Season 4/Episode 8 "The Old Ship of Zion"

Oooh weee!  Guapo is back from DC and I made it back just in time for the latest episode of Boardwalk Empire.  And if there is a new episode of Boardwalk there is obviously going to be a new recap by El Guapo.  Unfortunately for fans of my main blog I've been spending more time writing for my Boardwalk blog than I have for the blog that started it all.  It was like the time I had a beta fish.  His name was Jefferey and he was purple and he was the coolest fish I ever owned.  (By far.)  He was the only fish that survived past a week.  In fact, Jefferey lived to be over a year.  Me and my fish talked everyday and I fed this dude and changed his bowl and everything.  (I even sang him lullabies.)  Then my family finally agreed to get me a dog and his name was Toby.  Toby replaced Jeffery in every way.  Toby was my new friend and unlike fish, dogs can show love back.  (Yeah, Jefferey!)  Any-who, within a few weeks of getting Toby my old friend, Jefferey, passed suddenly.  I don't exactly remember where I was going with that story so let's jump straight into the recap.

Recap

The newest episode starts off with Dunn Purnsley walking into a heroin house with some product.  Dunn heads to the back to meet with his customer and proprietor of the establishment.  While he's there, Dunn gives the customer a flyer to a play by Dr. Narcisse.  Meanwhile at the deacon's funeral Daughter Maitland is doing her rendition of a song called "The Old Ship of Zion", which of course captivates Chalky White.  (So do her boobs.)  But Chalky's daughter points out that people are staring at him and murmuring about.  Chalky realizes there is something up and that it has to do with Dr. Narcisse.  Nucky talks to Chalky about the importance of keeping his house in order.  Chalky gets his Sherlock Holmes on and brings Dunn Purnsley along to investigate the heroin house.  Chalky and his thugs break into the house and start doing some damage to these heroin fiends with clubs.  When Dunn Purnsley heads to the back room he immediately kills the proprietor to prevent him from talking to Chalky.  This seems a little suspect in the eyes of Chalky but nevertheless he finds what he's looking for: a bunch of heroin and a flyer to the Doctor's play.  Skip over to the play put together by Chalky's nemesis.  The play looks like one of those plays my mom used to take me to in order to get me more "cultured".  (The only difference is my mom wouldn't give me any heroin.)  People aren't really enthusiastic about the show, but it's outside where the real show takes place.  Chalky White stands outside next to Dunn and the rest of Chalky's gang, banging on a trash lid.  Dr. Narcisse comes out and plays his cool as Chalky reveals the heroin that has been plaguing the black side of town.  He sets the H on fire in front of the crowd that surrounds him in a brazen act of redemption.

 Dr. Narcisse has a chat with Daughter Maitland telling her his plan to off Chalky.  When the Chalk man comes over to her place for a little rendezvous in the sheets, Dr. Narcisse plans to send a visitor.  Well later that night Chalky goes to see Daughter.  After they're done making sweet, passionate (?) love, Daughter tries her best to convince Chalky to stick around.  Chalky asks her to sing him the song she sang at the funeral.  She does and while she is singing something special happens.  It's almost as if they are connected at the soul somehow.  (I'm getting a little too corny.)  Snap back to reality because there is a knock at the door and it's Dunn Purnsley.  Chalky finds it weird that Dunn knew where he was.  He asks Daughter to fix them up a plate while they talk.  Dunn tries to tell Chalky that he found out that Dr. Narcisse is behind the heroin epidemic and that Daughter is in cahoots with the doc.  But Chalky knows Dunn is playing him and a battle ensues.  (Yes!)  This one is a goodie.  On one hand we have the smarter, leaner Chalky White who has his back against the wall.  One the other hand we have the bigger Dunn Purnsley who still resents Chalky for having his face kicked in the day they met.  Dunn seems to have the upper hand for most of the battle but at some point Chalky drives a piece of wood through Dunn's cheek.  (Cool!)  Dunn gains dominance and starts choking Chalky to death before Daughter Maitland drives a knife through Dunn's back.  Down goes Dunn and we bid farewell to a character I didn't really like anyway.  This whole scene reminds me of the scene where Nucky and Eli fight and Margaret saves Nucky by holding a shotgun to Eli's head.  (Season 2 throwback!)

Over at Nucky's house, Willy is trying to decide what he's going to do with his life.  Nucky says he should think about what his next move.  Nucky has business and heads to the warehouse to oversee the delivery of the rum shipment from Tampa.  But something unexpected comes with the shipment and it comes with cleavage.  (But not much else.)  Sally surprises Nucky but Nucky isn't as pleased to see her as she'd hoped.  (But Mickey Doyle is.)  Nucky makes it back home to see Willy talking to Mayor Bayder.  The mayor wants to talk to Nucky about the black vote since it's an election year, which is really hard to obtain if Chalky doesn't have his house in order.  After Nucky meets with Chalky at the Onyx, he sees Mickey chatting up Sally.  Being the jealous dude that he is, he whacks Mickey on the head and takes back his jawn.  Everyone wins that night.  Well everyone except Willy, who has to over hear Nucky giving Sally that pipe.  The next morning Willy meets Sally, who shares a good talk over what lies in Will's future.  When his uncle Nucky sees them at the table, Willy tells his uncle of his goals.  He wants to bring the Thompson name back to where it belongs and he's willing to start from the bottom and work his way up.  (Some Drake philosophy, I guess.  Nucky gets his nephew and job at the mayor's office.

No fun alert! No fun alert!  That can only mean one thing.  It's time to talk about one of the only 2 characters that never have any fun.  The first guy is Nelson Van Alden, but he wasn't in this episode, so by default let's talk about Warren Knox/Jim Tolliver.  I'm sticking with the Warren Knox name to keep it simple.  (I'm doing the same with Nelson Van Alden.)  Warren is struggling to make the case against Nucky, with no leverage whatsoever.  But then one of his associates points out that's Willy's roommate, Clayton, is in for life for a crime Willy was originally accused of.  Warren pays Clayton a visit and offers the kid a few cartons of cigarettes.  Next, Warren goes to see Eli and unveils the information Clayton gave him.  Warren now has Eli by the balls and tells him to give up Nucky or his son can go away for a while.  The final scene is Eli making home to see his son Willie back playing that Ukulele.  Willie tells his dad the news that Nucky got him a job.  Eli and his brother embrace but there is trouble on Eli's mind.

Power Rankings
1. Chalky White (Last Week: NA)
He finally has some upper hand over Dr. Narcisse.  He's discovered his heroin spot.  Dunn Purnsley is dead and Daughter Maitland is on Chalky's side.  How will Narcisse respond?

2. Nucky Thompson (Last Week: NA)
Nucky's still getting it in with Sally.  He got his nephew a job at the mayor's office.  His deal with Tampa seems to be working out for him.  The only thing that can stand in his way is Warren Knox.

3. Warren Knox (Last Week: NA)
Speak of the devil, Warren did a little wheeling and dealing with Clayton and he struck gold.  He has Eli Thompson by the balls and could potentially knock Nucky off his pedestal.

4. Willy Thompson (Last Week: NA)
He has this spot for now.  He got a sweet job at the mayor's office not really doing shit.  He's moved back in with his fam.  But Warren Knox will have an affect on Willy.

5. Daughter Maitland (Last: NA)
Daughter vanquished Dunn Purnsley, a character I didn't like at first, then sort of liked for a little bit, then stopped liking again.  Plus she's getting that good pipe from Chalky.

Fun Historical Facts
Daughter Maitland sang "The Old Ship of Zion" twice this episode, once at the deacon's funeral, and once for Chalky White before Dunn comes over.  "The Old Ship of Zion" is an old Christian hymn that was written by M.J. Cartwright circa 1889.  The tune to which this song is sung to was written by Daniel B. Towner.

Final Thoughts
The Chalky vs Dr. Narcisse feud has really only gotten good recently.  This plot line has gotten so good and I'm really pulling for Chalky's affair with Daughter to work out.  I never really liked Narcisse the way I liked Gyp Rosetti.  I know I'm not the only one who's happy saying goodbye to Dunn Purnsley.  I'm not going to lie, there were some good times with Dunn.  I liked when Dunn got all the workers in the restaurant he worked at to go on strike back in season 2.  But other than that, Dunn just wasn't that likable.  The big question is, will Eli betray his brother in order to save his son?  I think he will.  Eli has already done it once, this time he has some real motivation behind it.

So that's it for this week's recap of Boardwalk Empire.  I apologize for this being so late.  I think some house keeping issues that needed to be taken care of.  But I should be back on time next week.  Leave any comments you have in the section below.  Be sure to check out my main blog Infinite Wisdom From El Guapo’s Brain.  The link is on the right.  Follow me on Twitter @ELGUAPO3 and Instagram @CAPTAINCRUNCHTIME and I’m on Tumblr at sirelguapo.tumblr.com.  See you guys next week.  Stay Guapo out there!