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Things back off slightly from last week's slow boil to more of a simmer as we lead up to what will be the traditional explosiveness of the last few episodes of a season. Chalky goes to Nucky to inform him of (not ask him permission for) his intention to kill Narcisse. Nucky tries to calm him down, because this is the new, quiet, Nucky, the one who pretends that he's so tightly controlled that he never lets emotions affect his business decisions. It's hard not to sympathize with Chalky — also tied up with wedding plans for the daughter who now knows about the proper-noun Daughter — especially since Nucky is much angrier with Narcisse for sitting in the whites-only section of the Onyx club than with trying to kill Chalky. In fact, Nucky's not even convinced Narcisse was behind Purnsley's attempt on Chalky's life, and he consults with Eli, but characterizes the situation as a potential problem with Chalky. He won't let Chalky go after Narcisse, but — especially after Narcisse beats the emotionally traitorous Daughter black and blue (she's physically difficult to look at) — Nucky probably won't have much say in it. Chalky's soured on Nucky, given Thompson's unwillingness to get involved; as far as Nucky's concerned, Chalky's club wiped Nucky's debt clean. Chalky disagrees.
Van Alden responds to increased pressure at home, at work and from the Capones by telling the Capones he'll kill O'Banion, a move that could ease stress on all fronts, but he's sidetracked by an attack from his old co-workers from the iron company. You know, the place he quit by ironing his colleague's face? He shoots them dead, and later O'Banion is killed by other gangsters without Van Alden having to do a thing. The gangsters don't even rob the flower shop, so Van Alden cleans out the till, takes the money home to a horny Sigrid, tells her his real name, and plows her on a bed of cash.
The boring custody battle for Tommy continues, but it looks like it could be going Gillian's way, prompting Julia to awkwardly guilt Richard into marrying her, although both seem pretty happy with the arrangement. Sadly for Gillian — who opens up more and more about her past to Roy more, including how she was raped and impregnated by the Commodore when she was twelve — Roy appears to have an ulterior motive ("It won't be long now," he explains to someone in a clandestine phone call.)
New husband Richard comes to the Albatross to see Nucky, seeking a job, just as Nucky is looking to beef up security in advance of a coming war. At least if Mickey Doyle dies, Nucky now stands to make a pretty penny, having bought a life-insurance policy on Doyle from the cash-strapped Arnold Rothstein.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. If Mickey Doyle is killed, Nucky should mount the bowler on a pike outside the Albatross. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!Poor Van Alden, working futilely away to repair the pipes under the sink, stripping the nut and drawing the ire of his wife, who icily informs him she needs the water "for to make the cream of wheat." Van Alden is a guy who adorably yells "blast it!" when he’s angry. It just earns him an irritated "Tsk!" from Sigrid, who goes to tend to the wailing baby, and now Van Alden jumps on her back to get her to stop the baby from crying. Although it’s a mystery to me -- as it is to Van Alden -- why she can’t use water from the bathroom faucet for to make the cream of wheat that she plans to shovel down the kid’s cake hole. The fight becomes about more than just the faucet, though, with Sigrid dissatisfied at the state of the unfinished house in general, and mocks Van Alden’s big important job with O’Banion, who gives him "a thousand dollars for to hurt the people’s head." Van Alden crosses his arms and glowers at her and asks, "What if he did?" Then there would be water in the kitchen, says Sigrid. Practical woman, she. Van Alden smacks the table and stomps out.
Over at the Onyx, Daughter’s rehearsing an upbeat number while upstairs Nucky and Chalky hash out what to do about Narcisse. Nucky’s in the "Whoa, whoa, whoa, can you prove it was Narcisse?" camp, and wonders if could have been Purnsley acting alone. Proof or not, Chalky knows it was Narcisse, but Nucky’s worried about the fallout if Chalky makes a move on him. Chalky points out that Nucky’s only cautious because he’s got nothing at stake here, and Nucky piously informs him that that’s because he minds his business. Nucky suggests he bring in Narcisse for a sit-down, but Chalky’s stuck on what Nucky means by minding his business. "It means when I’m conducting business, I mind it. It and only it. Not some piece of ass with a sugary voice, not my pride, my business."
Chalky sits down, and we can see how beat up his face is after the tussle with Purnsley. He points out that he "heard a lot of 'we' last year" when Nucky was in trouble, but now Nucky’s all about the first-person singular. "How do you like your fucking nightclub on the boardwalk?" snaps Nucky, asking if Chalky knows how many palms had to be greased and strings pulled to arrange it. Chalky says he already said thank you by saving Nucky’s life, and Nucky says this evens the score. He sits down and tries to reason with Chalky, pointing out that he’s got a family -- including a daughter who’s about to be married -- but all Chalky wants to talk about is what they’re going to do about Narcisse. Nucky wants to meet with Narcisse and feel him out before Chalky does anything. "I’ll give you a minute for that," says Chalky, before walking out. Nucky sighs. It’s sure a hassle for him to have to deal with the fallout from one business partner trying to kill the other business partner. Poor Nucky!
Over in O’Banion’s flower shop, where Van Alden is working while O’Banion and Hymie Weiss are discussing the Leopold and Loeb case, and O’Banion’s opening salvo of "Of course they were fairies" gives you some idea of the nuance of the conversation. Hymie -- who figures Leopold might be gay, but not Leopold -- points out the ransom note as the motivation, but O’Banion dismisses that by pointing out that they’re "sheenies" and won’t do anything without a payday.
Speaking of paydays, Hymie finishes counting the cash -- $1,200 in total -- in the box, and O’Banion tells him where to deliver it. Hymie wants to know what’s wrong with "Tarzan here," meaning Van Alden. O’Banion says he’s got a rush job on the wreath they’re working on. I don’t know why, but it really tickles me that the flower shop is a front but it’s still an actual flower shop and O’Banion does the work.
Anyway, Hymie leaves, and O’Banion starts wondering if the truck they found Stu in is "bad voo-doo." It’s fortunate for Van Alden that he’s got his back to O’Banion, because his suddenly widening eyes make for the worst poker face ever, and he just says, "Oh, yes," as O’Banion continues, marveling at the twenty-three shots. "Guy had a wife and kid. Well, maybe he didn’t have a kid, but still," says O’Banion. Hee. Van Alden makes a non-committal grunt of indeterminate meaning and then roughly changes the subject to how he’s taking the kids to see the new Buster Keaton (the Johnny Knoxville of his day). But O’Banion’s just getting warmed up, and points out that it was the day Van Alden disappeared with the Capones. Van Alden says he doesn’t know anything about it. "Guilty conscience, Mueller? I didn’t say you did," says O’Banion, needling him a little, and he chuckles when Van Alden says his tone can be quite accusatory at times. Then it’s off on a delivery for Van Alden, but not before we see someone watching him through the window. If we don’t recognize the non-descript heavyset man outside, seeing the melted-cheese quality of the left side of his face helps jog the memory. Looking a little unsettled, he hurries away, and Van Alden carries the huge wreath on to its destination.
Out on the beach, a happy Gillian is enjoying the sun from underneath a parasol, and sharing her memory of her first kiss right here under the boardwalk. "Should I be jealous?" asks Roy… like RELAX, ROMEO. She explains he was a "freckle-faced boy" from Philadelphia, and she sold him three Luckys for a nickel, and he smoked them all before he had the courage to make his move. Well, his breath must have been fantastic, then. The boy carved their names under there, and Roy wants to know the guy’s name so he can chisel out the name and put his own, and also possibly to hunt this guy down and have him killed. Like maybe he could let up just a tiny bit in proving just how into Gillian he is? The boy’s name was James. Because of course it was. And then the happy story turns grim, when Gillian explains they were supposed to meet the night before he was due to go home, but that coincided with the opening of the sea business, and Gillian was chosen to be one of King Neptune’s consorts. The sheriff took her to a man: "The most powerful man in the city." This is quite the yarn, says Roy, right before it takes a much darker turn, as Gillian explains that the Commodore "ravaged" her that night, six weeks before her thirteenth birthday.
Roy, looking decidedly less comfortable, says he’s sorry, and says she doesn’t have to talk about it if she doesn’t want to. This comes across kind of dickish given that she was the one who brought it up. She says she wants him to know, and explains that nine months later her son was born, and she named him James, the "last pure thing" she could remember. But don’t get your hopes up that this has a happy ending, Roy!
"We lived for each other. A child and a child," she says, explaining that James enlisted and fought in France, came back, struggled to find his place, and overdosed on heroin in her bathtub. But don’t worry, Gillian, because there’s Roy’s reassuring hand on your back. "And that’s how you found him?" he asks. Yep. And now she’s going to take him up on his earlier offer of an Eskimo pie. Pretty hard to say no to that now.
In Narcisse’s Harlem office, Owney Madden admires a ceremonial spear and asks if it’s ever been used. Hopefully by the end of the season? Then he breaks the bad news to Narcisse that Rothstein can’t help him: "He’s bust. Out of the heroin business," he explains, adding that Joe Masseria squeezed him out. Narcisse thought Rothstein and Masseria were partners. "Even Lewis and Clark went their separate ways eventually," says Madden. So Narcisse figures he’ll go to Masseria for supply, but Madden warns him Masseria isn’t as comfortable selling to "the darker types." "The Jew, like the Libyan, must remain pliable to survive," says Narcisse, in that way that sounds like he’s quoting someone when it’s really just his own words. He wants to meet with Masseria anyway, and Madden tells him to come to the Cotton Club, and they’ll see what’s what.
And Van Alden is still delivering that huge wreath, with "DOB R.I.P." on the banner. He hauls it up what apparently was a few flights of stairs, and then knocks on the door of its destination, and he’s grabbed and yanked into the apartment. It’s Al and Ralph Capone waiting for him, and Al proudly pointing out that the "DOB" is for "Dean O’Banion." This is helpful, because I was pronouncing to rhyme with GOB as in George Oscar Bluth.
Things are a lot less comradely than their meetings, with Al all business, wanting to know whatever Van Alden can tell them about O’Banion. His whole routine, when he wakes up, where he takes his meals, how many times he takes a shit. Van Alden starts to say, "I’m not privy to…"
He doesn’t really get anything out before he gets a smack from Ralph, who points out they asked Van Alden what he knows, not what he doesn’t. "Hit me again, and you’ll regret it," says Van Alden. Al wants him to cut the mouth-y shit, and wants to know who the hell he thinks he is. "The man who stood beside your brother at Western Electric," says Van Alden, and Al insinuatingly points out that Van Alden is still alive, though. "So are you," says Van Alden. He’s already deduced (not that it takes a genius) that they want to know O’Banion’s routines so they can kill him. Al tries to play it a little cool on that score, but he’s mad enough now to pull his gun out and point it at Van Alden, saying he doesn’t trust him. That at least rattles Van Alden, but he still says, "A thousand dollars." Al thinks Van Alden’s offering him that to spare his life, but that’s what Van Alden wants to go into work tomorrow and blow O’Banion’s head off. Al’s a little surprised by that, and wants to know why he’d let Van Alden do that. "Because he thinks I’m a coward," says Van Alden. "Ain’t ya?" asks Capone. Seems to me the best way to prove to O’Banion that he’s not a coward would be to kill the Capones but that’s neither here nor there. "Ask Frank," says Van Alden evenly, and Ralph and Al look impressed instead of asking, "What’s that supposed to mean?"
Over at Chalky’s house, Lenore is polishing silverware outside while Maybelle goes over the guest list, with its unlucky odd number of guests (161, for the record). But the atmosphere gets chilly when Chalky comes up, having sharpened the carving knife, disproportionally proud of how much of a contribution it is. Lenore icily wants to know if there’s anything he wants her to tell the Crawfords about his appearance. "He was moving all of that lumber in the shed, and the shelf broke," says Maybelle, sounding like she’s making it up on the spot, and Chalky yes-and's her. Well, he actually just yes'es her, and then starts looking at the guest list, with Maybelle pointing out the unlucky odd number. "Mr. Purnsley on there?" asks Chalky. Yep, you said you wanted him, says Maybelle. "Well, take him off," says Chalky, as casually as he can muster. Lenore slows the pace of her polishing, looking like she suspects the implications behind what her husband just said, but doesn’t turn around to look at him. He walks away, leaving his daughter looking confused too.
Oh, and a sad scene with Arnold Rothstein, alone in his billiard room, over-chalking a cue so fixedly that he doesn’t notice his driver come halfway down the stairs to find out if A.R. will be needing the car. Rothstein -- after the cue-chalking, shot from above, making him look small and helpless -- seems lost enough for the driver to ask him if he’s okay. Rothstein says he is, and asks if the missus is still awake. She retired early, says his driver, who then turns to go, but Rothstein stops him -- his name is Peter -- to ask why it is he doesn’t gamble. "'Cause I don’t have the stomach for it," says Peter. Great answer from an underling, and now A.R. is smiling as he remembers when he won thirty dollars the first time playing craps, when he was nine. "Lucky little boy," says Peter. At least they used to think so, says Rothstein, who grows melancholy again, and Peter takes his cue to exit. I mean, not one of the billiard cues. I mean… anyway.
At the Albatross, Eli comes in to see Nucky, who’s talking to … I don’t know, some white guy in a suit? I can’t keep them all straight. If it winds up being important, we’ll know. Eli’s arrival ends the talk, at any rate, and the guy leaves, and Nucky tells Eli they might have a problem with Chalky. Seems like significant wording, as Nucky doesn’t see the problem as Narcisse. Nucky fills Eli in on Chalky taking Purnsley "for a walk in the marsh," but Eli’s position is "good riddance." But wait, there’s more! Chalky puts Narcisse behind it, and wants to return the favor. So what’s their concern, asks Eli, and Nucky’s issue is Narcisse having business with Owney Madden, and maybe others, but Eli’s skeptical that Madden would go to bat "for some shine who knows the Bible." More old time-y racial slurs! Nucky just doesn’t want to poke that bear. He’s pissed, because he says he warned Chalky about this, and here they are, and Chalky always taking the position Nucky owes him. "That debt’s paid," says Eli. Why, Nucky couldn’t agree more! He’s not denying there’s a bond, but he’s not bringing Chalky Nucky’s problems.
They agree that the answer has to be no, and then move on to other business. Well, Eli does, asking if there’s anything else he should know. The brothers look at each other for a moment, until Nucky finally asks if Willie’s doing all right. So Eli’s forced to play nice some more and say yes, and everybody’s happy to have him home.
The morning, Van Alden’s getting dressed for work -- strapping on the gun that he keeps stashed behind a dresser -- when Sigrid barges to in to ask if he called "the Sears Roebuck," and he upbraids her for not knocking before she entered, which she points out is difficult since there isn’t actually a door there in Van Alden’s half-house. He testily points out that the curtain was drawn, though. His agitation has her wondering what he was doing that she wasn’t allowed to see, given that she’s seen him get dressed many times. So, he changes the subject back to whatever the hell it was she wanted when she came in, which is whether he called Sears Roebuck.
Van Alden unleashes some weapons-grade sarcasm on her as he explains he spoke to Mr. Roebuck himself, who apologized profusely and promised to send over a dozen of his top men. But Sigrid does not appear to have any idea of what sarcasm, is judging by her smile. She asks if this is true. "Nope. This is sarcasm," says Van Alden, who’s so disagreeable that the baby starts crying, and the baby isn’t even in the room.
Oh, good, another boring court date for the Tommy custody battle. Gillian is sharing her sob story about being orphaned at a young age, and married at a young age. She acknowledges she hasn’t lived a "blameless" life, but wonders if anyone has. Meanwhile, Richard Harrow has just strolled into the courtroom and taken his seat on Julia’s side, surprising Gillian somewhat and earning a nod from Julia.
Gillian continues waxing philosophical on how love sustains us, and we need to give it back, and that’s all she has to offer her grandson, and she thinks that’s all that matters. Strangely, I don’t see anyone in the courtroom rolling his eyes and making a jerk off motion, and then it’s time for Julia to have her say. "When Tommy talks about home, it’s our home he’s thinking of. When he goes to sleep, we’re the ones who tuck him in. When he wakes up from nightmares." She casts a glance at Gillian here and says, "He does wake up, your honor, we’re the ones who tell him it’s going to be all right. And he believes it."
I guess that’s all she’s got to say, because Gillian’s lawyer stands up to point out -- unnecessarily, as the judge notes -- that she’s Tommy’s paternal grandmother. The judge says no one disputes that, and then starts asking Julia about her job at a department store where she makes $12 a week, and her marital status. She seems a little taken aback by having to confirm her singledom, but thinks better of retorting. And the judge moves on to her dad, and his monthly $37 pension from Veterans Affairs. Paul corrects the judge to $37.28. That extra twenty-eight cents does not cause the judge to say, "Case closed!" and award custody to the Sagorskys immediately, however.
The judge does note that in cases such as these, the courts generally assume it’s in a child’s best interests to be with blood relatives, but he’ll review the case notes and render his decision within the month. Julia slumps back in her seat.
Van Alden stalks his way to work, looks through the front window and sees O’Banion there working, so he goes around the back… where’s he’s jumped by Phil and Ralph from the old iron company. Phil clocks him in the head with a blackjack or something, and down goes Van Alden, who still manages to seem almost delightedly surprised to see them and Mr. Gulliver at the end of the alley.
Then panic sets in as he realizes Phil is hell-bent on revenge, with the scar on his face that took two months to heal, and he didn’t make a sale for months. I don’t know. A good salesman might have pointed out the scar was proof of the iron’s effectiveness. Van Alden yells that this is "not a good time," which I found hilarious, and Phil keeps hitting him, bloodying his face. Van Alden even tries to apologize, but Iron Face, Ralph and Mr. Gulliver are in no mood, and it’s a good thing for Van Alden that today is Bring Your Gun To Work Day, because he whips it out, changing his assailants’ demeanor instantly. Now they’re the ones telling Van Alden to relax. "I am relaxed," says Van Alden, and he coldly shoots Ralph and Phil first than swivels and shoots a fleeing Gulliver in the back of the head, while a train rattles overhead. Three shots, three dead bodies. Van Alden licks his lips.
In the Onyx, Rothstein apparently has a life insurance policy from one of his subsidiaries … on Mickey Doyle? Worth $500,000? Nucky’s surprised as anyone, but not too worried about it. "So what are you waiting for? Kill him," he suggests. Rothstein is taken aback, who says at the very least he wanted Nucky’s permission. That’s what he just gave you, A.R.! Nucky’s practical about it: Does he at least get a cut? Rothstein’s shock -- calling it a "callous attitude" -- is a bit much, since he’s the one who brought it up here in the first place. Nucky calls Doyle an imbecile whom he’d be glad to be rid of.
So, Rothstein -- surprised that Doyle is not an integral part of the operation -- changes tack. "Make me an offer," he says. A surprised Nucky is all, "To not kill him? How’s a plugged nickel sound?" Ha! Rothstein says Nucky could buy the policy from him, making himself the beneficiary, which gives Nucky a sense of what’s really going on. "Money troubles, Arnold?" he asks. For a guy who loves gambling so much, Rothstein’s poker face as he admits only to the usual "ebb and flow" of the market. When Nucky presses that it’s apparently more ebb at the moment, Rothstein says he’s the victim of an unscrupulous broker.
Let’s all for a moment enjoy the irony of a gangster distressed at the lack of honesty in someone else. And then realize that when Nucky encourages Rothstein to plot his revenge, that this should bring Margaret back into play again. Or maybe Rothstein can just ask her for those hundred dollars back! Revenge takes cash, points out Rothstein, and his bankroll is "waning" at the moment.
Nucky sighs and offers him ten cents on the dollar, which Rothstein counters with double that. Nucky gripes but accepts, calling it potentially one of the best investments he’ll ever make, given how many people he knows who’d kill Mickey for free. Rothstein grimace-smiles.
At the White house, Chalky’s family is setting the table when he struts in, showing off how nice and cleaned up he is, although Lenore is still barely acknowledging his existence. She asks if she wants to check behind his ears, because maybe there are still some splinters there. But he’d be smarter to drop the made-up story that Lenore clearly doesn’t believe anyway. She responds by freezing up, and the awkwardness breaks at the ringing of the doorbell. Sam and Maybelle are all, "What the hell is going on?" to each other as they go to answer the door, where they find Sam’s mom arriving for dinner.
Over to the Sagorsky house now where Paul’s playing outside with Tommy while inside Julia is lamenting another empty liquor bottle, which are being drained much faster now that Richard’s back. She wants to know what the two men talk about when they’re up all hours of the night downstairs. "Things we’ve been through. It helps him," says Richard. " Paul worries about Julia", he adds. Starting to get upset, Julia wants to know why he’s worried about her. "You’re very bad at hiding things," she says, sitting down. I thought I was pretty good at it, he says. At any rate, she knows what Richard is getting at. "From the drinking?" she asks. Richard says she needs to hear it from Paul. She says her father won’t tell her, but Richard says he will when he’s ready.
"So he expects you to take care of us?" she asks. Richard says they just talk, and that’s all. Julia’s a little offended, truth be told, and notes that a girl at her job who started just a couple of months before her has been made a floor manager already, which is a bump up to $15 a week. "You could do that," says Richard, and Julia already knows that. "And you wouldn’t need me," says Richard. Julia crosses the floor to sit to him, reminding him that the judge thinks it would be better if she were married. "You might do in a pinch," she says, joking-but-not-joking. Richard stares blankly at her until she says if he doesn’t say anything, it’s going to get very awkward. He stammers for a moment, and then simply says, "Yes. I’m saying yes." Julia allows herself to smile a bit.
Narcisse is over at Daughter’s house, quizzing her the night ol’ Purnsley came calling. Or, rather, didn’t come calling, which is apparently the story Daughter is going with. Although I suppose that’s really the only other option. I have to confess, I could have stood an episode of Daughter and Chalky throwing a pair of sunglasses on Purnsley’s corpse around and moving his arms and legs, Weekend at Bernie’s-style. "All through the long lovers’ night," says Narcisse, sounding skeptical. Daughter says she couldn’t even get Chalky to stay, because he was too worried about his wife asking questions, and preoccupied with his daughter’s upcoming wedding. "Is that what he talks to you about?" says Narcisse, looking awfully menacing standing in the doorway; we see half his face. Daughter insists again that she couldn’t get Chalky to stay. Narcisse says his wish is never to involve her, but to keep her separate "above the muck that I have walked through here in Babylon, where we each of us have been exiled."
Generally, a villain’s escalating pretentious mutterings don’t bode very well for whoever he says them to, but Daughter, despite rescuing Chalky, still seems somewhat under the spell of Narcisse. "You will be clothed in glory," she says, and he dismissively remarks how well he’s trained her. She promises she’ll keep Chalky here longer time, and Narcisse then kneels beside her, and asks if she remembers what they promised each other when they traveled from New Orleans years ago. "You would protect me always," says Daughter. "And that you would be free, free to lie down with any man, but your heart… your heart…" says Narcisse, who can’t finish it. "Was yours. Was always yours," says Daughter.
Since we can tell Daughter now thinks she’s in the clear, now it’s time for things to turn. "Your rug. Glass shards still in the carpet there. Mr. White is alive, and you, you have crushed me," he says, quietly, eyes wet, staring at her. He grabs her head, then lets go, stands up, his back to her… and then suddenly pivots and hits her across the face.
Speaking of getting hit in the face, Van Alden is back home, ice on his face, a worried Sigrid asking, "These men, did they rob you?" She’s confused why they’d do that, and he starts by saying they tried to rob him, but he blows up and asks if it really matters. Oh, now you got the kid crying again! But Van Alden’s on a roll, and stands up, and is about to launch into a rant about how he’s put up with more than most men, but there’s a knock at the door, and he tells a frightened Sigrid to put the kid somewhere. "Wherever it is he gets put! Du forsta?" (That's Swedish for, “You understand?"). He goes to the door, and it’s the angry Capone brothers, who demand to know what happened. He says he was jumped by "hooligans" and Al points out that it’s not good if O’Banion knows what’s coming to him. "Give me till tonight. I’ll wait till after closing," says Van Alden. Al makes warning insinuations about what happens if he botches this again, and Van Alden promises he won’t.
Back to the White house, where Lester is playing a jaunty piano, and Maybelle and Sam holding hands. Lester apologizes after stumbling through some high triplets, but Sam’s mom says it sounds lovely to her, and everyone applauds when he finishes. Proud sis Maybelle points out he’s had only three weeks of lessons, so he’s either a prodigy or he started learning on his own a lot longer than three weeks ago.
The mothers of the bride and groom get up to go over table assignments (hope they’re using pencil, in case Chalky decides to dis-invite anyone else) and the phone rings. Maybelle answers, and then tells whoever it is that he’s with guests right now, but she’d be happy to take a message. Chalky makes his way over and takes the phone when Maybelle whispers to him that it’s "Mr. Coates, the piano player," (that latter part more for our benefit). Chalky listens, then says sharply, "You stay where you are," drawing Lenore’s attention. She asks if everything’s all right, and Chalky says matters at the club need his attention. Maybelle points out that Mrs. Crawford came in all the way from Newtonville. Lenore suggests Purnsley can take care of it, but Chalky says, "He can’t, and not because I killed him or anything, because I totally didn’t," and tells Lester to keep everyone entertained.
Oh, city clerk. If your sign’s going to promise marriage and hunting licenses from 8 AM to 6 PM, you really need to keep those hours! As it is, Julia and Richard are sitting outside the office on a bench, waiting. The two of them are dressed up so nice! Richard even has a boutonniere! He checks his watch and notes there’s still ten minutes left. "This is going straight into the complaint box," she mutters.
And then here comes the city clerk to open the office, apologizing because he had to step out for a moment. He still leaves them alone out there, and Julia uses the moment to ask Richard if he’s sure about this. "It’s just a hunting license, isn’t it?" he says. Hee hee. Now he shoots from the lip! Julia smiles, and he takes her hand, which is even nicer.
Daughter’s house. She’s in bed, wrapped up in blankets, when Coates shows Chalky into the bedroom, warning him to "Be easy now, Mr. White." Daughter covers up even more when Chalky arrives, but he tells her to let him see her. She can’t, she tells him, and he sits on the bed and tells her it’s okay. So she rolls towards him, and her face is a ghastly, swollen sunset of purple and yellow. It’s a nightmare of brutality, and even Chalky can’t completely hide his surprise and horror at the extent of it. He asks if the doctor did this to her. "It was the right hand of the Lord," she says. So… yes. Coates quietly says the doctor and Miss Daughter "got their ways." Chalky slowly stands up, and asks Coates if he knows how to tend to her. "Been doing it longer than I wanted", he says. Chalky tells him to make her comfortable until he gets back.
Over to the Onyx club, where Narcisse makes his way through backstage to the front of house, where a black comedian is telling racial jokes onstage. And when I say racial, I don’t need to tell you that black people -- and their black skin and their kinky hair -- are the punch line. The white crowd eats it up, but Nucky gets quite frown-y when Narcisse sits down to him. "Why don’t you stand up?" says Nucky, glaring, and Narcisse says he doesn’t think he should have to. The stink-eye from various other white patrons as they notice Narcisse’s audacity indicate a difference of opinion on that. "You know you can’t sit here", says Nucky. "Where I am from, there are no such things as 'niggers,' Mr. Thompson, and I refuse to be treated like one," says Narcisse. But this is why he’s here.
"Your friend’s days are numbered", Narcisse tells Nucky, what with his dissipating political power, which Nucky icily points out is due to Narcisse’s pushing heroin. Speak of the devil! Narcisse’s presence has drawn Chalky’s attention, who storms into the dining room and orders Narcisse to stand up. Nucky’s the one to get up, though, to warn Chalky not here, not now. The confrontation is now heated enough to draw the attention of the comedian. Chalky spits that he can’t even sit in his own club, while Nucky’s in the front row "with this sadistic motherfucker." Everyone gasps at the dark man and his gutter talk, naturally -- the bandleader hastily strikes up the musicians -- and Nucky warns Chalky to be very careful about what comes out of his mouth , unless he wants a war. "One that you will fight alone," he says. Chalky flips over a table like he’s a Real Housewife of New Jersey, and stomps past Narcisse out of the club. The dancers come out, and Narcisse buttons up his vest and prepares to leave while busboys clean up the mess.
At O’Banion’s flower shop, Van Alden’s sweeping up trimmings in the nursery when O’Banion comes in, looking thoughtful and wanting to hear again what happened the night Van Alden went clubbing with the Capones. "On your frolic," is how O’Banion puts it. He doesn’t believe the story Van Alden’s given him, and he wants the truth. To encourage that truth-telling, he pulls a gun and warns Van Alden that one more "I don’t know" or "I’m not looking for any trouble” will get his head popped open like a melon. He places the barrel under Van Alden’s chin. But Van Alden doesn’t look scared, and calmly says he didn’t kill Stu; Al Capone did.
"But I have killed other men", he continues. The one O’Banion knows about, the three men who attacked him, and his partner. O’Banion’s all, "Your what now?" and Van Alden explains that he was a Prohibition agent (that was probably not under "Experience" on Van Alden’s application to work at the flower shop) who drowned his partner with his bare hands. "My name isn’t Mueller. I’m not legally married to my life. I used to believe in God, but now I don’t believe in anything at all," he says. By this point, a disconcerted O’Banion has lowered his gun, and when the bell above the outside door jingles, O’Banion leaves to go see who it is, telling Van Alden to sweep up the clippings. Uh, that’s what he was doing until you interrupted him, terrible boss! Van Alden exhales heavily and grabs the counter for support after O’Banion leaves.
In the shop, how O’Banion doesn’t see anything amiss by two guys in suits and fedoras nonchalantly looking around the place, followed in by a third be-hatted and be-suited, smooth-talking Frankie Yale, looking to get out of Dutch with the missus. O’Banion settles on chrysanthemums, and says he guarantees them or money back, and puts out his hand for Yale (who I guess he doesn’t recognize) to shake. Yale holds tight while his two associates pump bullets into O’Banion, which is largely what is believed to have happened in real life, apparently: a murder that eventually led to the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre five years later.
In the back, Van Alden hears the shots, and he comes out after the gangsters have left. He looks at O’Banion’s corpse, then steps over it, cleans out the cashbox. Hey, this means he gets to knock off early! Creepily, he steps over the bodies of his former co-workers, still in the back alley lying where they died. (Although I’m not really sure what Van Alden could have done with them). Although, again… aw, shag it, I’m just going to go rent Weekend at Bernie’s again.
It’s late, and Nucky’s arriving home at the Albatross. He tells Useless New Eddie to position a couple more men outside, just to be safe, when they’re startled by the arrival of cinematically back lit Richard Harrow. Useless New Eddie draws his gun, but Nucky recognizes he’s not a threat. "I came to see you," says Richard, explaining that he got married today. Nucky says congratulations, adding, “You came to tell me that?" "I need a job", says Richard. Well, give your application to Doris in HR, and make sure to tell her you saw the posting on Workopolis!
And here’s Van Alden arriving home, all hopped-up and horny, and he turns on the lamp in the bedroom, waking Sigrid. "Who built this house?" he asks her, insistently. She sits up, and cautiously says he did. "And who pays the bills?" he asks. "Well, that would also be you", she says. "Who’s holding one thousand dollars in his hand?" he says, and let me tell you, this turns Sigrid’s crank. "You are," she says. Van Alden asks who he is. "You are my husband," she says. But he’s not finished confessing things, apparently. "My name is Nelson Van Alden," he says. It kind of reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where George, going against his instincts, tells a beautiful woman, "My name is George. I’m unemployed and I live with my parents." But George didn’t have a thousand dollars (or $8,700 in 1994 money) to throw in the air. Van Alden does just that, and instructs Sigrid to take off her nightgown. She obeys, a little breathlessly, while Van Alden gets undressed too, and then they’re passionately kissing, and are totally going to Do It on a pile of money. Well, Sigrid can launder it in the morning.
Roy Philips is on the phone, speaking quietly. "I know. Me too. It won’t be much longer," he says. Then Gillian shows up in the doorway, prompting Roy to suddenly speak much louder and as though he’s speaking to a different person, saying, "Yes, sir! I will take care of that immediately!" Interesting! Finally! He explains to Gillian it was just business, that they’re "working late in Memphis." He asks how she’s doing, and she confesses she’s not great. She’s fighting the urge he realizes, and she shares his cigarette while acknowledging she’s got to be strong for Tommy. What she’s gone through for him, it can’t all have been for nothing she says. "It brought you to me. Doesn’t that count for something?" whines Roy. Even if we hadn’t just learned he’s got some sort of ulterior motive, that would still come off douchey, considering this is her goddamn grandson we’re talking about, but Gillian doesn’t see anything amiss and hugs him. But she still looks worried.
Chalky’s at Daughter’s house, sitting with her head in his lap. Jesus, what did people do before television? She tells him to go home, and she’ll be all right in a day or two. "What he did, it wasn’t nothing but for my own good," she says, adding that Narcisse sees things they don’t. Divination. Chalky says he thinks they must have gone to different churches. Possibly! Chalky went to one where they didn’t sweat the Commandments. She pleads with Chalky not to kill Narcisse, but that doesn’t appear to be an option for him. "Make a promise to you, break another to myself," he says. She says she can't lose him either.
There’s a knock on the door, and Chalky grabs his gun from the side table, despite Daughter’s protests, but by the time he makes the door, he’s already heard Maybelle call out, “Daddy, it’s me. I know you’re there.” He opens the door, and starts in innocently with the “This is Ms. Maitland, one of the acts, and she had an accident, so I just came here to--“ and Maybelle, totally not buying it, interrupts to ask, “What’d you come to do, Daddy?” she says, and he calls her “baby girl,” and she stomps off, leaving Chalky looking more regretful than we’ve ever seen him.
Ugh, now Nucky’s calling up Sally Wheet for some phone sex. But old time-y phone sex between old people, so it’s not even sexy. She’s sleeping on the porch because it’s too hot there, or something, but that doesn’t explain the bed clothes that are a couple of sizes too small. They make a little small talk, about the weather. "Is this exciting you?" she asks him. She lights a cigarette, and having exhausted the conversational possibilities like "the moon’s out" and she throws the ball back to him. He asks what a man does down in Florida besides gator fights. "A man does what he wants, or maybe he doesn’t do anything at all," she says. He asks if she’d put up with a man like that, and she says maybe. "Not for too long."
Nucky says he could come down, check on the operation, and she offers a noncommittal "business is business," and he tells her he’ll let her get back to sleep. She tells him to call her tomorrow (albeit, a little earlier) and signs off with a "don’t get lost in the fog, now." He hangs up, closes his balcony doors, and miles away, Sally checks the shotgun by her bed and clutches it to her chest as she lies back in bed.
Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. And now, a montage of wacky scenes with Purnsley’s corpse set to "Any Way You Want It" by Journey! Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.