All of Nucky's tinkering and string-pulling eventually pays off when women get the right to vote. Naturally, the one woman who matters to him hesitates to tell her friends to vote for Bader, his man in the upcoming mayoral election. Damn women and their independent minds. Speaking of which, Margaret suggests ever-so-calmly to Nucky that Harrow, he of the hole in the head, is scaring the bejesus out of her children. Not to mention serving as an especially pointed symbol of the wages of war, given Nucky's near miss at the recent boardwalk shoot-out. Nucky tells her Harrow is there for her protection, so, being Margaret, she makes a calculated bow to Nucky's will. And it serves as a reminder that she's not always right when Harrow (having remembered to put his Phantom of the Boardwalk mask back on) proves quite charming with the children. She apologizes for her treatment of him, and he tells her he understands her anxiety because even he has to look at himself in the mirror on occasion.
All the while, Van Alden's obsessive little world continues to crumble around him in the aftermath of stool pigeon Billy's murder. He desperately turns to Margaret. He lectures her about how she has failed her old self -- that lovely, hopeful young thing from Ireland -- by consorting with Nucky, then outright tells her that Nucky killed her abusive husband. She sees the leering in his eyes, though, and tells him to take a hike, so he threatens her with the very fires of damnation. As is his power as a low-level Federal agent. Then he hits up a speakeasy, gets absolutely three-sheets wasted, and bangs Lucy, face down, and is of course utterly dejected for the lapse afterward. But with their mutual and abject lack of self-worth, not to mention opposite-yet-equal sexual desperation, this could be the start of a beautiful friendship.
But back to Margaret, who that night carries on a fantastically evenly matched debate with Nucky. He attempts to convince her that his job is not all about election rigging, favor swapping, and power brokering, but more in fact about "overseeing." Uh-huh. Drunk on a few sips of bootleg champagne and her first chance to vote, Margaret wants to believe that candidates should be qualified rather than connected, skillful rather than slick. She ultimately decides to humor the Nucklehead and delivers an expert speech in support of Nucky's candidate, only to be disheartened when she sees Nucky laughing and schmoozing like always in the moment after. That night when Nucky comes home late, saying he had "business" downtown (more on that below), Margaret takes a good long look at herself in the mirror and doesn't like what she sees one bit.
In B-plots, Jimmy and Angela seem on the mend after some Ghost-style sexy times with oil paints. That is, until Lil' Tommy spills that "Mommy's kissing friend" is one of the Dittrichs. Jimmy assumes he's referring to Robert and does the natural thing: beats the piss out of the man on the boardwalk in front a large crowd. Angela visits Mary the day to apologize and is invited to bring Tommy to escape with them for a little ménage-a-Paris action. Over in Chicago, Al attends a bar mitzvah and decides it's his turn to be a man, too!
Wrapping things up, Nucky gets the skinny in on Rothstein's operation from that beloved rat fink Mickey Doyle. Nucky then enlists Chalky to bamboozle the D'Alessios and Meyer Lansky. And by "bamboozle," I clearly mean kidnap, transport to a secluded warehouse and brutalize, including but not limited to when Chalky chokes a bitch out as a bit of personal retribution for his driver's untimely death some weeks back. Only Lansky continues on ingloriously, serving as a walking, talking from Nucky to Rothstein that reads something like, "Dear Arnie, Step the fuck off. XOXO, Nucky and the AC Gang."
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Previously: Do not piss off Chalky White, Arnold Rothstein. Do not stare too long at Richard Harrow's half face, everybody. Do not show your whole faces near Atlantic City, D'Alessio brothers. Do not strike up a three-way with a gangster's wife, weird photographer swingers. Do not show us any more sexual scenes of Van Alden (please!), writers. Do not underestimate your woman's growing desires and cunning, Nucky. And for the love of God, do not shoot at Nucky, people. There'll be Hell to pay for that one.
We open with an idyllic beach scene. Ol' Dick Harrow frolics in the surf with a beautiful young lady and, more importantly, his entire face. He looks at her lovingly, his handsome mug glimmering in the sun. She scampers away. When she comes running back, she stops short and begins to shriek. Cut to the mangle-faced Harrow we've come to know and recoil at. We get a proper view of the face that makes children cry out in terror -- as Little Emily Schroeder is doing at the moment. There's a gaping hole where his left eye used to be and a sickening scar swirling down his cheek. Startled from his dreams, Harrow apologizes for several seconds before reaching enough consciousness to cover his face. He slips on his mask just as Margaret and Nucky run down the stairs. "We're on edge here as it is," chastises Nucky. Harrow apologizes, explaining that he can't sleep comfortably in his mask. Nucky and Margaret take Emily, still wailing, upstairs as we zoom in on Harrow, who continues apologizing to no one in particular and is utterly broken that he has become the de facto town monster. And in this town! To his misfortune, the monsters in A.C. are not as obvious as he, but far more insidious. With their dandy suits and their whole faces, they glad hand, they crusade for the law, they bloviate about morality. You have to look extra-hard to recognize true evil on the boardwalk... especially as it begins to engulf us all.
Elsewhere, one of evil's minions is making excuses. Agent Sebso, he who smashes rocks into his skull for the betterment of a story, rotes his story about Billy the Rat needing to take a piss on the drive to Manhattan. He lies that he uncuffed Billy so he wouldn't have to touch his junk, allowing Billy to attack him. Van Alden grows ever more frustrated and more vocal that his obsessive crusade has been debunked by something as petty as modesty. Well we can't all self-flagellate to achieve such singular focus as yours, Nelson. Elliot gives Van Alden a final warning to pipe down. Sebso acknowledges he did wrong and ices the cake with some crocodile tears, saying that killing Billy will haunt him for the rest of his days. He is exonerated by virtue of self-defense then ingloriously dismissed to take a week's leave.
Van Alden shuts the door and prepares himself for his part of the beating. Knowing his masochistic ways, he might enjoy it if it didn't mean his quest for Margaret had been stalled. Elliot asks if Van Alden has any idea how much he's embarrassed the department. Van Alden takes responsibility for the debacle, and Elliot concurs sharply, saying they need something tangible. Van Alden tries to push his agenda, offering to interrogate Jimmy again. Elliot informs him Jimmy's been released (lack of evidence), and Nucky's lawyers are out for blood. He hurls the file of Van Alden's meticulously collected, now useless information. He growls that Van Alden bungled the case from the start and warns him it's his last chance before he is sent packing to chase moonshiners in the swamps of the Everglades. A religious zealot in the Bible Belt? How would he stand out? Elliot walks out briskly, leaving Van Alden looking stricken -- though that's pretty much how he always looks.
Over at the Darmody den, Jimmy wakes up as Angela works on another of her Cassatt knock-offs. Jimmy's mother took Tommy for ice cream, so they have the house to themselves. Jimmy praises Angela's paintings, especially how realistic the flesh tone looks. Such an observant compliment comes as a pleasant to Angela surprise given Jimmy's general selfishness and lack of respect for her. He tells her that when he was at war and in the trenches for weeks at a time it was easy to forget that the world had any beauty at all. Sounds like an omen of things to come for the boardwalk. Jimmy walks up to Angela and gently presses himself against her. He takes in the fragrance of her hair and takes in the beauty of her shoulders, something he doubtless forgot in the trenches of Chicago. He takes the palette knife and begins to mix the flesh tone that he admired earlier. She turns around and kisses him. They begin to make love, paying no mind to the tools dropping to the floor or the paint smearing their bodies. It's delicate and wholly consensual, so much unlike his abrupt return to her life a few weeks back.
Schroeder Sanctum. Nucky reads the paper, on which we can see the headline "Grand Jury Convening in Black Sox Series Fix." Margaret asks if there's anything on the ratification of the women's voting amendment. Nucky says it's all down to Tennessee, which she takes as a good sign. He tells her dryly the South has never been considered progressive. Ah, politics. Some things never change! Harrow interrupts to tell Nucky that Kessler has arrived. Once he's out of earshot, Margaret mentions that Harrow is scaring her children. Nucky plays the war hero card, but that sort of flag waving only goes so far when your toddler is havin' the night terrors. Nucky tells her plainly that Harrow is around for protection. She wonders what Nucky is doing about the men who tried to kill him. He promises that he is pursuing all legal means to detain them, though he leaves out the countless illegal means he's intent to set in motion. Margaret asks if she should take away the kids for a while. He assures her it's not necessary and tries to pacify her by saying he'd miss her too much. She wonders loadedly, "Is this what it means to be in charge?" He kisses her on the forehead and says patronizingly, "Success breeds enemies, which you'll discover soon enough after women win the vote." As if Margaret doesn't know about the trade-offs required to secure your lifestyle. Nucky, you're opening Pandora's box by giving this one a say. For all her hopefulness and morality, Margaret may be the deftest politician on the show. And even if she isn't, considering how swiftly both of those qualities are waning and turning to opportunistic cynicism, she will outpace them soon enough.
Up in New York City, Rothstein treats the D'Alessios and Doyle to another of his life lessons. He says stock tickers, newswires, and radios are ushering in an age of information, and information is what causes businessmen live or die. He asks the ever oblivious Doyle why he (Rothstein) is a successful gambler. Doyle ventures foolishly, "Because you're lucky?" Rothstein points to Mr. Luciano on his left and snarks, "No, he's Lucky," then sets the galumph straight. Rothstein says he's successful because he never really gambles -- if he doesn't know the outcome of something, he doesn't bet. Leo immediately takes this as a reference that Rothstein put in the fixed on the World Series. Rothstein takes an exasperated pause and steers the conversation where he wants it to go -- to Nucky. He says that gambled on the hit against Nucky because Doyle promised he knew everything about him. Doyle cries ignorance that Kessler carried a gun, which proves Rothstein's point exactly. This goon's incompetence not only killed an innocent tourist but also managed to set the New York-Atlantic City war officially in motion by telling Nucky that Rothstein's gunning for him. One of the goons says they thought such a public assassination would send a message. The key ingredient here, of course, is not fucking it up. Lucky points out as much when he snaps, "You sent a message all right -- that you're idiots." Leo and Matteo hope that boldness will redeem them as they swear to bring Rothstein Nucky's head. Rothstein deadpans that he's "less than convinced." Leo asks how they can make it up to them. Returns Rothstein, "Nothing says I'm sorry like money." Cut back to Doyle who himself seem less than convinced.
Chicago. Al and one of Torrio's other underlings laugh like school boys as the boss talks business with some neighborhood heavies. As Torrio castigates them for their childishness, a local beer baron walks in for the meeting. He hands over an envelope full of money, and Torrio says he wants to talk about expanding on the North side. Al interrupts to hand Torrio a "Turkish" cigarette, which promptly blows up in Torrio's face when lit. Al belly laughs at his boss's expense and makes the mistake of thinking Torrio might be amused, too. Instead, he sweeps his espresso cup off the table and reads Al the riot act. Al looks like he just got slapped across his wrists with a ruler the size of a tree. Torrio embarrassedly reschedules the meeting for that Saturday when the beer baron's son has his bar mitzvah. Torrio gives Al a fiery look, spitting, "This ain't no fuckin' grade school."
Back in A.C., Nucky explains the Harrow dilemma to Jimmy. Jimmy claims his current face is a big improvement from before, but Nucky doesn't think a howling four-year-old is likely to appreciate the distinction. He bids Jimmy to make sure Harrow keeps on his mask in the house. Kessler interrupts to tell Nucky that Mickey Doyle has come to see him. Jimmy frisks Doyle, who comes in like he's Nucky's best friend from way back. Nucky gives him a chilly reception, so Doyle pleads, "C'mon, Nuck. I come to yas, hat in hand." Which is only slightly more convincing when Doyle realizes maybe he should take off his hat to make the metaphor work. He claims he wants to apologize, that he just got rattled when Nucky pulled the plug on his bootlegging operation. He mentions that he has partners in the D'Alessio brothers. At that, Nucky grabs him by the throat and pushes him to the wall while Jimmy pulls out his gun. Literally backed into a corner, Doyle offers to tell Nucky everything he knows. The age of information, indeed.
Nucky loosens his grip and tells Jimmy to get Doyle a drink. He shoves Doyle over to the sitting area while Jimmy makes him a Darmody Bomb -- five parts whiskey, one part spittle. He takes over the cocktail and drops as Doyle puts his hand out. Doyle gingerly wipes off the spill, then sings like the stool pigeon he is. He finks on the D'Alessios for lynching Chalky's driver, robbing Nucky's fat-assed pick-up man, and holding up the casino. When Nucky mentions that the brothers shot Eli, Doyle plays dumb (which is kind of redundant, I admit). Doyle says he suspects the brothers are going to shoot him, too. Jimmy asks how Lucky fits in. Doyle fires back, "Your mother didn't tell you?" Jimmy holds his temper as Doyle says Luciano and Meyer Lansky are in cahoots. They approached Chalky under the ruse of a bid to move redirect his booze from Nucky to New York, but they were actually doing recon to tell Rothstein the size of Chalky's operation. Doyle tells Nucky that Rothstein has his sights set on Atlantic City. Nucky snarks, "Ruining baseball isn't enough?" He tells Jimmy to get Chalky on the phone to confirm Doyle's story, but when Jimmy picks up the receiver, Kessler is on the phone. Nucky calls Kessler in, and he announces he was on the phone with Trenton, who told him women have won the right to vote.
Schroeder Sanctum. Margaret reads The Wonderful Wizard of Oz aloud to the children. She has just reached the part where the Wizard, up in his Emerald City, is wistful that what he has created takes him away from the world he once knew. Hello, on-the-nose reference! Margaret pauses as Harrow walks in, making it all the more painfully obvious when Teddy hides his face, and Emily eyes Harrow with verge-of-tears consternation. Harrow apologizes meekly again, for these are the only words a freak like him is allowed to say apparently, then starts to shuffle back to his solitary confinement. Margaret takes pity and invites Harrow to join her and the children. He triples his vocabulary with the words "Thank you." Margaret resumes the story as the Wizard wonders what has become of his old friend the Tin Woodsman. She turns the book toward Harrow so he can see the illustration of the Tin Woodsman. Harrow taps his mask and jokes that he is the Tin Woodsman, saying, "Only I need some oil." The kids can't resist giggling, and Emily asks Margaret if he's really the Tin Woodsman. Margaret humors her, knowing that it will make everyone feel better to believe Harrow is a tin man rather than a real man mangled by war and social ostracism.
Elsewhere, Van Alden continues the slow boil to insanity that's been building all these weeks. He tosses papers around his bed manically, then steps to his desk to return to his old favorite. He pauses briefly over an ad for Lucy at the Apollo Theatre and angrily crumples a news clipping about Nucky. He finishes for the night, as always, when he lands on that picture of Margaret fresh off the boat from Ireland.
Nucky arrives home with a bottle of champagne to celebrate the good news. As Margaret prepares herself for bed, he wonders if he can pour her some bubbly. Considering the historic occasion, she gives in to temptation. He toasts, "To the women's vote!" She volleys back good-spiritedly, "You've caught up with Ireland at last!" They take a sip, and he starts selling her on the progressive virtues of the Republican party, from emancipation and prohibition (which is working out so well) to getting women the right to vote. Margaret deflates his politicking and points out that enfranchising women was opportunism, pure and simple. He subtly, yet firmly, reminds her that it's not her right to consider context but rather to be thankful for what he and his cohorts have so generously decided to give to her.
He then tells her she must return the favor by making a speech for his new mayoral candidate, Edward Bader, at a women's luncheon that Sunday. Perhaps not fully appreciating his last comments -- or maybe because she just likes to bust his balls -- Margaret questions why. He says Bader is "the right man for the job," which has about a million implications. Margaret takes the statement at face value and questions whether a construction boss is suited to be mayor. Nucky says Andrew Johnson was a tailor. Ooooh, bad example, Nuck. A tailor who was never really intended to be president, who ascended by virtue of an assassination, and who was impeached. Margaret immediately mentions the impeachment, but Nucky brushes it off as "completely beside the point." Which it is. He's not asking for Margaret's help. He's demanding it.
Having reached her toes of keeping- Nucky-on-his-toes quota for the day, Margaret smartly recognizes it's time to submit. He outlines her speech: "It's time for a change, a new Republican party. The cronyism, the incompetence, the violence in our streets... All that's a thing of the past." "Is it?" asks Margaret. Just days after an innocent woman just got murdered in the streets by incompetent cronies of Nucky's so-called associate, that statement is a little too rich too take. Nucky smoothes the edges by pouring Margaret a little more champagne. Margaret gets to the meat of the matter, discerning that Bader's election will have no impact over Nucky's power. Nucky laughably spouts off that his job is really about overseeing and continuity. He claims Democrats would break up this continuity by having to start from scratch. Because that's what this is about. Continuity. Not illegal liquor or gun running or power brokering or turf wars or millions of dollars. Nope. Continuity. By gum, it's in the Declaration of Independence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Continuity."
Margaret takes issue that Nucky is asking her to lie about Bader's qualifications. Nucky rejiggers his approach and says, "I'm asking you to be realistic." He patronizes, "This isn't some fantasy world, like in one of those children's books. This is a real place with real people. And sometimes, to make it run properly, we need to tell those people what they want to hear." He strokes her hair and tells her she's at an important crossroads -- not just for the Republican party, but for herself. She finds it all rather hard to swallow and washes it down with some of the champagne those important, progressive Republicans don't want her drinking.
The day, the Darmodies take a family stroll down the boardwalk. Tommy breaks free and runs to the Dittrichs' photography studio. When Jimmy scoops him up, Tommy points to a picture of the Dittrichs and announces, "That's Mommy's kissing friend." Twice. Angela walks up as Jimmy, who assumes Tommy was pointing to Robert when actually he was pointing to Mary, stalks into Dittrich's shop full of rage. He busts up a sitting and drags Robert out to the main shop. He throws Robert through the front window, then takes off his coat before pummeling Dittrich in front of a growing crowd and his crying son. "This man had relations with my wife when I was away in the war," Jimmy tells the bystanders. He seals the deal by beating the piss out of Dittrich with one of his own tripods. How's that for losing your grip on beauty in times of war?
Schroeder Sanctum. Margaret answers the door to find Van Alden on her stoop. He invites himself in and tells Harrow he needs to speak privately with Margaret. Harrow excuses himself to look after the children. Van Alden holds up his wank bank photo of Margaret, saying sanctimoniously, "I would like to know if you recognize this girl." With little patience for his antics, Margaret acknowledges that the picture is of her at Ellis Island. He fills in that it was on the end of her journey from Kerry, thus tipping his hand that he knows and thinks entirely too much about one Margaret Schroeder. He proselytizes, "When I look at this girl, I see hope, yearning, a promise for a new life, the promise of America. What happened to that girl, Mrs. Schroeder?" She wonders if she'll be deported and affirms her American citizenship. He gets to the point, warning her against consorting with a panderer and a criminal like Nucky. He tells her Nucky killed the father of her children, but she refuses to believe him. Even as she edges away from him, he swoops in like a hawk, saying he knows her. He says, "I can see into your soul, Margaret -- at night, when I look into this picture." In case she missed his hyper-creepy subtext, he gives her a broad, leering smile. She angrily tries to snatch the photo away from him, but he holds onto it viciously. She springs off of the couch and dresses him down for lying his way into her house, then moralizing at her despite his blatantly base intentions. Like any abuser or would-be rapist who has underestimated his victim, Van Alden brings out the big guns. He promises Margaret salvation and, when she holds strong, threatens her with the very fires of Hell. He walks out in a blue-balled huff, leaving Margaret shaken and in desperate need of a thorough scrubbing.
Chicago, Al and Torrio attend the bar mitzvah. Al removes his newsboy cap and is promptly told by one of the Jewish elders to put it back on out of respect for God. The elder asks if Al's a friend of the boy being bar mitzvahed, and Al cagily says he's an associate of his father. Al asks what "this party" is about, so the elder fills him in that it's about a boy becoming a man. All wonders why 13. Asks the elder, "Do you not feel that's old enough to be held accountable for your actions?" Al quips, "I know the state does. That's why they got reform school." The elder responds, "All of us who are worth anything spend our manhood unlearning the follies of our youth." The rabbi calls for the service to start. As Torrio takes his seat, the elder tells Al he should wear a yarmulke because he is a man wearing is the cap of a boy. As Beer Baron Jr. sings his prayers, Al ponders the words of the elder. Seeing the congratulations and love of the men welcoming this 13-year-old into manhood, Al realizes it is his turn to become a man, too.
Back in A.C., Nucky -- with brilliantly ill-timed interjections from Doyle -- updates Chalky on the D'Alessios' and Lansky's Rothstein recon. Jimmy arrives late as Kessler takes leave for the night. Nucky and Jimmy tell Chalky to contact Lansky under the pretense that he's unhappy with Nucky and wants to sell off all his liquor to Rothstein. They want to get as many of Rothstein's guys as they can in one go. Chalky wonders what Nucky plans for Rothstein. Says Nucky, "I'm going to make him the richest corpse in New York."
The day, Mayor Bacharach delivers the news that he won't seek re-election at the women's luncheon. In the audience, Nucky dismissively assumes Margaret is nervous about her speech and tries to calm her. Instead, she's sick with herself and missing the parts of her soul she's selling, piece by piece, to Nucky. He recalls his own first speech and admits he was a wreck. "After a while," he says, "you can get up there and sell snake oil." Remembering how much admiration Margaret had for Nucky the first time she saw him speak (at a women's temperance meeting, no less) and how quickly her cache of his secrets is growing, I suspect that statement holds very little comfort. Bacharach summons Margaret to make her speech. On the stage, she betrays none of her nerves as she delivers a brilliantly lyrical, yet stirring speech that simultaneously evokes the immigrant background of Van Alden's fantasies, the poetic gloss of Nucky's politicking, and the innate hope she just can't shake -- even as she becomes more intimately aware that it's a fallacy. Addressing her own concerns about Bader's qualifications, she spins a lovely metaphor that his background in construction will equip him to build a new future for Atlantic City. She entreats the ladies to embrace their newfound political responsibility by electing worthy men who puts the interests of citizens first. Impressively, she does not cringe at how easy this snake oil is to sell. Nucky is gratified as Bader takes the stage. Buoyed by a standing ovation, Margaret seems fairly pleased with herself, as well. Then she looks back at Nucky in hopes of getting an affirmative glance. Instead, she sees him doing the same old, same old, moving on to the , currying favor with his buddies, and not paying one damn bit of attention to Bader's speech. What was that about cronyism and incompetence? Margaret's face falls.
Chicago. Al, in a dapper new fedora, apologizes to Torrio about the exploding cigarette. Torrio tells him never to pull a stunt like that again. He tells Al he brought him from Brooklyn because he saw potential, then notes how their friend the beer baron rose up in the ranks from a low-rent pimp to a major player in the scene. He tells Al he can "learn something" from him. Torrio does mention some distribution problems at the brewery, and Al volunteer to step in and fix them. Torrio warns him against anymore shenanigans. Al declares he's ready to be responsible for his actions.
Chalky shows Lucky and several of the D'Alessios around his bootlegging operation as he spins a thoroughly believable -- 'cause it's true! -- yarn about Nucky's lying, greedy ways. Lansky sells Chalky hard on aligning himself with Rothstein. He claims Rothstein is no chiseler, but a man of honor. It's not even worth getting into the errors in that statement and beside the point anyway because Chalky concedes quickly, per his agreement with Nucky. As they settle the terms, Matteo unknowingly references Chalky's Packard and outs himself as the killer of Chalky's driver. Chalky gives him a cold look but continues with the negotiations. He shakes hands with Lansky, then ushers them toward the door. Steps away from pulling off Nucky's plan, he stops short. He whips out not one but two guns and asks Matteo how he knows he drives a Packard. Looks like Nucky's scheme just got thrown out the passenger side window.
That evening on the boardwalk, Angela stops by the Dittrichs' studio to apologize. It's a tall order given Robert's on morphine because of his five broken ribs, fractured nose and jaw. Mary takes the blame, saying she doesn't love Robert and could have avoided all this mess by leaving him months ago. Angela tearfully acknowledges that leaving a man isn't that easy. Mary sits her down and asks if Jimmy beats her. Angela says no but says sadly he's not the man she once knew. Mary invites her to take Tommy and run away to Paris, leaving the men behind. She paints an enticing picture of Tommy growing up on the Seine, speaking French. Angela can't help but swoon at the idea that "he'd be nothing like his father... or any of them." Mary lays it on thicker, mentioning a free-spirited school run by Isadora Duncan, where the kids wear Grecian tunics. With the exoticism and escapism wafting around Angela like French perfume, Mary tells Angela that a ship leaves once a month. She cups Angela's face and says seductively, "Nous devons aller à Paris" ("We must go to Paris"). Angela weepily repeats the mantra, revealing not that all hope is gone. She and Mary fall into each other with hopeful, desperate kisses.
Deputy Halloran escorts Margaret home, buzzing about being named Sheriff Halloran come November. He leaves, and Margaret sits in the living room. Harrow joins her after putting the children to sleep. He closes the drapes to guard them against intruders. Margaret swallows her pride for the millionth time today and apologizes for treating Harrow harshly. She confesses his deformity frightened her. He says he's used to it, but she apologizes again for judging him based on his looks instead of his outside. He says doing that's tough even for him. "Sometimes I forget what I look like," he says wistfully. "Then I pass a mirror, and I remember. I stare sometimes at my face, and I can't recall what I was before." Walloped by his words, Margaret silently and retires upstairs.
Van Alden visits a speakeasy and orders a whiskey. He takes a long, meaningful look at the devil potion, then downs it. He stares ahead distantly, breathing in the burn of the liquor, as if taking in that forbidden whiskey has -- at least for the moment -- pushed down his forbidden desires for Margaret, overwhelmed his feelings of personal and professional failure, and numbed the need to punish himself for constantly falling short of the high standards he forces down all others' throats. He bends over, pressing his whole weight into the bar, then looks up and says grimly, "Again." Drink in hand, he turns back to his fellow patrons and lays eyes on Lucy. He makes his way over and asks to join her. She purrs dumbly, "Sure, why not?" Which is probably what he's thinking deep down, too. Whether he likes it or not, this woman has become inextricably linked in his mind to the Thompson-Schroeder investigation. If he can't have Margaret, she may have to be the cheap substitute. A rich turn of circumstance since Margaret is fast becoming just as calculating and manipulative as Lucy every day. So, what the Hell? Sure, why not? Van Alden lights a cigarette for her. She takes a deep drag, expelling the smoke with a "shhhhhh." It's easy to spot the demons that need to be silenced under his uptight exterior. They make their introductions, and she tells him she could use another drink.
Elsewhere, Nucky and Jimmy join Chalky, Doyle, and the hog-tied Rothstein ragamuffins. Chalky introduces Nucky to a simpering Lansky. Nucky looks past him and to the goon who shot at him on the boardwalk. The guy plays dumb, but Nucky is in no mood to suffer fools. He takes Chalky aside to ask why the plan changed and no deal was made. Chalky in turns asks why Nucky didn't tell him that these were the men who lynched his driver. Nucky says he hadn't confirmed it, but Chalky has all the confirmation he needs. Nucky wonders how they'll get the drop on Rothstein now that Chalky went all vigilante and abducted four men.
Lansky calls out to Nucky, angling to "work out an accommodation with Mr. Rothstein." Nucky says he's not open to any negotiations. The goon mouths off that it's all tough talk and that Nucky, Jimmy, and Chalky can all go fuck each other. Jimmy pulls his gun, so the goon's all, "You gonna shoot me?" Jimmy says he hadn't planned on it, but now he's been talked into it. BANG! One down, three to go. And with those life insurance policies in effect, Rothstein is indeed well on his way to being the richest corpse in New York. Tears run down Matteo's blood-soaked face. Lansky begins to look more than a little concerned. One of Chalky's men asks of the dead goon, "What do we do with him?" Chalky answers, "Leave him at the dump with the rest of the garbage." Matteo angrily threatens that his brothers will seek retribution, and "string [Chalky] up higher than they did that other fuckin' coon." At which point Chalky, like Jimmy, is convinced to take swift vengeance. He grabs Matteo by the neck, presses on his wind pipe until he stops struggling, then drops him with a disgusted thud. Nucky strides behind Lansky, unties his hands, and whispers, "You can go now. And, please, tell Mr. Rothstein what you saw here tonight." Lansky stands up, gives Nucky a nod of respect, and walks out very cautiously.
Meanwhile, Lucy is riding Van Alden hard. His Margaret substitute has a banging body, but her dirty talk quickly spoils his sick fantasies. He can barely contain his repulsion as she leans into kiss him. He turns his face in horror, flips her over, and pounds her out six ways to Sunday. As soon as he comes, the realization and the regret wash over his face. He pulls out and flies into a supplicant's position on the other side of the bed, hoping his prayers will drown out the sound of her whorish moans.
Nucky returns home to find Margaret still awake despite the late hour. He claims he had "business" planning "election strategy" downtown. He tells her condescendingly that she did well on her speech and should get some rest. He walks into the bathroom, saying, "You had those ladies eating out of your hands." As he draws a bath, Margaret steps out of bed to open a window. On her way back, she inadvertently catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror. She stops dead, Harrow's words still ping-ponging around her mind. She takes a long look at the monster she's become without even knowing it and tries to remember what the old Margaret was like.
week: Rothstein looks for new recruits. Angela readies her Parisian escape. Margaret -- aware Nucky killed her husband -- asserts herself just when Nucky's allies are questioning her loyalty. Van Alden gets wise to Sebso's betrayal and renews his zealotry with a baptismal dip in those oh-so-clean Jersey waters. Maybe they were cleaner 90 years ago and, like, Jimmy are simply "what time and circumstance have made" them.