Season 4/Episode 5 "Erlkonig"

Come one, come all and witness greatness in its process.  And I'm not talking about my blog, I'm talking about the show!  (I'm might also be talking about my blog.)  With so much uncertainty in life, there's only a few things you can be sure of.  One of them is that when there's a Boardwalk Empire episode on you are going to be amazed.  Of course you guys know me as El Guapo but at this point I'm just a humble messenger of the good show delivering insightful recaps on this blog we call Infinite Wisdom on Boardwalk Empire.  If you didn't watch last night's episode I suggest you close this tab right now and go watch it immediately.  I'm serious, gifted as I might be, my words could not do that episode justice.  It was amazing and it's just what we needed.  Enough with intros, let's just jump into this recap.

Episode 5 starts off with Nucky getting a phone call from Willie out in Philly.  Remember that kid Henry that Willie accidentally killed?  Well, Willie is now arrested because of this little prank and Nucky has to come to his rescue.  (Shit, I wish my uncle could do that.)  He sits with him and they both agree on a story to tell, saying that Henry was a friend of Will's, Will did not bring alcohol to the party and that Henry drank a lot.  Nucky tries to work his magic with the DA but has a few speed bumps because his underling says that Henry was poisoned and someone has to be charged.  Nucky goes back to his nephew to learn the truth about what actually happened and that Clayton, Willie's nerdy roommate, helped him out.  However, because of Nuck's connection with Waxy Gordon and Waxy Gordon's connection with the DA, Willie is able to lie his way out of this mess and throw Clayton under the table.  In Willie's dorm Nucky gives the kid a little pep talk.  The gist of this talk is that Willie's anger is a gift that he shares with his uncle.  He has to use it but not show it.  Nothing is more important than blood.  Eventually Willie is going to forget about this Henry kid he killed.  You know, the usual uncle pep talk.  (I love this cool Uncle Nucky.)  Later on the coppers apprehend nerdy Clayton.  Willie on the other hand is Scot free AND he had that cute jawn come over to his dorm to be comforted.  (I killed you AND took your hoe, Henry!)

Gillian Darmody isn't doing so well.  She's still on that heroin.  She tries calling Roy at his hotel but she doesn't have any luck.  All Gillian really cares about today though is her grandson Tommy.  (And heroin.)  She has a meeting with the judge in her case to gain custody of Tommy.  Things aren't going so well and she decides to offer sexual favors in exchange for help in this custody case.  It doesn't work though and the judge asks her to leave, ruining her chances of ever getting her grandson back.  But Gillian does not stop there.  She has to see Tommy.  But not before getting her fix on.  She heads to the black part of down looking like a crackhead from West Oakland (we got a lot of those) and sees the illustrious Dunn Purnsley.  She doesn't have a lot of money but Dunn cuts her some slack.  Now that she has her heroin, Gillian is ready to see Tommy at school.  The incestuous mother turned heroin addict grandmother goes to see Tommy who isn't exactly thrilled to see her.  Julia and two teachers approach her and Tommy wisely goes with Julia as the teachers drag Gill away.  Later Roy sees her and he's found out about her little problem.  Weirdly he's actually okay with seeing an addict.  (To each his own, I guess.)  

Over in the Midwest we go back to Nelson Van Alden.  He's in his home enjoying family life on election day in Cicero.  Wife is complaining about the noise, baby not wanting to eat.  (Happy sigh.)  Now Frank Capone is at his house to pick him up.  Frank and Nelson/George go over to see Al who is once again bumping cocaine in his office.  It's election day and it's important to the Capones that the people of Cicero vote Republican.  Al sends Van Alden to the factory with a bunch of their men to go "persuade" the workers to vote the way Al and Frank want them to vote.  But not before making Van Alden take a bump of cocaine with him.  (Now Nelson's having fun!)  Frank gives Nelson a little advance and tells him to keep his handgun ready just in case.  Now having to lead this group of thugs with clubs who just want to kick some ass, Nelson asks that they don't use violence with these men and that they just ask them who the workers are planning on voting for.  Nelson's men reluctantly do what he says but it doesn't work when the factory workers ignore the men.  All hell breaks loose when a worker punches Nelson and things turn violent very quickly as the workers try to get back behind the gates.  A few hours later Frank and Al come to see how things are going and the workers are still behind the gates but they have the numerical advantage.  Not to worry, they say, because they have reinforcements on the way.  But it isn't long until the workers decide it's time to strike back and they start to beat some ass.  Frank's getting his ass beat, Al has been knocked to the ground and is now crawling and Nelson isn't doing much better.  But then Nelson remembers he has a gun and pulls that shit out.  He spots Al crawling on the floor and sees the opportunity to take him out.  (This is the point where your balls should be tingling like a motherfucker.)  Frank sees Nelson and reaches for his gun and then bang!  There's a bullet hole in Frank's chest and a special squad of Chicago police shoot Frank at least a couple dozen times Robocop style.  Al is obviously in pain and at the morgue vows to Nelson Van Alden that people will pay for this.

Let's see how Eddie Kessler is doing.  Warren Knox has Eddie in this room by himself.  Eddy is being a good loyal soldier to Nucky by keeping his mouth shut.  But Warren is determined to get information out of Eddie.  He figures a solid punch to the gut might get Eddie to talk but all it does is make Eddie vomit.  (A lot.)  Maybe telling Eddie that nobody is looking for him might work.  Nope.  A whole day of work doesn't seem to be gaining any progress until Knox comes back with a file.  Turns out after Eddie shamefully left Germany and his kids behind his two sons changed their last name.  Knox wants to send Eddie back into the custody of the police in  Germany where he will have to face humiliation in front of his boys.  This finally breaks Eddie down, who prides himself on loyalty, and he tells Warren that he delivered money to Ralph Capone on the orders of Nucky.  Knox lets him go and Eddie waddles his way back home to Nucky where he is asked where he was.  Eddie lies and says he was out drinking with a friends (which isn't entirely false) and that it won't happen again.  But before Eddie retires to his room Nucky shows him that his socks don't match.  (That would ruin my day too.)  Eddie goes back to his room, writes a letter, fixes Nucky's sock drawer, puts on his nice suit and poetically jumps out the window.  And thus we see the last of our funny, loyal, German friend.  (I almost shed a tear.)

Power Ranking

1. Willie Thompson (Last Week: NA)

I'd never think I'd include him on this list, but check it out.  He killed a kid and got away with it by blaming it on the nerd.  He then got the girl who was seeing the guy he killed.  And he got Nucky's blessing.  There's no way he's not number one on this list.

2. Nucky Thompson (Last Week: #2)

He's still in a good position of power.  He got his nephew out of a murder charge.  Things might start to go south now that Eddie gave away info and then went and killed himself.

3. Nelson Van Alden (Last Week: #5)

He almost killed Al and the only person who saw him attempt to kill Al is dead.  Al still has no clue and trusts Nelson.  He's in a good spot right now.  

4. Dunn Purnsley (Last Week: NA)

Heroin business is booming.  He's obviously got a reputation with the black part of town and performers. Let's see how long this success lasts for him.

5. Warren Knox (Last Week: #3)

On the one hand he has a way to connect Nucky with Ralph Capone and the handling of money.  On the other hand his only informant has committed suicide. (This is a toughie.)

Historical Fun Facts
Today we are going to talk about Frank Capone.  Yes, Frank Capone was the real life brother of Al Capone and moved from Brooklyn to join his brother in Chicago to work with Johnny Torrio.  All of that is accurate in the show.  However, in the show Al is more of a hot head while Frank is usually more calm and open to negotiation when in reality the brothers' roles were reversed.  While Al was violent in real life, his brother Frank was much worse.  (Creative license and such.)  The events that happened in Cicero in this episode were pretty accurate, with the exception of the fictional character, Nelson Van Alden, attempting to kill Al Capone.  The previous year in Chicago the people elected a new mayor who was adamant about riding the city of Torrio and his gang.  So the Capones set up shop in Cicero and put the city manager and several committeemen on their payroll.  The Democratic Party set to challenge the Republicans who were under Capone's control.  On election day, April 1, 1924, the Capones attempted to persuade voters by sending their thugs to assault voters at the booths if they voted wrong.  The city of Chicago sent 70 plainclothes officers to Cicero to maintain the peace.  At the polling station at the plant the Capones believed the plainclothes officers were rival gang members.  The police opened fire on Frank Capone and killed him.  It is debated on whether or not he ever pulled out his gun. (Police obviously say he did.)

Final Thoughts
First things first, I saw the promo for next episode and it looks like we're finally going to see Margaret.  (The streak is over.)  Damn, I was really enjoying not having to see her.  I guess she'll add her self-righteous dynamic to the show again.  I'm finally excited about Willie's story line.  I don't think we'll see much of Willie just yet, but I think next season we are going to see Willie emerge as a big time player on the boardwalk.  I did not see Frank Capone's death coming and I love history.  It's not a big event in history so you can't blame me.  (I honestly didn't know Al had a brother.)  It was exciting to see, though.  I'm anxious to see how this Chicago story ends.  This is easily my favorite story line in Boardwalk Empire.  Speaking of unexpected deaths, what the fuck, Eddie?  Not Eddie!  I loved him!  He felt so ashamed about selling Nucky out when he prides himself on loyalty that he decided to end it all.  (Some really deep shit.)  That death came out of left field.  And the thing about it is that his death is probably the most emotional since Jimmy Darmody's death in season 2.  I can tell you right now, I had a hard time sleeping.

Halfway done with the season and I am having a blast.  I hope you guys are having as much fun as I'm having.  Please leave any comments you might have in the section below.  Be sure to follow me on Twitter @ELGUAPO3 and Instagram at CAPTAINCRUNCHTIME and also Tumblr at sirelguapo.tumblr.com.  Check out my main blog Infinite Wisdom From El Guapo's Brain.  The link is on your right if you want to expand your mind on some other knowledge.  You can also check the right to look at some recaps for previous episodes.  I think that's it then.  Have a wonderful week on the Boardwalk and stay Guapo out there!