In the aftermath of the explosion at Babette's (where, it should be noted, there is still no definitive word on the fate of Babette herself), Nucky head is in seriously bad shape concussion-wise. His vision's blurry, there's a persistent ringing in his ears and he keeps forgetting who people are and whether or not he wants a birthday party for Emily. It's all very unfortunate, because he needs to figure out what to do about Rosetti, who has re-established his presence in Tabor Heights. With a vengeance, too -- beating down that fickle new sheriff and essentially holding the town hostage.
Meanwhile, Margaret is standing by her husband, hunkering down at the Ritz with the kids. Nucky's fuzzy condition has him keeping Margaret close and thus privy to more conversations about the business than she's used to. She's really freaked out by the violence of it all -- and the promised violence to come. She pulls Sleater aside to seek some comfort and he tells her that if she wants it, they could leave together. She has no answer to that at first, but after she helps pull Nucky together for the meeting, she tells Owen: they'll leave as soon as they're able.
As for the meeting, Nucky calls on seemingly every bootlegger in the northeast -- including Waxey Gordon and Arnold Rothstein -- and pulls his wits together enough to make the pitch: they back him up in taking out Masseria and Rosetti and they can share in the spoils. Rothstein, however, doesn't think going to war at Nucky's side is a great business plan and he has already convinced the other guys to wish Nucky well and leave him alone. Desperately alone.
Elsewhere, Richard Harrow goes to a dance at the American Legion post with Julia Sagorsky as his date. With all eyes on them, they dance the night away, and she kisses him. Back at the Maison Derriere, Tommy has taken a shine to one of the showgirls, to Gillian's annoyance. With Richard away, Tommy follows his new ladyfriend down to the brothel wing of the house and he ends up getting an eyeful of her and her John. We're all going to remember this when Tommy grows up to be Ed Gein.
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They're cleaning up the debris of Babbette's Supper Club down on the boardwalk. Still no indication of the fate of actual Babbette, I should mention. And peering down over the top of the burned out building is the Ritz Carlton, where Nucky Thompson is in his bedroom, being examined by his doctor. Through blurred vision, he's watching the doctor's finger move left and right. The ringing in his ears seems to be the bigger problem, and the doctor diagnoses him with concussion symptoms -- temporary lack of mental acuity, feeling in a fog, confusion. His head hurts but he's not taking his medicine, which can't help. He needs bed rest more than anything. He asks for Eddie but he means Eli, and he yells at Eddie when he corrects him. Nucky tries to get up but he gets dizzy and has to lie down. "You're very fortunate, Nucky," the doctor tells him, which must sound funny to a guy who can't stop picturing his girlfriend's face moments before she was exploded. He ends the doctor out.
Elsewhere in the suite, Margaret is going crazy trying to chase after two kids and that damned dog that Gyp Rosetti handed her on New Year's Eve. Eddie has to chase Teddy away from answering the phone like a jerk kid, then tells Margaret that the "decorations" are being delivered shortly. She snaps at Teddy to make his bed, but he says the maid will do it. "There won't always be maids!" she yells at him, then "You're driving me mad!" at the yappy dog. Poor Margaret.
Margaret then walks through a room full of business hangers-on, looking for Mr. Sleater. She gets let in to Nucky's office, and Sleater clears the room so they can talk. I wonder if that only seems suspicious to me because I know they're doing it. Anyway. He tells her each ward boss sent over three people, which is why it's so crowded. She's stressed out with the kids -- and a birthday party on top of that, for Emily. "Not a wandering vagrant this time," she says to Owen. He tells her it was Rosetti. She wonders what "Enoch" did to earn this. "He said no," Sleater says. Sometimes that's enough. Margaret says Rosetti is "more than welcome to take his dog back." I feel you on the unwanted pets issue, Margaret. He assures her this won't last forever. She thinks he means their stay at the Ritz. He doesn't. "When this is all sorted," he says, "you and I ..."
He's interrupted by Nucky, looking confused. He pours himself a drink, though Margaret doesn't think he should you be doing that. "You're muttering," he says, unable to hear her through fuzzy ears. Nucky declares that the three of them need to have a discussion right now. "What happened?" Guilty looks about, but he means the pony. They didn't buy it, Margaret reminds him, and he gets angry about it. Margaret says they don't exactly allow ponies in the hotel. Nucky fixates on poor Emily without her horse; his mind is obviously off. He gets insistent that they throw this party for Emily. His head starts ringing again
Margaret simply says it's being taken care of.In Tabor Heights, Sheriff Ramsey is throwing his weight around now that he's back to being the biggest big shot around. He's in for a most unpleasant surprise when a dozen or more cars roll up, and the men exiting them are holding rifles. If it looks very much like a military occupation, it should. Ramsey books it into Town Hall or whatever building his office is in. He tries to barricade himself in, then he places a frantic call to the Ritz Carlton in Atlantic City. Before he gets connected, however, Rosetti is inside his office. Ramsey is sputtering and capitulating, while Rosetti wonders if he's happy to see him back in town, if he missed his company, if he's some kind of "fanook"? Ramsey calls him "Gyp," which appears to be his first mistake. His call to the Ritz gets connected but it's too late. Rosetti picks up Ramsey's club threateningly. "There's no need for that," Ramsey begs. "I'm flexible." Rosetti: "Not for much longer." Commence the beatdown.
Nucky's fuzzy head is trying to listen to underlings like Bader and Fleming give him the lay of the land, but his ears are still ringing and he's clearly out of it. By the way, if you're super into the sound of ears ringing and don't think that an hour's worth of it is enough to give you a concussion by proxy, then this is absolutely the episode for you. Nucky is insisting on a statement to explain the explosion. Chalky's there too, but in Nucky's haze, he mistakes him for his shoe-shiner (uh...) and asks him when he got so "uppity" (UMMM...). Everybody looks away and Sleater says that it's Mr. White. In a moment of clarity, Nucky says to tell the people that it was a faulty gas valve. These geniuses couldn't have figured that out? The phone rings, and Teddy answers out in the hall. Nucky's back inside, handing out good advice to his people to hand flowers to the victims and take a photographer. Teddy comes in and says "the gypsy" is on the phone.
Nucky picks up, and it's Rosetti, all right, reading the newspaper account of Broadway's tribute to Miss Lillian Kent. Nucky hangs up without a word and then launches into Eli, telling him not to let the kids know about the explosion; so that clarity didn't last long. Eli says nobody's telling the kids anything. "They find out," Nucky says. "Everyone finds out soon enough." He turns to Sleater and says, more pointedly, "One day you wake up and you realize what's been going on." Oh, like when you suddenly realize that some Sopranos writers wanted to make another Sopranos dream episode, only they couldn't be obvious about it, so instead it's just an hour of a man with a concussion, saying abstract but prescient things? Like that?
Rosetti calls back again to offer condolences from him and Masseria, and to invite him to come see him sometime in Tabor Heights. Nucky hangs up and flips shit, trashing his office until Eli has to grab him around the shoulders. Nucky thrashes against him and asks who the hell he thinks he is. He's not just saying that -- he demands to know who Eli is. Chalky tells him it's his brother and he needs to get ahold of himself. Clarity comes to Nucky once more and he rattles off the names of seemingly every bootlegger in the northeast -- including Rothstein and Waxey Gordon -- plus Johnny Torrio in Chicago if he can make it, and wants them all invited to the Ritz for a summit. "Joe Masseria is backing Gyp Rosetti. So I'll have to kill them both." Sleater gravely informs his boss that Joe Masseria has an army. Nucky, resolute, says that's why they'll need help. He looks around and sees nothing but dubious faces, but he insists that he's making perfect sense.
Tabor Heights. Rosetti is eyeing a Revolutionary soldier mannequin behind glass in the town hall. The statue itself looks perhaps African-American, but it's actually of "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a brigadier general in the Continental Army and who, according to a townie woman, spent two nights in Tabor Heights on his way to the battle of Monmouth. Rosetti likes his name ("Anthony -- he's Italian?") and the idea that the guy "did the town" in his two days in Tabor. Rosetti's underling says "they're ready," so Rosetti enters the meeting room, where a couple dozen Tabor Heights residents have gathered -- herded maybe more accurately, considering Rosetti's men line the perimeter of the room with guns out. Rosetti plays the mart of the magnanimous conqueror. He makes no bones about the fact that he and his men are setting up their criminal shop in Tabor for the time being. But he gets right to the subject of the $200 monthly kickbacks. "Which is a pretty square deal for keeping your mouth shut," Rosetti says, then asks Sheriff Ramset and his busted face if that's true. He's managing to evince something like charm as he says that everybody in the town is going to keep to their regular business -- only when one old lady asks about Bible camp, he informs her that Bible camp is cancelled this year, "and I'm not really doing questions and answers now, dear." He asks everyone to line up for their money -- and to make sure to write down their name and address. For bookkeeping, you see. I wonder if the idea is to spook the people into moving out, because as the corporate CEOs of America have taught us in the wake of the 2012 election, it's way easier to hold on to your money when you're cutting the people you pay loose.
At the Maison Derriere, little Tommy Darmody is drawing a picture for one of the whores -- Josephine, who I think was the newbie back at the beginning of the season. She's sweet to Tommy, even though she doesn't understand why he drew a rhinoceros in his picture of a family waiting for the train. Gillian sits at a table in the connecting room, doing paperwork and other awful things that adults who commit acts of murder to inherit their dead sons' mansions have to do. Richard enters and asks Gillian if he might have tomorrow night off, for a "meeting" at the American Legion, where they are to talk about fighting for better benefits. Gillian looks over at Tommy bonding with a female figure who is not her and kind of sourly tells Richard not to make a habit of it.
Speaking of adults to whom Tommy is more warmly inclined than Gillian, he runs up to Richard and shows him his drawing. "The rhinoceros is waiting for the train," Richard says, factually. Aw. Tommy scampers back to Josephine, who continues to sing him the song that's playing on the Victrola, and Gillian's brittle little mood can't take it. She reminds Josephine that she ought to be preparing for her upcoming appointment. Tommy goes to follow Josephine out, but she tells him he has to stay put. Gillian leads Tommy back into the common room, explaining that ladies need time to themselves. Whoever is doing Gillian's wardrobe this season is doing a bang-up job. All these long-sleeved, shapeless frocks in these scenes with Tommy are making her seem grandmotherly well beyond her years, which has to be her greatest fear.
And now, for some comic relief, as federal agents in Cincinnati have showed up at George Remus's ... well, "palace" is the only word for it, to serve him a warrant for his arrest for violations of the Volstead Act. I say "palace" mostly because there is a floor-to-ceiling peacock cage in the center of the marble foyer. That's what nudged me in the direction of "palace." And all around that particular mulberry bush runs George Remus, in his open bathrobe and underwear, scrambling to find an escape route. Remus finally bites it and is soon cuffed and read his rights. As he's led off, he insists that "Remus doesn't get arrested! Not in his own home! Not anywhere! Remus has paid! Remus kept receipts." "What receipts?" asks an entering Esther Randolph. Remus gives up Jess Smith's name so fast it nearly blows her hat off her head. But she simply fixes Remus with a gaze: "Then Randolph would be very interested in seeing them." RANDOLPH!
It is a sad little birthday party for Emily, as she and her brother and cousins sit around the table in sad party hats, waiting for Nucky to emerge from his room. Margaret and June and Eli are also sad in their party hats. Margaret is apologetic for Nucky and is about to say let's start anyway when Nucky emerges all perturbed. He says it's the first he's heard of a party, even though we all saw him insist on it. Margaret tries to argue the facts, but he rather harshly shuts her down, calling her "Mabel" in the process. But as sour as he is with Margaret, he's positively giddy with Emily, wishing her a happy birthday and singing the loudest around her cake. He jumps at the chance to cut her the first piece asking her if she wants the piece with "the gypsy ... I mean, the pony" on top. Already sick of the pony as a metaphor. Also sick of this concussion being used as a thin excuse to let Steve Buscemi not act like Nucky for a week. It really reminds me of those indulgent Sopranos dream episodes.
Anyway, Nucky is now manic and hacks the top tier off of the entire cake, causing what I'm assuming is jelly filling to ooze out of the top like bloody. Okay, Is this a Sopranos dream sequence? Are the rules of reality bending for everyone just because Nucky's got brain damage? Anyway, the kids are freaked out and Margaret scolds Nucky and he starts babbling about how the kids shouldn't believe it was anything but a gas leak, and then he flashes upon Billie's face and passes out again. Fun party.
Later, Owen and Margaret convene in the study, both already pretty exhausted from managing Nucky all day. She asks him if he'd like a drink, and it turns out he doesn't partake, which surprises her, since all their lives revolve around liquor. She and Sleater have a contemplative discussion about whether people ever really examine the costs of what they do for a living, or where what they want comes from. Plus, he says, he's in it now; can't really make excuses for it. He says he plans to be out in a year or two, though, and move on.
Margaret finally scrunches up her courage and asks him if he wouldn't leave sooner. Why not now? He asks if that's what she would want. Because if so, she should just say the word, "we'll go." The last three years of her life flash before Margaret's eyes before she finally says, "It would have to be far." "We're thousands of miles already," he tells her, the old country a glint in his eye. "What's a few more?" THESE TWO SHOULD BE HAPPY TOGETHER. That's my assessment. She thinks Owen thinks she won't say yes, and that's why he's asking, but he says no. "I'm not as complicated as you." Not sure what to do, she rests her head on him. It looks like he might kiss her, right in Nucky's own office, but she pulls away and re-enters the party and tells the kids that Daddy just needs to rest.
Richard meets Julia outside the American Legion post, where inside, it's not so much the political rally he described to Gillian but actually a fun dance. He puts a corsage on her wrist (!) and escorts her inside, giving me way too many flashbacks of semi-formal high school dances. Inside, they run into Phil Gardner, the baby-faced yet somehow balding friend of theirs who I think was at Easter dinner. He's both tickled to see Richard and Julia together and also maybe a teensy bit annoyed in that way where Janeane Garofalo was always annoyed that Chang and Eng were married with kids and she was still single. Or, like, Gabe Liedman and the Hoarders (buy that album, though, seriously). Anyway, Phil seems like mostly a good guy, and Richard and Julia are having a good, if delicate, time.
Maison Derriere. Tommy, in his little sailor outfit, has wandered into the red-light district, and a pair of mischievous whores see that he's looking for Josephine and direct him down the hall. He gets to the door and does not heed the warning noises of grunts and moans coming from therein. When he does open the door, he sure gets an eyeful, of Josephine being taken from behind by some pasty John. Josephine spots Tommy in the mirror and yelps, causing her John to holler, causing Tommy to book it down the hall, past those two giggling harpies.
Back at the Ritz, Margaret is trying to convince Nucky that he does indeed have a concussion and that he should be resting. He grumbles and goes in and out of optimum mental acuity. He starts to ask whether Emily liked the pony they got her, only to remember once again that, no, they didn't get her a pony. He then asks her if she found the earring she'd lost -- the little bird earring. He's thinking of Billie, of course, searching for her earring last week before their fateful trip to Babbette's. Margaret realizes this but simply says no, she hasn't found it yet. Eli and Sleater knock on the door and Margaret gets up to give the men their space.
Nucky once again chides Eli for "mumbling" because he can't hear anything due to the ringing in his ears. He goes to stand up so they can talk business in his office, but the act of standing fucks his head up and he has to sit back down. So they will talk business in the bedroom. Margaret goes to leave, but Nucky tells her to stay -- "you belong here with me." She's super awkward but she takes a seat. Sleater reports that all the bootleggers have confirmed attendance at tonight's meeting, except Torrio (which is no surprise; that man is still blissed out on Pompeii -- ain't no way he's wading into these choppy waters). Eli and Sleater then begin to tap-dance around the idea of cancelling the meeting because Nucky's head is in no condition to conduct such a summit. Support for the idea is tenuous as it is. Nucky once again runs down the list of invited guests, I guess to show that he can remember them all, and with clear-headed conviction, he says that after the meeting, "Joe Masseria will be a dead man, Gyp Rosetti won't have anyone to protect him, and I'll wear that dago's guts like a necktie." The camera is on Margaret's face for that entire tirade, and her eyes go wide at finally seeing in person what she's up until now only assumed. Everybody's staring at Nucky and he asks if he was slurring his words. Eli kind of half-smiles and says no, he was clear as a bell. Nucky goes to lie back down and asks Margaret for some ice water, totally oblivious to how traumatized she might be.
Out at the Jersey coast, Rosetti is supervising the unloading of hundreds of crates of liquor and showing off the whole process to a visiting Masseria. Masseria mentions that Rosetti's making some trouble for him, with this attack on Rothstein and Thompson, especially since he was sloppy and didn't finish them off. He promises on his dead mother that he will. Masseria then picks up a smooth stone from the beach and embarks upon this metaphor about how it used to be a rough rock out on the ocean, but over much time it has been smoothed. Their business, he says, takes time. Maybe over time, he says, Rosetti will become a good general. This seems like a pretty tenuous business relationship, with no real affection. Should be interested to see how it holds up when shit starts to go down.
Back at the American Legion, Richard and Julia are sitting it out while their peers dance all around them. Two of them approach Richard and the guy starts teasing Richard about showing them all up if he did start dancing. He says to his lady -- Modern-Day Wendy from the Wendy's ads -- that Richard was the one who "taught Arthur Murray." Of course, Richard has no idea who Arthur Murray is, and he's getting embarrassed. Julie sees it and takes him by the hand, saying this is the song they've been waiting for. Wendy slaps at her man for being an ass. On the dance floor, Julia panics because she actually doesn't know how to dance. Turns out, Richard does, and he sweetly walks her through the steps. He even manages to spin and dip her at the end, drawing applause, even from the Arthur Murray jerk. Julia wants to give them all something to think about, so she pulls Richard in for a kiss, I think mostly on his mask but still. This draws even bigger applause, and even starts some sympathy make-outs to happen. It's breaking loose at the Legion tonight!
Eddie is helping Nucky dress for the big meeting, and Nucky is checking to make sure everything's ready. It is. Eddie's even prepared Rothstein's traditional cake and milk that he so enjoys. Nucky keeps asking Eddie what time it is, so his head is clearly still not quite right. He stands up to put on his coat, but even though this time we don't experience Nucky's POV, we can tell his head's ringing again and he's probably imagining Billie's face. He looks stricken and runs to the bathroom where he starts puking. On the floor, to the toilet, he finds the hummingbird earring Billie had lost. Sad.
Meanwhile, the bootleggers are arriving in small bunches. By the time Rothstein gets there, there are upwards of twenty of them, all gathered in Nucky's office. Eli and Sleater and even Mickey are there to greet them, but Nucky's still in his room, and he sends Eddie to bring Margaret back. She checks his head and sees that he's feverish. He shows her that he's found the earring, but she tells him it belongs to someone else. He once again pictures Billie's face, this time playing things out through the explosion. "She's dead and it's my fault," he laments. He then goes on to explain to Margaret that she had to understand: "Either I do it to them, or they do it to me." That's his business. She asks about the men in his office. He says either they will say they're with him, and they'll go to war, or they'll smile, shake his hand, and leave him all alone. Which is a good as dead. Margaret proceeds to give Nucky a pep talk. She makes sure he knows who she is -- and corrects him when he says "Margaret Schroeder"; she's Margaret Thompson, his wife -- and tells him to get up, finish getting dressed, and attend to his business.
At the Maison Derriere, Richard peeks in on a sleeping Tommy. Gillian is sitting in a chair to the bed, seemingly waiting for Richard to show up so she can upbraid him for what happened tonight. Because apparently Tommy wandering down to the sex rooms and getting an eyeful is entirely Richard's fault. He apologizes, but she says the damage is already done. And while it's true that Tommy is now destined to grow up to be Leopold and/or Loeb, it had more to do with Oedipal Grandma the Whoremaster than it does with Richard. Gillian spots the lipstick mark on Richard's mask and snarks, "I'm sure you had a stimulating meeting." Oh, go to bed, you regretful old bag of bones. She leaves, and Richard looks in the mirror and smiles at the evidence of his wonderful night. He sits down to Tommy, who stirs. Richard asks him if he's okay. "I wanna go home," the boy says sadly. See? Leopold. And/or Loeb.
Margaret leads Nucky to his office, where Sleater says that they're all here but Torrio. Nucky sternly tells him to open the door, "and don't stand close to me." After Nucky walks in, Sleater hangs back with Margaret. "We'll go," she whispers to him, "as soon as we're able." She then walks out through the throng of gangsters, politicians, and professional hangers on. The business she's in.
Inside his office, Nucky tries to fight off his blurry vision so he can make his case in the most confidence-inspiring way possible. He stumbles over a word here or there, but he ends up making a classic politician's speech about banding together through adversity and the opportunities that wait for them on the other side. "Expansion, cooperation, profit, peace." It might as well be a bumper sticker. Waxey Gordon says he's got no beef with Rosetti and the others seem to agree with him. Nucky says this isn't their fight yet, but it will be soon, and they wouldn't have come if they didn't already know that. He puts his plan forward: back him in his war with Masseria and Rosetti, and in return, he will be proud to call each one of them his partner. There's silence throughout the room, until Rothstein finally speaks up. Everybody is obviously deferring to him, and it's clear from the outset that this isn't going to be good news. They all accepted this invitation out of respect, he says, but while they wish him the best of luck, but they won't back him. Nucky accuses Rothstein of rallying everyone against him, though they say it didn't take much persuading. Rothstein can't resist playing a bit of the TOLDJA game, too, harkening back to their conversation earlier this season about Nucky's head not being in the game. Nucky says Rothstein is letting emotion get in the way of sense. "Have you know that to be a habit of mine," Rothstein says evenly. Good point. He gathers Luciano and Lansky and exits, followed by everybody else. "I won't forget this!" Nucky repeatedly calls after Rothstein. All alone.
Elsewhere, in Tabor Heights, Rosetti breaks into the glass surrounding that statue of "Mad" Anthony Wayne and steals its tri-corner hat. As dawn breaks, he strides down to the beach, where the last of the crates are being loaded, with the hat on his head. What a quirky fucking guy. Truly the Zooey Deschanel of his era.
Joe R is glad to be rid of the vicarious vertigo this episode brought on. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com.