Hey! It's New Year's Eve, 1922, and 1923 is shaping up to be full of the same old shit for the various bootleggers of America. Bobby Cannavale is on the show now as a Sicilian bootlegger named Gyp Rosetti, and right away he beats an old man to death for insulting his intelligence and steals his little Uggie dog. Good start!
Nucky running things in Atlantic City with an inner circle of dunce-y Mickey Doyle, lurking Manny Horvitz, and brooding sex machine Owen Sleater. He finds out some yutz from Philly has been stealing from him and commissions Manny to go take care of him, which Manny does in exchange for his own slice of the business. Before Manny can get to the murdering, though, he's met by an out-for-a-stroll Richard Harrow, who shotguns him through the skull as payback for Angela Darmody and I guess maybe Jimmy too. (Richard, meanwhile, is living in the Commodore's old mansion, which is now Gillian's brothel, where she's convincing Tommy that she's his mother and glowering at Richard to do the same.)
There's trouble in Chicago between the Irish and the Italians, and after Torrio keeps Capone from avenging an insult on his son made by one Dean O'Banion, Capone heads to Irish-town for some vengeance. But when he gets to O'Banion's flower shop (don't ask), who randomly bumbles in the door but Agent Van Alden, a.k.a. George Meuller, door-to-door salesman. O'Banion gets Van Alden to pretend to be his muscle and scare Capone off, and it looks like this is the beginning of maybe Van Alden getting in with the Irish mob? He could use the cash, as the salesman thing isn't exactly keeping him and Sigrid and baby Abigal flush.
Margaret's donation of land to the Church has led to a pediatric care wing named after Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, and while touring the place, Margaret witnesses a miscarriage at the hospital and informed by a cute if opinionated doctor about the hospital's shameful state of prenatal care. At her and Nucky's insanely extravagant New Year's Eve party, Margaret brings this up with Dr. Landau, who gets defensive and tells Nucky that Margaret is accusing him of malpractice. Nucky manages to smooth things over, but later, after all the guests leave, we see that Nucky and Margaret's marriage is basically only keeping up appearances. He yells at her about the dustup with Dr. Landau, and then he goes back to his bachelor pad and his grand new mistress.
Before that, though, at the party, Nucky holds a meeting with Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, George Remus, and Gyp Rosetti, where he announces that, due to political pressure, he'll only be selling his liquor to one buyer from now on: Mr. Rothstein. This pisses Rosetti right off, and he basically blazes a trail of threats and recriminations on his way out the door. So I guess we have an antagonist.
Previously: Some shit went down. Jimmy Darmody bit off way more of Atlantic City than he could chew, pissed off Manny Horvath to the point that Manny went and killed Jimmy's wife, and then was finally done in by Nucky in the finale. Nucky, meanwhile, married Margaret and -- more importantly -- signed the deed for valuable highway land over to Margaret to keep it away from the Fed... only when Nucky was cleared, Margaret signed it back not to Nucky but to the Church, because marrying a murdering gangster is one thing, but you probably ought to hedge your bets with God while you're doing it. Oh, and Agent Van Alden had a baby with Lucy Danziger (who's not in the cast anymore, FYI) and then went on the run for murdering Agent Sebso, settling down with his daughter and nanny/wife Sigrid in Al Capone's neck of the woods.
We kick things off in Tabor Heights, in the great state of New Jersey, where the recognizable mug of Bobby Cannavale looks out over the ocean. He's traveling with something of an entourage and his car's got a flat and they can't change the tire because the lugs are stuck. An old man stops his car behind them and gets out with his Uggie dog and approaches them. He's appraised of the stuck-lug situation and says he's got some "3-in-1" in the glove box of his car that might help. Bobby looks annoyed and says he doesn't know what that is. "It's oil," says the old man, almost reflexively, "what else?" He retrieves the oil and gets to work on the wheel.
From behind him, Bobby butts in: "It could have been a tool?" The old man is confused. "Could have been a wrench." He means the 3-in-1. The old man doesn't know he's in an HBO show about gangsters, where even the most unintended slight against one of the main characters will get your head caved in, without exception, so he actually says he doesn't see how "3-in-1" could imply "wrench" to someone. Bobby says maybe a solvent, then. The point isn't what it might have been. The point is that he wants it clear to everybody that not knowing 3-in-1 oil is not the mark of an imbecile. He explains some more, this time saying he grew up in Sicily, where they had olive oil, not this bullshit 3-in-1 business. Finally, the old man twigs to his insult and apologizes, saying he didn't mean anything by it.
Bobby's face breaks into a most unconvincing smile as he says he was pulling the old man's leg. He pets the dog, whose name is Regina. "It means queen," the guy says. Boy, you just don't know when to slink away quietly, do you, old timer? Obviously, Bobby Cannavale knows Regina means queen! How dare you? The old man returns to his car, and of course Bobby runs up from behind him and bashes his head in with the tire iron, hollering about "What else?"
Welcome back to Boardwalk Empire! Where all the killers will totally kill you.
As Sophie Tucker (or BE's version of Sophie Tucker, what up Kathy Brier?) sings about making a brand new start, we see a kid race across town to deliver coffee and sandwiches to Nucky and his men -- Mickey Doyle, Owen Sleater, and Manny Horvitz -- who are busy interrogating some poor schmoe tied up to a chair in what looks like an abandoned house. Nucky's not angry at this "Nate." Some people steal. It's what thieves do. Manny's acting like the muscle here, so he towers over Nate while Nucky gets to play the good cop. Nucky recaps the situation for us: Nate and an "unknown accomplice" robbed Mickey's warehouse while Mickey was out back taking a crap. Nucky asks Mickey what a thief does. Mickey looks confused at this pop quiz before responding, "Uhhhh, steals things?" Correct. Nucky then asks what does a warehouse does. Well, it stores stuff, per Mickey. So of the two of them, the thief and the warehouse-owning numbnuts who left his place unlocked while he took a dump: who was not doing his job?
Mickey gets Nucky's point. So Nucky tells Nate he's not angry at him. Nate is BEYOND grateful for this and starts to breathe a sigh of relief. Idiot. Nucky then asks Nate for the name of his accomplice, and he gets it easily: one Rowland Smith. Nucky tells Manny to untie Nate and then cheerfully goes to leave, then pulls a total Columbo, all "Oh, wait one more thing: Manny, shoot this guy in the head before you leave." Looks like Nucky's over that whole half-a-gangster phase. (Okay, I cheated and already knew this from all the posters for Season 3.)
So Nucky exits, and Manny's like, "Certain people you do not steal from." The BANG, he's dead, as we cut to an artfully contrasting idyllic shot from outside the Cape Cod style house, seagulls squawking, and WE GET IT.
Lots of happenings at the Thompson mansion, with Margaret instructing the servants as they go about preparing for some kind of an event, and since the nanny is busy correcting Teddy's pronunciation of "Auld Lang Syne," we can guess it's a New Year's Eve party. Both Teddy and Emily talk about when "Daddy" will be getting home, which causes something of a twinge on Margaret's face. Teddy tunes the wireless so he can better hear reports of "aviatrix" Carrie Duncan. Yes, a LADY flying an airplane. She'll be embarking on her journey to be the first woman to cross the States in the air, leaving from Cape May tomorrow morning (bitchy butler Philip: "Just as soon as she's done bobbing her hair"). Margaret leaves for a meeting, and as she does, she passes someone carrying a sphinx decoration. Gonna be QUITE a party.
At the Commodore's old mansion, Gillian is filling out checks for the utilities in her dead son's name via the Commodore's big fancy check book. She's living in that big old house with Tommy, Richard Harrow, and a whole lotta prostitutes, as it appears she's running a proper brothel now. One of those prostitutes, Evelyn, is a comparably dowdy young thing apparently on her first day, since Gillian introduces her to the group. All the others are dressed up in prime flapper gear and smoking from cigarette holders -- one of them is playing the harp! So glad the Commodore's accoutrements aren't going to waste. Gillian delivers a pre-holiday pep talk for their increased business and reminds them that there is a $25 fine for boozing with the clientele. She wants her ladies to be polite and charming -- "Gentlemen remain gentlemen only when they must." Stitch THAT on a pillow and send it to me. Ultimately, Richard chases Tommy into the room, and Gillian introduces him to Evelyn as the caretaker. She's all "Charmed, I'm sure," making me wonder about Richard getting a girlfriend this season. Gillian suggests he might want to take Tommy to the carnival for a while.
Chicago. Johnny Torrio's preparing to leave for Italy with his wife for the holiday but is taking one more meeting. He's at the table with Al Capone and fat Jake when Irish Dean O'Banion shows up, complete with flowers for Torrio's wife. O'Banion is sporting the best/most hilarious Chi-CAAAHHH-go accent I've heard in some time, by the way. So the gist is that Fatty McGoo is saying that Dean's been encroaching on the territorial borders of the city, selling Irish booze in Italian town. O'Banion denies it flatly. Torrio offers a toast, and when O'Banion compliments the quality of the liquor, Torrio says it's getting harder and harder to come by. Al can't resist jabbing again, saying that's why it's so important to respect the boundaries. O'Banion inquires as to whether Capone has got mozzarella in his ears, or perhaps is deaf. Torrio scolds O'Banion that Al's son is deaf and the Irishman makes a halfhearted apology.
The men get to the bottom of the issue, a "misunderstanding" of the southern borders of Torrio's territory. Capone doesn't for a second believe this was an honest mistake as O'Banion says, but with nothing else to offer but his word, O'Banion gets up to leave. Before he does, though, he manages to ask Al to say hello for him ... or at least wave. Al lunges for O'Banion, and the Italians scramble to break it up, Torrio yelling for O'Banion to get out. The Irish scoff and chuckle on their way out as Torrio chides at Capone to behave himself, especially while he's gone. Lotta money at stake. Al says it's his New Year's resolution to keep cool, but as soon as Torrio's out of the room, Al tells Jake he's gonna pay O'Banion a visit. Jake asks about all the resolution talk, but Al says it's not New Year's yet.
Nucky returns to his office at the Ritz, where assembled are: Mayor Bader, stooge extraordinatire; Damian Flemng, who has assumed Nucky's old role as treasurer; Harry Daugherty, Nucky's corrupt pal at the Justice Department; and Jess Smith, you know, that other Washington bureaucrat. There's a tone of general dissatisfaction at the beating the administration is taking in the press. What good are Washington connections on the eve of 1923 if the whole Harding administration is poised to get thrown out on its ear in 1924? Bader scoffs that Harding has a "snowball's chance," and not to be all Johnny Hindsight about it, but re-election is going to be the least of Harding's problems in 1923 (historical spoiler alert).
Nucky asks Bader and Fleming to leave, and Eddie shows Jess to the cigar stand, so it's just Nucky and Harry. Nucky continues to blast Harry for all the investigations the Harding administration is attracting, which doesn't seem to be a great return on the $40,000 in monthly protection Nucky offers up. Harry fires back that Nucky's not exactly one to talk, with his own investigation not 18 months behind him. "I'm a philanthropist now," Nucky says with a straight face. "You're a gangster," Harry shoots back, telling him he runs an "open-air bazaar," selling liquor to the highest bidder. He produces a newspaper which has a headline about the murder of a man on the road in broad daylight in Tabor Heights. Nucky says that's 60 miles from here, but Harry's point remains: Nucky's in a glass house and should not be throwing stones. Calming down, Harry also says from now on, he'll be accepting his payoffs in cash, through an intermediary to be named later. He picks up the paper again and sees an article about Aviatrix Carrie Duncan and her cross-country flight. He asks Nucky what he thinks of her. Nucky: "She should spread her legs and leave spreading her wings to her husband." There's that old suffragette we know! Sounds like Nucky's soured on the concept of women spreading their wings. Whatever could have changed his mind like that?
At St. Theresa's Hospital, Margaret is getting the grand tour, along with Father Brennan. Why she's getting the royal treatment becomes clear when they enter the Enoch and Margaret Thompson Pediatric Annex, obviously bought with the money from the land she deeded over to the church. As she accepts congratulations, a haggard-looking woman approaches the group, her arm outstretched, saying, "Someone, help please." Appears to be reaching toward Margaret -- the only woman in the group. Dr. Landau and the tour guide look at her, fully make the decision to ignore her, and go back to the tour, at which point the woman starts bleeding from under her skirt and onto the floor. She passes out into Dr. Laundau. Margaret screams and Landau calls for another doctor and some nurses to take care of this woman. While the woman is still being placed on a gurney, the tour continues to the new conference room and the courtyard. No one but Margaret seems very effected.
Hey there, Agent Val Alden! Or George Meuller, I suppose. Cicero, Illinois looks particularly gray and chilly and unwelcoming on this day. Van Alden rings the doorbell of a man who appears to be making his own bathtub gin inside; so Van Alden's here to make an arrest, then? The man opens the door to this grim face of awfulness and braces himself for bad news. It IS bad news, of course, but not the kind he suspects: this here Mr. Meuller is selling electric irons door to door. On New Year's Eve. Surprisingly, the man is not interested in a product that could save her hours of backbreaking labor. Come back week, the guy says shortly. But the company is holding a sales contest, says Van Alden, and today is the last day. That gets the door shut in his face. Rookie mistake, Meuller! The people don't care about your sales incentives! We then get a nice shot down the corridor of rowhouses, where Van Alden rings every bell, right down the line, finding no success.
Back in Atlantic City, Richard has taken Tommy to the carnival, and at the moment, he is wrecking shit at the sharpshooter booth, knocking down every single tin Indian and Buffalo, to the applause of a scattered crowd. Finally, the sour carnie tells him he's had enough, so he moves on amiably. "Your dad was a good shooter," Richard says, as they pass the freak show (because Richard's a freak, see). Tommy talks about what he's heard about his father, who killed people in the war and got his leg hurt. Who told him that? "My mama." Richard: "Your mother was a beautiful woman." He talks about the time she painted a picture of him. Tommy doesn't believe him -- his Mom doesn't paint. "She's taking me to the movies tomorrow." Richard's confused. Who's he talking about? Tommy gives an annoyed "My mooooother!" which felt all too real. Richard realizes he's talking about Gillian, not Angela. Gillian's has him thinking she's his mother, in 18 short months. The child and his caregiver leave to get some cotton candy.
Back at St. Theresa's, Margaret is saying her goodbyes and says she'll see Dr. Landau tonight. Margaret introduces herself to Dr. Mason, who's a bit cold to her. She asks after the woman from before, and he tells her she's resting, but she miscarried her baby. It was unnecessary, he says; it could have easily been prevented. He tells Margaret the miscarriage was likely due to E. coli infection, and if someone had simply told this woman to avoid raw milk, her baby would be alive. Margaret looks sad, but Mason takes it to her: she's on the board of this hospital; she has the power to do something about the awful thing she saw. "We do not provide even the most elementary prenatal care," he says, and as a result, these women are ignorant about their bodies, "and what you saw today was the result." Margaret looks troubled, but also defensive, as she often gets when she's reminded of her own privilege. "And what do you expect me to do?" she asks. He kind of sneers at her when he says: "Nothing."
At Mickey's warehouse, Nucky and Sleater show up, looking for Mickey's partner, Manny. Why the visit? Sleater's found out that this Rowland Smith, the thief's accomplice, is hiding out near Philly, Manny's neck of the woods. Nucky wants Manny to be the one to ferret this guy out and take care of him. Manny, for his part, isn't thrilled about taking time out of his New Year's Eve with his wife to do this. Nucky feels like Manny should be more of a team player: "You were destitute and desperate. Remember how I helped you?" Manny reminds Nucky that he helped him as well. He offers this: he'll do the killing in return for his own still, his own operation. He glances out to the warehouse floor, where Mickey's at. "Friends should not become partners," he says. Nucky's pretty incredulous that Manny considers Mickey a friend. Manny: "What else to call the putz?" Heh. Nucky says they have a deal, and Manny promises that in three months, he'll be stuffing Nucky's pockets with money. Sleater, who doesn't seem to have much use for Manny, simply repeats: "Rowland Smith. Just make sure he's dead before tomorrow."
Van Alden arrives at his sales destination, a tiny apartment building. I really like the effect of the impossibly crowded corridor in the apartment building as shorthand for how shabby the living conditions are. Before he knocks on his door, he turns to the hallway mirror and addresses his own reflection: "Every day and every way I am getting better and better," he says, twice. And then he gets promptly shot down by the housewife in 1D. So he moves on to 1C.
Jazzy music greets Mr. and Mrs. Enoch Thompson as enter their own party. She's wearing a cool little Egyptian-style headpiece that really flatters her. They greet their guests with smiles and accept the compliments of their friends. Two guests compliment Margaret on the Egyptian décor. "Imagine," the man says, a worthless desert as far as the eye can see, but buried underneath, untold millions." Nucky: "I can imagine it, actually." Margaret winces almost imperceptibly at this, then they move on. They spot Teddy lingering on the staircase, clearly wanting to come down to the party. "Why not, just for a few moments?" says Nucky, and Margaret goes to indulge her firstborn.
Eddie Cantor arrives at the party with a pretty chorus girl on his arm. "You must be the boy king," she flirts to Nucky, who deflects the "boy" stuff to his young son. The woman introduces herself to Teddy as Lillian Kent, "but you can call me Billie." Margaret makes introductions, then leads Teddy back to bed. Eddie asks Billie if she's ready to sing for their supper; she downs a couple glasses of champagne (including Nucky's) and says she is. Eddie leads her off, tossing an eye-roll at Nucky that made me laugh.
Richard is showing Tommy some of his mother's paintings; his real mother. He even points out her signature on them, Angela Darmody. Tommy sounds the name out. He says he wants to make a picture, and Richard sits him down with a pencil and paper. It's very sweet. He's drawing a horse. Richard tells Tommy that his mother drew him once, a long time ago. At this, Gillian appears in the doorway, asking what was a long time ago. Richard answers, "The war." Gillian wonders if that's a suitable topic, in a very schoolmarmish way. She asks what they're doing, and when Tommy says he's making a picture like his mother, Gillian reminds him: "I'm your mother now" and leads him off to bed. She tosses Richard a look as she leaves. He stays behind and stares at Angela's painting.
Back in Chicago, Al Capone and a crony march into a tiny florist's shop, where Dean O'Banion barks "We're closed!" before he turns and realizes who it is. Then he starts panicking. No Torrio to save him this time. Capone does that clichéd thing where he knocks over a flower pot and is all "Oops!" O'Banion asks if he really wants to do this, and Capone delivers the correct comeback, saying, "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you." It's about to go down when the bell over the door jingles, and who walks in but Van Alden, STILL making door-to-door calls. O'Banion, thinking remarkably quick on his feet, scolds this stranger, "Where the fuck have you been?" Van Alden, confused, starts to speak, but O'Banion shuts him down: "Shut your yap and look smart! We've got company!" Van Alden, in people-pleasing salesman mode, does as he's told and seems to catch on. Capone, seeing that the field has leveled, growls at O'Banion to watch his step, but O'Banion persists, telling Capone that he's on the North Side now, and unless he wants a taste of what's in Van Alden's briefcase (Van Alden raises his case and "threateningly" opens one latch -- he's being kind of hilarious this week), he'd better watch HIS step. Capone stares him down for a second before leaving.
O'Banion immediately locks the door behind him, then starts whooping at Van Alden for their little improv theater bit. He offers his hand and meets "George Meuller with the Farraday Electric Iron Company." O'Banion sets about assembling a bouquet for Meuller's wife, gratis, and before Van Alden can even get into his sales pitch, O'Banion orders two dozen irons. Van Alden is dumbstruck at his good fortune (and maybe a little more dumbstruck that anybody has that kind of money to throw around as basically a thank-you). O'Banion compliments Mr. Meuller on his poker face and says if he ever wants a real job, just remember his name. This seems likely to bear fruit later on.
Back at the party, Eddie Canton and Billie Kent are regaling the crowd with a song-and-dance number about King Tut, in keeping with the theme of the night. Nucky and Margaret seem particularly delighted by it. Billie ends up dragging Nucky into the performance as well, and he plays the reluctant but game host quite well. All of a sudden, we cut to the party guests and who do we see lined up like the usual suspects: Arnold Rothstein, George Remus, Meyer Lansky, and Lucky Luciano. They also seem to be enjoying the performance (well, maybe not Remus), but obviously they're not there for the social aspects of the evening. Lansky and Luciano titter about how hot Billie is. (Lansky calls Cantor "The luckiest Yid alive," though when Rothstein chimes in that he's her landlord back in New York, he amends: "second-luckiest.")
Rothstein turns to greet another guest and criminal: Gyp Rosetti, who's carrying the little Uggie dog that once belonged to the guy he just killed. Nucky approaches the men and greets Rosetti in particular. Rosetti complains about his flat tire, and Nucky astutely wonders if it was perhaps near Tabor Heights. New faces, new problems, Nuck. After some semi-friendly ball-busting between Rosetti and Luciano, Rosetti turns to Nucky and starts in on a bit of business: he's been getting a lot of demand for rum lately. Before he can finish, Eddie Cantor sways up to Nucky, saying, "Cleopatra requests your presence." I guess he means Margaret. Slighted -- you know Gyp Rosetti and how he loves taking offense at things! -- Gyp is like, "That's okay, I didn't want to finish my thought." Oh, you big baby. Nucky says it nicer, pinching the man's cheek and telling him to relax, it's a party. Somehow, I doubt he's relaxing any time soon. Nucky heads to the room to raise a glass to all his guests. Everybody cheers as Eddie shouts "To Nucky and Margaret Thompson." Gyp's scowling face is comically un-subtle.
George Meuller makes his last stop of the night, to the Farraday Electric Iron Company's New Year's Eve party, where a bunch of unglamorous people are living it up like they matter. With something that might be mistaken for a smile on his face, our Van Alden crows that he made 24 sales today, drawing some impressed comments from his co-workers, but probably not the thunderstruck awe he was hoping for. They also tell him that he's a day late and about $500 short, since some guy named Phil is the big winner. Van Alden looks at the tally on the chalkboard, where he currently sits at zero (aw), and Phil has notched seventeen sales. Van Alden does the math for them: his 24 beats Phil's 17. Ah, but the catch: the contest ended at 9 PM. Van Alden insists it was 10 PM. His boss, one Scotty Gulliver, is being nice about it, but his co-workers seem like drunken louts. At least Van Alden is letting them drink without drowning them, though. Progress! Still, as he tells Gulliver, he was going to use that money to buy a new house for him and his wife. We all saw what happened to Chevy Chase when he didn't get his Christmas bonus in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, so if I were Scotty Gulliver, I'd watch my step.
Back at the New Year's party, Margaret is chatting with a lady guest about Carrie Duncan's historic flight tomorrow. Margaret is fixated on the idea of soaring through the air like a bird. "Free?" marvels her friend, laying on the thematics a little thickly, I'd say. Margaret jokes that 30 hours in the air would be all the freedom she'd need. Then, Owen Sleater shows up, saying the bar is low on champagne. He puts a cigarette in his mouth and starts making the sex eyes at Margaret. I know it's not just me feeling the bang vibes coming off this guy, because Margaret's friend has to turn around and start another conversation, lest she be accused of attending a sex show. This guy can really turn it on. He tries to start a conversation with Margaret about how it's already New Year's in the old country, but she simply tells him to give her regards to Katy (ouch) and turns back to her friend, who knows things got weird just there, and Margaret knows she knows.
Margaret flees, then, to a conversation with Dr. Landau and his wife. Landau seems like a real piece of work, telling Margaret that parties usually bore him, but this is the exception. They take sips of their drinks, and since there's already an awkward pause, Margaret decides to broach the subject that Dr. Mason brought up with her earlier: pre-natal care. Landau looks kind of put off by this and asks which doctor. Margaret has the sense enough to lie that she doesn't know, but it was an older gentleman. "The point was," she goes on, hopefully, "that the entire situation could have been prevented." "Excuse me?" says Landau, obviously offended, and this is when Nucky shows up. "Your wife's just been lecturing me on the hospital's complicity in a woman's miscarriage," he complains to Nucky, totally overreacting and being all butthurt about it. "Negligent, were we?" he asks Margaret, who sputters and turns to Nucky, saying that's not what she meant to say at all. You had to expect Nucky to take a bite out of Landau for badgering Margaret like this (actually, I was hoping we'd see some of that steel-spined Margaret we've seen before, but alas, marriage seems to have taken a lot out of her), but instead he just smooths it over and convinces everybody to stop talking shop. They're all saved by Eddie Kessler in full explorer garb, leading a treasure box into the room. Nucky and Margaret announce to the crowd that they're all welcome to partake of "King Tut's Treasure," and one by one, the party guests come up and grab a piece of shockingly valuable jewelry or some other bauble. Nucky's always been a glad-hander, but this is really taking things to another level. From across the room, Rosetti, Luciano, Rothstein, and Lansky watch this scene with a great deal of interest. Just how flush IS this guy, if he can afford to open up Scrooge McDuck's money vault like this?
Back at Gillian's brothel, it's time for her to scold Richard for talking out of turn to Tommy earlier. She prefaces her remarks by asking Richard if he likes living there, so she's not above holding that over his head. There's a part of her that's kind to him, so long as he's amenable to her whims as far as Tommy is concerned (and he is, at least at this moment), but it only goes so deep. She asks him if he's going out tonight, and he says he is, to meet a friend. Now that should've been your first clue.
Back at the party, Nucky has cleared out the servants' quarters so he can hold a business meeting with Rothstein, Remis, Luciano, Lansky and Rosetti, the latter of whom is behaving like a real asshole with everyone else. He starts right in on Nucky about the 500 cases of rum he wants, but Nucky stops him short. There's going to be a new business policy in the new year. As a favor to his political cronies, he's going to streamline his business so that he's selling all his liquor to only one buyer: Arnold Rothstein. If they want it, they can buy from him. Rosetti correctly infers that it'll be at a ridiculous markup, and he can't exactly get his liquor from elsewhere -- Brooklyn's main bootleggers won't sell to Italians, for instance. Rosetti then resorts to childish name-calling, starting with Nucky but really just going around the room like he's Don Rickles all of a sudden, calling Rothstein a "smug kike prick" and threatening to fuck up Luciano and Slater. He calls Nucky a "breadstick in a bowtie" (stealing that) and a "pasty cocksucker." Nucky warns him to slow his roll, and offers to comp him at the Ritz in order to have him chill the fuck out. Rosetti just demands his 500 cases of rum, but he's not getting them. With the whole room against him, Rosetti makes a weak "Nobody here can take a joke" claim, then storms out with that poor Uggie dog under his arm.
Upstairs, Rosetti is still fuming, as the guests count down to a happy new year. He charges across the room towards Margaret, and you start to worry that he's going to do something awful to her. Instead, he just hands her the Uggie dog, all "Take it! And make him an over-precious star of an emptily nostalgic Best Picture winner!" And even though he doesn't harm her, I'm still awfully unsettled that he had his eye on her like that. Nucky seems to be thinking the same thing.
In Philadelphia, Manny Horvitz and his wife are having a rip-roaring New Year's Eve, her in her dowdy dress and him trying to convince her that champagne isn't just for the goyim anymore. No, it's all rather sweet, for a guy who kills guys with meat cleavers and shoots defenseless lesbian lovers. She kisses him and goes to get changed for bed (ooh la la), and when she's out of the room, Manny retrieves his gun. He's got that one errand to run.
Van Alden returns home to Sigrid and baby Abigail, who I guess not after a year and a half is almost toddler Abigail. The big surprise is in Sigrid's arms, as she and Nelson had a baby of their own. "I lost," he tells her, defeated. She processes that for a moment, then smiles at him and says, "This year will be more lucky." He gives her the flowers from O'Banion's place. I can't imagine married life with Nelson Van Alden could ever be fun, but Sigrid seems to be a good temperamental match for him.
Nucky is seeing his guests out, including Dr. and Mrs. Landau, who -- barrels of laughs 'til the end -- talk about the passage of time and how they wish the world could just slow down sometimes. Awesome attitude to have from your DOCTOR. The last guests are barely out the door before Nucky rounds on Margaret with a hissed "How dare you?" We realize this is the first time we've seen them alone, without anyone to keep up appearances for, all episode. So clearly Nucky hasn't gotten over the part where she deeded over his cash cow highway land to the hated church. He upbraids her for dragging him into whatever cause du jour she was arguing with Landau about. She sticks up for herself, telling him she plays the dutiful wife as she's required, that her name is on that hospital too, and don't pretend he doesn't like playing the benefactor. "You made me the benefactor when you signed that land away!" he yells. Suddenly, they realize Teddy is watching from the stairway, wondering if it's New Year's yet. Nucky counts off a stack of bills and hands them to Margaret, tips for the staff. He collects his coat and hat, tells Margaret he'll think about something or other the bishop's office called about (the St. Gregory award), and heads out into the night, leaving Margaret all alone in her golden palace.
Manny's about to head out when his wife comes down the stairs with a gift for him: a new hat. He's touched by the gesture, after all these years. From outside, a car honks for him, and he yells at them to shut up, then kisses his wife sweetly. He opens the door to find a man there: Richard Harrow, shotgun in hand. Without a word, Richard blasts Manny -- through the eye, I think -- and as Mrs. Horvath's screams echo out into the night, he stomps away, as we see Manny's driver has met an equally sad fate. It's interesting -- we've seen Richard kill from afar before; he's a skilled sharpshooter. I have to think he did this one up close and personal for a reason, whether it was to see the look on Manny's face in that half an instant where he knew he was going to die; or else he wanted Manny to see him, to know exactly why he had this coming. This was for Angela. Not even for Jimmy, I don't think. Maybe Richard has a plan for Nucky later on (if anybody even knows Nucky was the one who killed Jimmy), but this one was for the kind woman who looked at Richard's hollowed-out face and saw something beautiful, worth capturing on canvass. She's now avenged.
Margaret can't sleep, alone in her giant bed, and so she picks up the newspaper and reads about Carrie Duncan some more. Fly her away, et cetera.
Nucky returns to his penthouse at the Ritz, where I guess he stays in order to flee his now-loveless marriage. He pours himself a drink, puts his gun back in his desk drawer, feels the pain in his hand from when he was shot (and maybe remembers the man who shot him, Jimmy). He retires to his bedroom, where we're treated to the sight of a topless Billie Kent, boredly sipping champagne in a reclined pose. Nucky deadpans all, "Why Miss Kent, whatever are you doing here?" as it becomes clear that not only are these two going to Do It tonight, but this is an ongoing thing. "I never had so much fun pretending I didn't know someone," he says. Interesting to think about the Arnold Rothstein connection here. He's her landlord. Is she keeping tabs on Nucky for him? Put a pin in that. For now, I guess she's just the newer, less irritating Lucy Danziger, and a walking (or not walking, in this case) symptom of his diseased marriage.
Very early the morning -- the sun is barely up -- Margaret travels down to the beach to watch Carrie Duncan begin her historic flight. She watches the plane with longing, as the airborne metaphor glides above the shoreline. Margaret smiles sadly.
Joe R is once again in it for Margaret's journey. 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.