Least interesting things first: Al Capone's smelly friend gets beat up by some Irish jerk, and since Al's deaf son is also getting beat up at school, he decides he hates bullies and takes out all his rage on the Irish guy, beating him to death in front of a bar full of people.
Back in Jersey, Nucky's gotten word that the Tabor Heights sheriff has been roasted, so he declares that all his shipments to New York will go through the backroads. Mickey is dubious of this plan and even appeals to Owen, in front of everyone, which only makes Nucky angry. Mickey's Mickey, though, and after a trip to Tabor Heights where the local cops assure him they're taking care of it, he decides his shipment is good to take the direct route. Eli heads out ahead of the convoy, but the drivers' instructions to stop for nobody mean they ignore Eli's warnings that it's an ambush. The entire convoy is slaughtered.
Where was Nucky during all this? Well he and Owen -- with whom Nucky has been very impatient lately -- finally track down warehouse-bandit Rowland Smith outside Philadelphia. He's got a safe house packed with crates of pilfered liquor, but he's also being hunted by Waxey Gordon's men. Owen offers to kill the kid so Nucky won't have to, but before that gets a chance to happen, Waxey's guys surround the house, so Nucky, Owen and Smith have to hide out in the basement, overnight, until Waxey's guys go away. During the siege, all three men bond, and the cocky upstart Rowland manages to sell himself as an asset to Nucky's operation. And then, after Waxey's men leave, Nucky shoots Rowland in the head, because don't ever assume he's reluctant to kill anyone.
Meanwhile, Margaret and Dr. Mason encounter the charming Catholic attitude towards sex ed, and Lucky Luciano has a very tense and very Italian sit-down with Masseria.
Oh, HBO, you shouldn't have. After two-plus seasons of any old excuse to get a woman topless, we're finally getting some male objectification on this show. And it's not even Nucky, cruel irony though that would be. No, Owen Sleater is railing the hell out of Katy in her bedroom filled with porcelain figurines, and we're treated to a (tasteful! Artfully framed!) shot of his butt as he's doing so. The phone rings, and Katy scurries to get it and brings it back to the bed, but Owen can't even answer before they're back at it again. Katy finally picks up the call -- mid-thrust, if you don't mind the description -- and tells Mr. Thompson that Owen is right here. Sleater obviously doesn't want to take the call, and Nucky, who knows exactly what's going on, is sighing like a motherfucker. So Katy gets to work below deck while Nucky asks Sleater if he's read the paper yet. He says he hasn't. "Well read one and meet me at Mickey's," a perturbed Nucky says, then hangs up. Sleater does too, and tells Katy he should go, since Nucky seems to be in one of his moods again. "Then it won't matter if you're late," she says. "Will it, Mr. Poofles?" Yep, that's his dick she's talking about. Blowjobs were weird undertakings even back then.
In Chicago, Al Capone comes home and ... okay, I mentioned this on Twitter over the weekend, but seriously: Capone storylines on this show are like Kate flashback episodes on Lost, right? In that everybody hates them and thinks they're a waste of time? Particularly the ones where Kate is retrieving that airplane figurine and/or Al learns a lesson about parenting a deaf child. Anyway, hooray, we're At Home with Al. He sees his son lying on the floor, reading the newspaper comics, on a schoolday, and asks his wife why he's home. She says he has a bellyache, but when Al goes to talk to him, he sees a giant bruise on his cheek. Mrs. Capone says it's from a bully at school. Al's like, "Picking on a kid that's almost stone-cold deaf?" but his wife's like, "They all are. That's why we sent him there." Oh, man, bullies at the deaf school. We also see that Mrs. Capone is using proper sign language with Sonny, while Al is just being demonstrative and loud with him. He waves his hand at the situation, declaring, "Kid's gotta toughen up."
At Mickey's warehouse, Nucky is addressing his people about the newspaper account of the "accidental" demise of their contact in Tabor Heights, one Sheriff Victor Sickles. And considering the lone eyewitness to the attack was one Gyp Rosetti, it seems that a message has been sent. Nucky spots Eli across the room and sighs an annoyed sigh. First time he's seen him since prison, and I guess that's where things stand. Also, we see Sleater shows up late, which should only serve to further sour Nucky's mood. Anyway, Nucky declares that under the circumstances, and until further notice, all shipments to Rothstein are to go over back roads. "In the middle of January?!" Mickey pipes up. "Those roads are gonna be sheets of ice. And where are we supposed to gas up?" Nucky bluntly says that's Mickey's problem.
Mickey turns to Sleater and asks if he agrees with this, which sets Nucky off. Why's he asking Sleater? He said how it's going to be, and that's how it's going to be, now get to work. With his hat and overcoat and general pale air, Nucky is currently serving Don Nosferatu, which is a complicated look to pull off. Nucky then tells Mickey to head up to Tabor Heights and find out what's going on. Seeing Sleater instruct some of his men, Nucky chooses this moment to pull him aside and ask him what's being done about Rowland Smith. You know, the accomplice of that guy they caught stealing from the warehouse in the pilot? Sleater barely remembers, as some more important things have been happening, plus it was Manny Horvitz's responsibility to deal with him. But Nucky's got a bug up his ass about Sleater this week, so he snaps that with Manny dead, this is Owen's responsibility now. "Use Agent Sawicky if you have to," Nucky says. Owen's like, "Get the Feds involved?" Nucky says that's what they're paying for, and also does he feel like second-guessing any more orders this morning? It's gonna be one of those weeks, Owen. Get used to it.
As Nucky goes to leave, Eli comes up to him to talk about the Rosetti situation. Nucky's all, "What of it?" but Eli wants to earn his keep around here. Let him look into it, be of some use. "I did my time like you asked," he says. Nucky wants to make one thing clear: "Allowing you to simply go to jail is the last gift I'll ever give you." It's so weird -- one episode of Eli acting semi-decent and already I'm like, "Aw, why's Nucky gotta be so mean?" I actually had to remind myself about the whole thing where Eli tries to arrange Nucky's assassination. Okay, fine.
At St. Theresa's, Margaret and Dr. Mason are getting an object lesson in the Catholic attitude towards sexual education. A nun, who seems to be also employed in some kind of dubious health-care position, is picking through the proposed materials for the clinic and flagging troublesome verbiage. Like "vagina," for instance. Mason finds this all vaguely amusing, wondering how they'll be able to discuss matters like fertilization and birth without using the v-word. The nun just sort of smiles at him and likens him to the "jackanapes" sniggering at the back of the classroom. Margaret is a bit more serious about how restrictions like this would hamstring their clinic. "Pregnant" is another naughty word, not to mention "menstruation." Better "with child" and "monthly time." So helpful! Sister Mary Euphemism then stands up and reminds Margaret and Dr. Mason that she will be sitting in on these classes to ensure that proper decorum is kept to. Before she skedaddles, though, she opens one of the packages that Margaret says they intend to give the women. Inside is a brand-new product going by the name of Kotex. A "sanitary napkin," says Dr. Mason, speaking of euphemisms. "Perhaps you yourself..." Margaret begins, before she thinks better of it. For real, though, do the nuns just lock themselves away for a week when it happens?
Nucky and Owen meet crooked Agent Sawicky at a boarded-up house out in Pennsylvania. Sawicky makes a joke about them stepping into his trap, like, ha ha ha, he's going to arrest them. Nucky doesn't think it's funny, and he and Owen generally treat him like shit. According to the Philly office of the FBI, this is Rowland Smith's house. The three men bust in and find the place literally wall-to-wall with crates of booze. Nucky tells Sleater to inform him when Smith arrives, but Sleater assures him he'll take care of it. Nucky takes offense to this (ah, Rosetti's influence rubbing off) and says that's not what he instructed. Sleater's like, "You've talked about keeping a low profile. Just looking out for you." Nucky's pretty much decided that Sleater can do no right today, so he just stares the guy down on his way out. He also drops some cash in Sawicky's hand and tells him to go buy a personality. I hope Sawicky gets to kill Nucky someday, but I bet he won't.
Mickey and Eli are in Tabor Heights talking to Deputy (now Sheriff) Ramsey about how the hell Gyp Rosetti hasn't been arrested yet. Especially considering the cover story is that Sickles spilled gas all over himself and then lit a cigarette. Ramsey tells them both not to worry, that the police will "take care of it." Like, extralegally. He takes Mickey's payoff and tells him their system of bribery and safe passage is what it always was. Just send up the liquor and let them take care of the "dagos." Alone with Mickey, Eli says he doesn't like this, but Mickey just insults him and tells him to get in the car.
Back in Chicago ... ah, hell, more Capone. So Torrio is still in Naples, leaving Capone in charge of collecting from the various underlings, including fat Jake from a couple weeks ago. It seems fat Jake is also smelly Jake, and Capone not only gives him shit for it, but also is like, "But seriously, I'm concerned for you, you smell awful." Ouch. Jake tries to laugh it off with jokes about how he pays his whores not to notice, then retreats to the bathroom in shame. Okay, but seriously, didn't EVERYTHING smell terrible back then? I just assume everything from before my parents were born was incredibly violent and foul-smelling.
Back at Rowland Smith's house, the man of the hour arrives, and when Sleater and his cohort get a jump on him, we realize he's but a fresh-faced teen. A relatively unflappable one, too, considering he reacts to the guns by asking if they're friends of his parents, and refuses to give up his name despite a few solid beatings. Annoyed with this decidedly un-fearsome thief, Sleater makes the call to Nucky.
In Tabor Heights, Rosetti and his guys make plans for intercepting Nucky's liquor coming in on the boats, while Rosetti hits on the redheaded waitress and tells her one of these days he's going to take her into the back and show her how to make sauce. If you get his meaning.
It's night by the time Nucky makes it to Rowland Smith's house. The kid says he wants a cigarette -- he's never smoked, he just wants to know what all the fuss is about. Nucky wonders if he's trying to be charming. Obviously he is. He tells Nucky a story about how he once gave Rowland's family a Christmas turkey when he was six. "Boy, was Ma grateful." He said when he was stealing from Nucky, he didn't think he'd mind. "Whenever I see you in the paper, you look like you're having a good time." Heh. Most of this booze, he says, is stolen from Waxey Gordon, who is not a nice guy who brings Christmas turkeys to families but a crook. Sleater pulls Nucky aside: "Tell me what you want to happen here." Nucky's like, "What does that mean?" Owen says if he takes care of it, Nucky's hands stay clean. Nucky gives the kid that cig he was asking for, but as he goes to light it, cars pull up outside. Rowland explains that they're prohies in Waxey's employ, and they're here to kill him. Once they shoot Nucky's two guys outside, all hell breaks loose. The prohies storm the house, by which point Nucky, Sleater, and Smith are hiding in the basement. When the prohies come downstairs looking, our guys are able to successfully hide behind the boiler. Inelegant but effective.
Back in Chicago (it hurts to even type those words), Fat Jake is on a collecting trip to a South Side bar when he's chatted up by one Joe Miller, whose conversation is way more pointed than Jake's inane pleasantries. Miller ultimately comes down to Jake's end of the bar and says, "You called Dean O'Banion a liar," referring to the sit-down with Torrio. Jake really doesn't want any trouble, he just wants to enjoy his beer, and Joe should too. "How can I," Miller asks, "with the stink coming off of you?" Jake downs his beer and goes to exit the situation, but Miller breaks a beer mug over his head and starts beating and berating him. Poor Jake. Has anyone made a supercut of all the utterances of "You fat fuck!" on HBO shows? I'd be interested, as I'm starting to think of overweight character actors on HBO the same as I do the countless women who have played strippers, hookers, and otherwise naked women: good that you're getting work and all, but jeez, sorry it's gotta be this degrading.
Back in Philly, Nucky Sleater, and Smith continue to wait downstairs while Waxey's crooked Feds relieve the house of every last crate of pilfered liquor. "We're all in this together," Rowland says, aspiringly, and Nucky and Sleater almost laugh at this kid's chutzpah. Nucky frets about what these guys will find in the car, but Sleater assures him it's empty, and the plates are registered to Tunney, who met his end out there anyway. Rowland pipes up that he's got about 50 plates if Nucky needs any. He swaps them out on his car every time he does a job, to keep the police off his tail. Sleater's like, "Well, what about these guys, then?" but Rowland says he guesses it's just coincidence. He semi-brags to Nucky about how easy it was to pull off the jobs, since nobody wants to die over a few crates of liquor. He says it's a shame about Nate, his partner, though; says the Feds got him. Neither Sleater nor Nucky corrects him that it was they who caught (and, um, killed) Nate. The prohies start shining flashlights around the basement windows, and the three men inside move to avoid the light.
In New York City, Benny/Bugsy Siegel is spooning laxative into a bowl for some intriguing purpose, and Lansky has to tell him to take it easy. "You want 'em shitting themselves all over Hester Street?" I like that the turf battle for drug dealing in NYC has expended to include frat pranks designed to make people shit themselves. Anyway, Benny wants to be included in today's sit-down summit with Masseria. He says he "stepped up" the other night, though Lucniano scoffs that he shot his wad off in the middle of the street, nothing more. Benny says the other guys went home one guy short, but Luciano's like "Meyer did that!" Benny's retort is basically: "But still!" Lansky tells him to let him and Lucky talk, and Benny pouts off.
With Benny gone, Lansky says he wants to join Lucky at his summit with Masseria today. Lucky says that's a bad idea, since Masseria hates Lansky's Jewish face. Seems Lansky's been radicalized a bit after the shootout, and he's through wanting to come to terms with Masseria. Lucky talks him down, noting the irony of Lansky being the hotheaded one for once. Lansky instructs Lucky to "offer two, settle at five," and also not to sit by the window.
In Tabor Heights, the local cops watch warily as Rosetti's men -- a half-dozen or so -- roll dice across the street. A more clear-cut picture of villainy you could not paint. The cops discuss their plan of action for tonight, when it seems a confrontation will go down. But no one's using specific names, which should have any seasoned TV viewer on alert.
In Chicago, Capone tries to teach his young son how to defend himself. Of course, he does so by yelling "Hit me! Hit me! Defend yourself!" at him. The kid doesn't know how to throw punches at age six or whatever, and he also doesn't have the aggressive temperament. After Capone gets more aggressive and starts berating the kid for "letting" kids bully him, the kid starts to cry. Capone finally sees what he's doing to his son and pulls him into a comforting hug. Poor little thing.
In Atlantic City, Eddie Kessler gets off the phone with Margaret and declares that no one knows where Nucky is. Not even Miss Kent in New York. Meantime, Eli cautions Mickey against making this shipment -- the backroads are unpassable, and Tabor Heights is off limits, per Nucky. Mickey lords his rank over Eli and says the Tabor Heights sheriff is on it. Eli doesn't put a lot of faith in a guy who's been on the job one week, but Mickey once again reminds him it's not his call. "Sure thing, boss," Eli replies, without even a little bit of confidence or deference.
In Philly, two of Waxey's guys continue to stake out the house, standing right by the car, so Nucky and Owen have been holed up in that basement all night. Rowland's unfazed enough that he's actually fallen asleep, which should tell you a lot about how this kid handles pressure. Nucky's too uncomfortable to sleep. Sleater reminisces to him about a few nights like this back in Ireland, when he would get through it by counting the steps to his home and to all his hometown haunts. What follows is a somewhat elliptical conversation about how Nucky thinks that Sleater is dissatisfied with Nucky's leadership, but Sleater says what he wants doesn't matter. "What have I done to earn loyalty?" Nucky asks him. "You made a place for me," Owen says, though when Nucky presses him to try again without the goopiness, Sleater smiles and says, "You pay me."
Back in Chicago, Capone canoodles with whores when Fat Jake comes in, his face all busted. He tells Capone that Joe Miller hit him when he wasn't looking. Capone is pissed and starts to stew his own juices. "He made fun of me," Jake says. "You think it doesn't bother me? I can't help how I smell. Hour after I wash, I already gotta change my sh-" At this point, Al is already gone, having stormed out to do God knows what.
Margaret is on the boardwalk, handing out flyers for the women's clinic and not having much success. She runs into Mrs. Scherer, the miscarriage lady, who is standoffish as ever. Margaret hands her a flyer, but Mrs. Scherer says she knows about it already, and besides she doesn't seem to think the clinic has much to teach her. Margaret's like, "Yeah, I thought so too." She says she's now ashamed of her ignorance. She assures Mrs. Scherer that there's a doctor who does know things on staff at the clinic, and her experience would be a valuable addition. At this point, Mr. Scherer steps out of a storefront with another of their kids. "It's not about the bill is it?" he asks. No, Margaret just lies that she was wishing Mrs. Scherer well. The husband is awful and blasé about it, saying the Lord's will was not for them to have a baby this time, but at least He got Edwina through it. Margaret contends that maybe the doctors had something to do with it. Mr. Scherer then tries to claim credit for taking the whole week off to be with his wife, and says that as soon as they can, they'll be trying for another baby. Margaret and Edwina exchange pained looks at that one, but the Scherers walk away. Maybe you can't save 'em all.
Luciano shows up for the meeting with Masseria, who is sitting at the front table with a goon. He asks Lucky to sit with his back to the front window, exactly as Lansky had warned against, so already Lucky's starting out feeling uneasy. Masseria assures him this won't be a contentious meeting, though he's disappointed it's come to this. This is all being spoken in Italian, I should mention. After a few insults at Lucky's Jewish partners, Masseria gets down to business: he wants a cut of the heroin trade just like he gets a cut of everything else. Lucky tries to tell him that it's a growing business and there isn't much to divvy up, but of course for Masseria it's the principle. Lucky offers him 2 percent, but Masseria counters that the 2 percent should count for ALL the heroin trade, whether inside his territory or not. Lucky protests this and says he has partners to satisfy, which leads us to another round of Jew-bashing. They have no hearts, says Masseria's goon, who it turns out was the guy who made it out of the shootout alive. "time'll be different," he assures. Lucky. "time you won't make it out alive?" Lucky mocks. "I'm okay with that." A car drives by and Lucky turns around, paranoid. Masseria condescends to him that he's worried about him. They're paisans, after al. He calls him Salvatore. He used to come around. He used to have respect. "I don't even know your name now," he says, with faux concern. Lucky offers 3 percent; Masseria now wants 30 percent. "We're far apart," Lucky tells him. "We're two feet from each other," Masseria says. Lucky says he'll discuss it with his partners. Masseria assures him his Jew partners -- Rothstein, Lansky -- will stab him in the back. When that happens, he's going to need friends, and then 30 percent will look cheap.
Speaking of Lucky's Jew partners, Rothstein is on the phone with Mickey Doyle, and he's adopted that frightening demeanor where he's cheerful and smiling on the outside, which you know means they're like ten times angrier than you've ever seen them. "Why am I talking to you?" he wonders aloud. Why does he even have to place this call? He hasn't gotten his liquor, and Nucky seems to think it acceptable business practice to be unreachable for days on end. Mickey sputters excuses, but Rothstein just says, "I want what I paid for. I want it now. And I don't ever want to find myself chatting with you again." Mickey promises it by tomorrow morning. Mickey hangs up and tells Eli, who calls him an idiot. Mickey tells him to watch his tone. Eli reminds him that Nucky explicitly said to avoid Tabor Heights, and the backroads are unpassable until May. Eli says again: "Don't do this." "I'm not doing nothing," Mickey says with his customary nervous giggle. "They are," he says, nodding at his lowly employees. Mickey instructs the kid who made the whorehouse delivery last week (the one who told Harrow about Mickey bragging that he killed Manny) that they are to go straight through to Tabor Heights and stop for no one, not even the law.
Chicago. Capone's at the same bar where Jake got beat up, darting his eyes around the room, coiled like a spring. Joe Miller arrives and bellied up to the bar, but before he can even order, Capone is all over his ass. I'm not going to pretend that one vicious beating on an HBO drama is any different from another, but I am glad that this one wasn't prefaced by five minutes of jawing about this or that. Capone just starts pounding on this guy. Miller pulls a gun, but Capone easily knocks it away. He just keeps punching, out of control, and when Miller falls to the ground, he stars stomping. This isn't the kind of bar that sees this kind of action, apparently, because the patrons are all squealing and aghast. Finally, to the loudest squeals of them all, Capone picks up a barstool and crushes Miller's head with it, ending him. He looks around the room of horrified bar patrons, collects his hat, and dumps a wad of money on the bar, to pay for the guy's funeral. "Want to pick on people who can't defend themselves?" he asks to the corpse of the man he just killed, summarily killing any goodwill I might have had for this scene by dragging it down with heavy-handed causality. OH I GET IT! His son is getting bullied so Al killed a bully! I told you nothing good came out of these subplots.
In Philly, Nucky, Sleater, and Rowland hold their collective breath as Waxey's guys finally pack up and leave. Rowland and Sleater have a small laugh at their relief. Nucky seems much friendlier in the morning -- he's not doing cartwheels or anything, but he jokes with Rowland about shitting his britches waiting for the feds to leave and even agrees to Rowland's offer of bacon and eggs. They head upstairs. "Maybe they left a bottle," Nucky says.
Eli drives to Tabor Heights, speeding to get ahead of the convoy. Once there, he spots Rosetti and his men loitering around the gas pumps with guns clearly brandished. He looks the other way and sees the cops marching towards the gas station. What a sad town Tabor Heights must be, where the gas station is your most happening place in town. He watches the cops approach the mobsters ... and the deputy-turned-sheriff and Rosetti shake hands. The men start intermingling and soon it's impossible to tell gangster from cop. They all start to take their positions. Eli assumes he's fucked.
At Rowland's house, Sleater gets off the phone with word that Rothstein's shipment went out, on the road through Tabor Heights. Sleater says that the issue has apparently been cleared up. Nucky's more perturbed at being left out of the loop than anything else. Nobody even asked where they were for the last 24 hours. Sleater then turns his eyes toward Rowland and asks Nucky, "Well?" Nucky just turns away and joins Rowland in the room. Nucky tries to give Rowland a teachable moment, saying that all the liquor is gone and they're both empty-handed, so what does that tell him? Well it sure as hell doesn't convince him that crime doesn't pay, if that's what Nucky was after.
Rowland is still pretty high on his own abilities; in fact, he suggests that he start working for Nucky. "How would that work?" Nucky asks. Rowland's like, "Put a shotgun in my passenger seat and see if anyone robs me then." This gets a genuinely warm chuckle out of Sleater. Weirdly, Rowland thinks Sleater doesn't like him and tells Nucky so. Nucky can't exactly blame Owen. "Ain't I cool in a tight spot?" Rowland appeals. I like this kid a lot. And clearly we're supposed to realize that Nucky might see this kid as a second chance at getting the Jimmy thing right. He knows the best places to lay low, best places to keep your stash. More importantly: he can steal from Waxey Gordon at will -- won't that help Nucky? Nucky remarks that Rowland sure does have a lot of moxie, which Rowland basically proves by fishing a cigarette out of his pocket. "I thought you didn't smoke," Nucky says. "Did I say that?" Rowland replies. He's also 19, contrary to first impressions. This kid's a dynamo! Nucky offers him one of his own cigarettes. Looks like we have a deal. Sleater can't stop grinning in the background as Nucky lights it for him.
A car pulls up outside, and Sleater goes to look out the window. Rowland turns as well, and that's enough time for Nucky to pull his gun out and shoot Rowland in the back of his head. Well. There goes one supporting character I could have liked. Sleater is shocked as hell -- shocked enough that he spins around with his gun drawn. He totally bought that Nucky wanted to hire the kid. He recovers his smirk soon enough, though, and asks Nucky, "I thought you were letting him go?" Nucky, stone-faced and mean again: "Why would you think that?" So that little murder right there was just to prove to Sleater that he would. Awesome. Awesome people on this show. Sleater says he must have misunderstood. Nucky: "So long as you understand now." We see Rowland's cigarette is still smoking beside his dead body, which is dripping blood through the floorboards into the basement, and HOLY GOD, we get it! Artfully rendered carnage! Calm the fuck down already, would you?
On a roadside somewhere in New Jersey, Eli stands outside his car in the creeping fog. How he got out of Tabor Heights without any of the dozens of cop/criminals around him noticing is a matter best left to the cutting-room floor, I suppose. Eli waits for the convoy from Mickey's warehouse to approach, and when they do, he stands in the middle of the road with his arms out.
In the lead car, Snitchy the Teen recognizes Eli but it like, "Fuck that, Mickey told us not to stop for anyone." So the cars all blow past Eli, not hearing as he screams, "It's an ambush!" Eli races to his car, to try and catch up, but it won't start. He's too late anyway, as shots pop off in the distance. A few, then many more, then machine-gun fire. At the scene of the crime, Rosetti's men -- cops and criminals alike -- clear out the bodies (R.I.P. Snitchy) and retrieve the booze. Rosetti surveys the scene and makes dumb small talk with his Head Goon about which waitresses at the diner they intend to fuck.
Once more in Chicago, Capone wakes up his son and plays him a little ukulele song. The kid places his hand on his dad's throat so he can feel the vibrations as his dad sings a song about "My Buddy."
We keep hearing the song as we head back to the boardwalk in AC, where Nucky is returning to the Ritz. Eli finds him first, and pulls him aside. He's got to tell him the bad news about tonight.
Oh, and just in case you thought the juxtaposition of happy song and bad news wasn't thick enough, we cut to Margaret in bed, reading that Carrie Duncan -- aviatrix and symbol of Margaret's desires for freedom -- has been lost and presumed dead.
So. Everything is terrible, it looks like!
Joe R is pouring one out for Snitchy. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.