Recap: New York Sour – Boardwalk Empire

In the opening scene of “New York Sour,” the season 4 premiere of Boardwalk Empire, it’s a snowy night in Warsaw, Indiana. Two men stop at a bar where they complain about the radio station and ask how far Columbus, Ohio is. The chubby one says they should be on their way after learning the town’s only attraction is “the second longest contiguous brick wall in the world.” The bartender is scared out of his wits when he spies a gun inside the man’s suit jacket but the thug gives him a sawbuck on a 2-dollar tab. When his partner complains, he says they’ve just made some easy money. Then they find out their car won’t start. Richard Harrow kills the one who gets out to check on the car and the other one when he gets out. He takes an envelope out of the big guy’s coat that says Old Mission Title Insurance.

Back in Atlantic City, Chalky White is negotiating for tap dancers for his Onyx Club (formerly Babette’s) with booking agent Dickie Pastor. His wife and Dunn Purnsley are also at the table. Mrs. Pastor prevails upon Dunn to get her another “New York Sour,” and slips a graphic drawing in Dunn’s jacket pocket. On his way back, she motions to Dun to look in his pocket. His eyes light up.

Upstairs, Nucky is preparing to meet with Joe Masseria, Lucky Luciano, Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky. Tonino, who killed Gyp Rosetti and was told to stay out of Atlantic City on pain of death, is also there. Nucky wants peace and is willing to pay for it. Most of the gangsters want to bicker but a word from Joe the Boss puts an end to it. He takes Nucky’s peace offering and the rest of these guys are going to have to live with Joe’s decision for now it seems.

At a court hearing, Gillian Darmody, with attorney Leander Whitlock at her side, appeals to the court for the return of her grandson, Tommy, who has been in the care of Julia Sagorsky and her dad, Paul, since the Artemis Club massacre. We get a time frame when the judge demands an explanation of what went on over there 8 months ago. Julia does not want to give Tommy back to Madam Gillian, but neither does she want to explain to the judge how she came to have custody of Tommy in the first place.

Supporting Cast of New York Sour

Eli lets his son, Will (on a Temple University break) drive him to Mickey Doyle’s warehouse to pay off Agent Stan Sawicki, who has a new partner. Agent Knox appears to be very young and very green, honest even, when a bootlegger named Elmer Borst tries to enlist illegal help from him.

In Illinois, Al Capone is busy hooking up shriners with prostitutes when Johnny Torrio calls him in to discuss newspaper articles that may mean bad news for them, but all Al sees is his name misspelled..

Back at the Onyx, Nucky speaks to Eddie Cantor and a showgirl Eddie calls “Pumpkin.” She wants to get cozy with Nucky. Cantor isn’t too pleased about it. Meanwhile Gillian is showing off her home to a potential buyer, but takes a moment to get herself a fix. The track marks on her arms speak to the addiction Gillian has developed in the months gone by. Once the stuff is in her veins, she quite forgets the man is there about the property. When he wants to talk money, she gives him the hooker’s menu.

At an insurance company, an obviously nervous man tries conversing with a silent visitor. You don’t have to be a genius to figure out it’s Richard Harrow. Bribery and information won’t get Mr. Werner out of the spot he’s in. Harrow kills him as the poor man croaks “Why” with his last breath. We’d like to know too.

Nucky joins Eli’s family for dinner and Willy sings his college football song while his father continues to give the kid a hard time about school, grades and smoking. Will follows his uncle Nucky out and expresses his desire to continue to help in the family business as he did during the crisis 8 months ago, but Nucky says they are counting on him to get his degree. Will confesses that he does smoke, not that Nucky thought otherwise.

With his brothers, Ralph and Frank, Capone continues to gripe about his misspelled name. Frank teases him with an old nickname “Snorky” and they tussle on their mother’s parlor floor. Later they pay a visit to the Cicero Daily Tribune reporter, who is scared to death, but will surely spell Capone’s name right in the future.

Mrs. Pastor and Dunn are getting nasty when her husband appears on the scene with a gun. Dunn thinks he’s been caught in the act at first but it slowly dawns on him that the whole thing was a set up as Mrs. Pastor plays the victim. After taunting Dunn with racial epithets and forcing him to say “yes, boss,” Dickie Pastor stuns him further by ordering him to resume banging the missus or he’ll splatter his brains on the wall. He begins to masturbate, continuing with his insults. Dunn grabs a bottle from the table and does Dickie in. A terrified Mrs. Pastor hauls naked ass out the window.

Chalky gives Dunn a good berating but calls in Eli and Nucky to help clean up the mess. They make Dunn drag the body to its final resting spot while Chalky taunts Dunn, continuing to call him “Sweetback.” Dunn is also supposed to find the missing Mrs. Pastor and get rid of her somehow, but can’t.

Once again, Gillian is trying to sell her asset, the real property one, this time to Southern businessman Roy Phillips, who says he is a Piggly Wiggly representative. Phillips doesn’t need a place as huge as Club Artemis but he does need a knowledgeable guide around Atlantic City. Gillian is only to happy to assist.

While on a stakeout, Agent Knox tells Sawicki all about Elmer Borst, his garage full of liquor and fat wad of cash. Knox marvels at Borst’s chutzpah in trying to recruit him but Sawicki sees a big score. They go over to Borst’s and Sawicki tells Knox to follow him. Knox pleads night blindness. Sawicki wonders how he ever got in the Bureau, but lets the junior agent stay where he is. Knox knows that as soon as Sawicki breaks in Borst’s garage, he will be killed. When Borst comes out for a look at the fox that tried to get in the hen house, Knox blows him away. Sawicki is not quite dead yet, though, and gets to watch Knox go inside and come out with a drink of bootleg liquor. Knox tells Sawicki he will call it in as soon as he gets a grip on himself. More like, as soon as Sawicki cashes out.

After a night at The Onyx Club with Pumpkin, Nucky takes her back to his current abode at the Albatross Hotel. She was apparently expecting better digs but Nucky says where he lives now suits his needs. Pumpkin confesses her ulterior motive for wanting to be with Nucky — she heard all the talk about him and Billie Kent and knows he was behind Billie’s star rising on Broadway. Nucky excuses himself for “a moment.” The next face she sees is Eddie Kessler telling her to get out.

The episode ends with Richard Harrow approaching a house out in the middle of nowhere. Instead of slipping in quietly or even busting in with weapon drawn, he hides his gun in a woodpile and knocks on the door. He realizes someone is behind him and turns to see a woman training a shotgun on him. She lowers it when she sees his face. “Emma, I’ve come home,” Richard says to his twin sister.

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MIA so far:

Margaret Rohan, formerly Schroeder, formerly Thompson, and her children, Teddy and Emily. Former Treasury Agent and current fugitive and criminal, Nelson Van Alden.

Loose Ends:

Why Harrow is on the killing spree, and who he is doing it for, but surely this has something to do with his sister. Werner said he takes orders from Milwaukee. Who else lives in Wisconsin?

The fate of the degenerate Mrs. Pastor. We figure that she knew where Dickie’s car was and made a beeline for it. They were on the road so she had some extra duds in there and got the hell outta town. Dickie worked for Owney Madden, who runs Harlem’s Cotton Club, so there’s surely going to be some future fallout from this. But will it be to Mrs. Pastor’s or Dun’s detriment?