When we first see Agent Van Alden this evening, he’s quoting St. Augustine. Moments later, he’s smacking the living shit out of a potential new recruit and lying about Agent Sepso’s cause of death, claiming it was a heart attack rather than, y’know, at Van Alden’s own hand. Clearly, he’s losing it…oh, who are we kidding? He lost it long ago. One presumes, however, that a certain part of him knows he’s losing it, as he’s decided to depart the bureau. I can’t see him getting away with having murdered Sepso, however. Not with all of those witnesses.

Nucky’s pretty pissed off about the current state of affairs in the mayoral race of Atlantic City, with the democratic candidate, Fletcher, poised to take home the victory. In asking his team – which includes Chalky White – to hunt up as many potential voters as possible for his candidate, Bader, Nucky’s seething with anger over the goings-on his personal life is palpable, and it doesn’t help that he’s being constantly told that his decision to remove Eli was a wrong one. Chalky admits, however, that Fletcher’s people have approached him in an attempt to get him to use his sway with his “people” and get them to vote for him. In truth, however, he says he’s only doing it for the money, that he’s really doing it for Nucky…particularly if he can get a little bit more money out of the deal. In addition to the money, Chalky wants a new car and an invitation to the new mayor’s victory party. Nucky said it’s tough to promise the latter, but Chalky calmly suggests it’s probably in both their best interests if he comes through.

Although she’s evacuated from the love nest provided to her by Nucky, Margaret and her kids are still in the general area, hanging out with Nan, mother of Warren Harding’s love child. Nan’s still quite naive, the poor thing, expecting to hear from Harding any day now. (Yeah, right…) As such, she can only offer Margaret a place to stay for a few more days, focusing on her future as a resident of the White House. In the meantime, Margaret keeps her chin up as best she can, baking a barn brack but clearly worrying a bit about her new friend’s state of mind.

Wow, so the person trying to kill the Commodore via arsenic poisoning was his maid? Not that I can’t see why she’d do such a thing, given how he treated her, but in addition to feeling really predictable – shades of “the butler did it” – it was a real moment of deflation when it felt like we were going to be getting some fantastic payoff for this unexpected storyline. Instead, Nucky just paid her off (in fairness, it was kind of funny when he sympathized with her decision) and, for his trouble, got a Bible with a particular passage noted. Oh, okay, I do want to know what passage, so I guess they still managed to get me…

Cut to NYC, where Rothstein is giving his boys their final instructions before he hops a boat and heads for the UK. Personally, I thought the idea of visiting distilleries and learning to play the bagpipes sounded like a pretty good plan, but they weren’t having it, instead offering to “get their hands dirty” and try someone between New York and Chicago who might be able to assist in keeping Rothstein on American soil. He seems resigned to his departure, but I’m thinking otherwise. They wouldn’t have spent all damned season setting up this Black Sox storyline to have Edelstein just say, “Well, that’s it, boys, I’m out of here!”

Jimmy comes home, and it’s clear that he and Angela are still on frosty terms…which, frankly, is to be expected, given that she’d taken their son and hit the road, only to have to come back with her tail between her legs. As it turns out, she’s scared for a different reason than we’d expect: apparently, he’s been having war flashbacks while he’s been asleep, screaming and grabbing Angela. It’s scaring Tommy, and…well, given that she shares a bed with him, you can imagine Angela’s a little worried, too. But why is this the first we’re hearing of these sleepytime flashbacks? Seems pretty ham-handed to have them pop up in the season finale when they’ve never been mentioned before now, as it does for Jimmy and Angela to suddenly reconcile. Then again, Angela’s expression gives us a pretty good idea that she’s not entirely sure about Jimmy’s interest to simply let bygones be bygones. Later, when she receives the postcard from Paris from the disappearing Mrs. Dietrich, her sadness is palpable. It’s been a rough couple of days for poor Angela…

Into the graveyard we go, where Margaret finally learns that she and Nucky have something in common: the loss of a child. Once again, we’re presented with a woman whose expression speaks volumes about her thoughts, and Margaret’s reveals that she’s taking this new information and wondering if she’s been wrong about Nucky.

Speaking of the Nuckmeister, he’s on the phone with Torrio, who’s hopping the overnight train from Chicago to New York in order to meet with Rothstein, even if Nucky isn’t exactly aware of this. (I laughed at Nucky’s comment about already having bought the Brooklyn Bridge.) As he’s preparing for the costume ball, Margaret appears at the door. The conversation between the two of them proves to be a dramatic highlight of the episode, if not the season, as Nucky finally breaks down and tells Margaret…and us…everything about his wife and son. It’s a horrific tale, one which would inspire tears in anyone, but the telling is a watershed moment in the relationship between Nucky and Margaret, if not necessarily in the way we might have expected. No, she doesn’t go back to him, but she does acknowledge that, for the first time ever, she’s finally seen the real Nucky Thompson. She may not understand him, but at least she’s seen him.

Van Alden tells his wife how he’d been offered a full-time assignment in Atlantic City but has declined it in favor of joining the family feed business in Schenectady. She’s less than thrilled, but when she dares to suggest that she enjoys being the wife of a federal agent, he accuses her of undue vanity. She says he’s doing God’s work, he says that, if that’s the case, God needs to send him a sign. I expect we’ll be seeing that sign by episode’s end.

The meeting between Nucky, Torrio, and Rothstein starts off tense, but Nucky begins to see reason, no doubt considering the possible benefits of a relationship with Rothstein. Jimmy, however, is less than thrilled at the prospect, though he’s shut down the instant he dares to offer a dissenting opinion. Within moments, Nucky has made his offer, and after tacking on the information that he’s pals with the state’s attorney in Chicago, Rothstein decides it’s a deal worth doing, even with the high pricetag. What Nucky does with the information he receives from Rothstein is a masterstroke of revenge: his boys, including Richard Harrow, take down the remaining D’Alessio brothers, and – neatly tying up a bow from earlier in the season – he holds a press conference to say that they were involved with Hans Schroeder in the massacre but, now that they’ve been identified, are being “sought for questioning.” Boy, that barbershop scene was rough. Clearly, Jimmy’s the most bloodthirsty “questioner” of the bunch. Imagine how much worse he’d be with Angela if he wasn’t able to get some of his stress out via the occasional murder, eh? There’s a lot of blood on Nucky’s hands. I don’t know how much more sin the man can stand…

The look on Jimmy’s face when he sees Angela’s newly-cut hair is one of betrayal, though I’m not entirely sure why. Maybe it’s because he no longer feels that she’s even trying to put on a facade that she’s still the woman he once fell in love with. But it doesn’t matter: the Commodore has called and requested his presence, so out the door he goes…but not to see the Commodore.

Instead, he heads to Nucky’s place, where the win looks to be in, both for the Atlantic City elections and for Rothstein in Chicago. Nucky’s on cloud nine, but he’s the only Thompson brother who is. Even getting a share of Rothstein’s million-dollar payoff hasn’t done anything to make Eli less pissed at Nucky for dumping him as the chief of police. Nucky tells Eli that he has to trust that blood is thicker than water, resulting in Eli’s pointed response: “Yeah, well, why’d it have to be my blood?” Ouch. But Nucky comes through for him: moments after Bader’s election is confirmed, the new mayor kicks Halloran to the curb and gives Eli back his old position. Eli’s expression is one of befuddlement, but he doesn’t turn down the assignment. Shame about Halloran, but, hey, he stepped on Eli’s head to get the gig, so it’s only fair that he should get a kick in the balls on his way back down.

Jimmy’s drunk off his ass and talking out of turn, leading to a confrontation between him and Nucky over the circumstances that led Nucky to help raise him. Interesting how Nucky sees no immediate difference between guilt and duty. Meanwhile, Eli’s watching from the sidelines, seemingly bemused at the way his brother is being forced to deal with this awkward situation. In the end, Jimmy bolts, this time to visit the Commodore, closing by telling Nucky to stop pretending that he gives a shit.

Time for a bit of barn brack. Silly superstition though it may be, it nonetheless gives Margaret pause when she gets the rag and Nan, with her ridiculous belief that President Harding is going to invite her to live in the White House, gets the ring. We know from the historical record that Nan needn’t start packing now nor ever, but we don’t know what the future holds for Margaret…nor, obviously, does Margaret. Will her concern over this “silly superstition” worry her enough to send her back to Nucky?

Van Alden and Lucy are reunited, but as soon as Lucy said she was pregnant, the expression on Van Alden’s face made me think there was a very good chance that she wouldn’t be long for this world. I mean, he’s killed once. There’s no reason to believe that he won’t kill again, especially if he convinces himself that she’s a dirty whore who deserves to suffer God’s wrath via his hands…and, given his feelings on matters of religion (not to mention the way he looks at his Bible), that’s not likely to be hard to do. And yet when you consider that his wife isn’t happy with his change in job and she’s unable to bear him a child, the fact that this gorgeous sex machine is able to do what his wife couldn’t…well, you know, maybe this is the sign he was asking for.

Given how much alcohol Jimmy’s tossed back tonight, there’s really nothing good that can come of him continuing to drink…or, I’m guessing, of the Commodore sharing a snort with him. I was expecting him to drop dead before the end of the scene, but, no, there’s something about the possibility of revenge that proves to be a highly rejuvenating tonic. It’s pretty sad to realize that this is the first time this father and son have ever shared a drink together, but their bond grows as the Commodore spins a story which reveals a heretofore-unrealized bond between the two of them: a mutual festering anger toward Nucky Thompson. Moments later, we learn that Eli makes three. Yikes. Talk about setting up a storyline for Season 2…

The post-election celebration is underway, with entertainment provided by Eddie Cantor, he of the big ears and rather googly eyes. I got a good laugh out of the sight of Baxter walking into the festivities with Annabelle on his arm. While looking around for Chalky White and his boys, however, I was pleasantly surprised to see Margaret walk in. I half expected Annabelle to swoop in and embarrass him before Margaret could make her way over to him, but, no, they successfully reunite…in more ways than one, it appears. Guess the superstition was enough to bring her back. Will there be a happy ending for her? Maybe, maybe not…which is ultimately the most you can say for Nucky, too, given all of the glimpses we get of the goings-on happening behind his back, the repercussions of which we won’t see ’til next season.

So there you have it, folks: the conclusion of Season 1 of “Boardwalk Empire.” What did you think?

Angela’s drifting off in thought while sitting at the dinner table, which really apparently pisses off Jimmy. Fair enough: he’s still smarting from the situation with the photographer, clearly distrusting his wife despite her assurances that she never slept with the man…which is true insofar as it goes, but let’s not go there right now. What’s more important is that he receives a phone call. It sounds like business, but he says it was his mother, letting him know that his father is dying. Given that Jimmy seemed to have viewed Nucky as a father figure when the season kicked off, I think it’s fair to say that the bond between him and his real father must be pretty weak.

Agents Van Alden and Sepso are enjoying a spot of Chinese when Van Alden unsurprisingly turns the topic of conversation to that of Sepso having killed Billy, and it’s not exactly what you’d call a polite dinnertime chat. Sepso maintains his cool, relatively speaking, but it’s clear that this won’t be the last time Van Alden brings up the matter.

The evening with Hardeen continues beyond his proper show, as he entertains the troops back at Nucky’s place. Once again, Margaret and Annabelle are enthralled, while Nucky shrugs and Harry sweats. It’s pretty funny to watch Hardeen play up his reputation even as he plays down his brother’s, but the fun stops when Harry explodes and at least explains why he’s been looking so sketchy all night: he’s lost a huge amount of money at the hands of one Charles Ponzi…and if the name sounds familiar, yes, he is the one who gave name to the so-called Ponzi Scheme, which most recently came to prominence via Bernie Madoff. So much for the relationship between Harry and Annabelle, eh?

Rothstein gets word from Chicago that things ain’t looking good for him with the whole Black Sox situation. His attorney suggests that he heads to Chi-Town, but to make sure he knows someone in the city who’s willing to do him a favor. Will it be Capone or Torrio?

No, The Commodore’s not dead yet, but you can’t blame his maid for fearing the worst. I mean, the guy’s already sick, and then his dog dies…? Talk about the kind of thing to send a guy into a tailspin. But, wait, who’s the Commodore’s guest? Jimmy?!? Wait a minute: Jimmy’s the Commodore’s son? Did we already know this? I’m pretty sure we didn’t. (Given the predilection of the majority of this blog’s few readers to only comment when they have a chance to criticize or complain, I can only presume someone will quickly confirm if I’m wrong.) Boy, Jimmy’s really pissed off that he’s had to make this visit, and it’s clear that he won’t miss his father when he’s gone. How else to explain the fact that, when the Commodore says he’s dying, Jimmy’s only response is to say, “Well, then, I will call you a priest.” Still, when the Commodore adds that the wrong person is running Atlantic City, it causes such mixed feelings in Jimmy that he promptly pukes. Still, I guess it would be a little confusing to realize that a man you’ve loathed for decades could well be the one who holds the key to the future you’ve been seeking.

I admit it: I’m surprised that Angela is so seriously considering Mary’s suggestion that they run off together. Watching the way Mary kisses her husband, however, I’m wondering if maybe Angela’s going to make a break for it, only to find that Mary’s the one who’s gotten cold feet.

Sepso’s scared shitless about Van Alden’s refusal to back down on his accusations that he killed Billy without having had the provocation he’s claiming, so much so that he’s calling Nucky for advice. To help him out of a tough spot, Nucky offers up the location of an illegal distillery, so that Sepso can bust it, thereby ostensibly redeeming himself in Van Alden’s eyes. I can’t imagine it’s going to go down smoothly, though. That’d just be way too easy.

After hanging up with Sepso, Nucky finds Annabelle rushing into his office, complaining that Harry has swiped the money that she’d hidden in the floorboards. Of course, it was money she’d stolen from Harry, but even so, Nucky’s a soft touch…and, it seems, Annabelle’s even softer. When he tells her to “skip to the part where you say you’ll do anything for me,” she tells him to “draw the curtains and I’ll do it right now.” In a moment of brilliantly bad timing, however, he tells her that he’ll keep that offer in his back pocket just as Margaret is standing in the doorway. Nucky looks momentarily horrified, but he recovers well. She’s understandably still pissed, however, revealing that she’s accomplished her mission with the League of Women Voters by saying, “I’m glad to have been of use to you.” Two strong wills, to be sure. I don’t know if they’ll last the season as a couple or join forces and become the power couple of the 1920s, but I can’t wait to find out.

Gillian quizzes Jimmy on the state of The Commodore, but he’s just as curious about the relationship his mother maintains with his father, clearly bothered by the fact that the man took advantage of a teenage girl and got her pregnant. He also seems a little uncertain as to why Nucky would’ve stepped in to help her care for her child. Jimmy views Nucky as a pimp, but I’d guess that, at least to a certain extent, Nucky feels guilty that he’s the one who brought Gillian to The Commodore in the first place.

Sepso takes Van Alden to the woods in an attempt to curry favor by busting up a distillery, but what they find instead is a Negro church preparing to perform a baptism. I was surprised to see Van Alden grow so belligerent, but he changes his tune at the minister’s unbridled belief in his faith. A tense moment follows with Van Alden dismissing the Jewish faith with a withering comment, then dismissing Sepso himself just as easily.

Jimmy finds himself quickly swayed into favoring The Commodore after he hears the old man say, “You’re a good son,” offering to stay by his sickbed, and his expression shows that he’s beginning to dread the thought of losing a father that he’s never known or even tried to know. And speaking of beds, Nucky’s perched on Margaret’s as she prepares for their evening outing, but their conversation quickly devolves into sniping back and forth, with Margaret growing further upset about the fact that she’s expected to do anything and everything Nucky asks of her, even though he’s unwilling to entrust her with any information about his goings-on. He throws a small fit over the fact that she cleanses herself after their “close encounters,” and she counters by saying that she doesn’t want to have another baby, let alone his heir. He says he thought she wanted saving. She accuses him of killing her husband. A slap. A throwing of a bottle against the wall. Yeah, remember when I wondered a few paragraphs ago if they’d become the power couple of the 1920s…? Probably not happening.

Richard stops by to check in on Jimmy, giving him the update on the D’Alessio brothers and basically offering to kill anybody necessary if it’ll help the situation. Before anything can be decided, however, The Commodore’s doctor returns and reveals that someone’s been trying to murder him via arsenic poisoning. Clearly, we know Jimmy’s innocent, so there are really only three other possible suspects: the maid, Jimmy’s mom, and Nucky. Cue the dramatic music…

Angela’s all packed and ready to roll, despite Tommy’s uncertainty about the situation, leaving a note for Jimmy and preparing to sail off to Europe and, she hopes, to a better future than the one which waits for her in Atlantic City. It’s like I said earlier, though: I just don’t see this happening. This means one of two things is going to happen: Angela will return home and find that Jimmy has already read the note she left for him, or she and Tommy make it back before Jimmy but, because of Tommy’s previously established tendency to mouth off, he blabs to his father about where they had been going. Basically, this is going to be a lose-lose situation when all’s said and done.

The brothers Thompson, together again! We haven’t seen much of Eli since his shooting, let alone their father, but we get a brief glimpse of the latter wasting away on Eli’s porch before Eli and Nucky sit down for tea and conversation. If there was any question about which of the brothers is the classiest, I think we get a definitive answer when Nucky says that he didn’t deny his involvement in Margaret’s husband’s death because he wanted to hurt her and Eli responds by holding up his fists and asking, “What do you think these are for?” Nice. Eli’s pissed off about the current political situation and views Margaret as a liability, mouthing off to Nucky in a big way. In return, Nucky offers up one of the great comebacks of the season by making a comparison to Eli and Hardeen: if it wasn’t for his brother, nobody would give a fuck about him. Eli is left speechless…and rightfully so.

Jimmy visits Gillian and bumbles around with his suspicions about whether she might be the one slipping him the arsenic. Suddenly, however, we see his earlier vomiting in a different light: it wasn’t mixed feelings that caused the puking but, rather, poison cookies. Gillian doesn’t exactly look like a model of innocence at this news.

Nucky’s mood is less than giddy when he meets with Edward Bader and the rest of his boys, instigating a change in the way they’ll be approaching the future. Exit Eli, enter Halloran. Good thing he found his balls a couple of episodes ago, eh?

Meanwhile, back on the boardwalk, my theory was proven correct, but, unfortunately, that means that Angela’s worst fears were realized: Mr. and Mrs. Dietrich have vanished without a trace, leaving an empty store and a single photograph, one which Tommy presents to his mother with the words, “Look, Mommy, ghosts!” It’s a little too on-the-nose, that line, but it doesn’t change the overwhelming feeling of sadness you get when you see Angela’s face, the poor woman.

Sepso’s decided to bail out of his assignment and head elsewhere, having grown weary of being constantly badgered by Van Alden, but even as he announces his departure, Van Alden is still making him feel as guilty as possible and refusing to change his tune. So what does Sepso have to do to get Van Alden to trust him? Why, get baptized, of course. It looks at first as if it’s going to be too much for Sepso to handle, but, no, he decides to step into the waters and accept Van Alden’s challenge. As soon as I realized that Van Alden was going to do it, however, I knew what was going to happen…or, at least, I thought I did. I absolutely did not think that Van Alden was going to hold Sepso down until he had drowned. Wow. A “holy shit” moment…and a literal one, given the situation. Misguided faith is a dangerous, dangerous thing.

Nucky learns from Richard that Margaret and her children have departed, offering no idea as to where they’ve gone. Angela, meanwhile, returns home to find that, as I predicted, Jimmy’s already read the note that she’d left for him. Angela’s guilt is palpable, as well it should be. Cut back to Nucky, who visits the palm reader on the boardwalk to see what the future holds for him…and I guess we’ll all learn the answer at the same time, since, as I won’t be able to see next week’s season finale in advance, we’ll all be watching it together.

See you then!

Sepso’s trying to look as utterly innocent as possible as he swears up and down that he had no choice but to kill Billy in self-defense, even going so far as to claim that the incident will haunt him for the rest of his days, but Van Alden’s expression when Sepso’s exonerated reveals that he doesn’t even remotely believe him, and he only gets more exasperated and infuriated as he’s accused of being a bungler. He’s got one more chance before his career comes crumbling down around him…and, boy, does he know it. The later scene with him flipping through his paperwork, trying desperately to find a way to bring down Nucky, is pitiful.

Angela’s painting a peaceful beach scene when Jimmy emerges from the bedroom for his first cigarette of the day and compliments her on her artwork. She seems mildly surprised that he’s even been paying attention. When he first started groping on her, I thought she was getting annoyed, but instead she found herself titillated to the point of letting her canvas clatter to the floor and allowing Jimmy to have his way with her. Clearly, their relationship is getting at least somewhat back on track.

It’s surely no coincidence that the shot of Nucky perusing the paper gives us a close up on the headline about the grand jury convening in the Black Sox scandal, but the topic of conversation quickly turns to the status of the Constitutional amendment ratifying women’s suffrage. Richard’s appearance in the doorway, however, causes it to change once more, this time to the state of affairs in the Thompson household now that Nucky is considered a target. Margaret is understandably nervous about the safety of her children, but Nucky – rather selfishly, I think you’d agree – dismisses her suggestion that she and the children take a trip ’til things cool down somewhat because he’d miss her too much. Poor baby.

Rothstein’s having another talk with D’Alessio, Doyle, and the boys, but this time it’s about their failure to take down Nucky. “Sheer and utter incompetence” is how Rothstein describes their actions on the boardwalk, and they swear they can take him down, but he refuses to accept their assurances outright, saying, “Nothing says ‘I’m sorry’ like money.” Is he expecting them to knock over another one of Nucky’s establishments?

Looks like the relationship between Torrio and Capone is as tense as it was when Jimmy was still in Chicago, and it’s still because Capone’s a loose cannon who doesn’t know when to have fun and when to do business. That stunt with the loaded cigarette was downright ignorant…like, to the point where another mob boss would’ve shot Capone outright…and yet Capone looked pissed at Torrio’s reaction. History tells us that these two worked together for quite a few years, but you’d never guess it from the way they’re looking at each other right now. In the synagogue, however, Capone gets an education on the Jewish faith, and it’s a surprisingly poignant scene which seemingly underlines to Capone that the time has come for him to set aside his boyish ways and become a man. The next time we see him, he’s apologizing to Torrio.

Nucky and Jimmy are talking about Richard’s effect on the children when Mickey Doyle unexpectedly drops by for a visit and for…an apology? It doesn’t exactly go swimmingly for him when he admits to having been working with the D’Alessios, but with a gun to his temple, he assures Nucky and Jimmy that he didn’t have any idea what they were planning and that he’ll tell him everything he knows…which he does, albeit with an attitude. Yep, we get a snide comment from Nucky about Rothstein’s connection to the Black Sox, but at the end of the scene, we also get word that women have received the right to vote. Maybe I’m wrong, but the look on Nucky’s face seemed to say, “Oh, great. There’ll be no living with Margaret now…”

Speaking of Margaret, she’s reading L. Frank Baum to the kids…and, seriously, I’m going to have to order me some of those old Oz books. I used to love them, and it’s about time I started to get my daughter interested in them. Margaret makes a kind gesture to Richard, inviting him to sit with them while she reads to them and, even better, he gets the kids to laugh at his suggestion that he’s the real Tin Woodsman.

Nucky offers Margaret a champagne toast to celebrate her gender’s right to vote, and, of course, her toast is to say, “You’ve caught up with Ireland at last.” She’s a fiery one, that Margaret, so it’s no surprise that when Nucky asks her to recommend to the League of Women Voters that they throw their support behind Edward Bader, she asks why they should. She scoffs at the suggestion that an owner of a construction business should be qualified to be the mayor of Atlantic City, and when she realizes that her opinions are only infuriating Nucky, she asks, “What am I to say?” Margaret’s an intelligent woman, but methinks the lady doth protest too much for someone who’s got the sweet setup that she does. She’s clearly aware of this, but it equally obvious that she doesn’t like what she’s being asked to do, either.

Jimmy, Angela, and Tommy are strolling the boardwalk, but the second Tommy’s put down on the ground, he immediately runs off. And even after Jimmy catches him, Tommy runs off again…this time at the mouth. “That’s Mommy’s kissing friend.” Whoops. Tommy may have meant Mary, but that never would’ve occurred to Jimmy, which is why, moments later, the good Mr. Dietrich is flying through the glass of his establishment’s front door and, a few seconds after that, getting the living shit kicked out of him. And, then, of course, came the hitting. Ouch. I think the most horrifying part of the scene, however, was when you heard Tommy crying, “Daddy!” Brutal. The results of Angela’s subsequent visit with Mary were somewhat unexpected, with Mary taking the blame for the incident, saying she should’ve left him long ago. Despite Mary’s suggestion that Angela and Tommy run away with her, I just don’t see it happening. But maybe I’m wrong. We’ll see soon enough, I reckon.

Agent Van Alden pays a visit to Margaret, also getting a momentary meeting with Richard. I strongly suspect that they will cross paths again. After Richard steps out of the room, Van Alden breaks out a photo of Margaret from Ellis Island and starts laying a major guilt trip on her. His expressions range from anger to insanity, and when he finally realizes that his efforts to play to her common decency have failed, he snaps into religious threats…which, given that he’s dealing with an Irishwoman, he really ought to have started with.

‘Bout time: Chalky White’s in the house, having a sit-down with Nucky and finally getting the record set straight about this “Michael Lewis” character who came by his place awhile back. This was probably my favorite scene of the episode, with all of these disparate personalities – Nucky, Jimmy, Chalky, and Mickey – forced to interact to get things straightened out. When Chalky asks what’s going to be done about Rothstein, Nucky indicates that he’s not long for this world. History tells us that Nucky’s a bit optimistic on this matter, however, so it was interesting to see what actually did go down, with Chalky managing to put up a good front right up until he whipped around on Meyer Lansky and his boys, brandishing a pair of shiny guns.

Despite her uncertainty before stepping up to the podium, Margaret manages to offer a solid speech in favor of Bader. Having done so, however, she looks over at Nucky, sees that he’s having conservations with his cohorts, and frowns. Clearly, she’s second-guessing her decision to acquiesce to Nucky’s request. How much longer can she last in this situation, where she’s having to keep her own thoughts and opinions suppressed? Later, when she and Richard have their brief heart-to-heart chat, his comments about how he finds that he sometimes forgets the man he used to be clearly lead her to remember the person she was when she first arrived at Ellis Island. Or maybe not. But given that the next scene focuses on Agent Van Alden, I’m hard pressed to believe otherwise.

Watching Van Alden toss back a shot of liquor was somewhat surreal, and it got moreso when he opted for a second helping of the stuff. As soon as he laid eyes on Lucy, I remembered how he’d flipped by the program (or magazine) with her picture on the front earlier in the episode. At the time, I thought, “If they made a point of putting that shot in there, we’ll be seeing her before the episode’s out.” Given her predilection for getting naked, it’s no surprise that we saw all of her. Well, in Van Alden’s defense, the man did have quite a lot of stress that he needed to work through. For a moment, I thought he was actually going to choke her to death. Instead, he headed for the fetal position and started to weep. Uh, yeah, I’d say that guy’s issues run decidedly deeper than his issues with Nucky Thompson.

Well, well, well, looks like Chalky’s got things pretty well under control. Lansky keeps his cool remarkably well, given the pressure he’s under, remaining completely in business mode and trying to work out a plan of action to get himself out of the situation he’s found himself in. This tactic works far better than the one utilized by his compatriots, who get either a bullet through the forehead (thanks, Jimmy!) or get choked out (thanks, Chalky!) for their trouble. Meyer heads back to Rothstein with a heck of a message to deliver, while Nucky heads home to Margaret, who – in the last shot of the episode – looks at herself in the mirror and, based on her expression, no longer recognizes the woman staring back at her.

Am I wrong in thinking that this song could serve as the theme of next week’s episode?

Meanwhile, on the boardwalk, Nan Britton – a.k.a. Warren Harding’s mistress – is musing to Margaret about how Warren’s love for her can’t compete for his love of America…not that she’s rationalizing her situation. They soon pop into Margaret’s former place of employment in order to get Nan a few new frocks, but Margaret also gets an earful from Madame Jeunet, who complains how much of her income goes straight into Nucky’s pocket. Oh, that woman: her complaints are valid, but the way she’s trying to play Margaret is despicable.

Hey, look, Jimmy’s back in Jersey! Once again, he confirms that his family isn’t his priority by conceding to Nucky that he came straight from the train station to his office. As I suspected last week, Richard Harrow is going to play a part, with Jimmy telling Nucky that he wants Richard to help him on the D’Alessio job. It’s interesting that Jimmy wants Nucky to admit outright that he wants him to kill the brothers, then makes a face when he gets confirmation that “the kid” has a death sentence as well. Criminals have the strangest take on ethics.

Speaking of the D’Alessios, they’re meeting with Rothstein, who clearly outclasses them by about 10:1, if not more. He knows it, too. First, he underlines the fact that he’s got a reputation to uphold, thereby indicating that he’s not sure they won’t embarrass him, then he discusses the methods of making money via bootlegging in such a way that he gives hem the opportunity to put their foot in their mouth with their stupidity. He wants to set up a scotch-importing business, and he’s hopeful that they might be able to assist him in bypassing Nucky in the equation, though he has them sign insurance policies to cover his bases. I had to laugh at Rothstein’s closing joke about the monkeys at the zoo, because he’s right: he and the D’Alessios are two completely different species of criminals.

I like how Nucky’s a fan of L. Frank Baum’s “Oz” books. I don’t know if you’ve read anything beyond the original “Wizard of Oz,” but there’s some really great stuff to be found in Baum’s exploration of the land of Oz…but I digress. He and Margaret soon descend into a political discussion, where Nucky lays out his theory on politicians: “If we only elected good men, we’d never have leaders.” Is that an original quote? Somehow, it seems too profound for Nucky. The topic quickly shifts to Madame Jeunet and her business, causing Nucky to tense up at the unsuitable nature of the topic and leave abruptly. Whoops: power struggle in the Thompson house.

Angela looks horribly uncomfortable with a man’s arm around her, doesn’t she? Not so when she’s being kissed by another woman, though. Hello, menage a troi…? If so, it’s going to be a decidedly uneven affair. But, no, the proceedings are interrupted by the return of Jimmy, who’s acting pretty shitty for someone who’s been away from home and virtually incommunicado for as long as he has. Her friends make a hasty departure, leaving Jimmy and Angela to…interact? I don’t really know what you’d call it. It hardly starts off as consensual, but it appears to end up that way, unless she’s just resigned to her fate.

When we shift over to Agent Van Alden’s office, we learn that the reason none of Jimmy’s telegrams to New Jersey never made it to their destinations is because they were being intercepted. Unfortunately, they never actually made it to Van Alden, and he’s pissed. You can’t really blame him, either: Agent Sepso opted not to pass them on to him because he wanted to keep his job, not because he was actually ordered to keep them from Van Alden. I love the crazy eyes Michael Shannon has when he’s playing Van Alden. I hope he pulls an Emmy nod for his performance.

Angela and Jimmy are discussing their relationship – unsurprisingly, he’s far more enthusiastic about the future than she is – when he gets a call from Gillian, asking him to swing by and see her. As he sits down at the table, watching his wife and daughter perform their daily breakfast rituals, he’s inspired to suggest that they have another baby. After Tommy cheerily agrees to the idea, Jimmy says, “Then it’s settled,” without waiting for Angela to so much as open her mouth on the matter. Methinks she’s going to have something to say about that…

Oh, man, Jimmy throwing hot coffee on Lucky’s bare chest was awesome. Just before it happened, I was typing the lines, “It’s a shame that half the reason Lucky’s sticking with Gillian is because he knows he’s screwing Jimmy’s mother. They’re actually a really cute couple.” Whoops. There wasn’t a lot of suspense in Jimmy’s threat to kill Lucky, since history reveals that he lives for several more years beyond this point, but I was surprised when they came down the stairs to find Van Alden. Who’d’ve thought that Lucky would owe his life to the revenuers?

Looks like Nucky’s not the only one concerned about Fletcher’s run for the mayoral seat. Funny how I made the comment last week about Eli’s lack of comfort in a position of authority. As it happens, his absence has shaken up the status quo, giving Deputy Halloran the balls to step up and mention that it couldn’t hurt to have someone ready to step in and serve in Eli’s stead. Nucky looks mildly horrified at first, but you can see in his eyes that he’s considering the validity of Halloran’s suggestion.

Actors, take note: you can learn a lot about your craft by watching Michael Shannon and Michael Pitt square off in the squad room. There was a whole lot of threatening going on between those walls, but Jimmy refused to give up anything to Van Alden and kept his cool right up until the point when he saw Billy, the jewel thief who gave up the goods on Jimmy a few episodes ago. Uh-oh…

Clearly, the tension between Nucky and Margaret over Madame Jeunet’s business dissipated between the sheets. His comments about the way she handled Senator Edge inspire her to take him up on his suggestion to speak out in favor of the party, but, oh, baby, look at those sexy eyes when she decides to play Nucky like a fiddle and use her sudden position of power to get him to help out Madame Jeunet. She gets what she wants, of course, but their conversation comes to an abrupt end when he gets the call telling him that Jimmy’s behind bars. Unfortunately, with five counts of murder against him, there ain’t a whole hell of a lot that Nucky can do about Jimmy’s situation, and it’s a testament to how nervous the kid is that he asks Nucky to call his dad. You’ve got to like the way Nucky said, “The legal system is not your ticket to freedom.” Wonder what that means. I was mildly surprised that Van Alden’s boss was pleased to hear that he’d snared Jimmy, but I guess all that matters is results. I did think it was suspicious that Sepso suggested that Billy should be moved to Manhattan.

As I’ve mentioned before, The Commodore is clearly not long for this world. If he survives the season, I’ll be very surprised. For now, though, Nucky’s still in need of his counsel, and his suggestion is one which you’d think would’ve occurred to Nucky before: replace the current mayor with another candidate who’ll also be in his pocket. The Commodore also echoes Halloran’s comments, telling Nucky to replace Eli.

While Madame Jeunet is helping Nan to get ship-shape, Margaret is getting kissed on the cheek for helping save the business. How laughable, however, for her to claim that she thought highly of Margaret from the first moment she met her. Margaret has no amnesia on the matter and reminds her precisely what she said, just as she refreshes her memory on who was responsible for rescuing her store from oblivion. This is definitely a case of “payback is a bitch and so am I,” and good on her for being that way.

Yep, I was right: as soon as Sepso said he had to take a piss, I knew that was all she wrote for Billy. I’m not surprised that someone else can afford to pay Sepso more than the revenuers, but I’m very curious to find out who it is. At the moment, given the long, lingering look at the Atlantic City sign, I have presume it’s Nucky.

As poor Angela gets some decidedly harsh criticisms of her artistic abilities, Nucky, Margaret, and Nan are enjoying the boisterous comedy and song of the legendary Sophie Tucker. Nuck quickly and politely tells Margaret and Nan to get lost so that he can sell Ed Bader on the idea of running for mayor. (Historical spoiler alert: he wins. Second historical spoiler alert: don’t feel bad for the outgoing Bacharach, as he manages to find his way back into office in 1930.) On their way home, the evening takes a horrifying turn when an assassination attempt on Nucky is just barely thwarted by Eddie, who seriously deserves a raise after tonight. Shame about the poor lady who ended up taking the bullet instead of Nucky, but, my God, at first I was absolutely convinced that Margaret had taken the bullet, given the way she twitched.

Harsh ending. Fantastic episode.

Similarly, it was inevitable that Nucky would cross paths with Jimmy at some point while he was in Chicago, but until that happened, we got to see him try to pull rank with a hotel concierge. I actually thought he might fail, given that he wasn’t on his home turf, but never underestimate the power of a big wad of cash. Sitting down for dinner, he flips open his brochure for the Republican National Convention and finds an ad for Colosimo’s, thereby securing a visit to that particular establishment in the near future, but before he can make any specific plans, Senator Edge swings by the table to invite Nucky to attend Harry Daugherty’s shindig on his behalf. Obviously, it’s funny in retrospect to hear them disparaging Warren G. Harding, but looking back at the race for the Republican candidate in 1920, you can see why. Even with all the bootlegging going on in the wake of prohibition, Harding’s nomination may have been the biggest crime to be committed that year, and Harry Daugherty was the man behind it.

Margaret and her gal-pal Annabelle (a.k.a. Harry’s woman) are gossiping it up over tea when a harried Madam Regina approaches, unexpectedly asking for assistance with…Lucy? Oh, God, this is going to be bad. Lucy’s trying to get a few more things on Nucky’s dime, but when Margaret tries to politely sway her into leaving calmly, it descends into namecalling that, somewhat surprisingly, leads Margaret to slap Lucy. Ouch!

Angela is just putting the final touches on a portrait of her new ladyfriend when Gillian pops by with the overdue grocery bill. Gillian suggests Angela might want to consider selling perfume or taking a stenography course, but Angela has dreams of making a living via her artwork…like that’s going to happen. Of course, times wouldn’t be so tight if Jimmy’s funds for the family weren’t being swiped by Agent Van Alden. Nice guy, that Van Alden: he’s so desperate to make a bust that he’s allowing an innocent family to teeter on the brink of destitution.

We get another quick look into Rothstein’s goings-on, practicing his testimony so that he might convince the world at large that he had nothing to do with the so-called “Black Sox Scandal,” which even those who don’t know their sports history are probably aware of, thanks to “Eight Men Out.”

Nucky arrives at Harry Daugherty’s function, and…hey, what do you know? It’s Christopher McDonald! Man, I love that guy. I don’t know if he actually looks anything like the real Harry Doherty, but he’s the master of the kind of despicable vibe that Daugherty almost certainly had, so I applaud the casting either way. Daugherty muses on the possibility that the entire state of New Jersey does whatever Nucky Thompson wants it to do (which Nucky doesn’t exactly deny), and he’s quickly introduced to the man who will – after some dealings in a smoke-filled room – ultimately become the 29th President of the United States. Before that, though, there’s an interesting moment when Nucky is distracted by the sound of a baby and its mother at the door…and if you listen closely, you can hear her say, “Please just tell Warren that I’m here.” Interesting stuff, given that Mrs. Harding is standing right next to ol’ Warren when the introductions to Nucky are being made, and it shows that someone on the “Boardwalk Empire” writing staff has been reading The President’s Daughter. Speaking of Mrs. Harding, I’m not sure I loved the bit where she mentioned that a fortune teller told her that her husband would die in office. It’s true – a clairvoyant named Miss Marcia made the prediction – but it feels pretty heavy-handed for her to mention it to someone she’s just met, and at a political function, no less.

It’s dinnertime at the Van Aldens, and, wow, it’s just as deathly dull as I would’ve imagined it to be. That all changes, however, when the topic of infertility rears its ugly head. As someone whose daughter came about via the wonderful process of invitro fertilization, I’m sure you’ll understand why I was particularly sympathetic to Mrs. Van Alden’s sobbing over her situation and her pleading with her husband about the possibility of having a doctor look into her situation. Like I didn’t think Agent Van Alden was a dick already, but this really sealed the deal. “Whatever makes you happy,” my ass. I don’t believe for a second that he’s going to pay for the doctor’s visit.

1920s porn…? AWESOME! Yeah, it’s good to see that Eli’s doing everything possible to fill Nucky’s shoes to the best of his ability. Enjoy your fun while it lasts, pal…

Ah, here we go: Nucky’s meeting up with Johnny Torrio. After a little bit of talk about the bootlegging business, Nucky brings up his encounter with Harry Daugherty and Warren Harding, which leads Johnny to call Judge Graves over to the table. The Judge gives Nucky just enough background to confirm that if anyone can put Harding into the White House, Daughtery can. The next thing you know, Jimmy comes roaring down the stairs, bouncing a customer out on his ear. Though the mood is momentarily lightened by Johnny’s suggestion that Nucky was responsible for the Great Chicago Fire, it’s a decidedly awkward encounter between Jimmy and Nucky, the worst of which comes when Nucky snaps that Jimmy ought to call his family and check in on them…which is kind of ironic, given that that’s exactly what Nucky should’ve done himself.

Obviously, it wasn’t a huge surprise to see that Eli let things go to hell in a handbasket in Nucky’s absence, but it was still pretty shocking when he got shot. After getting the call about Eli’s situation, Nucky calls Margaret to tell her what’s happened. Now, I realize Nucky didn’t have a lot of options, given the situation, but, wow, it’s pretty desperate to ask a young widowed mother to sneak into his office and slip his compromising documents out of harm’s way. It’s no surprise that he’d need a drink after that, but while sitting at the bar, in an even more desperate move, he asks Jimmy to come back to New Jersey to assist him in the war against him that’s beginning in earnest. Jimmy is understandably skeptical about Nucky’s change in tone since their earlier encounter, but it pays off for him: he brokers himself a sweet deal. (He also manages to piss Nucky off again, too, by saying that he has to think about it.) While all of this is going on, Richard Harrow is lurking in the background, which leads me to suspect that he’ll be heading to Jersey as well.

Margaret puts the kids to bed and heads into Nucky’s office, where she foolishly answers the phone. Now they…whoever “they” may be…know she’s there. This isn’t good.

This is where the stories in Chicago start to tie together. Nucky meets up with Harry Daugherty before the convention begins (and don’t tell me that shot of the ceiling wasn’t green-screened), telling him that events back in Jersey are necessitating a hasty departure, but before he leaves, he tells him that he’s willing to do his best to throw his state’s votes into Harding’s corner under one condition: that Senator Edge isn’t on the ticket. One good backstabbing deserves another, eh? And to ensure that he’s in position to get the road money he’s been after, he offers to take custody (kinda) of the young lady and baby who’d been at the door of the party. Jimmy calls Gillian…not Angela…to see what’s going on back at home, but he’s got an agenda, and it ain’t to check on his family: he wants the skinny on Lucky Luciano, and, clearly, he knows his mother can provide it. I don’t know if he knows that she’s been seeing him or if he’s just aware that she knows a little bit about everybody. Either way, the next time we see him, he’s scoping out Torrio, Capone, and the boys, and you can see by the look on his face that he’s made a decision.

Uh, wow. I wouldn’t have thought I could dislike Van Alden more than I did after that dinner scene, but to pointedly send all of the money he’d accumulated to Jimmy’s wife just so that he wouldn’t be tempted to give it to his wife for her medical procedure…? See, this is why I hate uber-churchy types. That scene was heartbreaking, plain and simple.

The look on Nucky’s face when he walked into Eli’s room looked to me like an “I’m glad you’re alive, ’cause now I’m gonna kill ya!” expression. I thought he’d just temporarily put on a sympathetic look when Eli’s wife caught his eye, but I was sure he’d wipe it off once she and the doctor left. But, no, he actually said, “It’s only money.” I did not expect that.

And, so, we close in an approximation of the same shot that began the episode, except with a difference: the person sitting behind the desk – Margaret – has opened the ledger and, having done so, has now her own degree of power…and, unlike Eli, she’s someone who’s intelligent enough to know how to wield it.

Look for the silver lining