New York State of Mind

S03E02

Nothing from Chicago this week, so you'll have to wait a bit for the further adventures of George Meuller: Flower Shop Employee. Eli gets released from jail to the indignity of Mickey Doyle's custody, because Nucky is too busy rolling around in the hay with his new showgirl mistress in New York and wondering if there are any other guys she's rolling with. While there, Nucky meets his new go-between for government payoffs, an eccentric weirdo named Gaston Bullock Means. He also meets with Rothstein, and we see the two men continue to have a cautious but respectful business relationship, though they would both like to get to the bottom of who killed Manny Horvitz.

Meanwhile, Gyp Rosetti is skulking around Tabor Heights, acting weird and barely restraining himself from killing everyone. He learns that with the absence of that highway Nucky wanted to build, Tabor Heights is the last place to fill up gas in New Jersey before reaching New York. He uses this to his advantage by buying the services of the local law enforcement and squatting on the filling station. When Mickey, Eli, and Sleater lead Nucky's convoy of liquor towards New York, they find Rosetti won't let them fill up in Tabor Heights. Everybody draws their guns and Bobby Cannavale hams it up real good, but the end result is that Nucky's guys have to turn back, which means Rothstein won't be getting his shipment.

Chalky gets a visit from Samuel, his daughter's suitor, and after an awkward checkup (Samuel's a doctor, or at least aspiring to be), Chalky decides he approves of him. Too bad Maybelle is resisting Samuel's marriage talk because she thinks he's boring. She's holding out for someone "interesting," like her daddy. Of course, later, after a night at the juke joint where Samuel gets his face slashed and Chalky's men beat his attacker into a bloody pulp, Maybelle might reconsider the virtue in "interesting" men like her daddy.

Margaret continues to have awkward, sexually-charged interactions with Owen Sleater, but when she can find the time to do other things, she follows up on the women's health thing at the hospital. After meeting with the woman who miscarried last week, she once again speaks to Dr. Mason, who is snippy as ever with her, as he sees her as nothing more than a rich lady whose urge to help the poor will be fleeting. Margaret tries to put him in his place and prove her resolve, but I have a feeling the proof may be in the follow-through. Also, Margaret and Dr. Mason should hook up.

Previously: Eli went to jail for the Hans Schroeder killing. Nucky's crony in Washington, Harry Daugherty, told him he'd be making his payoffs to a new guy soon. We learned that Nucky has a new mistress, a New York showgirl named Billie. Margaret saw a woman miscarry and got her Sister Suffragette on, this time about women's health. Gyp Rosetti came on the scene and said mean things to a lot of people.

Somewhere in New York City, an unseen man empties out his fishbowl -- goldfish and all -- into the sink, where the water quickly drains, leaving the fish to flop around sadly. If the guy is overly concerned about the welfare of the fish, it's not apparent, as he's moving at a leisurely pace and whistling. But he empties a glass of whiskey into the toilet, fills that glass up with tap water, and puts the fish in there, where there are probably traces of the whiskey still, since he didn't rinse out the glass all that well. And that's all we see if Mr. Goldfish Man, for the moment.

Elsewhere, in New Jersey, a man emerges from prison, in one of those classic scenes where the giant door opens and the paroled inmate walks out into the blinding daylight and just barren land, as far as the eye can see. It's a hell of a metaphor, but I always wonder why they don't let them walk out into the parking lot or something. Anyway, it's Eli, who got the luxury of spending his prison sentence during the hiatus between seasons. He looks skinnier, older, maybe a bit wary of face. A car approaches to pick him up, and to everybody's dismay, it's Mickey Doyle. "He sends you?" Eli asks, incredulous, and also kind of redundantly. Mickey just grins and laughs his wheezy laugh at him. Eli gets in and ignores all of Mickey's dumb attempts at small talk. He does want to know one thing: how the hell is Mickey still alive? Mickey grins and says he brings people together. In hatred of him, yes he does. Eli calls him a "backstabbing shit," almost as an afterthought, but Mickey has the right comeback: "No wonder we get along." Mickey gives Eli the lay of the land: Nucky's a hard guy to get an audience with these days, especially since Horvitz got his face shot off. But Nucky told Mickey to personally pick up his brother, and get him set up. So Eli works for Mickey now, and Eli quite understandably takes in his news and exits the car, prepared to walk home if necessary. Mickey putters after him and reminds him: there's no one else coming for him. This is it. Eli gets back in the car.

By Joe R

Tabor Heights. Gyp Rosetti steps out of the boarding house where he and his flunky have been staying the past two nights and heads two doors down to the gas station, where a sign says "Last Stop for Gasoline in New Jersey." He approaches the gas station attendant -- 22 years old, max -- and basically skulks behind him until he gets the kid's attention. He pulls out a map and proceeds to deliver the most graceless bit of exposition delivery I've seen on a purportedly high-end TV show in some time. He basically points to the audience and says, "Hey dummies: we're here, in Tabor Heights, in northern New Jersey, right in between Atlantic City, to the south, and New York City, to the north. He then tries to figure out the thing on the map where one inch equals ten miles, and the attendant is like, "Yeah, that's the scale," and Rosetti doesn't get the term "scale," just like he didn't get "3-in-1" from last week. I guess this is character building? He's the guy who doesn't know things and who gets mad when people explain them to him? This feels like an improv character.

Anyway, he manages to restrain himself from beating the kid to death, which is a good thing, because the kid has some exposition of his own to give: "Until they finish that highway, we're the last gas to Staten Island." Rosetti spots a fish truck and asks the kid what's in the truck. The kid's like, "...Fish?" Rosetti says it SAYS fish on the truck, but how would they know it's not smuggling anything? Who would be the guy who would know? The kid's like, "...The Sheriff? Hey, how's about stop talking to me now?" I appreciate that Rosetti got this crucial piece of inside information that let him know that the sheriff is the guy in charge of law enforcement. Totally made all that weirdness worthwhile. The kid tries to go off and pump gas, but Rosetti grabs him by the arm and menacingly asks where a good place to eat would be. This fucker EXHAUSTS me, and it's only episode two.

Margaret's having afternoon tea with her friend Cornelia -- the one who got an eyeful of the sex-beams emanating from Sleater to Margaret at the New Year's party. She doesn't seem like a barrel of laughs of anything, but it's nice that Margaret has graduated from hanging out with the mistresses to hanging out with the proper wives. Margaret's telling Cornelia about the miscarriage she witnessed, how horrible it all was, and that she was told it was caused by an infection from drinking unpasteurized milk. And as much as I'd like for Margaret to delve into the story of Louis Pasteur and his wife, in the kitchen, killing cockroaches with a boot on each hand (and can I just say how annoying it is that that clip is sped up like it is; that is NOT a solution to increased ad demands on TV reruns, America!), they're interrupted by Phillip, who announces that "the Irish fellow" is here. Margaret continues to be slightly annoyed by Phillip, which I love, and she snips that visitors are to be announced by name, though Phillip doesn't consider Sleater a "visitor," actually. Cornelia bolts to the ladies' room, lest she be knocked down by further lust-rays. Sleater's here to give Margaret money for the week's expenses, since he apparently refuses to open up a household account at the bank. She asks him to get a message to Nucky about that St. Gregory award the diocese wants to give them for their generosity; he can't just not go, and it'll be awkward for her to have to make up an excuse. Sleater says he'll make sure Nucky hears about it. He looks back into the house and sees Emily playing with her nanny; he remarks that she seems to be quite well. "Things are never as bad as the worst," Margaret says, and Sleater smiles. "Your mam said that too, did she?" Margaret can't deal with him being charming right now, and she has a meeting at the hospital anyway. He offers to drive her, but she says Cornelia is taking her. Sleater leaves, then. Hahaha, "Offers to drive her." I'll bet he did.

Nucky and Billie are fooling around in bed, but they're not in the swanky confines of the Atlantic City Ritz, so they must be in that 57th St. apartment Rothstein was talking about last week. The one he owns. Billie gets up, naked of course, because putting on a goddamn robe to change the pan beneath the radiator just is not the HBO way. She has Nucky help her dispose of the water, and then answers the phone with some cryptic but very flirtatious comments that Nucky can't help but overhear from the room. Billie doesn't appear to be doing too much to hush herself, so maybe it's nothing. Nucky doesn't ask about it, either way.

Afterwards, they make some sexy small talk about some product logo I'm unfamiliar with, and Nucky spots a man's razor that sure doesn't seem to be his in the medicine cabinet. Again, he says nothing (though he does remove the razors). She's excitedly spitballing an idea for her cabaret routine about a hummingbird, including the part where she flirts the men out of their money, so obviously this is a sophisticated relationship where Billie can be open about how she makes her money, though Nucky doesn't seem to be enjoying that aspect of it very much. She asks him if he's being a Gloomy Gus, and he attempts to snap out of it. He tells her he has a meeting today at the Hotel Astor and that he also intends to talk to her landlord about this flooding radiator. She says she doesn't like to bother Mr. Rothstein, but Nucky says he quite enjoys it, which seems like a fine arrangement, then.

Back in Atlantic City, Chalky White is working on some furniture, while his former jailhouse nemesis turned right hand man Dunn Purnsley plays the piano, and Samuel, the nice young college boy who's courting his daughter Maybelle, sits quietly and wonders if there might be a better time to talk. Chalky inquires about Samuel's education -- he's graduating in two years, to become a doctor. Nucky makes a brief reference to Samuel's parents, who he calls "respectable folk." Samuel assures Chalky that they've always held him in "high regard," which is the kind of condescending shit Chalky must have to put up with all the time.

So the purpose of this visit is that Samuel intends to make a life with Maybelle -- to marry her, not in so many words -- and he wants to ask Chalky's permission before he asks her. Chalky doesn't answer, but instead asks this aspiring doctor to check him out. Samuel asks if anything is bothering him. "I don't know," says Chalky, seemingly on the level. "I ain't no doctor, am I?" So Samuel proceeds to take Chalky's vitals, sans instruments, which means he takes his pulse by touching Chalky's neck, in an oddly intimate gesture, and listens to his breathing by holding a glass to his ear. Purnsley, by the way, is watching this all like a total creep. Anyway, Samuel's very professional diagnosis is that Chalky has a mineral deficiency (haha, "chalky," mineral deficiency, I get it); he should start eating more leafy vegetables. So Chalky tells Purnsley to tell the cook to whip up a big pot of greens, then welcomes Samuel to the family.

By Joe R

At St. Theresa's hospital, Margaret pays a visit to Mrs. Scherer, the woman who had the miscarriage last week. This woman, far from being the delicate victim Margaret may have had in her head, is kind of a cranky broad. She says she can't be lazing about in bed for days on end. Margaret tells her she's trying to find better ways for the hospital to take care of patients. "Did Dr. Cheever offer any advice about how to tend to yourself in the future?" she asks. "I don't need anyone to tell me, after bringing nine into this world," Mrs. Scherer says, indignant. Though she quietly amends, "Five that lived." Margaret tells about her two children, as a way to bond, if nothing else. She asks what Mr. Scherer does, causing Mrs. Scherer to defensively squawk that they'll pay the bill. Margaret says she's simply trying to get a sense of what her life is like, which earns her a perturbed, "None of your business," from Mrs. Scherer.

Nucky wants to know what's happening with Smith and Daugherty. "My understanding is that they're no more than close friends," Means smirks, "base rumors to the contrary." Nucky's all, "Ha ha, but really." Means tells him that would be another conversation... in another room. Nucky asks what THAT would cost him, but Means asks him how far he thinks he could trust a man who could be bought on the first day. The answer to that is obvious. Means takes Nucky's envelopes and says he's an admirer of the way Nucky has turned trouble to his own advantage. He adds Nucky's envelope to the stacks of cash on the couch.

From outside the door, a voice calls, "Hello?" Both Means and Nucky are silent, but Means calls for Nucky to come and look through the peephole. There, he sees George Remus, puzzling over the fishbowl setup, before dropping his cash inside. Means whispers to Nucky, asking him if he'd do him the favor of waiting for Mr. Remus to leave and then leaving by another door. And do give his regards to Mr. Rothstein, "I do believe you are seeing him ." He flashes Nucky a great big grin. What an eccentric character. Lots of eccentric characters this season. I guess we're going the other way from sad old Jimmy Darmody.

At St. Teresa's, Margaret pays a visit to Dr. Mason in his office. He still really does not seem to care for her at all. She approaches him in supplication; allowing that she was not very receptive when he approached her about the pre-natal issue last time, but it's been bothering her ever since. She's been to visit Mrs. Scherer, she tells him. "She's rather a difficult woman, really," which is putting it lightly. "Perhaps she's wary of well-meaning strangers," Mason says, pointedly. Dr. Mason is not very old (my roundabout way of saying I'd hit it, I guess), but my sense is that he's had a little experience with philanthropists with short attention spans. "Have I done something to offend you?" she asks, and they kind of bicker back and forth about whether his bad attitude with her reflects his overall bedside manner. He prods at her about whether her frustration with him is really a frustration with herself (I assume he's referring to her inability to do anything of substance with her well-meaning philanthropy). "You have a maddening way," she snaps at him. She says he seems to be blaming her for something, though she doesn't know what. He says he's not sure why they're even having this conversation, then, so she leaves in a huff. Three steps out the door, though, she spots Dr. Landau, and she immediately knows which battle she'd rather be fighting, so she retreats back into Mason's office for Round 2.

Round 2 sees Margaret in far better shape. She starts by saying that he gave her quite the lecture the other day, and she's here to see what she can do about it, and if he's serious about helping women and not simply scoring verbal points off of people he finds to be wealthy and stupid, he'll work with her on this. "It's a Catholic hospital," he says, which I guess is in reference to the roadblocks he expects Dr. Landau to put up when the subject of women's health (i.e. contraception -- if you recall, Margaret Sanger was referenced, albeit obliquely, in Season 1, so that social issue is very much in the ether at this time in history). He asks how she proposes to persuade Landau, and she says she doesn't propose to persuade him at all. Mason follows up, but she declines to elaborate. She also tells him to quit smoking that pipe of his, or else get better tobacco, because whatever he's smoking now is "appalling."

Elsewhere, Mickey and Eli have made it to Tabor Heights. Eli is grouchy, but when isn't he? Okay, fine, he hasn't been home yet, since being sprung from jail, I guess he's justified. Also, it's Mickey Doyle, and no one is going to blame him for being pissed at Mickey. Mickey spots the local sheriff across the street and approaches him with an envelope fat with money. "We've got a convoy coming through tomorrow night," Mickey tells him, so I guess that's what the payoff is for. The sheriff grumps that he expects Mickey's guys to head on through and not linger in town. He sees Eli staring at him and asks what his problem is. "You don't remember me?" Eli asks. "You were up and down the shore ten years ago, looking for any job with a badge." The sheriff shrugs this off, then reiterates to Mickey that his men are to fill up and move right through. As Mickey and Eli leave, he calls out, "You take care now, Sheriff Thompson!" Eli kind of stares back at him but doesn't say anything in response.

Back at Chalky's house, Maybelle and Lester are talking about this gin joint where it seems he's been playing piano. He makes a joke affecting his ... I guess mother's voice, saying "Jazz is the devil's music!" and they laugh together. Lester gets noticeably straight-backed when Chalky comes in and asks to speak to Maybelle alone. He tells her about Samuel's visit today, and she says he called afterwards, which I guess means he's popped the question. She calls him sweet and respectful and says he will be a good doctor. Chalky says a good husband too. She non-answers by asking how old he was when he married her mother. Chalky tells a story about how her mama didn't give him the time of day because her father despised him for being a no-account guy who used to work in a storefront in Texas. So what changed the old man's mind? "He went into some problems," he tells Maybelle, purposefully nonspecific, "so I helped him out." She asks how but he says it don't matter how -- the point is, Maybelle's grandfather saw he could trust Chalky, that he would be of good support to the family. "This man of yours is going to be a doctor," Chalky says, resolute as ever. "That's good for US. For this family." Maybelle doesn't just want to move from one man's house to another's. She says she's not ready to be a wife and mother, and certainly not with Samuel. Chalky scolds her, saying her mother raised her all her days for this very thing. "But she married you!" Maybelle says -- an "interesting" person. (She means "dangerous.") She asks again how Chalky helped her grandfather. Did he get rid of someone? Chalky scoffs that she thinks they're having a conversation like that. He wants to know just what kind of life she sees for herself -- in the backseat of a car with a "swagger buck with a pistol and a wife two counties over." "Why not?" she asks, defiantly. "I'll write a poem about it." Before he can properly holler at her for that, they get called down to dinner. He tells her she's marrying that boy.

By Joe R

They engage in a little parlor game, where Rothstein asks if there are any suspects, and Nucky floats Waxey Gordon, only he doesn't think so, because Waxey would have had to clear it with Rothstein, and Rothstein would have said no, because he's in business with Nucky. Rothstein smirks and says that could just be what he wants Nucky to think. Nucky allows that that's possible, but he doubts it -- "If you wanted to be obvious, you wouldn't be that obvious." Rothstein smiles and says this is why he enjoys their conversations. These two! They've come a long way from trying to have one another killed.

Rothstein then brings up the subject of their liquor arrangement, and Nucky assures him there's a shipment coming tonight. Rothstein's face turns sour, and he tells Nucky that their agreement was for delivery on the fourth, which is tomorrow. Nucky stops and acknowledges his mistake. It's quite telling that Rothstein would be so perturbed by a breach in protocol that would have given him his liquor a day early, but Nucky's just forgotten what day it is, is all, and Rothstein seems to intuit that it's due to him spending several days in the mists of Miss Kent's boudoir. (The Mists of Miss Kent's Bourdoir is my favorite speculative re-telling of the Aurthurian legend.) Nucky kind of rolls his eyes and says he's got people paying attention to these kinds of things for him.

Knowing he's been knocked down a peg, Nucky decides to even up the playing field by mentioning that the radiators in Arnold's 57th St. apartment building are leaking. "Are you looking to rent?" Rothstein asks him pointedly. "East of the park would suit you better." Nucky wants to know what he's implying with that remark. Rothstein only replies, "She's a charming and vivacious young woman." Then he hits a trick shot that bounces off three rails before knocking in the 8-ball in the near pocket.

At home, Margaret is reading the letter the diocese sent Nucky about the Order of St, Gregory prize. She calls to Prudence, the maid, and asks her to clean Nucky's suit -- he'll need it ready for when he is to meet the bishop. But Prudence tells her that Nucky has sent word that he won't be attending the ceremony. Margaret takes a moment to recover before telling Prudence to lay it out anyway, as Mr. Thompson is mistaken. This St. Gregory Medal is tearing them apart! ...Well, plus all the other stuff.

Eli's in his garage, going through some stuff, when he comes across a wrapped gift with an attached card addressed to Will. Aw. This would be a present for one of the birthdays Eli had to miss. It's a model airplane, and in the saddest thing you'll see all week, Eli proceeds to spend all night putting it together. The morning, Eli sits alone with the completed plane at the breakfast table, when Will comes downstairs, bright and early. He's got to head to work, after all. Eli looks dismayed, not only that his son can't stick around to appreciate what his dad bought for him, but also that Will -- who looks all of sixteen -- has to go to work at all. He tells him that while it was a great thing he did for his family, his father's home now, and he should be in school, learning about science and math and social studies. Eli says even he learned Shakespeare, in the joint. Will doesn't seem to know how to talk to his father and is obviously anxious to get to work. He's saved when a car honks outside -- his boss come to pick him up. A surrogate father figure too, if I know my dramatic arcs. Eli quickly shows him the airplane he built, from two birthdays ago. Will acknowledges it, doesn't touch it, and heads out. Eli looks heartbroken as his son trots off to a prematurely responsible life.

At Mickey's warehouse, our favorite weasel is supervising the preparations for tonight's shipment to New York, and who do we see there but Agent Sawicki, the federal agent who didn't get his ass burnt when Mickey's last warehouse blew up. Seems he's on the take now, and even though Mickey treats him like something he found on his shoe, he still makes his payment when Sawicki demands it. Eli shows up, a little later than 8 AM, but it seems he's changed his tune about working for Eli, and he starts loading crates.

Back in New York, Nucky and Billie are at the cabaret with Billie's flightly, airheaded, but ultimately well-meaning friend Viola trying to explain Billie's idea for a hummingbird routine. He seems to be merely putting up with their girlish gabbing, but he does get the kind of attention he so craves when he name-drops Lee Shubert. Billie gets up to go socialize, and Nucky is not only stuck at the table listening to Vi blab on and on about something stupid, but he's forced to watch Billie flirt with other patrons of the club in order to advance her career. You can tell that, despite what may be his best efforts to maintaining a casual, modern relationship, he can't tamp down that jealousy. Of course, moments later, Billie's back at the table with her hand on Nucky's crotch and they're both laughing at Vi, so life ain't all bad.

Mickey's warehouse. Sleater is apparently the lead soldier of this particular convoy, and he lays down the instructions (in an exceedingly formal manner, which I find funny): they'll be making exactly two stops, one for "petrol" (GO BACK TO IRELAND!) in Tabor Heights, and the second to unload their haul in Brooklyn. Two men per car, one armed; if they're arrested, they're to dummy up. As the men line up to get paid, Sleater approaches Eli about being back in town. I'm trying to decide whether the joint has made Eli less of a whiny asshole, and he seems to be -- more serious, more soulful, less of an ineffective striver -- but then he'll look at Sleater and call him "the new golden boy," and shades of that old resentment of Jimmy start clouding his face again, and I just don't know. Sleater offers him an extra $50 to make the trip to New York with them, and while Eli initially turns down such a handout (typical), he follows it up with, "and anyway, I don't have a piece" (more typical). Sleater eyes him warily before offering him his own gun.

It's basically every juke joint you've ever seen in a movie before: jazzy musicians playing peppy ragtime music, well-dressed revelers -- all of them black, unless I've missed a few interlopers -- dancing their legs off, the liquor being slung left and right. We see Chalky in a rare good mood, chatting at the bar. The place is crowded enough and loud enough that he doesn't notice that Maybelle and Samuel are sitting at a table across the room. She keeps trying to get him to drink and loosen the fuck up already, but he's clearly put off by the lack of intimacy in their surroundings. Guess it's not the most ideal place for her to respond to his proposal. He speaks too quietly for her to hear, trying to find a way to say "If you don't want to marry me, just say so," but she's all "Speak up! Yell! Do something for fuck's sake!" The dancing couple to their table becomes a bit too free in their movement, and after the second time they bump the table, a frustrated Samuel raises his voice to ... politely demand that he guy "Watch where [he's] going, sir." Which I guess you don't do to people who are trying to get their dance on, because the guy takes a switchblade out of his pocket and slashes Samuel across the face! Seems reasonable. We're all just roiling savages underneath the surface, right? Or is it just people in places like this?

By Joe R

Ugh, whatever, so Samuel is slashed and he can't believe this is actually happening, so he's frozen in place. From across the room comes Dunn Purnsley, flying over to beat this switchblade fool over the head with a club, until he's broken and bloodied on the floor. Maybelle calls out for her daddy, and Chalky comes running. Samuel seems to be more horrified by the sight of his attacker on the floor than by his own wound. Maybelle looks like she might throw up. Chalky orders the music to start playing again and scolds his daughter for being there in the first place. He looks with a mixture of pity and scorn at Samuel and hands him a cloth for his face. "That man needs help," Samuel finally says, and even though Chalky orders him not to give him any, Samuel goes to tend to his attacker, which I guess is the final nail in his Pussy Coffin, by the rules of this show. Chalky asks Maybelle if she still finds him so "interesting." She can't seem to make any words.

By Joe R

The convoy has pulled into Tabor Heights to fill up, but they've found the gas station dark and unattended. Sleater knows something's amiss, as he and Eli get out to investigate. The pumps are locked. Mickey gets out of his car and says they should move on, get gas up the road, but Sleater knows that's a good way to get themselves stranded. He pulls out his gun and breaks the glass on the door, looking to get the keys and unlock the pumps, I suppose, when the local fuzz busts them. The sheriff asks what's on the trucks, and Sleater says same as always. Sheriff says if it's liquor, they've got a problem, which is news to Mickey. Then out steps the reason it's a problem, as Rosetti emerges, playing dumb when Sleater calls him by his name, and saying his name is "Collingsworth" and he's the proprietor of this here filling station. And what's more, they don't have gas to sell. Sleater's like, "Okay, fun is fun; we'll gas up, pay you, and drive on." Rosetti notes the gun in Sleater's hand and pulls his own, which leads everybody else to pull out theirs, which leads Bobby Cannavale to take a swim in the deep end of the ACTING pool as he notes -- and I'm going to try to get his Sicilian inflection right -- "EHHHHRRRREBODY GOTTTAA GUNSSS!" Cannavale is really trying to singlehandedly act the show into being compelling. Right now, he's the frontrunner for the Tony Award. I hope he gets it!

He starts pumping gas onto the ground, right in front of Sleater, a big ol' f-you. Sleater says obviously Nucky's going to hear about this, which is a dumb thing to say, because obviously that's the idea, but I guess it was directed at the Sheriff, who looks abashed at having been bought out, but, as he says, "What was I supposed to do?" Rosetti ends with a flourish, telling Sleater to tell Nucky that "Old Pop Collingsworth says hello."

By Joe R

Nucky, however, is still in New York, back at Billie's apartment, cooking her a one-pan dinner. She's impressed and a little surprised that he can cook so well, but he tells her he used to do it all the time for his siblings and his poor sainted Ma. He'd make sure they finished every scrap. Billie asks what about him, and he says he'd only steal enough for three. "Wasn't Chaplin in that one?" Billie asks wryly. Oh, I kind of like her. She doesn't buy that self-mythologizing he always likes to do. The phone rings, and Nucky gets a pained look on his face. He puts his hand on Billie's wrist and asks her not to answer. He says what he'd like most in the world is for people to be honest about what they want. "Sounds a little dangerous," she smirks. What does Nucky want? "I want everything to run all by itself," he says. And then he'd stay in Billie's dumpy apartment forever. She laughs at this, though not cruelly, saying, "You know you can't." He asks who's calling, and she reminds him that he said he'd never ask. The phone rings again but neither of them answer.

Too bad, too, because it's not any of Billie's paramours, but instead Owen Sleater ringing from a random house in Tabor Heights. With no instruction from the top, he returns to Eli and -- ignoring Mickey -- asks if he'd trust the men they have with them in a gun battle with the dozen or so guys Rosetti had lined up. Eli says not for a second. Mickey yaps that Arnold Rothstein expects to get what he paid for, but unless Mickey plans to blast his way through Gyp Rosetti all by himself, Rothstein won't be getting his liquor tonight. Defeated (and pissed), Sleater turns the convoy around -- back to Atlantic City. Where Nucky will hopefully return one day, as things are most assuredly not running all by themselves.

Joe R is being verrrry cautious about his newfound fondness for Eli Thompson. 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.