Nucky and Owen arrive in Belfast, ostensibly to bury Nucky's father "in the land of his birth." The customs agent asks, "Accident?" Nucky corrects him, "Natural causes." Only for the customs agent to clarify he's asking about Nucky's bandaged hand, to which Nucky claims he got it "caught in the wrong cookie jar." After checking their documents, the agent lets them through, officially welcoming them to "the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland," looking Owen in the eye as he says it. Owen isn't pleased by this, but manages to utter a "God save the king".
Back in Atlantic City, Margaret gets a telegram reporting Nucky's safe arrival. Katy is standing by and is in awe that the trip took just six days, to Margaret's annoyance. Emily isn't feeling well and tells Margaret she can't move her legs. Margaret asks her to wiggle her toes. When she can't, Margaret realizes she needs to be taken to the hospital.
Jimmy meets with his partners at his house, including Al Capone, George Remus, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano and Mickey Doyle (who's wearing a neck brace from when Jimmy threw him from the nightclub mezzanine in the last episode). Jimmy explains he's using his house as a temporary office, while silently puzzled by Remus's third person-speech habits. Remus can sell the liquor that Jimmy desperately needs since he has government-bonded whiskey he is licensed to sell "strictly for medicinal purposes". However, due to government regulations, he can only sell his liquor to legitimate drug companies only, although once the alcohol is sold, that's when he is absolved of all liabilities. As for the selling price, Jimmy, Capone, Mickey, Lucky and Meyer are all willing to pay $60,000 each; $300,000 for 5,000 cases. Remus agrees to the deal.
After Remus leaves, Mickey calculates that this liquor will be worth at least $3 million. Lucky and Meyer bring up Manny Horvitz and the $5,000 Jimmy owes him. They think it would be best for Jimmy to simply pay him, while Mickey suggests cutting Manny a share of the profits. The meeting adjourns, with everyone but Jimmy heading to Jersey City for the Dempsey fight. They encourage Jimmy to go but he insists he's going to listen on the radio.
Nucky meets with John McGarrigle in a funeral parlor basement. He opens the casket he brought with him to reveal it's full of Thompson submachine guns, his "donation to the rebellion" as it were. He has a dozen of them, plus a 50-round drum magazine for each. He has 3,000 more sitting in the cellar at the Atlantic City armory waiting to be sold, and he is willing to sell them for all the Irish whiskey that McGarrigle can provide. McGarrigle isn't happy about the offer, as he makes clear to Owen, but promises to bring the matter up with his superiors. Owen assures an annoyed Nucky that McGarrigle "is a flinty ol' geezer, make no mistake," but Nucky is not convinced.
Nucky's father's actual funeral, meanwhile, is being held in Atlantic City. As Eli's family attends the service, Clifford Lathrop (Curt Bouril), Esther Randolph's aide, watches them from afar with binoculars.
Dr. Sorren checks Emily and calmly turns to Margaret to ask if Teddy also sleeps in the same room. When Margaret says yes, he tells her to send Teddy away, immediately. Margaret thinks it's polio, and Dr. Soren confirms she has all the symptoms and will need to be quarantined at the children's hospital. Margaret is shaken and tells the doctor she can't drive, so he'll have to take them.
In the kitchen at the Ritz, Chalky's former cellmate Dunn Purnsley, still sporting some swelling on his face from the beating he took from the other cellmates loyal to Chalky, is washing dishes and getting yelled at by a hostile white manager. The staff is fed slop for lunch and Dunn makes an issue of it as he tries to rally up the other black workers to join him in striking. He claims he sees room service leftovers come back all day that get tossed without being eaten, and they have a right to the white customers' leftovers. In fact, the jails he's been in provide better food. The manager comes back around and threatens to have Dunn fired.
At the hospital, a doctor is preparing to do a spinal tap on Emily to confirm the diagnosis. Emily's screams bring Margaret to tears.
Lathrope is later seen in bed with Esther Randolph, who's enjoying a post-coital cigarette. She opens up Van Alden's file on Nucky and asks Lathrope if Nucky strikes him as a murderer. Lathrope blows off Van Alden's work, as he has Nucky ordering a dozen murders without any corroborating evidence. When Lathrope questions putting Van Alden on the stand, Randolph believes he'll be handy for getting Nucky on the Volstead Act violations, and she tells Lathrope to keep Van Alden away from small children and nursing mothers (given recent events). The talk changes to Nucky's father's funeral, and Randolph notes Nucky's dad is being buried in Belfast. Lathrope finds this odd, considering what he's observed of the actual funeral. Since Randolph granted Nucky the okay to travel, she tells Lathrope to bring Eli in for questioning, or at least Ray Halloran (if Eli refuses to cooperate with their subpoenas). "Belfast," she says. "God only knows what he's doing over there."
What Nucky is doing over there is demonstrating the firepower of the Tommy gun on an unfortunate grandfather clock several yards away. A man asks if he, Mr. Thompson, invented the Thompson gun, and Nucky clarifies it's "just a happy coincidence." McGarrigle arrives at the display and announces that the British have offered to negotiate a truce. He claims that they're offering a free state and one man objects, saying, "That's not independence." He reminds the group that their oath was to fight "to the bitter end." After Mc Garrigle leaves, another man turns to Nucky and mentions that McGarrigle's youngest son was shot and killed last month, and he's still pretty bitter over what happened.
In Atlantic City, Jimmy and Richard Harrow meet with Waxey Gordon (Nick Sandow), in town from Philadelphia. After an exchange of pleasantries, the talk turns to Manny Horvitz. Jimmy offers information about the two men Waxey lost recently escorting Luciano and Lansky. As for the man killed in the hijacking, Jimmy tells Waxey that Manny was responsible for their deaths, and also mentions how Herman was killed in Manny's shop. Waxey, incensed, decides that Manny needs to be killed, and assigns his henchman, Alfred, to handle it.
Margaret is clearing out everything Emily has touched, and Katy burns it all outside. Teddy sees the fire and asks if Emily is "going to die like daddy." Margaret shouts, "No, and don't ever say that again." She then turns to see that one of the servants is leaving. She says she has her own children to worry about. Teddy looks back at the fire and focuses on one of Emily's dolls that is burning up.
In Belfast, Nucky tries the local whiskey with Fitzgerald, one of the rebels. The distillery business has dried up due to the revolution, the local economy and Prohibition was the final nail in the coffin. Nucky asks Fitzgerald if he'd consider giving him 10,000 cases on consignment, but Fitzgerald thinks he'll be back in business if there's a peace agreement with Great Britain. Nucky can't wait for that. Fitzgerald regrets that he can't make a deal, and that he can't defy McGarrigle.
After Esther Randolph does another interview with Jim Neary, she interviews Halloran. Lathrope joins in on the questioning of Halloran, confusing him with references to Eli being both his boss and friend. Randolph gets down to brass tacks and starts questioning him about the death of Hans Schroeder. Halloran is confused, thinking he's being interviewed about the election rigging. Lathrope assures Halloran that they're not after him, they're after the men who ordered him to kill Schroeder. Realizing they want him to become a snitch, Halloran refuses to answer any further questions and leaves.
Dunn pays Chalky a visit in his woodshed. They agree they got off on the wrong foot in jail, but everything's good now. Chalky alludes to having gotten Dunn the job at the Ritz, and that he'll soon go home to Baltimore with money in his pocket and gold teeth in his mouth. Chalky asks if he's got news regarding Dunn's efforts to provoke a mutiny amongst the Ritz' black workers, to which Dunn assures him things have reached a boiling point and are waiting for the opportunity to move.
Nucky has dinner with McGarrigle, who's still questioning the arms-for-whiskey proposal and Nucky wonders aloud if McGarrigle can really afford to send him home empty-handed. He lists off the recent moves Britain has made, including landing another 15,000 troops on Irish soil and threatening martial law, that should make McGarrigle think twice about passing up weaponry. McGarrigle is willing to risk his people for peace. Nucky reminds McGarrigle that he came to him in his time of need and Nucky helped without hesitation, so a little quid pro quo would go a long way. McGarrigle gets all up in Nucky's face about whether he'll think about the bloodshed that will ensue once the guns arrives. Nucky, fed up, ends the meeting, warning McGarrigle that there are many others like him that will take his place in times of crisis.
McGarrigle stops Owen before he follows Nucky out the door and asks what his business is with Nucky. Owen affirms that he's simply doing as he's been told, and the pay is worth it. McGarrigle wants Owen to stay, to which Owen counters he's "no peacemaker."
In Philadelphia, Alfred and another henchman carry out an attempt on Manny Horvitz as he's counting cash in his store. The unnamed henchman acts as bait, luring Manny to the door on the pretense that he has an emergency and needs a couple of chickens. Manny tells him he's closed, but finally relents and comes over to let the henchman in. The moment Manny opens the door, the bait runs off, at which point Alfred emerges from cover and shoots Manny in the shoulder with a shotgun. A struggle ensues as Manny tries to close the door, eventually punching a hole through the glass in order to pull Alfred inside. The struggle continues until Manny gets an opening, at which point he grabs a meat cleaver from the chopping block and sinks it into Alfred's skull. As he composes himself, Manny sifts through Alfred's pockets and finds a matchbook from Heilig's Chop House in Atlantic City. He instantly realizes that Jimmy was the one responsible for hiring the assassin.
Back in the Ritz kitchen, Dunn starts talking to the other workers about how the place is taking them for granted. One man thinks there's nothing to be done about it, until Dunn suggests that they all collectively refuse to work, which will force the managers to change their tune. When the manager returns and tells the men to get back to work, the mutinying workers begin slamming dishes and throwing food at him.
Nucky prepares to leave and says goodbye to. He's surprised to see Bill, one of the older Irish men who'd hosted him, in his car. McGarrigle asks Bill to make sure Nucky gets to the port safely. As they drive away, Nucky snaps his neck back as McGarrigle is assassinated by his own men. Bill has no reaction. Stone-faced and without even turning toward Nucky, Bill informs him, "You deal with me now. A thousand machine guns for 10,000 cases of whiskey." He finally turns to Nucky, who says nothing in response and gives the ever-slightest nod.
A whole crowd is listening to the Dempsey-Carpentier fight, and Jimmy is among them. Sitting next to Richard, Jimmy looks nervous as a man approaches. The man hands Jimmy a note that reads, "Watching you closely." Jimmy looks up and two ladies walk toward him. They come to sit next to him, sending another man out of his seat.
Margaret is desolate, sitting in the hospital hallway as doctors and nurses are also listening to the fight. Despite having been told she can't see Emily because of how contagious polio is, Margaret steps across the hallway and opens the door to the quarantine room. She goes inside and there are at least a dozen children on beds in the room. She sits next to her ailing daughter. She strokes Emily's hair and says, "Forgive me for what I've brought upon you." She then lays down next to Emily in the bed and hugs her.
The girls talk Jimmy up and after he asks if he knows them, one of them says, "Everybody knows who the new king is." The other woman says she's going to be first, and plants a kiss on Jimmy. The other girl goes in to kiss Jimmy, as well, and freezes when she sees Richard's face. Jimmy puts his arm around Richard and says, "He's with me."
"What the hell?" the girl says. "Something to talk about when we're old." And she goes around Jimmy to sit next to and kiss Richard while Jimmy gets into some pretty intense action of his own.
Owen brings Nucky two telegrams at the port, and Nucky asks him if "they" told him the ambush on Mc Garrigle was going to happen. Owen admits that nothing he could say was going to stop them, to Nucky's displeasure. They walk toward the ship and Owen reads the messages. The first is from Nucky's lawyer: "Forget Dempsey. Judge set trial date, August 23. Let the real battle begin." The next one, from Margaret: "Come home, E...." He stops reading and stops walking. Nucky looks back. Owen finishes, "Emily has polio." Nucky is stunned and they continue walking toward the waiting steamship.
The end credits roll to the sounds of the end of the Dempsey-Carpentier fight. Carpentier goes down for an eight count but is soon down again after a left uppercut to the jaw. The 10-count is done, and, at 1 minute, 16 seconds into the fourth round, Dempsey has knocked out Carpentier to remain the heavyweight champion of the world.
Tropes
- Fighting Irish: An episode that takes the biggest look into the early Irish Republican Army. Nucky decides to make a deal with them: Thompson submachine guns for Irish liquor.
- Honor Before Reason: Jimmy chooses to have Manny Horvitz killed rather than just repay the debts he owes him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Halloran ends his questioning at the hands of Esther Randolph when he realizes they're trying to get him to snitch.
