitate it back up. He made his living wagering on his ability to do just this. So one evening, Rothstein challenged him to do it with a ball of Arnold's choosing. "Now, he knew I'd seen him do this a thousand times," Rothstein says, "so I can only surmise that he thought I was stupid." I like that wrinkle, too. You get the feeling Rothstein made a lot of money off of people who underestimated him, to their peril. Like this poor bastard in the story, who tried to swallow the cue ball Rothstein picked out for him. Only Arnold knew cue ball was 1/16th of an inch bigger than the rest, and the guy choked to death. The moral of this story, according to Rothstein? If he'd make a guy choke to death just 'cause, what does Frankie think he'll do to him if he doesn't say who ordered the hit? We don't see what happens , but it looks like Frankie got the message.
Meanwhile, Jimmy and Angela are catching some afternoon delight while Tommy sleeps -- in the SAME ROOM, mind you. Poor people are PERVS, yo. Jimmy's surprisingly tender for a war-scarred junior mafia (no, not that one) type who just 'sploded some guy's head a few days prior. But Angela puts on the brake lights when he starts reaching downward, as it's "not a good time." Jimmy says he doesn't mind (trooper!), but Angela suggests doing "something else." Jimmy's intrigued: "Maybe we could do it the French way." Um ... okay, now I'M intrigued. To a guy just recently back from WWI, what IS "the French way"? ...Oh, he just means in the mouth. Ange is game, god bless 'er, even though she warily looks over at sleeping Tommy. She goes to town, though, but just as they're getting to the good part, Tommy wakes up, all "Mama, where are you? I can't find you!" Mama's a little busy under the covers there, Oedipus Q. Cockblock, damn. Coitus having been officially interrupted, Angela instead offers to cook Jimmy a steak. Wow, a blowjob AND a steak? This scene must've given Ann Coulter such a giant boner.
So with Love, French-Style off the table for the afternoon, Jimmy takes a trip to what appears to be the local house of burlesque, where the girls are rehearsing their Sirens-inspired routine. At the center of the stage is Gretchen Mol, who appears to be the one Jimmy came here to see. Indeed, backstage, as soon as she spots Jimmy, she runs up and jumps into his arms, kissing him all over his face. She's not as naked as she first seemed -- there's a body stocking covering her whole torso with some strategically-placed glitter, for example -- but she's still pretty naked. She thought Jimmy had died, since she hadn't heard from him in so long, and she can't believe he's been home for a month without coming to see her. He tells her to put on some clothes, then hands her a gift. THIS is the fancy necklace he was peeping in the window.
Classic wife/mistress maneuver, right? Gretchen looks at the necklace and begins to tear up. Jimmy notices and gets a bit abashed and says, "It's okay, Ma." Cleverly, at that, the camera pulls back to reveal a couple of the other showgirls throwing a double-take their way. As those showgirls go, so go the rest of us, because: HUH? "This is the one!" Gretchen exclaims. She explains to the other girls that she once owned this very necklace, given to her by Jimmy's father. (Jimmy: "I don't have a father.") Only she sold it, Jimmy explains, "to keep a roof over my head." One of the other girls chimes in, "She's a good egg, your mom." In the recaplet, I kind of danced around alternate explanations that maybe Gretchen was Jimmy's step-mom or something -- because honestly, there's only a nine year difference in age for these actors -- but it looks like she's just his actual mother who had him at a shockingly young age. Quite the deft switcheroo, that. Jimmy grabs his Ma's face and said he promised her he'd replace it, and now he has. He kisses her forehead. She says she's just happy to have him back.
Jimmy goes to see Nucky, who is still perturbed as hell. Jimmy goes to pour himself a drink and start his shift, but as far as Nucky is concerned, their relationship has changed just a tad. He demands a full accounting of the other night, so Jimmy explains about Capone (clarifying for Nucky, and us, that Torrio didn't sanction the heist, he only benefitted after the fact) and the deer and how they killed five guys. Nucky corrects him that it was actually four guys. Um, Nucky, I think I'd trust the account of the guy pulling the trigger. Plus, I get Jimmy mistakenly under-counting the corpses, but over-counting? Hrm... But anyway, Jimmy says none of this was supposed to get traced back to Nucky. Unfortunately, Nucky tells him, it did, in the form of a G-man in his office this morning. Nucky informs Jimmy that he no longer works here. "You wanna be a gangster, kid, go be a gangster," Nucky harshes. "But if you wanna be a gangster in my town, you'll pay me for the privilege." He goes on to say that the cut Jimmy handed him the other day felt short by about three grand. Arbitrary, sure, but I guess you get to be when you're the mayor of Fuck City. Jimmy protests that he already spent his cut, but Nucky could give a damn. $3,000 in 48 hours.
A Scott Joplin-style piano rag tells us we're in a saloon of some kind. Looks like Prohibition has been as successful in Chicago as it is in Atlantic City. One of the reporters from Colosimo's funeral, a Pruitt Taylor Vince-ian type, bellies up to the bar to inquire about the hit on Big Jim. The bartender? Al Capone. Or "Al Brown" as he introduces himself. Pruitt Taylor Vince-ish says he's preparing to run a story that links Johnny Torrio to Big Jim's murder, and would Mr. Brown like to leave a statement for the record? Capone, in fact, would ... in the form of a whiskey bottle smashed over PTV-ish's head. He then comes over the bar and begins stomping the poor guy. Torrio sticks his head out of his office, all "WTF" and such. Capone tells his boss he's "making a statement." Then he smashes his foot down on PTV-ish, with the camera taking on that poor bastard's POV. Lights out.
That night, Nucky's in his office when Eddie tells him Rothstein's on the phone. (Which, by the way, I could listen to Eddie gargle the consonants on "Rothstein" forever and ever and not get sick of it.) Before he takes it, Nucky informs Eddie that he'll be chauffeuring him from now on. Eddie, of course, asks if he'll be given the proper cap to do so. Eddie! Anyway, the phone call is monster tense, not least because both men decide to play coy about the delivery that "never arrived," even though they both know full well what happened. Rothstein says a hundred grand will about cover it, at which point the gloves come off. Rothstein says Nucky fucked him over to Chicago, and worse, his sister-in-law's nephew was one of the bootleggers that got killed. Nucky says he doesn't owe Rothstein shit, and he doesn't care if Arnold's own mother was one of the victims. Both men are very "So that's how it's gonna be?" about it, with Nucky making an additional threat, should Rothstein ever decide to show his face in Atlantic City again.
Jimmy sneaks into his own home, trying not to make a sound. Carefully, silently, he grabs a billfold of some kind out from behind the radiator (best place to hide your secret stash of cash?), but when Angela wakes up and asks what Jimmy's doing, he lies and tells her to go to bed. When she does, Jimmy takes a look at the stack of hundred dollar bills he's got. From the embossing on the billfold, it's his army discharge money. (Or is it the heist money being hidden among his discharge papers?)
Margaret returns home to her shack that's still a wreck from the night Hans beat the child right out of her womb. She surveys the place, moving around with all the will of a ghost. Before she can get comfortable with the sight of her reflection in the mirror, much less begin to tidy up, Van Alden comes knocking at the door. He wants to talk about her husband. More specifically, he wants to advance his theory that Hans was merely "a patsy, a dupe" and didn't kill anybody. Margaret knows this to be true, but she's not saying anything. Rather, she's fidgeting and uncomfortable and groping at her hair looking for that blue ribbon she tied it in earlier. (She didn't notice herself taking it off as she looked in the mirror before.) Van Alden ignores her babbling and instead pressed onward: he wants to know her relationship to Nucky Thompson.
On the boardwalk, Nucky passes a little person and greets him as "Champ" (you'll recall the midget boxing of last week), before greeting George and his ladyfriend, who are being pushed down the boardwalk in what appears to be a wicker sleigh, being pushed by either an entrepreneur or perhaps a transit employee. Were wicker sleighs the original pedicabs? You tend to look just as foolish riding in either one. George seems slightly more exasperated than he was the last time, as he peels off a few bills so Claudia can go buy some salt water taffy. Every time I see her, I want Claudia to be played by Jenny Slate. She's already on the HBO payroll for Bored to Death! I want her playing this girl with the voice she used for the "Gingey" sketch on SNL. Not that I mind her sounding like Kelly Kapoor right now, but still.
ANYWAY, once she's in the shop, George starts bitching to Nucky about how she's run him all over town and drained his pocketbook but shows no signs of putting out. How she could possibly resist the Oliver-Hardy-like charms of George is a conversation for another day. For whatever reason, Nucky decides to pitch in, so when Claudia comes back, Nucky turns on the charm, tells her how beautiful she is, and oh by the way, he's starting a beauty pageant, right here in Atlantic City, and she should totally sign up. And, oh by the way some MORE, George will be one of the judges. So...you know. George mutters a thank-you to Nucky, who sotto voces right back, "That oughta warm her up." With Nucky doing favors like this for a guy he barely likes, you can see how he'd end up with the whole town eating out of his hand (and lining up to fill his pockets).
Jimmy's been waiting a half-hour for the operator to connect his call to Chicago. He finally gets Capone on the line, and Al's apparently been celebrating his reporter-stomping because he's in mid-revelry when he picks up the line. Jimmy says he's desperate -- he needs money, though he doesn't elaborate as to why. Al is letting his chippie listen in on the call, and they both giggle along while Al pretends not to be able to hear Jimmy on the other end of the line. Jimmy can sure hear them, though. "Call me back, pal," Al snorts. "Sounds like you need help." Jimmy slams the phone down. That's an interesting pair of scenes right there. You get Nucky's helpfulness and string-pulling, even over something as trivial as some pervo getting tail, contrasted with Capone's mean-spirited, gleeful refusal to look out for anyone but himself. A sign of the changing face of American crime. The Boss Tweeds on their way out and the thugs on their way in. Interesting to see how this reflected in the dynamic between Rothstein (clearly the Nucky type) and Luciano (clearly possessing Capone tendencies).
Nucky's gone to visit the Commodore, and pay up to the only rung on the ladder above him. They chat over some cognac and talk shop. Kingmaking stuff, and the topic shifts to a local pol who might have national aspirations. Nucky thinks he can go far, this particular guy, because he's awfully popular with women. (Who, if we remember last week, are on the verge of suffrage, which Nucky has claimed to support.) "A frightening thought," the Commodore huffs. Nucky shifts in his seat and counters that "a vote's a vote." The Commodore immediately calls for his housekeeper, LuAnn. He hollers her name repeatedly, and when that doesn't produce immediate results, he begins clanging the comically large bell he's got, yelling her name and clanging his bell like it's Christmas Day at the end of A Christmas Carol.
When poor LuAnn finally sprints into the room, the 'Dore upbraids her. Oh, sorry, she was only fixing your damn dinner. The Commodore then asks her what her thoughts are on the League of Nations. He asks her twice even though it's clear she doesn't know. He moves on, then, to some piece of banking deregulation known as that Harrity (Harraday?) Act. Again, she pleads ignorance. It's humiliating and ugly, and Nucky doesn't look at all comfortable to witness it. LuAnn repeats that she don't know nothing about that sort of thing. "Of course not," the 'Dore snorts in Nucky's direction. "She empties my pisspot." It would seem that connecting those dots and examining how institutional subjugation of women and black folk might somehow lead to a cycle of forced and systemic ignorance appears to be lost on the Commodore. Imagine. Regardless, he feels that his point has been made: "That's your women's vote."
Back at the cabaret, Jimmy waits for a moment when all the girls are on stage, then sneaks back into his Ma's drawer and takes the necklace he bought back for her. Looks like she's still making sacrifices for her kid, whether she knows it or not.
Meanwhile, Van Alden writes a letter to his wife, Rose, in which he -- in between invoking God's blessing and reminding her to run the water every so often so the pipes don't freeze -- explains that agency business is going to be keeping him away a little longer. Very Joe Friday of him, right? Square-jawed and all-American. Of course, then he pulls out his desk drawer and takes out Margaret's missing hair ribbon, wraps it around his hand, and takes a great big inhale of its scent. You guys ... you can't give me Michael Shannon invoking God one minute and then wrapping a hair ribbon around his fist like a rosary and then taking a big creepy whiff and not expect me to get the heebiest of jeebies. Watch out, Margaret Schroeder.
Speaking of Margaret, she's at home in her dark house, sitting at the kitchen table and staring out into nothing. Her kids come in, laughing because one is trying to walk in dad's oversized work boots. This manages to crack a smile from her, at least. But the lady is troubled.
At the Ritz, Lucy is taking a bath and calling out to Nucky in the room. A peek inside Lucy's brain: she thinks Nucky should grow a mustache. You know, like Douglas Fairbanks. Nucky sneers that Fairbanks "belongs in Snake Alley with the other powderpuffs." Ah, so we see the limits of Nucky's progressive populism. Good to know. Eddie (wearing a proper chauffeur's cap, thank God) pops in and announces that Mrs. Schroeder is here. Lucy's ears perk up at this, and she asks who Mrs. Schroeder is. Nucky blows her off and tells her to wait with Eddie.
Nucky leads Margaret into a sitting room, remarking that it's nearly midnight. But I guess Margaret couldn't wait any longer to hand back the money Eli gave her. "I don't know what it's for," Margaret says, stretching the limits of credulity on her naiveté just a bit, don't you think? Clearly she knows what it's for if it's "weighing on her conscience." Nucky says he understands what she's going through, and they talk a bit -- again -- about his wife. Margaret stresses that when she first came to Nucky, she was only seeking a job for Hans. She wasn't seeking alms. She quotes George Sand: "Charity degrades those who receive it and hardens those who dispense it." Nucky is impressed at how well-read she is. She explains that her former employer was a barrister, his house filled with books. She just wants to provide for her children, she goes on. And she's confused as to what Nucky seems to want from her. Ever the good cop, Nucky looks at her sincerely and tells her, "I want you to vote Republican." Again, it's not hard to see how this guy ended up elected king.
Back in the hotel room with George and (not-)Martha. He's getting handsy, and Claudia's fending him off, finally telling him forcefully that she's not that kinda girl. "Really," he snorts, "what kinda girl are ya?" That earns him a slap to the face. It seems for a second like he's going to attack her, but she tells him she'll scream. So instead, he tells her to pack her things, she's going back to "Balty-more."
At the speakeasy, Nucky's holding court over martinis, telling jokes about men who hate their wives. Jimmy skulks in, and Nucky barely registers him. But Jimmy manages to pull him away from the table long enough to hand him an envelope of money. He asks if they're square, and Nucky replies, "As a block of ice." I'll bet. ...Actually, so will Nucky, who calls his friends to the tables. While Jimmy's still watching, Nucky places the whole wad of cash on one spin of the roulette wheel. Black. The wheel spins as Nucky, essentially thumbing his nose at Jimmy, snarks, "And the world turns..." When the wheel comes up red, Nucky can barely produce a frown. "Not my night, apparently," he snarks to Jimmy, who watches his hard-pawned stack of cash go back into the casino, where it will, sooner or later, end up back in Nucky's pocket somehow. It's not forcing a man to choke on a cue ball, but it gets the message across just the same.
Meanwhile, George is driving Miss Daisy down a dark dirt road, kvetching about what a waste of time (and lots of money) this whole weekend was. Finally getting tired of his (ample) bellyaching, she tells him to pull the car over. He does, just as they pass the sign for Hammonton, New Jersey. Same one those ill-fated bootleggers passed last week. Apparently there's just the one road out of Atlantic City. And quite the shabby one it is, too. So George stops the car, and in her most perturbed tone of voice, Claudia tells him he can kiss her. Apparently, begrudging nookie is still nookie, so George dives right into her pragmatic embrace. "Go on," she deadpans, "unbutton your trousers." He does, and she starts working it with her hand. He moans. She looks out the window for something to spark her interest. She's looking away for so long, she barely notices the figure lurching its way towards the car. The beaten, bloodied, miraculously-not-dead bootlegger lurching towards the car. She screams. George screams. We all scream for week.
Joe Rdoesn't think he can be blamed for not quite grasping that Gretchen Mol was Jimmy's Ma, all things considered. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.
Discuss this episode in our forums, then see more of this fall's best and worst new shows!
How is Boardwalk Empire like the Muppet Babies of the gangster genre? Watch vloggers Beth & Val explain:
Want to immediately access TWoP content no matter where you are online? Download the free TWoP toolbar for your web browser. Already have a customized toolbar? Then just add our free toolbar app to get updated on our content as soon it's published.