Nucky begins smoothing things over between Eli and Willie. Willie appears to be finally getting over himself enough to want to get involved with the family business, with the ambition to return the family to its rightful place in power, with his dad the sheriff and Nucky was the treasurer or comptroller or accounts receivable clerk or whatever it was. It's too bad for both Willie and Nucky (more so for the latter) that Agent Knox has decided to stop screwing around and apply some pressure on Eli to give up his brother and the vasti criminal network. Knox hits Eli where it has to hurt most: right in the family. One of Knox's otherwise-useless agents knows about Willie being looked at for Henry's murder before a visit to the D.A. by Nucky. Give up your brother, and your son stays out of jail. We don't get an explicit answer, but Eli does get to go home to his family, where he finds a cheerful Willie waiting and hoping to rejoin the family. Plus Eli's bound to be pissed at Nucky for concealing Willie's involvement in the murder from him. Plus, it's his son, which is going to trump brother pretty much every time.
And Chalky is finally waking up to the machinations around him, especially now that it appears people seem to think he had something to with Deacon Cuffy's death. Chalky decides to take control, and raids a smackhouse that is being run by Narcisse, and then publicly confronts the good doctor himself. Like Knox, Narcisse decides to get moving on his whole plan to take down Chalky, and orders Daughter to keep him around a little longer after he's done with her tonight, because Narcisse plans to have someone pay them a visit. That turns out to be Purnsley, pretending to have discovered that Narcisse is slinging powder and was the one who killed Deacon Cuffy. Chalky knows better, though, and the two of them brutally beat each other, and Chalky stabs Purnsley IN THE MOUTH and I actually flinched and looked away, and then Purnsley still manages to get the upper hand on Chalky and is choking the life out of him, when Daughter appears to switch sides. Or maybe she just doesn't want to see Chalky go down like that. So she stabs Purnsley in the back, and he dies. Well, he stabbed a deacon in the church. He wasn't going to be coming back.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Dunn Purnsley, carrying a small handbag, strolls up the steps of a nice house on a quiet street, picking up a partially smoked cigarette on his way up the front steps. He knocks on the front door, which is opened by an elderly lady he calls Miss Monroe, with whom he exchanges small talk about the changing weather affecting her joints. Do Dunn Purnsley's duties now include checking up on the older folks in the neighborhood? Nope — inside is a house full of people in various stages of consciousness, thanks to the heroin that has apparently flooded the city. Can't help feeling that these people are less annoying than cokeheads, though.
Monroe tells Purnsley she's going to visit her relations week, so he smilingly gives her a big chunk of change to get "situated" and to bring them all something nice.
Turning back towards the dozing junkies, Purnsley steps on a syringe on the floor, and shakes his head at the approaching underling who's apparently running the operation. "You know she like it tidy," says Purnsley. The underling doesn't say a word, but turns, and he and Purnsley enter a back room, where he tells Purnsley they're running low, and yes, he already cut it twice, using cornstarch and talc. So cut it four times, advises Durnsley, not exactly displaying a Heisenberg-esque commitment to purity. Purnsley's just there for the money, which the underling — named Mose — hands over, showing off the sawed-off shotgun he uses to deter anyone after the money, which Durnsley doesn't think is secure enough. Cut it four times, he says again, and leaves — but not before giving Mose a pamphlet for a play called Ominira, a free production by Dr. Narcisse, who's expecting everyone to come. Well, Mose's clients don't look too demanding, so I imagine he'll have plenty of time to think up an excuse why he can't come.
Over at the Bureau of Investigation, a tableful of agents are reveling in one's account of watching Rothstein lose half a million dollars at the track and then ordering a piece of cheesecake like it was no big deal. Knox is decidedly less amused than the rest of them, and then lays into "Ben" for finding things so entertaining. He asks Ben what he thinks his job is, because it apparently doesn't involve any police work. Everyone goes quiet as Knox blasts them for bringing him anecdotes instead of connections, and he goes to the map to point out all the places (including Florida) where our favorite gangsters hang out, saying he needs them connected to make a case. When he's asked where the law is, he responds, "We'll get the crooks, then we'll find the law." Anyone who disagrees that is welcome to go back to investigating land fraud. Hey, land fraud is a serious crime! It costs people, uh, I want to say billions? Oh, I don't know.
So the agents go back to their folders, with one speaking up — his withering "of course, it's just an anecdote" helping to reinforce the fact that pretty much everyone seems resentful of having to report to Tolliver — about how Nucky's nephew was originally facing charges for the fatal poisoning of one of his Temple classmates, but after a 35-minute visit from Nucky to the D.A. all charges were dropped and the nephew's roommate is now facing trial for the murder instead. "I hope that amused you, Jim. I'll get on those land fraud cases right away," says the agent, who drama-queens out the door despite the lack of any kind of dismissal from Knox, who stands at the head of the table looking served.
The wind rustles the curtains on the open window in Eddie Kessler's old room, which is where Willie now appears to be laying his head at night. He rolls over, having been roused by those damn birds that probably would have died by now if anyone would just "forget" to feed them.
Then it's downstairs for breakfast, where he makes coffee, turns on the Victrola to play some of that raucous noise that the young adults of the '20s call music, and sits down to enjoy the morning paper's top story of storms wiping out whole families in Alabama and Mississippi.
Nucky comes in, a little grouchy that there's no breakfast but coffee, and Willie explains that they're low on everything. Apparently there's been a missed food delivery — sounds like the kind of thing Eddie kicked ass at — and Nucky says he'll get something on his way to the vague "business" that he needs to do. Willie offers to come with, but Nucky explains Willie's dad will be there, and Willie's all, "no thanks!" about as quickly as you'd expect.
Nucky sighs and reminds Willie that they're all on the same side. Then he explains going back to Philadelphia isn't practical, and rehashes the whole "you should have come to me first" thing and then has the balls to say it's not worth getting into again. Not even to talk about whether any of his credits are transferable? So it's time to talk about moving forward; Willie thinks Nucky wants him to leave. That's not it (or not necessarily it): "I want you to give some thought about how to turn this into an opportunity," says Nucky, telling Will he has to start thinking about it, because it's the only way to get on in life. But Nucky's not being a complete Uncle Hardass; he suggests Willie take a walk on the beach, since he's too young to be cooped up inside, especially since the Nintendo Entertainment System is six decades away.
Then it's over to the funeral for Deacon Cuffy, and of course Daughter Maitland is singing at the funeral, despite the fact that she's only been there a little while and is part of the carousing and carrying-on that the black community is fighting, but that's OK. And Chalky's enraptured staring at her continues even in a church, even at a funeral. The difference this time is that here, as opposed to the Onyx, Chalky is accompanied by his wife, who notices Chalky's unblinking gaze. And, you know, she doesn't appear too thrilled by it.
Other people are looking at Chalky too, and whispering, to the extent that his daughter asks him if he's all right. "People are looking at you," she says, and Chalky glances around to see that, yes, they are.
Daughter finishes singing the hymn that gives this episode its name, and the junior deacon or vice-deacon or whatever, I presume, gets up to preach about Capt. Jesus sailing on the old ship of Zion, the journey that Deacon Cuffy is embarking upon now. "Amen," says Mayor Bader, managing not to stick out too conspicuously. But Narcisse — sitting in the front row himself — takes note of his presence. Meanwhile, the preacher continues on, lamenting the swiftness and violence of the end of Deacon Cuffy, and Chalky looks over at Narcisse, who nods slightly and gives him a little smile (you know, one of those funeral smiles, those "good to see you on this awful day" smiles, although there's always a lot more under the surface of Narcisse's expressions).
In the distillery, Mickey Doyle is spinning a tale of wining and dining a woman, only to be denied the sex that's his rightful due, and slapped because he had taken out the wrong sister, or some bullshit. And not even a twin sister. Mickey tells it in his inimitable Doyle style, but Eli and Nucky couldn't be less interested. "Why are you telling us this?" asks an irritated Nucky, and Mickey says he's just holding up his end. "It's not like you two are chatterboxes," says Mickey, and Nucky sends Mickey out to wait for the shipment — and then notices that Mickey's got Eddie's cane. "He said I could have it," says Mickey, pointing to Eli.
Once Doyle's gone, the silence grows even more awkward for a few seconds before Nucky's opening gambit is "I understand you're upset," which Eli raises to "furious," and they bicker a little over what will and will not help. Nucky points out that Willie being at the hotel isn't good for anyone. But "at least it stays inside the family. Isn't that better?" Nucky's advice is to leave Willie be, and he'll get bored and things will sort themselves out.
If Eli has an opinion on it, we don't get to hear it before the long-awaited first shipment of "oranges" starts rolling in from Florida. Ah, from the good folks at Alligator Supreme Oranges! They do good work. Nucky opens a crate and digs around through the citrus to give Eli the first bottle for good luck. Sure, it's better for everyone when Eli drinks. He's a barrel of laughs then.
Then Nucky hears a woman's laugh he recognizes, and heads out the loading dock, where Sally Wheet seems utterly charmed by Mickey Doyle's bullshit. Nucky strolls up and Sally asks if this is the "butter and egg man," and Doyle eventually gets the hint that they know each other. Nucky explains they met in Tampa. "He came, he saw…" says Sally. I think she's got that backwards, but Doyle's the one to finish up with, "…and you conked her?" Sally and Doyle flirt a little, which is easy to see is preferable to her than Grumpy Nucky cocking an eyebrow over not being informed she was coming up with the shipment, and "was that wise?" and all his sourpussness. "I never stopped to think about it," she says. Mickey blabbers about how great it is to take life as it comes. "Some people can't manage that," says Sally, pointedly looking at Nucky.
Nucky sends Doyle away on an errand so he can continue to piss in Sally's cornflakes. He wants to know if there's a problem with the operation, and she says it's hunky-dory. "I just wasn't expecting you," he says, and in response, Sally says, "Hello." Her good cheer has largely evaporated, so congratulations on that, Nucky. He at least has the decency to look chided, and says, "Yes, hello. Of course, hello."
So Sally strolls into the distillery and starts asking a question or two about it, which Nucky mostly dodges because of some bullshit about having something to talk about later. "We're talking later?" she says, not even looking at him as she walks through the joint. Nucky hems and haws, and Sally's all, "So we're not talking later," she says, flatly, and while Nucky struggles to not sound like a jackass, Sally notes Eli glooming up the place and asks what his problem is. Nucky says that's his brother — which makes Sally say, rather insightfully, if you ask me, that it's no wonder he's so miserable — and he sounds about to explain about Willie but then thinks better of it and asks where she's staying. "Beats me," she says, and Nucky awkwardly and accidentally double-entendres that he'll get her in a hotel. "Well, you're welcome to try," she says. Ha! He explains what he meant — as if she's not just yanking his chain — and also says he'll spring for dinner, and his charmless gropings are met with coolness from Sally who turns him down and tosses him an orange so he can make a rum swizzle. I don't know what that is but I think he should do it.
Over at the barbershop, Purnsley's telling an underling to make sure things are swept up outside (presumably the Monroe heroin den) so nobody's jawin', and also to keep an eye on Mose, who Purnsley thinks is skimming. He's also wants his guy to get himself over to something my closed-captioning says is "You-Knee-Ah," but I have no idea, and there's no further discussion of that because Purnsley sees Chalky sitting in one of the shoeshine chairs in the back. He's momentarily discombobulated, but then recovers to greet his (nominal) boss with a smile, and Chalky says he didn't see Dunn at the service this morning. Purnsley says he's not a church guy — well, except when there's a murder that needs committing — and Chalky says people are eyeing him "all hinky" about the deacon. "Nobody know nothing," offers Purnsley, but Chalky looks less than convinced. "Somebody do," he says, tapping the ash from his cigarette. Purnsley says they'll find that somebody, but it'll take some time.
Anyhoo, Chalky's ready to go, and expects Purnsley to hop to, only Dunn's a little slow to respond, wanting to know what business it is Chalky needs him on. "Let's go, Buck! Chair ain't runnin' off nowhere," says Chalky, striding past Purnsley without so much a glance over his shoulder, and after a moment, Purnsley follows, his own men following him.
At the Albatross, Mayor Bader — who no matter how many times I see him in something else I can't stop seeing him as Meadow Soprano's soccer coach who was having sex with one of her teammates — is waiting, Willie in the sitting room with him. Willie apparently figures that if someone doesn't speak up they'll both probably want to kill themselves, so he asks the mayor how he got started in politics. Bader explains that he had his construction firm, which helped him get to know people, and vice-versa. "Nucky persuaded me it was time to give something back to the city," he says, before adding that it was a little different back then, of course. Willie asks what he means, and Bader diplomatically explains Willie's uncle is "involved in different enterprises now." Bader seems to take Willie's silence in response as offense, and starts to explain that he doesn't mean to imply anything, but this is interrupted by Nucky coming through the door.
After a little light banter about how Willie's got the makings of a politician himself, Nucky sends Willie off to make sure everything's copacetic with the grocery delivery, and after Willie's gone, a nervous Bader explains that it's an election year, and he wants to know where they stand. "If there are problems, I need to know about them," he says. Nucky coolly says they keep each other happy, right? But Bader's concerned about the body on the building site, not to mention a deacon stabbed in the church. Lest you think he's actually worried about increasing crime, Bader whines that he's nowhere "without the colored vote." That's between you and Chalky, says Nucky, but Bader says if Chalky can't keep his house in order that's not good for anyone. The conversation is interrupted by Willie coming in to say there was apparently some sort of mix-up with the grocery order. As in they never got it.
Meanwhile, Chalky and Purnsley (and goons) pull up outside the Monroe heroin house, where Purnsley tries to convince Chalky there's nothing going on there. Well, it's nothing two carloads of gangsters won't suss out! Chalky leads them up the steps to remind them who runs this side of town, and they head inside — stomping someone coming outside to smoke — where Chalky seems a tad surprised to see what's happening there. But when a dope fiend calls him "inky-dink" and asks Chalky if he brought a Baby Ruth, Chalky decides to make use of the baseball bat he brought, and then it's chaos in seconds, with Chalky's men pounding the ever-loving shit out of the junkies. Chalky gets one of them by the throat and asks who's running things. "Moses," says the user, and Purnsley quickly heads to the back room, where he shoots Mose dead and then plants the sawed-off shotgun by the corpse just before Chalky comes through the door. "I wanted to talk to that man!" he shouts at Purnsley, who says the guy wasn't in a talking mood. Chalky seems a little suspicious of how quickly things ended, but Purnsley distracts him with the handbag of money and dope on the table. Chalky then pats down poor dead Moses, and finds the playbill for Narcisse's show, spattered with blood. Come to think of it, I expect death is a good enough excuse to miss the show. And now there's an open seat for someone on the waiting list!
In a jail, Agent Knox is shown to a visiting room where he meets Clayton, who looks like the joint has not hardened him at all. Knox says he hears Clayton likes Chesterfields, which is what my parents always used to call our couch, so it took me a moment to wonder at just how weird Clayton is. "When I can get 'em," says Clayton, guardedly. Knox pulls three packs from his suit jacket and places them on the table. Having shown his willingness to help Clayton keep from getting raped, Knox presses him for info: "Tell me all about William Thompson." Clayton looks at the cigarettes, and then looks back up at Knox, the cymbal crash from the scene's audio almost a punchline.
We go to the Onyx Club, where Daughter is performing, and Chalky's watching from the upstairs sitting room, Daughter throwing him the occasional glance while she sings one of those old-timey songs where a woman refers to her lover as "daddy," and thank god that's not so much a thing anymore. There's a knock at the door. "Busy," says Chalky, staring down, but Nucky lets himself in anyway. Chalky shrugs off Nucky's observation that he's interrupting — "come and go as you please," he says — and turns back to the window and continues to sip his drink while Nucky pours one for himself.
"She's working out well, wouldn't you say?" says Nucky, and Chalky allows that it's going all right. Nucky says it's not his kind of music, but you can't deny it has an effect. Chalky twigs a little bit because Nucky's not just talking about the audience, but all he says is, "That's the blues."
So Nucky gets to it: "Anything you need to tell me?" About what, asks Chalky. Nucky says it's Chalky's side of town so he doesn't mean to interfere, but he hears things and needs to ask about them: What's up with Deacon Cuffy, for example. "He was where he shouldn't be," says Chalky, and I'm not sure why Chalky would say that other than to set up Nucky pointing out that the deacon was in the church. "I need to know your house is in order," says Nucky, and Chalky takes a slow drink and says they're looking into it. Nucky also says Chalky should make a donation. "We done with the lecture?" says Chalky, testily, and Nucky says he's just talking to a friend.
The club's patrons applaud as Daughter's song comes to an end, and Chalky looks out the window again. Nucky says, "Don't let your life get out of hand," a little sanctimoniously if you ask me, and leaves…
…where he goes down to the bar where Carter the bartender knows what Nucky likes: "I got that 20-year-old where no one touch it," he says. Hmm! Oh, he's talking about whisky. While he's waiting for his drink, Nucky notices Sally Wheet and Mickey Doyle laughing it up and flirting. So Nucky the undertaker strolls over to kill everyone's buzz. "For a busy man, you've got lots of time to kill," needles Sally. Nucky drily notes she found something to do. "If you're bored, you're boring," says Sally, adding that she was raised to entertain herself. Mickey already knows more about Sally — like she's one-eighth Indian and can shoot a bow-and-arrow — than Nucky does, but that's only because he's talking to her, instead of hitting her, I suppose. Nucky asks what she thinks of the club, and she says he was kind of slumming it down in Tampa. "It's just people expect something different here," says Nucky, and Sally says, "Looks like they do," because their conversations always have to be about more than one thing.
So Sally gives her attention back to Mickey, and asks about this "Rendezvous Park" he mentioned, and suggests they go have a rendezvous. As a giddy Mickey goes to leave, Nucky grabs Eddie's walking stick from him. Mickey's confused but can tell Nucky's pissed, and says he was only holding onto it for safekeeping. Nucky says he'll take care of it now, by which I guess he means smack Mickey in the head with it. I'm generally on board with that, although Doyle hasn't really done anything egregious lately other than being his normal annoying self. Doyle is surprised and chastened and humiliated all at once, but not too much that he can't bid a polite farewell to Sally before putting his bowler on and exiting with a wounded-puppy look at Nucky. "He gets on my nerves," says Nucky to Sally. "He wasn't getting on mine," she responds, who doesn't appear to be super turned-on by Nucky's bad-boy routine (but not turned-off, either). They bicker about who should pay for whose drinks (she has cash, she points out), and Nucky says all she had to do was let him know she was coming. "Now, why would I have to do that?" she says, and she has a point, but Nucky intimates he might need to get his strength up. Well, that's a different kind of presumption, but at least it gets Sally smiling again as she teases that she hurt his feelings ("You hurt my jaw," he corrects) and eventually Nucky gets around to asking where she's staying tonight. We don't see her answer, just smile at Nucky…
…and then we cut to poor Willie, asleep in bed, woken by the sounds of Sally and his Uncle Nuck panting and grunting and slamming a headboard. When your uncle gets more action than you do, and he looks like Steve Buscemi, it's time to move out, I think. And Willie, if you get another girlfriend, try to be nice to her! And also, don't poison any other dudes who may be interested in her.
Let's check out Narcisse's play! We see a woman refusing to give her baby to a man called "Africanus," so let's just go ahead and note that subtlety is not one of the doctor's strengths as a playwright. Since the woman nursed the baby with "the tainted milk of foreign kine," (an archaic word for "cow," as I understand it) she can redeem herself and be freed by giving the baby to Africanus. Which she does, and she gives a short monologue about hoping her baby can hold on to life where she could not — Narcisse is in the crowd, mouthing along with every word, something that I don't think I've ever seen used except for comedy — and then stabs herself in the stomach, and dies on stage. As stagehands change the background to a more tropical setting, Africanus yells at his new daughter that he shall name her "Ominira" (the name of the play, and probably a name that's so on-the-nose that I'm not going to look it up because I'm sure I'll be annoyed) and she shall lead her people home. And… scene. I gather Narcisse expected the applause to be instantly thunderous instead of "scattered, and then tepid, at best," but he takes to the front anyway to give a dorky little bow. "And so conclude these scenes of pity and terror," he says. He's at least outwardly humble about his talents as a writer, but explains it's his people he believes in, and the heights that they might scale, and he's building to a righteous point and quoting Garvey but he's quickly drowned out by a commotion coming from outside, a loud banging and horn-honking that draws out the audience members, much to his dismay.
Chalky's standing outside, banging a garbage can lid with a club, his men — including Purnsley, although he's keeping his head down a little more than the rest of them — standing behind him. Narcisse stands in front of his acolytes and the crowd on the other side of the street, and jokes that if Chalky's here for the play, it's just concluded. "I come to show you something," says Chalky. I love how hilariously audible and on point this show always makes the mutterings of a crowd. "What's he talkin' about?" asks one such onlooker. Chalky throws the garbage can lid on the ground, then digs into the handbag taken from the Monroe house and holds up a package of dope. Woman: "A book?" Man: "Almost looks like a package or something." Yes, the thing wrapped in paper and tied with twine almost looks like a package! These must be the same two who in just a few short years will look up into the sky and see Superman flying and be amazed even though at first they think they're looking at a bird or a plane. Chalky tells the churchgoing Mrs. Tremaine in the crowd that she doesn't need to pay any more attention to that house on Baltic. He throws the package on the garbage can lid, and takes out another one and does the same. A man in the crowd asks what he's got there. "The doctor can tell you," says Chalky, and then a camera angle that shows one of Chalky's men holding a gas can in the foreground gives us a hint about what's to come. Narcisse doesn't say what it is; "It is your performance, sir," he points out to Chalky, who anoints it "Harlem by Torchlight," as he douses the packages and sets it on fire. The gasps and murmuring from the crowd as the stuff goes up is a little much, especially as it's all we can hear as Narcisse and Chalky silently glare at each other through the flames and smoke.
At the Albatross, Willie is toasting a piece of bread by holding it over an open burner, when he's surprised by Sally walking in. She's just as surprised as he is, only because he's holding something over an open flame, he drops it and it catches on fire. She has to shoo him away so she can put it out, because he's as inept as someone in an infomercial black-and-white "there's got to be a better way!" segment. Then she brings him over to the sink to rinse the hand that he tried to use to PICK UP THE FIRE, and asks who he is. Flustered by the whole thing, and possibly her cleavage, he stammers that he's "Uncle Nucky" and then amends it to "Uncle Nucky's nephew Will… iam," making him sound awfully close to being one of the Black Eyed Peas. "I'm Sal…ly," she says, and he smiles.
Later, on the deck for an actual breakfast that Sally has prepared, the two are already best buddies, with Sally explaining the hush puppies Will's eating were so named because they'd be fed to dogs to keep them quiet. But she explains her dad said a lot of things that turned out not to be true, like that they'd live in a house with floors one day, or that he'd take her to the top of the Eiffel Tower. "Oh, and that he'd stay hitched to Ma," she finishes. Geez. Sorry you asked, Will?
Nucky strolls out on the deck, buttoning up his vest, and trying to come up with an explanation for Sally, who interrupts him to explain that they covered that part already, and I hope for Willie's sake that they didn't go into too much detail. Nucky sits down and Sally starts serving him breakfast, and explains that she and Will were talking about what he should be doing with himself. Will seems a little surprised that she's brought it up, but Nucky's interested, so Will explains that he doesn't think he should stay there any longer. Nucky jumps on that almost comically quickly — "Well, if that's how you feel!" — and Sally's all, "Not so fast, uncle of the year," and Will adds that he wants to learn how things work in the city. He's not asking for any favors, he assures his uncle: "I'll start at the bottom, and hope I can make good. And if I don't, it means I didn't deserve it." Kinda sounds like how Nucky approaches sex. Nucky asks about Willie's mother and father. Willie says he owes them an apology, but I think there's a little more discussion needed to be had over how they'll respond to Will's career choice here.
Nucky also has other concerns: "And our agreement?" he asks. Willie says he just wants a chance to show him he can be the man Nucky wants him to be. Nucky says it's about who Will wants to be. Willie's all "yeah," like he hadn't maybe considered that — even if understanding the distinction between the two of them is crucial to growing up. Anyway, this all sounds reasonable to Nucky, who says he'll see what he can do.
Daughter's lying in bed when she hears Narcisse let himself in to her place, hang up his hat. He opens the curtains, flooding the room with sunlight, and she groans that it's too early. He pulls a chair up to her bed and strokes her forehead, while she gazes up at him and they do the creepy father-daughter thing they do. He warns her about the dangers of giving in to melancholy. She says she tries to fight it, and he whispers that she must try harder, because it makes him feel like he failed her, and he can't bear that. This little bit of manipulation works a treat, as Daughter looks alarmed by this.
She sleepily asks if they liked his play. "Its symbolism was beyond them," says the hilariously deluded Narcisse, which is a hilarious line on a show with these two characters with the names they have. Anyway, he mentions a disturbance at the play, but doesn't elaborate for her, and asks if Chalky's coming over tonight. She cautiously says he is, and Narcisse asks her to keep him here a little longer. "There will be another visitor," he says.
And now it's time for Sally to make her exit, with the whisky shipment ready to go to Florida. Nucky tells her it's crazy for her to get right back on the road again, and she points out he assigned her to protect his interests, plus Petrucelli's waiting for the whisky. Nucky — calling him "Mr. Pierce" — says he can wait an extra day, which is a solid way to build a business relationship. And then? asks Sally. "You're the one who doesn't like to plan things," he points out, so she coos that he should tell her when he's coming down again. She moves in a little closer, and since he realizes that no woman can contain herself once she's gotten a piece of Nucky, he tells her that it's not that he doesn't want to, but there's not much privacy around there. Only she's not talking about sex; she's angling for a monetary reward for babysitting the shipment and making sure it all got to where it was going. Nucky's face goes hard while another part of him softens, and he says, "One thousand?" She comes back with "Fifteen hundred," which he digs out from his pocket and gives to her. "You're kind of cute in your way," she says, striding off, Nucky following her.
Eli's at a diner, jotting down figures in a notebook, when he's joined in his booth by Agent Knox, who slides in across from him. Eli is none too pleased at this very public meeting, and asks what Knox is doing. "I have some new information about Eddie Kessler," says Knox. Eli leans in to hear. "It turns out he was part of a violent criminal organization that runs Atlantic City," he says. An unimpressed Eli says he doesn't get Knox's sense of humor, but Knox says it wasn't a joke, which is when his agent buddy Selby shows up to sit to Eli, trapping him in the booth and disarming him. "You want to be very careful about how you conduct yourself right now," says Knox, pointing out they're Bureau of Investigation agents, and then asks how Eli's boy is. "You know, the one who used to be in college," says Selby. Shut up, Selby! This is Knox's show!
At any rate, the mention of Willie settles Eli down, and he's all, "the fucking Which of Investigation?" And maybe the government added the "Federal" themselves after people started calling it the Fucking Bureau of Investigation. Knox continues with his story, of Willie's roommate in jail, and you know about people in jail. "They all say they're innocent," says Selby. Jesus, did you two rehearse this? But Knox says he listened to Clayton's story anyway, about two boys driving to a distillery in Atlantic City controlled by the first boy's father, where they steal some liquor, and poison some that they give to a classmate the first boy didn't like. "Now he's dead, Clayton Davies is facing life, and the first boy — well, it's all about who you know, isn't it?" Eli takes this all in implacably, and then Selby explains that Willie's Uncle Nucky got him out of it. "Old news to you. I mean, you and your brother worked it out together," says Knox. None of that happened, says Eli, and Knox quickly and accurately deduces that Eli didn't actually know much of this, and starts twisting the knife. "'Always worried about your boy.' Isn't that what you said? You were right to be," he says, and Eli lunges at him with a fork, held in check by the table and Selby, as well as the fact, as the agents point out, that the people here in the diner will remember the two of them having a conversation. "Is that something you'd like Nucky to know?" asks Knox, and Eli silently backs down, seeming almost paralyzed with rage. Knox points out that Eddie Kessler had nothing to lose, but that's not the case with Eli. The deal is simple: Bring them Nucky and the criminals he conspires with, and Eli stays a free man. "One little nod," says Knox. Eli looks away. Does that count?
Willie's packing up his stuff at the Albatross, asking Nucky what happens if his parents don't let him back in. "That won't happen," says Nucky, advising him to say what he wants to say, and sound like he means it.
Then it's on to other matters: Nucky notes that Ed Bader is up for reelection, and asks if Willie knows how he got to be mayor. Willie simply says, "You wanted him to be." Nucky tells him Willie's going to start working in Bader's office, at the bottom like he asked, and all Nucky wants is for him to keep his eyes and ears open. Willie nods, and starts talking about how his dad used to be sheriff, and Nucky was the county treasurer. "Jack Dempsey came to your hotel," he says. "You remember that," says Nucky, surprised. I remember everything, says Willie.
So Nucky asks Willie what he wants. "I want the family to be back where it belongs," he says, looking very sure of himself. One step at a time, says Nucky, and Willie nods. One last thing: Nucky gives Willie a copy of Ragged Dick that Nucky's mother gave him, and says Willie can learn a lot from it. Yeah, yeah, hard work, blah blah blah. It might be worth pointing out to Nucky that Ragged Dick refused to steal anything, which was a big part of why he was so successful.
Over at Daughter's place, she complains about Chalky — who's getting dressed — being in a hurry. "Wasn't hurrying when it counts, was I?" he says, and she teases that he's getting tired of her. "You wear me out. That ain't getting tired," he says. It's just that he's got business. But your clothes! They're all mussed! He'll change at the club. Won't your wife notice? "Ain't no claim on me," says Chalky, who may or may not realize that his wife doesn't appear to agree with that. "Everything she got, I pay for it. She don't never ask where it come from."
So she starts asking about his children, and notes her piano man says Lester can play. But Chalky says Lester won't have a roadhouse life. "'Cause he'll meet people like me?" she asks, kneeling in front of him. Stay, she says, and kisses him. We can hear a car engine outside. Chalky sits back in his chair, troubled, and says that when she sings, she sounds like she's tying up a secret. She says she doesn't know any secrets, just the way she feels: "Spend your life walking over the world and never find your place, 'cause there isn't one," she says. Chalky says he thought the doctor looked after her. That's not what he does, she says, and bends lower, pressing her cheek to his leg, looking up at him.
Chalky says his mama and brothers sang "Ship of Zion" at his daddy's grave, and when he heard it he knew he was going to leave and never come back. And he hasn't seen any of them since. So you're off walking too, she says, which made me picture him as a zombie on The Walking Dead.
He asks her to sing it again for him, with the old words, and she does, looking up at him, while Chalky makes a trying-not-to-cry face, but a couple of tears roll down his cheeks anyway. He tells her not to stop. "It's wrong," she says, looking frightened, and he tells her it's beautiful, not knowing that the song's not what she's talking about. She starts to say something, but there's a knock at the door. Chalky's eyes flick from the door to Daughter, and it doesn't escape his notice that she doesn't seem at all surprised, nor has she made a move to answer the door. "Who you expecting?" he says, but from behind the door, it's Purnsley who tells "boss man" that it's him. Chalky nods for Daughter to go open the door. She does so, exchanging a look with Purnsley, who steps inside. Chalky at first doesn't even come through into the room, but asks through the doorway how Purnsley knew where he'd be. Dunn says the piano player "fessed up," plus it wasn't exactly hard to figure out.
So what is it, Chalky asks, and Purnsley says "best hear it on the hoof," but Chalky says Dunn can tell him now if it's so important. He tells Daughter to go fix them a plate, and she says something about some cold chicken.
While Chalky slowly approaches, Purnsley explains that he was right: Narcisse is pushing powder, running the Baltic house, and stabbed the deacon too. Chalky's a little incredulous that Purnsley's found all this out, and Dunn says he made some dope fiends talk. He reminds Chalky that he said Purnsley was bad news, and he was boiling from this afternoon. And it only now hits me that "You-Knee-Ah," mentioned again this scene, is what the closed-captioner made of UNIA — Narcisse's United Negro Improvement Association — and I'm relieved that I'm not going crazy but concerned that it took me so long to figure that out.
Tense blocking for this episode; low shots of both men show us Chalky's holster hung over a chair in the living room where Purnsley is, and both men realize it, and that's probably as good a reason as any for Chalky to have finally come into the same room.
What about Daughter, asks Chalky, and Purnsely says Narcisse brought her in to wave her in front of Chalky and keep him real busy. Tight focus on Dunn as he says he's got the car downstairs with Tiny and Chazz waiting, so they can send that "hamfat" back to Libya.
"All worked out," says Chalky, completely not buying it, and he adds that there's one thing Buck hasn't mentioned: "How much he paying you to fuck me?" Uh, I believe that's Daughter's job?
Purnsley's fake-smile disappears, he goes for his gun, and Chalky punches him. They start grappling, and thus begins one of the most brutal fistfights I can remember watching on television in a while. I watched it on a screener on a plane and kept turning my laptop screen on a greater and greater angle, hoping I wouldn't traumatize my seatmate too much. The two go through the window beside the door way, and Chalky winds up on top — he grabs a piece of broken door and pushes it into Purnsley's mouth and through his cheek. At that point I flinched and quickly minimized the video screen. And then Purnsley fights Chalky off and gets on top, and starts choking the life out of him, and I thought Chalky was done (forgetting that really it has to be Narcisse versus Chalky in the end). "Kick my face in, I say, ‘Yes, sir'?" grunts Purnsley. I'd completely forgotten about Daughter, right until the shooting angle was classic from-below he's-about-to-get-a-knife-in-his-back, and that's just what happens; Daughter stabs Purnsley. He swivels around, looking more vulnerable and frightened than he ever has, gasping and grasping for the knife. "What the hell kind of mischief…" he croaks. Daughter's terrified, even as Purnsley keels over. Chalky's still catching his breath on the floor, and Daughter cradles him, and starts soothingly quoting scripture at him.
At the Thompson house, a dazed Eli walks up the front steps and into the house, where we hear a jaunty ukulele and a disgusting song about whether spearmint loses its flavor on the bedpost overnight. It is of course the prodigal son returned and leading the family — including Nucky — in song, which dies out when everyone sees him come in.
Willie starts to stay something, loses his nerve, and Nucky nods at him, so he gets up and says he was wrong to disobey his father and show disrespect. He apologizes and says he'd like to come back home. The entire family watches and Eli glances around — and finally holds his arm out to embrace Willie. It would be awfully touching if we didn't know what Eli knows now. He puts a brave face on and tells them not to stop the fun on his account, and since "fun" had a very loose definition in the 1920s, that means Willie picks up the ukulele and sings a gross song about not being able to afford a new piece of gum every day or whatever.
Nucky gets up to walk over to his brother, big smile pasted on, and asks if he didn't say it would work itself out. "You did. Thank you, brother," says Eli, rather coolly, but Nucky doesn't notice and claps his brother on the shoulder. I think the look on his face lets us know what he might have agreed to, but we'll have to wait to find out for sure.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He would like to be an extra in a Greek chorus-style crowd, able to verbalize the action in front of him in tones of surprise and outrage. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.