- Van Alland remains suspicious of Sebso, the dying Commodore seeks a rapprochements with illegitimate son Jimmy, and Margaret leaves after a domestic argument with Nucky.
- Van Alland remains suspicious of Sebso and his story of murdering a star witness in self-defense. Sebso asks Nucky if he can help and he's directed to a distillery to bust with unexpected results. The dying Commodore seeks a rapprochement with illegitimate son Jimmy and the attending doctor reveals some unexpected information. Angela expects to leave for Paris with her son and Mary, but she must change her plans. Margaret leaves Nucky after a domestic argument with him when she feels that the city treasurer is only using her.—duke1029@aol.com
- Nucky shakes up the status quo; Jimmy deals with some tricky family issues; Van Alden addresses Agent Sebso's "temptations."—HBO Publicity
- Hardeen, Harry Houdini's brother, struggles to pull off Houdini's famous escape-from-a-straight-jacket routine, but eventually does it just as the crowd begins to heckle him. Nucky and Margaret watch on, and Margaret stands up and applauds when Hardeen frees himself.
Angela daydreams as she and Jimmy eat dinner at home. She says she doesn't know if he's thinking, which seems to annoy Jimmy. The phone rings and after a brief chat, Jimmy tells Angela that his mother said his father is dying.
Sebso and Van Alden eat Chinese food and Van Alden is impressed with Sebso's prowess with chopsticks. Van Alden brings up Sebso's shooting of their star witness, Billy Winslow, and pressing Sebso on some of the details, questioning how Sebso could have been hit in the forehead with a stone while Billy was allegedly relieving himself.
Hardeen wows Margaret with a trick in which he removes her bracelet and it ends up on Annabelle's wrist without either of them having noticed. He tells her "deception requires complicity, however subconscious. We want to be deceived." Nan asks if she has to give it back and Hardeen says, "I'm a magician, miss, not a thief."
"There's an excuse that might come in handy someday," Nucky quips.
Harry Prince, who's been on edge while hanging around with Nucky all night, finally snaps and says his big investment with his buddy Charles Ponzi was a swindle. He was arrested. Harry says he's doesn't have "a nickel." Annabelle gets up and leaves while Harry gives chase.
Rothstein's lawyer calls him from Chicago with news of the indictments that have come down on the fixing of the 1919 World Series. He suggests Arnold come to Chicago, but to think about who there is willing to do him a favor.
The Commodore isn't doing well. He's bedridden and Louanne thinks he's dead, but he startles when she goes to touch him. Jimmy arrives to visit. The Commodore pours Jimmy a drink from a bottle on the nightstand. The Commodore looks at Jimmy and says, "Wow, look at you. A proper gentleman." Jimmy responds, "My mother raised me well." The Commodore is grieving the loss of his dog, but Jimmy mocks him and we quickly learn that the Commodore was 54 and Gillian was 13 when Jimmy was conceived. He tells Jimmy that the city was a swamp when he got there and he made the city. He eventually gets to the point: "The wrong man is running this town." Jimmy leaves, saying he doesn't feel well.
Jimmy goes to the restroom and vomits in the basin.
At the portrait studio, Angela and Mary make their plans to leave for Paris. Robert is ambling around on crutches and after Angela leaves he asks what they were conspiring about. Mary says nothing.
Sebso calls Nucky and tells him about Van Alden's suspicions. Nucky gives Sebso a tip about a distillery operation that he can bust to get Van Alden off his back. Annabelle comes in to visit Nucky and says Harry took $3,682 that she had hidden under the floorboards. Nucky hands her $300 and she takes it, saying she'll do anything he wants if he draws the curtains. She propositions him and he says he'll keep the offer in his pocket. Margaret walks in and interrupts, saying that Nucky will keep the offer in mind because his "gift is to never forget who owes him what." Annabelle glares at Margaret as she leaves. Margaret, after disclosing that Annabelle has already hit her up for $50, tells him the League of Women Voters is going to endorse Edward Bader for mayor. She says she's glad to have been of use to him and walks out.
Jimmy talks with his mom about his visit with the Commodore. She tells Jimmy about how Nucky had looked after them when she had Jimmy. She tells him about how Nucky was Sheriff when he introduced Gillian to the Commodore. Jimmy says Nucky was "a pimp," and Gillian corrects him to say he was "an ambitious man who wanted to get ahead." She then talks about Nucky's wife, Mabel, who was a lovely woman. She tells Jimmy that Nucky has "been kind, in his way" to both of them. She finally tells Jimmy that she is going to be with the Commodore when the doctor goes to his house. "No one deserves to die alone," she says.
Sebso and Van Alden go into the woods looking for the alcohol operation. Van Alden wonders whether the "anonymous source" would have any reason to lie. They come upon a religious service of African-American people by a river. After a brief religious chat, Van Alden tells the deacon to proceed. Van Alden turns and grills Sebso about how his "people" (Sebso is Jewish) don't believe in heaven. Van Alden wonders how, then, Sebso can conceive of hell. Van Alden watches the rest of the baptismal service and begins to cry. When Sebso asks if Van Alden's alright, he turns and says, "I am. The question is, are you?"
Gillian feeds the Commodore while a doctor checks him out. Jimmy watches from the doorway. The doctor pulls out scissors to get a hair sample and the Commodore panics, saying the doctor is trying to kill him. Jimmy intervenes and calms him down. The Commodore tells Jimmy, "You're a good son."
Nucky and Margaret are getting ready for a Daughters of the American Revolution event. Nucky realizes Margaret is upset and says that what she "thought" she saw couldn't have been more innocent. She says Annabelle is far from innocent. Nucky admits they had a relationship but he was just helping her. "The way you helped me?" Margaret asks. She upsets Nucky by using crass language in her accusation as to whether Nucky would have sex with Annabelle. She tells him she's heard less than great things about him and that he'd do anything. She says Van Alden told her this while Nucky was "out campaigning."
She tells Nucky their "whole arrangement" upsets her -- that she's supposed to ask no questions and help him with his business even though she's not supposed to know what it is. He tells her she's not the "good person" she claims to be. When she says he doesn't know who she is, he goes into the bathroom and pulls out the bottle of Lysol she's been using as birth control. When Nucky says that having a child is not for her to decide, she notes that they aren't married. When Nucky says, "I thought you needed saving," Margaret asks Nucky if that's why he chose her husband. She asks what purpose it served to make her a widow. He tells her to "be careful." He tells her he hasn't lost one second of sleep over what happened and neither has she. Margaret slaps him in the face and he throws the Lysol into the mirror, saying, "You won't be needing that anymore, will you?"
Richard Harrow shows up at the Commodore's house and tells Jimmy that Chalky heard back from his people in Philadelphia. In their effort to track down the D'Alessio brothers, Chalky's people found their mother, sisters and another brother, a dentist in Philadelphia. Richard offers to go kill them, which would force the D'Alessio brothers to stick their heads up. The doctor comes back with some information about the Commodore. He asks Jimmy who stands to gain from the Commodore's death, telling him that there's "enough arsenic in his body to take down a hippo."
Angela gets Tommy ready for their ocean voyage to Paris. She tells him daddy isn't going because he's "already been there, and he didn't like it." Tommy asks if Gillian can come, but Angela says no because "she doesn't like Paris, either." Angela leaves Jimmy a note and mother and son depart.
Nucky visits Eli and tells him about the fight with Margaret. Nucky tells Eli that he "didn't deny" Margaret's accusation about Hans. Eli gets upset and asks Nucky why he didn't use his fists to shut Margaret up. He Nucky that "this woman is a liability that you created." Eli continues to berate Nucky, telling him, "Nobody cares about you, they only care about what you can give them."
Nucky tells Eli it's too bad he didn't see Hardeen the other night. "It's an entertaining act," Nucky says, "but if he wasn't Houdini's brother, nobody'd give a (vulgarity)."
Jimmy visits Gillian, who says she's "surprised" that the Commodore made it through another night. He asks her about the Commodore's money and she says it doesn't seem as if he's wanting. Jimmy asks if Gillian and the Commodore have talked about what would happen if he dies. He tells her whatever she wants to do is fine with him, but that he ate a cookie at the Commodore's house the other day and it made him vomit. Then he found a can of "Paris Green" (arsenic poison) hidden in his trash can. Gillian says nothing.
Nucky unleashes some wrath on Ed Bader and some other guys who don't seem to be taking the election seriously enough for his taste. Nucky says he's making a change, saying he's accepted Eli's resignation as sheriff. He tells Halloran that the star is his to wear. Halloran is stunned, but accepts and gets congratulations from the rest of the men. Nucky gets a call from Richard.
Angela arrives at the portrait studio to find it empty. The property manager tells her the photographer "snuck out" the day before in the dead of night. He says Mary went with him. Angela asks where they went and he says he's not sure, but that the "wife was always talking about Paris."
Sebso tells Van Alden he's requesting a transfer to Detroit. He tells Van Alden that he knows he doesn't trust him, and asks Van Alden why he would want Billy dead. Van Alden tells Sebso that temptation knows no bounds, and notices his new wing tips. Sebso asks what he has to do to convince Van Alden he can trust him. We next see another baptismal service on the river, where Van Alden and Sebso show up. Van Alden offers up Sebso for baptism. Sebso at first refuses, but after some intense pressure he relents. He follows Van Alden into the river to meet the deacon. Van Alden asks the deacon if he would permit him to baptize Sebso himself. Van Alden violently pushes Sebso underwater, repeatedly asking him to confess his sins and accept Jesus as his savior. Van Alden continues to hold Sebso underwater until he stops struggling. The deacon and the congregation look on in horror. Van Alden shouts to the sky, "Thou hast fulfilled the judgment of the wicked!"
He pulls out his gun and badge and walks back out of the river, through the crowd of witnesses who clear a path for his exit and cast their eyes down as he passes them.
Richard tells Nucky that Margaret told her she didn't need him the day before. He tells Nucky that Margaret had suitcases that morning and was gone with the kids after she sent him to return some things to the neighbor across the street.
Angela gets home with Tommy and sees her note to Jimmy is gone. He sneaks up on them and picks Tommy up to take him to bed.
Nucky walks along the boardwalk with Eddie, abruptly stopping to visit the fortune teller.
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