Season 3

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I know Fall 2012 is a ways off, but looks like there is an initial teaser promo going around. The language is (unsurprisingly) not safe for work. I am really excited about where the show will go from here after seeing where Nucky ended up at the end of last season. For those that haven't caught up with the events of last season, you should probably not poke around, since there are spoilers a-plenty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_kREFGKjRI

Re: Season 3

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If anyone is interested, the first episode of season 3 was an absolute cracker. All Sopranos afficanados should watch this great series. It has the same depth and range as the Sopranos and a history lesson as well.

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3.1 "Resolutions"

The episode opens, and we get a quick sense of who is Gyp Rosetti, originally from Sperlinga, Sicily. His car breaks down near Tabor Heights, on the way to Atlantic City. Taking offense at an innocent remark made by someone who came to his aid, Rosetti bludgeons him to death with a tire iron, and takes his dog, Regina. The murder makes the newspapers, and does not go unnoticed by Harry Daugherty, the United States Attorney General.

Nucky has decided to be a full gangster after all. He has a man named Nate tied up who stole from his warehouse, while the “imbecile,” Mickey Cusick Doyle was “taking a dump,” leaving the warehouse unlocked and unattended. Manny Horvitz puts a bullet in the man’s head. There are "certain people you should not steal from." Nucky directs him to locate and also kill the wheelman, Rowland Smith from Philly, and leave his body on the road as a warning to others.

Nucky and Margaret host an Egyptian themed New Years Eve party to welcome in 1923. Eddie Cantor arrives with a showgirl named Lillian “Billie” Kent to entertain the party (who we later find out that Nucky was "well acquainted" with). Owen Slater, Nucky’s full-time bodyguard, tries to rekindle affections with Margaret, but she will have none of it. Eddie enters in full costume as Howard Carter, known for discovering King Tut’s tomb. “Howard Carter” has a treasure chest full of jewelry pieces which the guest fight over to obtain.

At the party is Arnold Rothstein. Lucky Luciano, George Remus, Meyer Lansky. Gyp Rosetti arrives with the dog, which he has now named Scruffy. Rosetti is there to talk business; he wants 500 cases of rum. They meet downstairs. “New year, new rules,” Nucky informs them. With all his friends in politics, Nucky has decided it’s better to sell directly to Rothstein only, and then Rothstein will handle distribution from there. Rosetti’s only other options are Bill Lovett, and Richard “Peg Leg” Lonergan, bootleggers who supply Brooklyn. "Those Paddies won't sell to Italians." Gyp makes his displeasure with the arrangement perfectly clear, leaving the party in a huff, and leaving Scruffy with Margaret.

Thanks to her generous donation of Nucky’s land, Margaret is now a benefactor, on the board of directors at the hospital, with a pediatric annex named after her and Nucky. A woman suffers a unnecessary, preventable miscarriage and a doctor lectures Margaret on the lack of prenatal education for expectant mothers. Because of his “generosity,” (as in the opening of The Godfather Part III), the church wants to present Nucky with an award, the St. Gregory award. After the party, Nucky and Margaret get into an argument about using the party as a “bully pulpit” to promote “another one of her causes,” and he leaves for his Ritz hotel suite. There he is “greeted” by Billie Kent for a late night romp. Nucky has returned to his old ways a new showgirl.

Later that evening, Richard Harrow arrives at Manny Horvitz’ front door, and blows his brains out with a shotgun blast at close range. Richard felt very strongly about Angela Darmody. Now he has revenge for her murder. He is now looking after Jimmy and Angela Darmody’s boy, Tommy, and lives with Gillian and Tommy in the Commodore’s mansion. Gillian has turned the mansion into a brothel, and is writing checks with Jimmy's signature. Earlier, Richard took Tommy on a stroll on the boardwalk and won several prizes for him with his sharpshooting prowess. She takes exception to the stories he tells Tommy about his late mother.

Dean O’Banion is a bootlegger. He arrives at Johnny Torrio’s to avoid a war in a dispute about the boundaries of territories in Chicago. O’Banion had the North side; Torrio had the South Side. O’Banion left after making a rude insult about Capone’s deaf son. Later, Al Capone arrives at Dean O’Banion’s florist shop to “settle things.” Van Alden now goes by the name of George Mueller, and is a door-to-door saleman Faraday Electric Iron Company. Van Alden enters and the O’Banion pretends that Van Alden is a hired gun there to protect him. He quickly assesses the situation and opens the latch on his salesman briefcase, as if he were about to draw his weapon. Van Alden is now married to the Dutch nanny. The grateful florist orders two dozen irons from Van Alden, but it is too late for Van Alden to win the contest at work, and the $500 prize money he desperately wanted. My suspicion is that Van Alden will find that the ways of an honest working man aren't for him, and he goes to work for his new friend, O'Banion.

Early that morning, shortly after sunrise, Margaret goes to the shore and watches as Carrie Duncan flies by in her biplane.

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3.2 “Spaghetti and Coffee”
Nucky is in New York to payoff the government and also to meet with Arnold Rothstein. While there, he has another romp with Billie Kent, who reminds him of the winged “White Rock girl” from advertisements. Nucky offers to introduce her to Lee Schubert a famous Broadway producer and theater owner. He senses that he's not the only object of her affections.

“In the bowl. Just put the money ($40,000) in the (fish) bowl,” directs a man behind a locked door. The “anonymous” arrangement has the “twin virtues of simplicity and mystery.” “Who has seen whom? No one has seen anybody. And the Republic survives for another day.” Nucky refuses to leave the money unless he knows with whom he is leaving it. The door unlocks and “face to face with paradox,” Nucky enters to see Gaston Bullock Means officially is a special investigator with the U.S. DOJ. Unofficially, he is the middle man collecting for Jess Smith and U.S. Attorney General Daughtery, in payment for “certain services and protections” from the government. “An ordinary man avoids trouble, an extraordinary man turns that to their advantage.” Remus drops off his envelope in the fish bowl.

Nucky asks Arnold Rothstein about Means. “I’d never advise against caution considering the overall volatility in the marketplace” and the cost is insignificant overall for valuable protection. Rothstein asks Nucky about Horvitz’ death.

Gyp Rosetti leaves a bed and breakfast in Tabor Heights and asks for directions, and for a restaurant recommendation, at a gas station. “Last stop for gasoline in New Jersey,” the last gas to Staten Island. He sees a truck pull in, (the truck route to NY) and the wheels in his mind start spinning. “What’s he got in [those trucks]?” “Who would have a clue [what’s in there]?” The sheriff might know. Later that evening, he orders spaghetti and meatballs at a diner. The sheriff comes in and tells them to order coffee instead of wine with his dinner.

Eli is released from prison, and is picked up by Mickey Doyle. Eli asks him , “How the f’ are you still alive?” They meet with Victor, the sheriff, to pay him off about a convoy coming through the next evening. Eli remembers the sheriff, and vice versa. Back home at last, Eli’s son, Will, works at the lumber yard to support the family in Eli’s absence. His son is now too grown up to appreciate the model airplane his father built for him.

Desperate for work, Eli takes a job working for Mickey at the warehouse, loading the liquor trucks for delivery to Rothstein in NY. Owen Sleater explains the job to the crew. The first stop is the gas station in Tabor heights, the second is the Rothmere Storage Corporation in Brooklyn. Owen offers Eli $50 with the convoy to go to NY, and hands him a gun.

That night, at the gas station, the pumps are locked. Rosetti brings the sheriff, and poses as the proprietor. It’s a standoff. “I got a gun, he got a gun, he got a gun, everybody got guns.” A dozen men appear with Tommy guns. “What was I supposed to do?” asks the sheriff. Rosetti unlocks the pump and spills the gas on the ground. The convoy returns to Atlantic City.

Margaret discussed the miscarriage at the hospital with Cornelia Predock. Owen drops by. She wants to know if Nucky will accept the Knight Commander of the Papal Order of St. Gregory award from the bishop, an honor from Pope Pius XI. At the hospital, Margaret visits Mrs Shearer, the mother of (her fourth) lost child, and five children that lived. She visits Dr. Mason who gave her “quite a sever lecture” about the lack of prenatal education. Margaret wants to know why he has been so brusque with her, and he responds by giving her even more of a hard time.

Chalky White and Durn Purnsley are at work, setting up their jazz club. Chalky’s daughter Maybelle’s boyfriend, Samuel, a med student, arrives to very respectfully ask for Maybelle’s hand in marriage. “Welcome to the family, son.” Maybelle doesn’t want to marry Samuel. She doesn’t find him interesting like her father. Chalky orders her to get married, “Your mama work for this. Work all her days [to raise you for marriage].“ Implicit is a statement about a woman’s place in 1920s society. That night, at the jazz club, Samuel’s face is slashed by a drunken patron. Dunn Purnsley beats the assailant. Samuel, in a show of mercy, attends to the beaten man. Chalky demands, “Look at me girl, am I interesting now?” In other words, you don’t want to marry a man like me.

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3 "Bone For Tuna"
"The only thing you have to worry about is when you run out of company, sir." Nucky is not sleeping well, more worried about Billie Kent than his honor from the Pope. He is like a lovestruck teenager over her, calling her constantly, and getting no answer. Nucky dreams of a young boy shot in his office, the smoking gun in Nucky?s hand. The boy is symbolic of Jimmy Darmody, who was also shot and killed by Nucky in the left cheek of his face. At the church ceremony, "the show must go on." Nucky again has visions, this time of one of the choir boys with a bullet wound dripping on his face. He has Eddie drive him to Billie's apartment in New York. It's empty. He falls asleep on her couch and awakens early the next morning to see her frying bacon in the kitchen. He's not alone anymore, as he rests his head on her shoulder.

Rosetti has made himself at home in Tabor Heights. At the diner there, Nucky has a sitdown with Gyp Rosetti. Nucky struggles to keep his cool with the petulant Rosetti's "vaudeville routine." He wants to keep things simple, with Rothstein. "Only one road in, one road out. Atlantic City to New York," says Rosetti. Nucky tries to call his bluff saying he could take the back roads through the Pine Barrens. (a wink and a nod reference to my favorite Soprano?s episode, written by Boardwalk Empire producer, Terrence Winter) Nucky offers him a night in Atlantic City and one month?s supply of liquor as a consolation. They meet again in a private room at Babette's Supper Club. You can get anything you want at Babette's restaurant, exceptin' Babette. Nucky drops him off at Gillian's, without stopping inside for a quick "hello." Gillian tells Rosetti how Eli tried to have Nucky killed, of course, leaving out her manipulative role in the plot. Rosetti senses he has found Nucky's "Achilles Heel." "Lose your own flesh and blood, what do you have?" Nucky decides to spend the night back home, to Margaret's surprise.

Dr Landau didn't care for Margaret?s New Years eve lecture on prenatal education. He thinks he can indulge her by taking her advice on the hospital garden. After Nucky's ceremony, Margaret, always the conniver, introduces Dr. Landau to the bishop and traps Dr. Landau into providing prenatal care education seminars at the hospital. She made sure that the bishop would be at the reception. St. Teresa's Women's Clinic will be sponsored by the Thomspons.

"Bone for tuna" was Owen's mispronunciation of "Buona Fortuna." (?good luck?) That was the send-off message Nucky had for Rosetti at Doyle's liquor warehouse. "Life is personal" with Rosetti. That "blessing" sets Rosetti off. "Who is Nucky to wish him good luck, and in Italian no less, like he's mocking him?" The Tabor Heights sheriff sees Rosetti at the gas station. Assuming that's the last time he'll see him, he wishes Rosetti "good luck." Very bad timing, and a really unfortunate choice of words. Rosetti douses him in gasoline and sets him on fire and watches him burn to death. Rosetti is going to stick around Tabor Heights after all.

Mickey boasts that he killed Manny Horvitz, and the word gets back to Harrow. Harrow breaks into his place at night and confronts him at gunpoint. Mickey's date for the evening ran away screaming. Harrow drags Mickey into Nucky's office at the Ritz. Harrow admits to the murder because of Angela Darmody. "Jimmy was a soldier, he fought, he lost." "You and Mrs. Thompson were good to me, you have nothing to fear." 63 killed, "do you think about any of them?" Nucky asks. Harrow replies, "You know the answer to that yourself." Obviously, Nucky does all too well.

Lucky Luciano has a few businesses on the side. He is a business partner in Gillian's new whorehouse. Lucky and Meyer Lansky send Benny "Bugsy" Seigel out on a heroin deal. They are worried about Joe Masseria who wants his piece of their action. "Ever eat dinner with [Masseria]? First he eats his dinner, then he eats yours," Luciano complains. Later, a couple of Masseria?s men attempt to rough up Seigel. Lansky shoots one, and the other gets away in a car.

Back at the office, Van Alden?s co-workers and members of the "brotherhood of bull**** and blarney," play a practical joke on him. His wife does her best to raise his........"spirits," and get his.....confidence up. The "brotherhood" convinces him to blow off some stream after work over drinks at a speak easy. All out of sarsparilla, Van Alden will have a 'near beer.'' The place is raided and all are due to be arrested. 'George Mueller,' with a very familiar face, pays off the Treasury agent to avoid arrest.

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3.4 “Blue Bell Boy”

Owen and Katy are going at it when duty calls. Nucky wants him to meet at Mickey's warehouse. Sheriff Victor Sickles death was deemed a “tragic accident.” Nucky knows differently. He orders Mickey Doyle, “until further notice all shipments to Rothstein will use back roads avoiding Tabor Heights altogether,” due to Rosetti. Mickey, always the moron, openly questions Nucky's orders, second-guessing him to Owen. There is no way to avoid the back roads until May due to the ice. After giving lip service to Nucky, he turns around and defies Nucky anyway. Nucky stubbornly won't allow Eli to be more than a delivery man under Mickey's charge. He tells Eli, “allowing you to simply go to jail is the last gift I'll ever give you.” Rothstein calls, and is very irritated that he has to deal with Mickey Doyle, instead of Nucky directly. “I don't ever want to find myself chatting with you again.”

The 800 case shipment will proceed through under the old arrangement, with new Sheriff Ramsey. The new sheriff has a plan to deal with Rosetti, or so he tells Mickey. Eli warns him to listen to Nucky's instructions. Still in Tabor Heights, Rosetti decides to cut out the middleman (Nucky) and to intercept future shipments from the ocean. It also turns out that the new sheriff has a new business deal with Rosetti, and double-crosses Mickey. Rosetti's men are all armed and waiting at the gas pump. Eli tries to warn the incoming delivery trucks that an ambush lays ahead, but they ignore him and keep going. Too late for them, Rosetti's men finish off the delivery men. Well, Nucky, that's what you get for keeping Doyle in charge. Eli gives Nucky the news in person.

The pursuit of Rowland Smith, Nate Honig's wheelman, fell through the cracks due to the killing of Manny Horvitz. Nucky tells Owen to use Van Alden's former associate, Agent Sawicki, if needed, to find him. Thanks to Sawicki, they find Smith's house, which is loaded with Canadian Club whiskey. A lot of it belongs to Waxey Gordon in Philly, the rest is Nucky's. “Go buy a personality,” Nucky deadpans, as he pays off Sawicki. Owen waits for Rowland to return, and when he does, he turns out ot be just a 19 year-old teenager. I can only assume that Nucky doesn't have the resources to move the liquor, because they are tied up getting ready to deliver to Rothstein. That's important because later that evening, soon after Nucky arrives at the scene, prohibition officers from Philly (on Waxey Gordon's payroll) raid the house, looking to kill Rowland, while Nucky, Owen, and Rowland hide in the cellar. They are stuck down there for 24 hours. Once the coast is clear, Rowland shows a lot of moxie asking Nucky for a job. Nucky lights a cigarette for him and then puts a bullet into the back of his head, when his back was turned. Owen thought that Nucky might have let Rowland go free, another indication that Nucky's leadership lacks total respect.

After the attempted mugging of Bugsy Seigel, Lucky Luciano has a sitdown at John's Italian restaurant with “big-hearted” Joe Masseria about heroin distribution in his territory. Lucky offers 2-3%, “Boss” Joe wants 30%.

In Chicago, Capone's boy, Sonny, is at a school for the deaf, but is still dealing with bullies. Capone tries to teach him how to box. Rather than toughening up the boy, it causes him to break down in tears. Later, he plays a sentimental song called “My Buddy” on the mandolin for his boy. Jake Guzik, one of Torrio's men is making his collections from Keller's bar, and Dean O'Banion's man, Joe Miller, assaults him. Capone returns the beating and then some, cracking Miller's skull with a bar stool.

For whatever reason, the writers decide we just have to include Margaret into the story every week. Whatever. Margaret's Women's Health clinic is getting started. The stereotypical Catholic nun of old is overly concerned with the terms being used in the women's prenatal classes to be given by Dr. Mason. Margaret hands out women's health class pamphlets on the boardwalk. Dollars to donuts, Margaret ends up sleeping with young Dr. Mason one of these days. She encounters Mrs. Edwina Shearer and family, who do not want any help from Margaret. She reads in the newspaper that Carrie Duncan's plane trip across the country ended tragically as she crashed near Yosemite.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 7erUiV8rFw

Re: Season 3

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Episose. 3.5 “You'd Be Surprised”

Nucky's whipped. Primarily, he's still head over heels, jealous over Billie Kent. This adolescent like obsession is taking his eye off business, much to the anger of Arnold Rothstein, and gets whipped by Gyp Rosetti, who is looking to steal his business.

Nucky has bankrolled Billie in a broadway play, “The Naughty Virgin,” which is failing. The play needs a star, Nucky believes, and he tries to enlist Eddie Cantor to come to his rescue, plying him with a bottle of Passover vodka. Cantor politely refuses, having already committed to a contract with Jerome Kern. Nucky then takes the “mobster” approach, sending Chalky White and Dunn Purnsley over to Eddie's hotel room, having him perform his act. An intimidated Cantor agrees to do Nucky's bidding. Later at the rehearshal, Eddie asks Billie if she had heard of Lucy Danziger. “The next one won't know a thing about you either.” The number they rehearse is called “You'd be surprised.”

Margaret makes an unexpected visit to Madame Jeunet's dress shop, where she once worked. Nucky was there buying dresses for Billie Kent. Busted! Margaret continues her prenatal classes, and is surprised to meet Dr. Mason's fiancee. Maybe she'll end up with Owen again after all.

Nucky also tries to get a real mobster, Arnold Rothstein, to do his dirty work for him in regard to Gyp Rosetti. They meet in Atlantic City, and Eli recants the events from the night that Rosetti ambushed and killed 11 of Nucky's men, seizing his liquor shipment. There is no other route except Tabor Heights due to the mud, the ice, and the law. Nucky wants to discuss our options. Rothstein is taken aback and unloads big time on Nucky. Rosetti is backed by Joe Masseria, and Rothstein doesn't want to break his “very delicate truce.” The dialogue that follows is classic.

“Our options? What might solve a problem for you might creates a bigger one for me.” Nucky informs him that Rosetti is bad for business. “Bad for business? What would you know about it conducting yours like some drunken shopkeeper?” “Do you think I entered into this arrangement because I value your companionship? YOU are a convenience of geography and supply.” “And now owing to your inability to manage your affairs in NEW JERSEY, a state I have little interest in, or affection for you expect me to start a war? In NEW YORK? Where things actually matter?” “Because of you own cavalierness. Because you run off to Manhattan at a moment's notice to rut with some showgirl. Do you even begin to understand how weak that makes you?” Even after that emasculating dressing down, all Nucky is concerned with is Billie's play rehearshal.

Rothstein, Luciano, and Lansky meet with Rosetti, and lead him to believe that byegones are byegones, and they are now business partners. Instead, Benny “Bugsy” Siegel is sent to room 207 at the Kinneret Lodge to kill Rosetti. Four dead bodies later, but Rosetti isn't among them. No real surprise there, they'll need his character through the season. His perverse obsession with auto-erotic asphyxiation will likely be the cause of his death. Speaking of asphyxiation...

In Chicago, Van Alden is looking over his shoulder every time he hears a noise. Treasury agent Coughlin still wants to see him, and Van Alden believes the truth about his new alter ego has been compromised. Coughlin visits Van Alden, and his wife's clubs him in the head, knocking him on the floor. As she holds Coughlin's legs, Van Alden finishes the job, suffocating him. Van Alden is forced to seek out Dean O' Banion for help in disposing of the body. Now, his journey to the dark side is complete.

Treasury Secretary Andrew W. Mellon is called before Congress to discuss prohibition. He believes the cost of effectively policing the activity at $28M/year, five times what Congress has authorized. The question of prosecution not enforcement is one Attorney General Harry Daugherty will have to answer, and if the Justice Department isn't undermining the efforts of the Treasury Department, by either gross incompetence or widespread corruption. Nucky's old adversary, Senator Walter Edge, is chairing these hearings. If you recall, Edge is still in the Senate thanks in part to Nucky not backing his Presidential bid, and instead throwing his support behind Harding, thanks to an arrangement he had with Harry Daugherty (Episode 1.8, Hold Me In Paradise). Gaston Bullock Means passes the word to Jess Smith, to advise Daugherty to put a bootlegger in jail to get Congress off his back. Nucky's friend in high places may not be a friend much longer.

Leander Whitlock visits Gillian's brothel. She's losing money every month. Gillian is still in denial about Jimmy's death. Until she has him declared dead, she cannot get a loan to solve her business problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IFM5wWCMOo

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3.6 "Ging Gang Goolie"

Since the assassination attempt, Rosetti has left Tabor Heights. Eli and Mickey discuss that night's events with the new sheriff. The NJ state police had responded in full force including the top cop, Norman Schwarzkopf, Sr.. (Schwarzkopf's son was the General in command of CENTCOM and the "Desert Storm" operation of the 1991 Iraqi war) That made this episode mostly gangster free. Luciano was in the episode but the only gun he pulled was in one of Gillian's prostitutes. He tried to get one of Gillian's hookers to peddle heroin, but Gillian intercedes and fires her. One evening on the boardwalk, Gillian picks up a doppelganger for Jimmy, named Roger McAllister from Evansville, Indiana. "You remind me of someone." She later beds him, and insists on calling him James, "because he was a king." *shudder*

The gangsters in this episode are the politicians, specifically Attorney General Harry Daugherty. It's the first Wednesday of the month, and Nucky and Remus are surprised that Gaston Bullock Means isn't in NY to collect Daugherty's monthly payment. Instead, Means is at a breakfast meeting watching Daugherty give a speech to the Boy Scouts. As the Boy Scouts from Troop 14 in Laurel, Maryland serenade the attendees with "Ging Gang Goolie," Jess Smith. also in attendance, has a breakdown, fearing prosecution. Nucky travels to Washington to meet with Daugherty directly. He busts in on a meeting with Daughtery, Smith, and Remus. As Remus paid Jess Smith directly, the Attorney General has decided not to bring Remus down, but instead will have Nucky take the fall. Nucky warns him, "If you bring me down, you're coming with me, lock, stock, and whiskey barrel." "Who do you think the American people are going to believe, the Attorney General of the United States or a washed-up bootlegger from New Jersey? "

At the hotel lobby on the way home, Nucky buys a pint of alcohol and is immediately picked up and arrested by a couple of Daugherty's men, to teach him a lesson in civics. He is freed on a $5 fine to the disgust of Esther Randolph. ?Miss Randolph, I sympathize with your desire to bring purpose to your life. However, this courtroom is not to do it,? the Judge advises. Nucky asks the clerk to break a $100 bill to pay the fine, demonstrating the futility of the entire proceedings. Ever since her failed prosecution of Nucky, she was downgraded to ?the Queen of the night court? prosecutions in D.C. After her night in court, it's 5 a.m., and Nucky invites her to sit down in a coffee shop, and tries to convince her to prosecute George Remus in a career-making case. "Is this where Eve gets offered the apple?" Gaston Bullock Means, obviously playing both sides against each other, to his own benefit, offers to give Nucky a fount of information, in order to cut the "Gordian Knot" with Daugherty...for $40,000

At the American Legion hall, Richard Harrow goes to a meeting of disgruntled veterans waiting for the benefits that President Harding promised them. Paul Sagorsky, a veteran of the Siege of Catubig during the [url=Phttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine%E2%80%93American_War]Phillippine-American War[/url] is at the meeting, drinking, and looking for another fight. He gets one the next night with the bartender, and loses. Harrow takes pity on Sagorsky and helps him outside. Sargosky's son Fred died in the Argonne before Armistice, and he has never gotten over the loss. His daughter Julia brings him home. Richard goes to their house the next day to return a war medal Sargosky accidentally left behind. Julia shows a genuine interest in Richard's family life.

There's a fire one night in Nucky's greenhouse. It appears that Teddy is still playing with matches...and oil cans. However, it turned out that a vagrant lit a fire to keep warm, and it got out of control. Owen has the vagrant disappear, permanently. Another evening, and again Margaret is hearing noises in the greenhouse, and heads outside, loaded shotgun in hand. Instead, she encounters Owen, and the two once again rekindle their romance. Who saw that coming? O.K., everyone did. Since Margaret is reading Margaret Sanger's birth control pamphlets, one wonders if that is a foreshadowing of the result of her coupling with Owen in the barn. Obviously, if dear ole' Peg is preggers, Nucky will know it wasn't him getting lucky with the Mrs. What will Margaret do; defy the church and have an abortion? The writers are keen on using her character as a statement on women's rights of that era.

Re: Season 3

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Episode 3.7 “Sunday Best”
It’s Easter, which is bad for business at Gillian’s. All the family gatherings make the customers feel guilty. That evening, her boy toy and Jimmy lookalike, Roger, is there in the otherwise empty mansion. “Memories and dream” are what keep her in that house. She seduces Roger/Jimmy, leads him to a bathtub, unknowingly injects him with heroin, and drowns him. She puts Jimmy’s Army dog-tags on him. Now we understand why she wanted Richard to empty out the mansion. Gillian, during her time of the month, is literally feeling “murderous.” She breaks down. “My son is dead, and nothing on Earth will ever bring him back.”

Nucky, Margaret and the kids go to Eli’s for Easter dinner. Eli and his wife June have all of their eight kids on the front porch to give Uncle Nucky a formal greeting. In spring, “everything starts growing again when it’s been so gray.” Eli still worships Nucky. After dinner, the kids have their Easter egg hunt; the women convene in the kitchen; and the men meet in the garage. Margaret attempts to confide with June about her family life, including Nucky’s mistress. She feels like the “life is being pressed out of” her. June quickly changes the subject to dessert.

Confession is “for the people in steerage.” Nucky, via Margaret, bought his knighthood from the Pope. Eli wants more, after 16 months in jail, than being Doyle’s lackey. “You think I’m bottomless don’t you? Just keep reaching in there and no matter what you do, it’s all right. No. Matter. What. You sit down with my enemies. You make choices you can’t ever take back, and still, you call yourself my brother. Don’t you know how that hurts me?” After a couple of whiskeys, Eli hands Nucky his gun and asks him to put a bullet in him, he knows it will happen, sooner or later, and he’s sick of waiting for it. Nucky unloads the gun. “Why does it always have to be such a melodrama with you?” Nucky deadpans.

Once again, the entire clan is gathered inside, and Nucky performs a juggling act for the children. Back at the hotel suite office, Nucky calls Eli. “That mess with Tabor, I should have said, you were the only smart one in the bunch…You put yourself on the line. It didn’t go unnoticed… You’re running the warehouse with Mickey, starting tomorrow.” That’s great for Eli but it still begs the question everyone’s asking, how is Mickey still alive, let alone still in charge?

Richard brings Tommy to the Sagorskys. At dinner, there is a gathering of a few men from the American Legion hall. Paul Sagorsky is in his usual drunken, angry mood, questioning the existence of God. Richard calmly responds, “just because you don’t believe in something, doesn’t mean it isn’t true.” Out of consideration for Richard, Julia prepares a meal for him to eat in private in the kitchen. Paul Sagorsky is a supporter of socialist Eugene V. Debs. Tommy made the mistake of going into Fred Sagorsky’s old bedroom, much to the old man’s outrage. Richard tells him to take his hands off of Tommy, or he’ll kill him. On that note, Easter dinner is over, and the guests scurry for the door. Richard tells Julia to grab her coat, she’s leaving with him as well. They stroll the boardwalk.

While Rosetti was away in Tabor Heights, his territory, 20 blocks on the west side, has gotten smaller. Easter dinner at the Rosettis with the wife, mother-in-law, and two kids isn’t a quiet affair. Mrs. Rosetti isn’t shy about standing up to her husband. Rosetti goes to church, and like Sagorsky, questions God’s plan for him. “Put it in front of me. Take it away.” A young priest goes over to him and offers to help, and Rosetti mugs him and takes the bag of money from the poor box and collections. “Where’s God keep the rest of it?” He turns over the coin bag to Masseria at their long overdue sit-down. Masseria wants to cut ties with him. “I can’t control you. I can’t rely on you and I can’t afford you. “ Rosetti wants Masseria to go after Rothstein’s operation, to take the business for the Italians. “They’re building something and it don’t include us.” Rosetti wants the muscle to kill Nucky, Rothstein, Luciano, and Lansky.
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