- The Feds begin to look into Nucky's affairs, his brother Eli looks to buy off Mrs. Schroeder, and Nucky essentially fires Jimmy Darmody as his chauffeur.
- Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden turns up unexpected at Nucky's office. He tells Nucky that he is investigating Saturday night's shooting, because he doesn't believe that Hans Schroeder was the murder. As soon as Nelson has left, Nucky starts cutting off all ties that could connect him to the case. His brother, Sheriff Eli Thompson, visits Mrs. Schroeder at the hospital, where she is laying in a bed, reading "The Ivory Tower" by Henry James. He tries to convince her that her dead husband was involved in bootlegging, and tells her to maintain this explanation, if someone would ask her about it. Jimmy Darmody uses his share of the robbery to buy presents for his family and for his mother, a nightclub performer. When he turns up at Nucky's office, Nucky tells him that he is fired, and that he should pay him 3 grand within 48 hours for the trouble he has caused. To be able to do this, Jimmy steals back the valuable necklace he has given to his mother. Arnold Rothstein phones Nucky, and says that Nucky owes him 100 grand for the load of liquor that wasn't delivered, but Nucky just brushes him off.—Maths Jesperson {maths.jesperson1@comhem.se}
- Nucky refuses to let Jimmy off the hook for his butchered heist without a price; Van Alden separately questions Nucky and Margaret about Hans Schroeder and writes his wife; Jimmy gives his family gifts and visits his mother; Margaret is left cash in the wake of her husband's death, but quickly returns it to Nucky after it weighs on her conscience; Rothstein wants to know why Frankie Yale killed Colosimo and why Nucky's liquor never arrived; Reporters question Capone and Torrio about Colosimo's death; George Baxter tries to win over his girlfriend, Claudia; Nucky severs ties with Mickey.—chingeeflingee
- Investigating a crime which he feels has been pinned on a scapegoat, straight-arrow Agent Nelson Van Alden pays a visit to Nucky and leaves convinced that the Treasurer is "as corrupt as the day is long." Nucky quickly does damage control, enlisting his brother, Sheriff Elias Thompson, to close ranks with their underlings. Nucky discusses the upcoming election with his aging mentor, Commodore Louis Kaestner, with whom he debates the women's vote issue. Later, before heading out for a night on the town, Nucky rebukes an irate Arnold Rothstein over the phone, then meets privately with Margaret Schroeder, who asks him for help in providing for her children. As a long day ends, a traveling salesman named George Baxter, in town for a few days with an unwilling young beauty named Claudia, makes a startling discovery while on the road home to Baltimore.—HBO Publicity
- In Chicago, church bells ring as Big Jim Colosimo's mourners huddle for a look at the departed crime boss's casket. A reporter asks Johnny Torrio about having been questioned by the cops about the assassination, which he brushes off. The reporter notices the flower arrangement from Nucky Thompson on the hearse.
Back in Atlantic City, Van Alden shows up at Nucky's place for question him about the shooting. Nucky offers Van Alden a shoeshine, coffee, "something stronger, maybe?" but Van Alden isn't in the mood for jokes. After complaining about Nucky's lack of regular hours and being forced to wait all morning to see him, he tries to talk about the shootings, though Nucky brushes him off, pointing out that the man the press paint as the killer is dead. Van Alden challenges what a baker's apprentice with hardly any criminal record would be doing killing four guys in the woods, and asks for Margaret's whereabouts. When Nucky suggests that Van Alden should stick to his duty to fight alcohol, Van Alden concedes and leaves.
Jimmy walks along the boardwalk and, ignoring a KKK recruiter's flier, pops into a jewelry store. Meanwhile, Nucky meets up with traveling cutlery salesman George Baxter, who is hoping get over with Claudia, a young lady he is trying to impress.
Margaret is still in the hospital reading "The Ivory Tower" when a nurse tells her Mr. Thompson is there to see her. Margaret prepares herself and is let down when it's Eli, not Nucky, who's here to make sure Margaret doesn't know anything that could counter their cover story for Hans as a fall guy. Margaret defends her husband, but Eli pressures her and suggests she didn't "really" know what he was up to. He suggests "he could have been involved," and asks her to keep that in mind if anyone else asks questions about her. He gives her an envelope containing payoff cash from Nucky.
Van Alden meets with his boss, giving him the lowdown on Nucky's lavish lifestyle, how all the aldermen and city officials owe him a cut of money to keep their jobs, and bars and speakeasies pay him a cut of their profits to be allowed to serve illegal booze. When reminded he was supposed to be pursuing Rothstein, Van Alden counters Nucky is the bigger fish.
Nucky goes to the jail to tell Mickey Doyle he is being fired from the operation for being caught. Mickey is upset, saying he's been set up, but Nucky says the feds were on to Mickey and he couldn't risk getting caught up in it. He leaves him in jail.
Christmas comes late to the Darmody household as Jimmy surprises his wife and son with a tree and gifts, saying Nucky had given him a bonus. His boy unwraps a toy truck and Jimmy gives Angela a bracelet. He tells her to let him worry about the cost. He also gives her a "vacuum sweeper." Its noise scares young Tommy.
Back in New York, Lucky Luciano brings Frankie Yale to see Rothstein. Frankie is back from Chicago, where he claims he was "visiting a friend". Lucky nonchalantly ponders if the visit was "lousy", hinting at Colosimo's death. Rothstein proceeds to tell a chilling story about how he once tricked a sideshow entertainer into choking himself to death on a cue ball to win a $10,000 bet. The moral of the story, he warns, is that if he was the type of person who'd be willing to kill a random stranger for his own amusement, what Yale could be subjected to for not confessing who ordered him to kill Colosimo could be worse.
Back at Jimmy's place, he and Angela are getting frisky, but Angela says it is "not a good time." As she proceeds to take a different approach (French style), Tommy wakes up and interrupts them. Jimmy leaves and goes to a theater where a burlesque show rehearsal is happening. He pays particular attention to his mother Gillian, who, during a break in the rehearsal, is over the moon to see Jimmy there. She jumps into his arms and he gives her the nicer of two necklaces from the jewelry store. It turns out the necklace is like one his father had given her years before that she'd "sold to keep a roof over my head." Jimmy, in passing, mentions he didn't have a father.
Jimmy then goes to Nucky's and begins preparing for his work day by pouring himself a drink. Nucky reminds Jimmy that the events of the past few days have changed their relationship. Nucky wants to know what happened the other night. Jimmy gives him a rundown on what happened during the heist, and how Torrio retroactively sanctioned the job. He apologizes to Nucky and says it should never have been traced back to him. Nucky then tells Jimmy that Van Alden is asking questions. Jimmy insists a deer had spooked Al but Nucky is still upset that the result is that they killed four guys (Jimmy corrects him, it's five, the fifth guy having gone missing). Jimmy apologizes again, but Nucky fires Jimmy. He then tells Jimmy, "If you want to be a gangster in my town, you'll pay me for the privilege." As Jimmy is $3,000 short on Nucky's share (based on the payment Jimmy gave Nucky previously), he has 48 hours to make up the lost money.
Back in Chicago, the reporter from the Colosimo funeral goes to a brothel where Al Capone is tending bar and asks him for a statement on the record. When the reporter tells Al he is going with a story linking Johnny Torrio to the Big Jim murder, Al smashes a bottle over the reporter's head before kicking him senseless as he lies helpless on the floor.
That night, Nucky tries to avoid Rothstein's calls, but ultimately relents and picks up. Rothstein explains that he never received the whiskey delivery he'd arranged. Rothstein then tells Nucky he owes him $100,000. He goes on to add that his sister-in-law's nephew was one of the dead drivers. Nucky is out of sympathies, and ends the call with an implicit death threat.
Jimmy gets home late and quietly pulls an envelope of cash out from behind a radiator. Angela wakes up and he tells her to go back to sleep, not saying what he is doing. He counts the cash which he'd been paid upon his honorable discharge from the military.
Margaret walks into her home and, still bruised on her face, sees the mess that resulted from the beating her husband gave her. She pulls a ribbon from her hair. She is then visited by Van Alden, who silently watches her pick up the kitchen a bit. She says nothing when Van Alden offers his condolences . He's convinced Hans was a patsy, but he isn't yet sure who'd set him up. She touches her hair and realizes her ribbon is missing. When Van Alden asks about her relationship with Nucky, she seems surprised by the question.
On the boardwalk, Nucky runs into George Baxter and his lover. When she goes to buy some salt water taffy, Baxter tells Nucky about the lengths he's gone to in an effort to bed her, but nothing is happening. When she returns, Nucky tries to help out, telling Claudia -- who is 19 -- that he is thinking of sponsoring a beauty contest in Atlantic City and that she could be a contestant. He then mentions that Baxter would be one of the judges. She seems intrigued and, as Nucky walks away, he tells Baxter, "That ought to warm her up."
At a bar, Jimmy goes to a pay phone where an operator has finally connected him to Al Capone in Chicago (he'd been waiting half an hour). Jimmy asks Al to wire him $500 and Al pretends he can't hear him over the phone. He hangs up, laughing with a floozy who was at Al's elbow listening.
Nucky meets with the Commodore, who is counting money Nucky has given him. Nucky tells the Commodore he let Jimmy go, which Kaestner thought might be good for Jimmy -- "toughen him up a little bit." In other news, Nucky says Senator Edge and Frank 'I am the law' Hague from Jersey City are coming out for his birthday. He says he is hoping to pin Edge down on some road appropriation money. They talk about Edge's aspirations of heading to Washington. They talk about how Edge could "go all the way", and Nucky notes that "the ladies love him". With the women's vote in the front of his mind, Nucky says there could be a hell of a lot of votes. Kaestner laughs and Nucky tells him, "A vote's a vote, isn't it?"
To prove a point, Kaestner calls in his maid, Louanne Pratt, and asks her what she thought of the League of Nations. She doesn't know what that is. He quizzes her some more and she apologizes and says she is "not versed in these matters." As she leaves, he tells Nucky, "That's your women's vote."
Back at the burlesque theater, Jimmy waits in the wings for all the girls to go on stage so he can sneak into the dressing room and steal the necklace he'd given his mother earlier.
In his hotel room, Van Alden writes a letter to his wife Rose. He says important agency business will keep him from home longer. He gives instructions on how to keep the water pipes from cracking in the winter, then crushes out his cigarette and pulls Margaret's hair ribbon out from his desk. He winds it around his hand, then puts it up to his nose to breathe in her scent.
We next see Margaret sitting alone in the kitchen when her daughter comes in, laughing as she tries to walk in her dead father's shoes.
Back in Nucky's bedroom, he blows off Lucy's suggestion that he grow a mustache "like Douglas Fairbanks." Eddie comes in and says Margaret is there to see him. He tells Lucy to wait in the car with Eddie. It is almost midnight when Nucky sits down with Margaret. She's come to return the payment that Eli had given her. She doesn't know what it is, or what it is for, but she can't accept it in good faith. She starts to talk about her husband being gone and Nucky empathizes with her, having some idea what she is going through. Margaret asks about Nucky's deceased wife Mabel, and he tells her his wife was 28 when she died. "She was a beautiful and loving woman," he says. Margaret reminds Nucky that when she first went to see him she was only looking for employment for her husband, not money. He says the money is "the charitable thing."
"Charity degrades those who receive it, and hardens those who dispense it," she says, quoting George Sand.
"He is a poet," Nucky says.
"He is a she, actually," Margaret replies, clarifying that Baroness Armatine Lucile Dupin was the woman behind the pen name. She is well read, having worked for a barrister before coming to America. She just wants to provide for her children, and when Nucky says he'd like to help, she asks him what she should do. "What do you want from me?" she asks.
"I want you to vote Republican," he says.
George Baxter is frustrated as he still is getting nowhere with Claudia, who slaps him when he tries to "get fresh." He decides to drive her back home to Baltimore.
Nucky is yukking it up with friends at dinner when Jimmy shows up with the $3,000 he'd scraped and scrounged up. He asks Nucky if they are square. "As a block of ice," Nucky says, before retreating to the roulette table. He casually puts Jimmy's $3,000 on black. The ball comes up red, and just like that, Jimmy's cash is gone. Nucky wryly turns to Jimmy and quips, "Not my night, apparently."
As Baxter and Claudia drive through New Jersey, he spends the drive complaining about all the things he's done to please her and how he's received nothing in return. She gets fed up and tells him to pull over. He stops in the woods outside Hammonton, the site of the massacre.
She relents and lets Baxter kiss her. Then she tells him to unbutton his trousers. She reaches over and begins pleasuring him. As she does, the bloodied survivor of the massacre staggers towards the car in its headlights, apparently clinging desperately to life. Baxter and the girl both scream as the man falls onto the hood.
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