Monday, November 4, 2013

Season 4/Episode 9 "Marriage and Hunting"

Wow! So much to talk about this episode.  For those who don't know, I'm El Guapo and I'm your host for the evening.  This is Infinite Wisdom on Boardwalk Empire and every week after the premiere of the latest episode, I sit down with my laptop and some coffee and bring you the best recap on this amazing show.  We have made it all the way to episode 9 and no one has written to me asking to stop, so I'll just keep trucking.  This episode was titled "Marriage and Hunting".


Recap
We'll begin this recap with Nelson Van Alden.  We all knew this was going to involve the conclusion of the Dean O' Banion/Al Capone feud.  So let's check out what Nelson's role was in this crazy mess.  We start with Van Alden doing some pipe work.  And I'm not talking about the type of pipe work I do.  I mean literally he is fixing the pipes to his sink while his foreign wife nags him.  (We all know how wives get.)  She's complaining about the house and how Nelson is getting paid scraps.  Over at work Dean brings up the death of his henchman the night Nelson disappeared with the Capones.  Whatever the opposite of playing it cool was, that's basically how Nelson reacted.  Nevertheless, Dean has him deliver a large wreath for a "Mr. Dob".  Unbeknownst to Nelson, he is delivering to Al Capone and his brother and "Mr. DOB" stands for Dean O' Banion.  Clever, right? (Eh.)  The Capones want a Nelson to give them information so that they can assassinate Dean.  But Nelson takes this opportunity to make a little mula.  You know, get some lettuce in his pocket.  So he offers to kill Dean for a thousand bucks at work.  So Nelson goes to get the heater, and I ain't talking about no furnace.  He gets the clapper, and I don't mean no juicy booty, nahmean?  (He gets his gun.)  Nelson is all ready to off Dean, but a little bit of his past comes back to haunt him.  Remember how "George Mueller" used to work at that iron company?  (Kinda.)  And then he had that big meltdown and burned his coworker Phil's face with an iron?  (Oh yeah!)  Well, this guy makes his grand return at the worst possible time and meets Nelson in the alley with another coworker and Nelson's former boss at the iron company.  Nelson is just trying to kill and gangster but these three guys are fucking his shit up.  They start to beat his ass and Nelson politely asks them to leave him alone.  They don't listen though and they force Nelson to bring out the tool, and I'm not talking about no screwdriver.  With three head shots the three former coworkers are dead.


Nelson goes back home to his nagging wife who is still complaining about god knows what.  (Seriously, after a while it's just blah, blah, blah, am I right? Anyone?)  But then there is a knock at the door...  Al Capone comes in and he's angry.  Dean O' Banion is still alive and Al is getting impatient.  Nelson assures Al that he will get the job done at the store's closing time.  Fast forward to later that night.  Nelson is sweeping at the store.  Dean asks Nelson what happened the night he disappeared with the Capones and his henchman died.  This time though, Dean doesn't want a bullshit answer and he'll blow Nelson's head off if he doesn't give Dean a straight answer.  Nelson reveals that Al was the one who killed Dean's guy.  But that's not all!  (There's more?)  Yes, he also reveals his past, such as his real name, the fact he use to be a prohibition agent, he drowned his partner and that he used to believe in God but now he doesn't believe in anything.  (Damn.)  This somehow gets Dean off his back and Dean heads out to the front to deal with some customers.  Only these are Frankie Yale and some gunmen covering as customers.  As Dean shakes the hand of the Frankie, Frankie holds his grip while the other two men gun Dean down.  A single flower is dropped on Dean's body and Capone's men walk away.  Nelson walks into the room to see Dean's body.  He quickly grabs the cash from the register and gets the fuck out of that flower shop.  He goes home to his wife and wakes her up.  After making it rain on his wife with the money he took from Dean's register, the two have sex.  (All's well that ends well, I guess.)


Let's briefly talk Gillian and then Richard.  Gillian is happy with Roy and is clearly falling in love.  So much that she reveals the story of how at the age of not even 13 she was raped by the commodore.  She stops halfway short and changes a few minor details about her son, Jimmy.  (You know, the part about fucking him.)  But her main goal is still to get Tommy back.  At court Gillian makes the case that she as the grandmother should have custody of Tommy.  Julia is facing an uphill battle, being that she and her father don't make a lot of money and Julia isn't married.  Later while watching Tommy play with with her father, Julia asks Richard what he and her father talk about at night.  Julia learns that her father is dying but he isn't ready to tell her.  She then brings up the fact it will be harder for her to win the case to keep Tommy if she was married in the most awkward marriages proposal in  Boardwalk history.  Even Nucky's proposal to Margaret in season 2 was more romantic than that.  The two go to the offices where they have to wait until almost closing time to get their license.  (You know how inefficient the government is.)  Richard goes to pay Nucky a visit and asks him for a job.  Meanwhile back at Gillian's, Roy is making a phone call with an anonymous person.  When Gillian walks into the room Roy's tone changes along with the topic. (Hmm, suspicious.)  Well that's enough of those folk.


Before we get to the Doctor/Chalky feud let's quickly touch on an encounter between Nucky and Arnold Rothstein.  As it turns out Rothstein is strapped for cash.  (Looks like that gambling has caught up to him.)  He pins it on a broker and needs some cash to exact his revenge on this guy.  Rothstein still has Mickey Doyle's life insurance from season 1 and it's worth half a million dollars.  He wants to know how much money he can get from Nucky to not kill him.  Unfortunately for Arnold, not a lot.  But Nucky will by the insurance policy from Rothstein for 20 cents on the dollar claiming that there are lots of people who would love to have Mickey killed.  Now back to some real shit.  Chalky meets with Nucky to tell him that Dr. Narcisse is out to get him and that he's going to make a move on him.  Nucky doesn't want him to be too hasty though.  Besides, Nucky feels like he's paid back any debt between him and Chalky.  Back at the White household, Chalky's daughter, Maybelle, is ready to get married.  The wedding preparations are being made, the guest list is getting adjusted, and there's a dinner with the two joining families.  But Maybelle knows there's something wrong with her daddy.  Meanwhile Dr. Narcisse meets with Daughter Maitland who is hiding the fact that she saved Chalky's life.  She didn't do that good a job thought because the Doctor finds shards of glass on the rug.  Apparently they made a deal that Daughter could sleep with whoever but her heart belonged to Dr. Narcisse.  (Terrible deal if your the guy.)  Well that's not the case because she obviously has feelings for Chalky.  The Doctor is pissed and he beats the shit out of her.


Before Chalky's dinner with the future in-laws, he gets a phone call about the news on Daughter Maitland.  Chalky leaves his family to go see Maitland and leaves his daughter disappointed.  He sees Maitland and she looks awful.  She looks like she put a face on top of her face and did a bad job at it.  Chalky knows Dr. Narcisse is behind this.  Meanwhile Nucky is sitting front row at the Onyx when Dr. Narcisse waltzes in like it's normal for a black guy to sit with the whites.  (It's not... At this time I mean... It's totally cool nowadays... I'm not a racist.)  Narcisse tells Nucky that Chalky's time is almost up.  Chalky sees Nucky sitting with the Doctor and is infuriated.  He goes over to the table and causes a scene, but Nucky warns Chalky to watch what he says because he'll be alone if he starts this war.  A discouraged and angry Chalky flips over a table and walks out of the club.  Later Chalky is chilling with Daughter Maitland comforting her when there is a knock on the door.  To Chalky's chagrin it's Maybelle and she knows about Chalky's affair with the talented club singer.  Heartbroken she storms off leaving Chalky to his affairs with Maitland.  The final scene of this episode is Nucky Thompson calling Sally (aka Ms. Cleavage) out in Tampa.  Nucky is thinking about visiting Sally soon.  The two exchange in pleasant talk and then hang up.  Sally grabs a shotgun and places it between her two massive hooters and the camera pans out from Nucky's home as the music cuts in.  And scene.


Power Rankings
1. Al Capone (Last Week: NA)
Wasn't that hard of a choice.  He finally got Dean O' Banion killed.  Al won the battle and the war.  Doesn't look like anyone is standing in his way of controlling Chi-Town.


2. Nelson Van Alden (Last Week: NA)
He's finally going by his real name.  Dean is dead.  He has money for his home and his family.  He has asserted his role as man of the house once more.  Life seems good.

3. Nucky Thompson (Last Week: #2)
If anything it's because of the deal with Arnold Rothstein.  Good deal.  However, things could get tricky with Chalky.  Nucky needs to pick a side and pick a side quickly.

4. Richard Harrow & Julia Sagorsky (Last Week: NA)
For the first time ever we have a pair in the power rankings.  Why not?  Let's be happy for the married couple.  This is what we've all wanted for Richard.

5. Dr. Narcisse (Last Week: NA)
This was tough, but he was able to essentially ruin Chalky's life with Maybelle finding out about her father's affair.  It's the little victories that count.


Historical Fun Facts
In today's episode we saw the departure of Dean O' Banion.  The death portrayed on the silver screen was actually pretty accurate according to the producers, of course with the exception of Nelson Van Alden's presence.  Dean died on November 10, 1924 in his flower shop.  Frankie Yale and two gunmen entered the flower shop in the morning and when Frankie went to shake Dean's hand, he held a tight grip while the other two gunmen shot Dean dead.  The gunmen shot Dean twice in the head and twice in the chest and while Dean lay motionless on the floor one of the men shot him in the back of the head.  Being the notorious crime lord he was, the Dean was denied by the Catholic church to be buried in consecrated ground.  However, a priest that Dean knew blessed him with an "Our Father" and three "Hail Mary's".  Dean's funeral was held at the Mount Carmel Cemetery four blocks west of his flower shop, Schofields.


Closing Thoughts
Wow.  All I can say is wow.  What a war between Capone and O' Banion and now it's all over.  Honestly, Dean's death seemed a little anti-climatic but at the same time I can't be mad because it's historically accurate.  That's what I love about the show.  It's able to include a lot of dramatic scene while also staying true to its historical influence.  (Nerd!)  I'm not sure what else is going on in Chicago so my attention is now shifting towards Chalky White in Atlantic City.  His family life looks to be falling apart and Nucky doesn't seem to be much help.  I hope Nucky can recognize this friendship because it's one of those bonds that have stayed true the entire series.  I'm happy for Richard and Julia.  I think I speak for everyone when I say this is what we've wanted for a while now.  Hopefully they can keep Tommy now.  Can't believe I'm saying this but I'm actually not rooting against Gillian.  Now about this Mickey life insurance thing.  I hope it's not foreshadowing Mickey's death.  More likely than not this is just ushering in a story line that involves Arnold Rothstein and Margaret's broker company.  Here's an interesting development: Richard asked Nucky for a job.  I know Richard is trying to stay away from the violent life but that can't happen if he works for Nucky.  He'll probably be handling the Chalky situation or even the Warren Knox situation.


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1 comment:

  1. pleeeeeeeeease let harrow to take Knox hair off , just like he did in season 2

    ReplyDelete