Tusk

S02E02

Nucky and Chalky both begin the episode in jail, but only one of them ends the episode there. Nucky is bailed out pretty quickly, but Chalky stays to get thrown in with the other black prisoners, one of whom is a real hardcase. It looks like Hardcase is going to bait Chalky into a confrontation that won't end well for Chalky, but it turns out that being the Nucky Thompson of the black community makes you more than a few friends; the kind of friends who can help you beat hardcases senseless and then read you some David Copperfield to help you calm down.

Jimmy travels to New York for a meeting with Arnold Rothstein. He's looking to expand his business and wants Rothstein as a buyer, but Rothstein seems more interested in examining the schism between Jimmy and Nucky than actually committing to anything. Meanwhile, things are as frosty as ever between Jimmy and Lucky Luciano, but Lucky still invites Jimmy to a meeting with him and Meyer Lansky, who want to get into the heroin business with Jimmy. Later on, Jimmy baits-and-stabs a couple Lower East Side mafia types, which officially makes him more of a New Yorker than I am.

Back in Atlantic City, the Commodore gathers together all of Nucky's ward bosses -- two of whom, Jim Neri and skinny little puissant Patrick Ryan, were the ones who turned evidence against Nucky to the state -- and tells them to climb aboard the Commodore express. (The Commodore Express, by the way, has been freshly grease-painted about the hair and mustache, which is just the greatest thing that has ever happened, and is able to lift whole elephant tusks clear over his head.) They're all prepared to get with the winning team, except for Fleming, who is loyal to Nucky.

Margaret is obviously freaking out once she gets the news of Nucky's arrest. To her credit, she musters up her resourcefulness, dresses up like poor, Season 1 Margaret (even faking pregnancy!), and gets the state investigators to let her into Nucky's office. Later, back at home, Margaret answers the door to one Owen Slater, advance man for Nucky's imminent dinner guest, a Sinn Fein bigwig looking for a donation. Slater mistakes her for 1) the maid, and then 2) the maid's MOTHER, but he's cute and he's Irish and he charms the hell out of the maids.

Nucky returns to his office to find his ledger gone, and then just before Fleming has the chance to rat out his fellow aldermen, Nucky gets a call from Eli. With the Commodore over his shoulder, Eli declares civil war against his brother. Then the Commodore introduces him to Uncle Junior Muttonchops and ... the Secret Mason Elders of Atlantic City? This situation is developing ...

At Nucky's house for dinner, the Sinn Fein guy, McGarrigle, turns out to be a stiff prig, and he's mean and insulting to Margaret for assimilating. That's before Nucky shows up and satisfies the guy with booze and a check. The good news is that Slater is sticking around. After the Irish leave, Nucky is an open book with Margaret about the coup, though it's left to her to correctly intuit that Eli is among the betrayers. She also reveals -- duh -- that she took the ledger (and $20,000 in cash) before the investigators could find it. They burn the ledger, and it becomes clear that Margaret may well be Nucky's best asset.

It's early morning at Chateau Nucky when Margaret comes downstairs to find the maids huddled around the newspapers, whispering and worried. It's awkward when they notice Margaret there, and their frightened expressions around Margaret make you wonder if she's turned into a mean dowager lady. Turns out, she's kind of using her station to cover up her nervousness/anger at Nucky not coming home last night. When the maids show her the newspaper, telling of Nucky's arrest, her face falls. She then changes the subject to the weather and marches forward with plans for tonight's dinner. One of the maids hands her a card the children made her, one that captures the sweet/weird quality of Margaret's kids quite well ("Cherished Mother, you have our hearts"). The maids wonder if there will be a dinner, considering. Margaret just plows forward, saying the rug must be taken out and beaten before Mr. McGarrigle and the other guests arrive. She sounds scary a little!

At Nucky's office, Eddie tries to maintain the illusion that he is supervising as state investigators ransack the premises. You have to feel for him as he looks upon all this barbarism. Cutting into upholstery, I mean! On the phone with Margaret, Eddie assures that Nucky is being bailed out, but he rushes off the phone before she can ask anything. One of the maids is caught eavesdropping, but rather than upbraid her, all Margaret asks is "What sort of coat do you have?"

At the jailhouse, Nucky and Chalky are sharing a cell, with Nucky trying to explain why Chalky's been locked up for his own protection. Chalky understands but is nevertheless angry. After all, isn't Nucky's power supposed to keep him protected from things like Klan attacks? Why are they now so emboldened? The answers to that don't bode well for Nucky and he knows it. Nucky asks Chalky about election night; what were the other ward bosses up to? Nucky goes through their names -- Neary, Boyd, Fleming, O'Neill -- and Chalky settles on Neary. Why? "He's been a sumbitch forever." [Note: I've been calling Neary "Neri" all this time, probably because of The Godfather, Part II. Anyway: corrected.] Chalky says the right question isn't who squealed, but who told them to squeal. Before Nucky can think too hard on that, his bail is posted. And what about Chalky? Nucky tells him to be patient. Chalky says he's getting his own "Jew lawyer," so ... And hey, good for him! After Nucky leaves, Chalky stares out after him. "Precarious motherfucker."

In New York City, Jimmy is meeting with Arnold Rothstein (flanked by Lucky Luciano), and Jimmy's laying it on thick with the "I have great respect for you" shtick. Luciano smirks at him, but it seems that Rothstein appreciates the pretense. He compliments Jimmy on being well spoken and apparently out from under Nucky's wing. He then acknowledges the past between Jimmy and Lucky and commends them both for putting the past behind them (though not too far behind, from the looks of it). Jimmy makes his pitch: he's striking out on his own, and he wants Rothstein as a customer, provided he's in the market for quality liquor off the boats for a reasonable price. Rothstein wonders where this leaves Nucky. "Nucky's like a father to me," Jimmy non-answers. Lucky pipes up that he hasn't spoken to his own father in five years, and Jimmy's like "Cool story, bro!" They glare at each other, and Rothstein plows forward, wondering who, exactly, is Jimmy. "A year ago," he says, "you were a brigand in the woods." Jimmy says he's a businessman, a veteran, a father. Rothstein himself doesn't have children. "But I'm told they often say unexpected and amusing things." Heh. He applauds Jimmy's audacity and then gives him his word that his offer will stay in the room. Jimmy's like, "...What does that mean?" That means what it means, little man! As Lucky shows him out, Rothstein calls after: "Don't you find it curious that neither of us has mentioned that Nucky Thompson spent last night in jail?" Jimmy stops for a moment, like maybe he's surprised by this, but then he knowingly replies, "Things seem to be changing faster than I realized."

Outside the office, Lucky opines that "AR don't like saying no." Jimmy's like, "He don't like saying yes either, apparently." Lucky then extends an unexpected invite to a poker game he holds in the city. Jimmy's not sure what Lucky's angle is on this thing. The mistrust between them is still so thick. Lucky's like, "Fine, go fry a fuckin' egg, Farmer John." Jimmy goes to leave, then turns back to Lucky: "Give it to me straight." Lucky obliges: "Meyer thinks we should talk."

Back in AC, Nucky meets with his lawyer while shaving/changing from his night in jail. The lawyer says the bust came down from Governor Edwards, who is suddenly emboldened. And as for mister Solomon Bishop, Nucky wants to know his weaknesses. He a poor but honest type? The lawyer's like, "Married to a lesser Whitney and set his annual salary to one dollar per year, so no." I love the idea of a "lesser" Whitney. Anyway, the lawyer says that from his sources down at the courthouse, he's learned that Nucky's ship is leaking. There are two confidential witnesses against Nucky who are prepared to testify to widespread election abuses, voter intimidation, fraud, theft of ballot boxes and bribery. Eddie then tells him Margaret has heard the news, and to Nucky's credit, he asks about the children. The state police have now banished Eddie from the office, but he's already traumatized by what he saw there. "There were men touching your possessions in ways I consider offensive," he recalls.

Speaking of Solomon Bishop, he's at Nucky's desk, digging through his paperwork. He hears there's a lady to see him. Out in the sitting room he finds Margaret. Or, rather, the Margaret from the pilot episode. She's dressed in a raggy coat and hat, and her stomach looks to be bulging. Oh, this lady's good. She feigns that she's a poor lady to whom Nucky has promised help. They inform her that Nucky's been arrested, and so Margaret begins to cry. She's got two wee ones at home, after all, and [pats her stomach]. She then says she's feeling weak -- may she use the facilities? Bishop's underling is very concerned about her and leads her into the office.

Nucky heads outside, to the waiting reporters. He tries to crack a couple jokes that do not fly, but he's clever and says those bad jokes aren't as bad as the joke that is this politically-motivated revenge prosecution. The reporters won't be placated, though: just how dirty is AC anyway? Is there an honest man in town? "Is there a sober man at the Philadelphia Inquirer? That riposte gets a momentary laugh from the peanut gallery, but it doesn't last. More questions. How did Nucky fix the election? Rhubarb, rhubarb...

A close-up on a stuffed grizzly bear tells us whose house we're at. The Commodore has gathered all of Nucky's ward bosses, plus Eli. While they wait for the Great White Hunter to arrive, Eli practices his plagiarism skills, as he cribs, "Nucky was weaned on the Commodore's teat." Oh my God, you POMPOUS CHILD. The other ward bosses seem to be nodding in agreement. Only Damian Fleming has his doubts. "It's a young man's game," he opines, and of course, this is when the resident old man makes his entrance. And WHOA, the Commodore's dark hair! "Did he fall into the shoe polish?" whispers one of the bosses. Commodore zeroes in on Doubting Fleming, however. He instructs him to pick up the elephant tusk that he's got mounted on the table behind the sofa. Fleming's all,"...seriously?" He reluctantly does. It's enormous and heavy, but he's holding it to his chest. The Commodore wants him to lift it up over his head. Fleming tries, but he can't, so of course the Commodore takes it from him and lifts it above his head. If that whole stunt wasn't a metaphor. Great piece of political grandstanding too. "And you're half my age, son!" Commodore punctuates. His point made, addresses the crew on the arrogance, selfishness, and neglect of Nucky Thompson. Neary is still sore about Nucky letting him take the fall after the St. Paddy's Day bust last year. "Such is his method," pontificates Eli. "And then ... [he waves his hand regally in the air] ... all is forgiven. It makes me sick!" Oh, he's really enjoying this. Dale Carnegie would be proud of rabble-rousing like this. Commodore waxes nostalgic about how they all came up in the business together, and will be once again. "Nucky Thompson's about to get seven years of lean. And woe unto them that follow him." Fleming grabs his nuts and sticks up for Nucky and his ability to get out of this electioneering mess. Neary -- who, along with little shit Patrick Ryan, were the ones who turned rat -- asks Fleming how his new house is ("That was an accident! Wasn't it?"). They plan to use Commodore's yacht-club and coast guard connections to control the flow of liquor into and out of Atlantic City. Jimmy's gonna run it. Neary, the kiss-ass, toasts Jimmy in absentia as a war hero. And what about Chalky? Commodore is as classy as ever on that subject, as he declares, "That pickaninny is neutered." He sums things up with a little metaphor-building. He gestures towards his beastiary. "Do you want to be the bear? Or do you want to be holding the shotgun?"

Chalky is receiving a visit from his wife in jail. In a dainty sign of the times, the cops have put up a screen to shield her from having to look at the prisoners in the other cell. Lenore brings news from home -- their daughter, Maybelle, wants to bring a boy home; their son, Lester, sent his dad a book. She hands Chalky Lester's copy of David Copperfield, and he glances at it inscrutably. "Oh yes. It's a good one." It's time for Lenore to go, and she wishes "Albert" strength. As she leaves, the screen comes down, enough for the prisoners in the other cell to see her legs go up the stairs. That's just enough for one malcontent. "Who that little lamb tail?" sleazes one Dunn Purnsley. Chalky sets his jaw and endures Purnsley's jabs. When he asks about Chalky's book, Chalky lies that it's Tom Sawyer. Ohhh, he can't read it. But he's too proud. Chalky with some soul! Purnsley continues to verbally shred Chalky, for his clothes, for his light-skinned wife, for acting uppity with a name like "Chalky White." Chalky's taking it, but shit is TENSE. The cops arrive with another prisoner -- a white one, which means Chalky needs to go into the other cell with the black inmates. Interesting that Nucky arranged for Chalky to share a cell with him, in light of this policy. Suddenly, Chalky finds himself in the wrong part of town, surrounded by Purnsley and his men.

Nucky arrives at his office -- his actual government office, which he stops by infrequently enough that he's not sure if his secretary's name is Enid or Eunice. (It's Eunice.) Nucky asks Eunice to round up the aldermans of all the wards, and the mayor, ASAP. And to "keep up the good work." Aw. While Eddie tries to negotiate the thing where he always stands while Nucky is in the room, Nucky ducks back out to Eunice and asks her to get the number of a florist.

At home, Margaret brusquely supervises the maids as they prepare the dining room. She receives the flowers Nucky has sent -- roses with a romantic little (unsigned) card. The kids are roughhousing, with Teddy chasing his sister with a hammer. Margaret yells at him and takes it away, just as there's a knock at the door. You guys! It's a cute Irish guy! He asks for Mrs. Thompson, or the lady of the house, anyway. In order, Margaret's like, "There is none" and "You are speaking with her." He introduces himself as Owen Slater, advance man for John McGarrigle, Nucky's dinner guest tonight. She tells him he's early. He notices Emily and one of the maids inside the house and gestures towards them: "your daughters?" Margaret, horrified, is like "Only the little one!" Real smooth, guy. He apologizes and flashes a charming smile, though. That's not bad. He's come to ensure that the Thompson home is safe for McGarrigle's visit. Margaret bristles, saying, "We're not much for threatening guests," Slater's like, "Well ... the hammer." She explains about her son, Teddy, and says he's in his room. "...He's seven!" she adds. Heh.

Back at jail, one of the prisoners is making a whistling noise with his mouth-breathing, and Purnsley snaps at him to cut it out. The guy's like, "It's how I breathe," but Purnsley brags about doing three years in ankle chains by "finding that place up here nobody can get to." Surprise, he takes that metaphor as an excuse to mock Chalky further, saying his mental happy place is all soft and pillowy and full of light-skinned wives and Tom Sawyer books. Chalky, as ever, sits and seethes intensely. That's pretty much his reaction through this whole episode, so just assume that. "Maybe I climb up there with you," Purnsley oozes. "Jazz that woman up while you lickin' the plate." This dude is a poet of being awful. Chalky says he can do what he wants; it'll just be him and his right hand anyway. Purnsley laughs so purely that you might be fooled into thinking he's genuine; but when he tells Chalky they're going to get along fine, all the menace floods back into his voice. Then he starts whistling threateningly.

Nucky meets with Mayor Bader, though not before grousing that Bader kept him waiting for 90 minutes. Bader says he's been hiding is his garage since he heard the fuzz was coming down. Nucky asks him if anybody approached him about turning. Bader denies it. Nucky asks if the Commodore came to him. Which clues Bader in to how high up this goes. He's all, "What have you gotten me into?" Nucky says he's going to beat this, and when he does, he's going to remember who showed up here today. And who didn't. On Bader's way out, Eunice informs Nucky that Mr. Kessler called. It's safe to return to his other office.

Neary, Fleming, and the other aldermen meet in some dark corner of the boardwalk with the unused carnival equipment. There's another metaphor for you. O'Neill and Fleming express their misgivings, but Neary is in full salesman mode. O'Neill's concerns are pragmatic, including being worried about working under Jimmy. Fleming is the only one who is put off by how much of a betrayal this is to Nucky. Neary assures them all that the Commodore is going to have Nucky mounted right to that bear, and unless they want to find themselves out in the cold, they need to enlist now.

Back in New York, Jimmy meets with Lansky and Luciano. Lansky sends this kid Benny out on an errand, and on his way out, Benny yips and chicken squawks in Jimmy's ear. So he's a guy who does that. Lansky explains that their little gambling operation is ensconced under Rothstein's wing, though he intimates they have other ventures that AR doesn't know about. Luciano says he'd have jumped on Jimmy's offer, but Jimmy, still not inclined to be nice to Lucky, says who cares what Lucky would have gone for. He wanted Rothstein, "not the guy who holds his water." This devolves into literal "Your mama" posturing between the two of them, until Lansky calms them down. "I'M RUNNING A BUSINESS HERE!" he screams. Lansky compares his and Lucky's relationship with AR to Jimmy's with Nucky: "Nobody wants to be in school forever." Lansky wants to be trading partners; they buy his liquor, he buys their ... heroin. Well! Welcome to the 20th century breakdown. Lansky tells Jimmy that the numbers on heroin look pretty, pretty good.

Margaret is struggling to adjust the sitting-room rug, so Slater lends a hand. She asks him about his travels in America. He's been touring the big cities with McGarrigle, filling their organizational coffers. And their organization? Margaret translates it as "Ourselves Alone," but Slater says her Gaelic's a bit off. Sinn Fein more accurately means "We Ourselves." Margaret is ambivalent as ever about Ireland. She tells him a bit about her background, growing up in county Kerry. He asks if she has family there, but she says no, they're in America, "...apparently." Interesting. Slater says she won't have to choose sides, then.

Nucky returns to his Plaza office, where Eddie is trying to clean up after the "vandals." They left a water ring! Nucky checks for the ledger in the hiding space, but it's gone. Fleming arrives to see Nucky. He says he tried talking to the other guys, but they wouldn't listen. "All's they see are the dollar signs," he says. The Commodore has cast some voodoo spell. The phone rings, and Nucky answers to find his brother on the other end of the line. Here we go. "All alone, big brother?" Eli begins. Nucky says, before anything else, "If now, right now, you tell me you want to get out of this, I will help you. I will find some way. And we will come to terms. I'm prepared to hear your side of it. I will help you. If you tell me now. Because in a minute, it's going to be too late." There's a pause. Then Eli responds, "Nobody takes power. Somebody else has to give it to them. Look around, big brother. Who you got?" Click. Nucky is shaken, by Eli's betrayal but maybe more so by Eli's words. Maybe they're true. Back to Eli, we see the Commodore is hovering over his shoulder. "Feels good to twist the knife," he says. Then he invites him to the room to "meet the men that made this city." In the room, Uncle Junior Muttonchops and the city elders toast to Eli in ... Latin? Ohhhh, is this a Masons thing?

At the Lansky poker game, Crazy Benny stacks chips in the corner while Jimmy plays with (and annoys) three randos. All the while, though, he watches out of one eye as Lansky gets hollered at in the other room. As the two yellers exit, Benny insults them as dagos, and when they say they'll bury him in his diaper, he starts making baby-crying sounds until Lansky tells him to cut it out. So he's going to KEEP doing that. Turns out these guys are representatives of a Mr. Masseria, who, as Benny says, "thinks he owns the Lower East Side." Lansky downplays it as a misunderstanding, but Jimmy's gears are already turning. He cashes out.

The world's tensest jail cell. Purnsley is on to the fact that Chalky can't read, so he asks him to explain what's happening in Tom Sawyer. Chalky makes up a story based on the illustration on the one page. Purnsley points out a written passage: "What's THAT say?" Chalky replies that it says, "Get your finger outta my face." Purnsley is finally like, "Here's everything I hate about you: your suit, your wife and how you think you're better than me," when in reality Chalky is "just another jigaboo in a jail cell." He snatches the book away from Chalky, leaving him holding the one page with the illustration. Chalky looks up at Dunn, perfectly composed, and then calls the name of Harold C. Madison. Harold steps forward. Chalky asks how his daddy doing. Harold's all, "better, thanks." He thanks Chalky for paying the doctor bills. Chalky then moves on to the guy in the cell, and the . He knows them all by name, and he's done good by them in the past in some way. This is the benefit that Nucky is currently not getting: the loyalty of people he's helped along the way. These people step forward and form a circle around Purnsley, who starts to see what's up. He swings first, but they converge on him. With Chalky still sitting on his cot, the men pound on Purnsley, slam him against the bars, batter his face, and finally kick the teeth out of his head. Chalky proclaims, "Purnsley be done." He gets his book back and asks which one of these guys can read. One of the men, Noah, says he can. Nucky hands him the book, and Noah starts reading from David Copperfield. "Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anyone else..."

Back at Nucky's, Margaret is left to entertain the Irish by herself. And let me tell you, McGarrigle is no barrel of laughs. He turns down the perfectly delicious lamb Margaret is serving, saying, "I eschew any flesh that walks on cloven hoof." See what I mean? McGarrigle's second-in-command, Moran, seems more personable. He remarks that McGarrigle's purity would be a challenge in AC, and McGarrigle's like, "No wonder this country seems beset by licentiousness and turpitude." Margaret clearly can't stand him. He says morality in the States is ultimately not his concern. Only driving the English out of Ireland at all costs. Even if they're martyred along the way. He seems like fun! Margaret says that seems an extreme position and McGarrigle's like, "Only to those who's forgotten of whence they come." Margaret, because she's awesome, doesn't allow herself to be put down this way. "I know where I come from," she says. "And where I am now." McGarrigle blanches at how "plainspoken" she is "...for a woman." Nucky arrives late, to Margaret's great relief. With a glare at McGarrigle, she tells him there's "plenty of lamb."

Jimmy heads out into the night, and before he does, he pulls out the knife he used in that Chicago massacre last year. The one with the metal finger-holes and the skull-crusher thing. I'm just going to call it what I've been calling it in my head: the Fuck Knife. Because: FUCK. Anyway, Jimmy puts the Fuck Knife in his back pocket and heads out into the dark streets of NYC. He ends up at ... I'm going to say Tompkins Square Park. He stops by a statue dedicated to temperance (har har) and waits for the two Italians who were hassling Lansky to approach him. They're going to jack him for his poker money, just as Jimmy expected they would. And just as Jimmy planned, he dispatches them with the Fuck Knife in a quick and bloody affair.

Back at Nucky's, McGarrigle is as much of a hoot as ever. Only one glass of port for this guy! He tells Nucky that his organization needs guns and the money to buy them in order to combat the "barbaric English." He hopes he can count on Nucky as a "loyal son of Erin." Of course, we know Nucky hates St. Patrick's Day and is opportunistic at best when it comes to Irish issues. But Nucky still knows how to butter bread, so he writes out a check. McGarrigle -- get this -- says he would prefer cash! Nucky's like, "Yeah, well it's been that kinda night." Nucky tries to make further pleasantries, says it's a shame McGarrigle couldn't stay longer. Mr. Sunshine is like, "I've seen enough." Moran mentions that Slater will be staying on in the States. He says he's got no stomach left for the fight. Well sure, that pretty face is not meant for strife. Nucky sighs and says to bring him around tomorrow; he'll find him a job. He then excuses himself, but McGarrigle decides he'll have that second glass of port anyway. Jesus, it's The Man Who Came to Dinner and Wouldn't Eat Lamb up in here.

Meanwhile, Margaret helps the maid clear the table, saying she always found it quicker with two people. The maid is surprised to hear that Margaret used to be in service. Margaret is shocked that she's shocked. "Do I seem that grand?" The maid's like, "I didn't think you were like me." Aw. Slater smiles back at the women as he leaves. Oh, this one will be trouble. The maid blushes and tells Margaret that Slater was telling the staff "naughty" jokes before in the kitchen. Yup. Trouble.

That night, Nucky sits by the fireplace, thinking. Margaret almost leaves him alone with his thoughts, but he calls her over. She sits down and talks straight with him. Again, I love that he talks business with her! And good for him too, because Margaret is easily the smartest consigliore he's got. She asks if the State has a case -- they do. She asks him who's aligned against him. He tells her about the ward bosses (save Fleming) and the Commodore. Probably Jimmy. Margaret: "Will you not say your brother's name?" Nucky admits Eli has also betrayed him. She reprimands him for not contacting her sooner. He wanted to keep her from the news. "I keep people satisfied," he says, by way of explaining how he operates. Margaret tells him, "These people will not be satisfied." He tells her that the investigators turned the suite upside down, taking the ledger and about $20,000 in cash. Margaret crosses the room calmly, unlocks a drawer, and produces the ledger and the $20k. Nucky is duly amazed. "You are smarter than your enemies," she tells him. "And you will persevere." She then takes the ledger and tells Nucky it must be burned and future dealings committed to memory, yes? Into the fireplace it goes! Nucky tells her sent flowers, though he never signed the card. She's like, "I knew who they were from, duh!" She kisses his forehead, and says to come to bed. You know, for a day that began in jail, it's not ending too badly for ol' Nuck.

Joe Rhopes that one maid gets a name time she's in an episode. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com, and you can listen to him yammer on to his heart's content on the Extra Hot Great podcast.