“Boardwalk Empire”, Season 4, Episode 6- Everybody gets laid!
This week’s episode features several of the main characters getting it on. And a brief appearance by Margaret!
She’s back!!!!
I’ll start the recap with my favorite part of this episode- the return of Margaret!
Nucky is waiting at a restaurant, and he’s very nervous. For a good reason. He’s meeting her.
Oh, Margaret, how I’ve missed you!!!!! Image from here.
And you cut your hair! It’s so cute!!! Squeee!!!
Right, back to the plot.
Nucky and Margaret have somewhat awkward conversation. She’s working, but she’s rather cagey about what her job involves, except that it’s in an office. Nucky eventually reveals that Eddie died, and that he felt he should be the one to tell Margaret. She gets upset by the news, as it reminds her of why she left.
Margaret calms down and offers her condolences. Nucky gives her the birthday present he got for Teddy in Florida (finally!). Margaret mentions that she hopes it isn’t a “creature”, as she doesn’t have room for it. Nucky uses a poor choice of words and tells her “I wouldn’t put anything alive in a box.”
They both realize that it was not helpful to remind Margaret of Owen’s delivery, and they part ways.
While it was a short scene, it was well-acted by MacDonald and Buscemi. It also left me with several questions. Specifically, who is Margaret working for? I have my suspicions that she’s working for Rothstein or another of the New York bigwigs, but it’s only a theory. One of my roommates has made it very clear that he disagrees. However, MacDonald still retains second billing in the opening credits, so my guess is that she will become important to the plot later in the season.
Suicide is selfish, especially if you put your boss’s money in a safe deposit box.
Knox and J Edgar are discussing the ramifications of Eddie’s suicide after the interrogation. Did he really commit suicide, or was he murdered? Did he tell Nucky anything prior to dying? If so, what did he say?
Knox is aiming to investigate the situation further. J Edgar feels that this is a waste of resources, and that they really should be going after the really dangerous people, like Emma Goldman.
She will destroy people with ideas!!!! Image from Wikipedia.
Knox is going to pursue things anyway. J Edgar asks, what if he gets killed? Knox, always one to make lemons into lemonade, says that then he’ll be proven right!
Back in Eddie’s room, Eli and Doyle are looking through things to figure out what happened. Specifically, though, they need the key to the safe deposit box that has a lot of Nucky’s money. Doyle postulates that the money’s not going to be in the box, which is why Eddie must have killed himself.
They find Eddie’s note in German, which neither can read, and the picture of his kids. Doyle is being annoying and making jokes that are in poor taste. Eli hears a chirp and finds Eddie’s bird. Apparently, Eli has a soft-spot for animals, so he tends to the abandoned bird.
Gif from here.
It turns out to be a good thing that Eli’s tender-hearted, because Eddie had hidden the key in the bird’s cage. This demonstrates the real moral of this show: Kindness to animals will always result in good things happening! Oh, and bootlegging is a dangerous, but profitable, business! And, don’t be afraid to kill people to get what you want! (Hmmm, those last few aren’t so nice.)
Eli tries to get into the safe deposit box, but he is stopped by the nosy vice president of the bank. He needs a court or law enforcement order to get into the box, since he is not, in fact, Eddie Kessler.
Eli and Doyle are contemplating their failure back at Doyle’s warehouse when they are interrupted by Knox. Knox puts on his best Cletus and Slack Jawed Yokel impression and gets his regular payout from Eli.
Like this, but less subtle. Image from here.
Eli remembers that Knox, despite his apparent incompetence, is actually a law enforcement agent. He enlists Knox to access the contents of the safe deposit box. Knox does so with a small amount of bluster towards the nosy bank vice president.
Knox meets up with Eli back at Eddie’s room. Eli is tending to the bird, but he takes a break to count the money. It’s all there, and he spills to Knox all the information he wanted. Eddie killed himself, but didn’t reveal that he’d been abducted and interrogated by the FBI.
Eli gives Knox the note to translate, as he “took some German in High School.” Haltingly, Knox translates the note to be a note of congratulations to Eddie’s son on the birth of Eddie’s grandchild. Eli shows Knox the photo of Eddie’s sons and loses it! Many, manly tears!
Knox is a bit shocked. Not only did he find out that he is essentially the reason Eddie killed himself, he also found out that gangsters have feelings, too.
When you’re feeling down, why not go to Central Florida?
Nucky is still sad after his meeting with Margaret and Eddie’s death, so Nucky decides to try to cheer himself up by going to Disney World!
Yay!!! Image from here.
Wait. That’s not right. He goes back to Tampa for business.
Because there is only one bar in Tampa, he decides to conduct his business at Sally’s. McCoy is there and seems to have gotten the message mixed up, so he thinks Eli is dead, not Eddie. This does not make Nucky happy.
Nucky’s face. Image from here.
Making Nucky less happy is the news that their partner Auggie is missing. George has an another partner lined up, but he’s very mysterious. . .
Lansky and Luciano join them, and Nucky gets even less happy, as he has to break the news to Lansky and Luciano about Auggie.
During all of this, they get interrupted by a bunch of rednecks wanting to find Auggie. Sally chases them off with her shotgun. Because she is Patricia Arquette. And she is awesome.
As this is central Florida, their mysterious partner wants to meet them at a gator fight. I am not making this up. It’s like a dog fight. Except with alligators. I grew up in civilization, so I have no idea whether or not this is a real thing that people do, or whether the writers asked themselves, “What could we include to make central Florida seem even more hellish?” Either way, it’s really unnerving.
Even more unnerving is that Sally is totally into the gator fighting. She explains it to Nucky, and she also seems to be getting rather turned on by the whole gator fighting thing. Trust me, Nucky, that woman is into some weird shit.
Their mysterious backer shows up. He’s trying to go by the name of Pierce, but he is obviously Italian. His real name is Petrocelli, which Nucky calls him. He also recognizes Luciano and indicates that he’s surprised Joe Masseria lets him play with his little Jewish friend Lansky.
Back at the hotel, Luciano is freaking out! Petrocelli is Masseria’s cousin, and he’s pretty sure that he’s going to rat out Luciano to Masseria, who will then destroy him. Lansky tells him to stop freaking out, and that if they give Masseria money, it’ll be cool.
Money makes it all better. Gif from here.
Luciano’s not buying it. Lansky realizes that the heroin addicted paranoid person might not be the best person to do business with, so he breaks up with Luciano and decides to do the deal alone.
Gif from here.
Elsewhere, Sally and Nucky are drinking and talking. A lot. Nucky goes on one of his introspective “where has my life gone” rants.
Gif from here.
Then, Sally punches him.
Gif from here.
Yep. She punches him. “Why?” both the audience and Nucky ask. Because she doesn’t like “whiners”. She punches him again. And again. Nucky doesn’t fight back at first, but he eventually hits her back a couple of times. Then, they start having sex.
Gif from here.
Yes. They start having sex. Nucky, I told you she was into weird shit.
The next morning, Lansky, Nucky, and McCoy meet at Sally’s to decide the fate of the business. Lansky informs them that Luciano is out, and that he can cover their entire part alone. Petrocelli is in, and McCoy gets a small finder’s fee. Nucky also designates Sally as his acting agent running things in Tampa. Sally seems as surprised as everyone else.
Lansky has the good manners to offer his condolences to Nucky.
Daughter Maitland Sings the Blues
It’s midday at the Onyx when Chalkie walks in. Chalkie’s son playing ragtime at the piano with Daughter Maitland’s usual accompianist.
Daughter Maitland comes in all sexy-like and seduces Chalkie with the concept of new music. He grumps at her for tempting him with jazz, and she points out that he’s probably bored . . . in bed!
Gif from here.
Back at the White family dinner table, Chalkie’s son is discussing the new-fangled music he likes. Maybelle suggests that they have that type of music at the wedding, which her mother immediately shoots down.
Throughout the dinner, it becomes clear that Daughter Maitland was correct, and Chalkie is indeed bored.
Back at the club, Daughter Maitland sings the blues. She’s pretty damn good at it, too! Chalkie is simultaneously turned on and annoyed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbzyQ6wjgdY
He calls her into his office the next day. Chalkie felt the down tempo song was not good for business. They argue and she’s about to leave. They argue some more until she calls him on his creepy stalker-like viewings of her performances. Then, they start having sex in the hallway.
How terminal illness can help to reunite true loves
Julia’s alcoholic father Paul is at the VA Hospital with a doctor. He is dying of cirrhosis of the liver, despite having reduced the amount he drinks.
In the hallway, Richard magically appears and runs away. Paul runs after him, tripping on the stairs and hitting his head. At that point, Richard comes back, mostly because an awkward pratfall really brings people together.
Gif from here.
As things are bound to be a bit awkward, they decide to have a good meal. Over the course of the meal, Paul encourages Richard to return to their home. Richard sensibly points out that he killed a lot of people, but Paul kind of poo poos that reasoning on account of his own murder of a little girl during the Pelopenesian War.
Apparently, Richard likes this reasoning, as he shows up at the house the next day to get an astronomy lecture from Tommy. Julia is somewhat surprised.
Later, they are taking a starlight stroll. Tommy is looking through a very small telescope, and Julia is updating Richard on all the legal wrangling and Gillian’s increased craziness.
She points out that the judge is a bit miffed that she can’t tell him how she ended up with Tommy. Richard asks why she didn’t tell the judge, and Julia sensibly points out that he murdered a bunch of people and implies that he’d likely go to jail.
Gif from here.
Despite all that, Richard gets to go home with Julia. Presumably, they are about to do what everyone else seems to be doing this episode. . .
Rating- B (While the acting from many of the main characters was well done, the plot wasn’t the tightest.)
Gratuitous Violence- D (After last week, it was probably wise for the writers to scale back the loss of human life. The alligators got the most violent this episode!)
Gratuitous Nudity- F (Despite all the sex scenes, we really didn’t see much in the way of anyone’s body parts. Patricia Arquette’s thigh does not count!)
Angry Sex Rating- A+ (Two couples had angry sex with each other, though Chalkie and Daughter Maitland have nothing on the actual fist fight that Nucky and Sally used as foreplay!)
“Boardwalk Empire” airs Sundays at 9 PM on HBO.
