Recap: Resignation – Boardwalk Empire

“Resignation” (Boardwalk Empire, Season 4, Episode 2) deals with four storylines: the intrusion of Valentin Narcisse into the Chalky White/Dunn Purnsley mess; Richard Harrow in Wisconsin; Nelson Van Alden/George Mueller in Chicago; and Eddie Kessler threatening to quit his job as Nucky’s manservant unless he gets more respect and responsibility. Yet another thorn in Nucky Thompson’s side, J. Edgar Hoover, also makes an appearance.

Valentin Narcisse

Before we see Valentin Narcisse, we see Chalky White showing off his Onyx Club kingdom to his future in-laws, who are duly impressed, although Samuel’s father can’t resist a backhanded compliment: “You seem to have developed a taste for the finer things.” Chalky informs him that their children’s wedding reception will be held at the Onyx Club as his gift. Dunn Purnsley interrupts this gathering to reveal he has had no luck in locating the missing Mrs. Pastor, one of last week’s loose ends.

Later, as Chalky proudly oversees the Onyx Club, he notices someone in the upstairs private room. After running into recurring character, George Baxter, having a blast, who for some reason, rubs his host’s head, Chalky heads upstairs. He hears a man quoting from 1 Timothy. Upon entering the room, he sees a black man with a white woman. The man asks if he knows the Bible and Chalky says he knows it better than he knows the man, who introduces himself. Chalky thinks Narcisse is Owney Madden’s man, but Narcisse assures him that is not the case: “I have business with Mr. Madden but I am not his man.”

Narcisse reveals that he is there to solve the problem of the “savage” murder of Dickie Pastor by Dunn Purnsley, after raping Mrs. Pastor. Chalky professes ignorance and points Narcisse in the direction of Newark. Before leaving, Narcisse insults Chalky, calling him “a servant pretending to be a king.”

Chalky confronts Dunn, who wants to kill Narcisse and Mrs. Pastor but Chalky vehemently nixes that idea. Chalky then looks down on the club floor and sees everything stopped. Two dancers come to the door with an explanation and a message from Narcisse. “He owns a piece of us, sir. He owns a piece of everybody.” Chalky (apparently, he still can’t read) wants them to read the message from Narcisse. It says: “A servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who dispatched him.” The dancers say it comes from John 13 and that Dr. Narcisse knows his Bible.

Chalky enlists Nucky’s help and they meet with Narcisse and Mrs. Pastor. She bleats out her phony rape story and tearfully goes off to the powder room. Narcisse insists upon being addressed as Dr. and when that’s out of the way, Nucky points out that somehow Dickie knew where his old lady was being plundered. Chalky says Dunn’s version is completely different. Narcisse calls Dickie resourceful and Dunn a rapist, killer and liar. Nucky points out the lack of proof, but Narcisse trumps that with the observation that a white woman is going to be believed over a black man… “The verdict is inescapable.”

Chalky demands to know Narcisse’s price, but the doctor condescendingly says he only wants to deal with Nucky: “Only kings understand each other.” He points out that he knows the club business all too well, implying that failing to cooperate with him will be the end of the Onyx Club. Chalky has had enough, refuses to pay a dime and wants to kick Narcisse out on his bible-spouting arse. But Nucky offers Narcisse ten percent. “That’s my judgment,” he tells Chalky and Narcisse accepts. On their way out, Dunn bitterly asks Mrs. Pastor if she got her story all told. Narcisse calls Dunn a Negro and Dunn wants to know what that makes him. “Merely a child of God,” Narcisse answers.

On the way out of town, Mrs. Pastor thanks Narcisse for coming to her rescue like a prince. He says that Dickie was a loss and she wants to know what will happen to Dunn Purnsley, whom she’d like to see as dead as Dickie. Narcisse suggests a lynching and she likes the idea. Their car stops. The driver and another man get out to ostensibly check the tires. Narcisse wants to know how Dickie knew where to find Mrs. Pastor and Dunn. It is the first inkling she has that Narcisse does not believe her but as that knowledge dawns on her, the car door opens and she is dragged out by one of the men with a noose in his hand. She is strangled with the rope. Her body is dumped at Bader’s construction site. A crowd of reporters take pictures of her body while the horrified mayor shows up the next morning.

Van Alden a.k.a George Mueller

Van Alden’s still going by the name George Mueller. Since he fled Atlantic City to escape any charges in the death of Agent Sebso, we always thought he would be caught. Now we’re not too sure. The episode opens with the former Treasury Agent delivering flowers for Chicago mobster, Dean O’Banion. He’s got a bouquet for a lady who just had a baby; a condolence arrangement for a funeral, but on his last round, he’s on a different mission and punches the guy who answers the door in the face. He wants O’Banion’s money and he’s not waiting till tomorrow. Later at his boss’s flower shop, a reluctant Van Alden is pressed into service by O’Banion, who wants him to cozy up to the Capone brothers and report back to him. When Van Alden goes home, there’s his wife, the lovely Sigrid, who has just bought a new davenport, and a whole bunch of other furniture, the cost of which is $360, much to his horror. But Sigrid assures him it will be cool since she bought it “on time.” They only have to pay $15 a week. Despite his insistence that it all must go back, it is plain to see that Sigrid is going to get her way and turn their do-it-yourself house into a home.

Van Alden shows up at a meeting where Al Capone and his brothers are strategizing on how to intimidate local voters with a newspaper-wrapped pipe. “Come in swinging and don’t you stop. I want that room empty in two minutes.” Van Alden’s face rings a bell with Al Capone and he’s trying to place him. Van Alden reveals that he works for O’Banion but all he does is deliver flowers but Frank Capone notices the bruised knuckles and knows he’s lying. Al and Ralph get mad but Frank seems to see a use for Van Alden. He is brought along to bust up the election rally of William F. Pflaum.

In these segments, you can see that Van Alden has gotten himself into more than he bargained for on all 3 fronts: with O’Banion, with Capone and with Sigrid. We know only too well that Van Alden will just keep taking it from everyone until he can’t anymore, and the dam will burst and we even see a little of it already in the election rally scene.

Richard Harrow

In Plover, Wisconsin, Richard Harrow catches up with his sister Emma. The family dog is dying and you sense a little resentment on Emma’s part that she has shouldered all the responsibilities of the child who never left. Their father died and Harrow reveals that their dad told him he was 7 years older than he let on. He wants to know if their father died quickly. Emma says only she and Gerald, whom she married the month after their father died, were there. So her last name is not Harrow, but we don’t know what it is yet. She married in May and was pregnant by August. Gerald died in November. She doesn’t say how. Emma gives Harrow a book by Edgar Rice Burroughs sci-fi novel called “The Chessmen of Mars.” She says she’s not going to pry into his affairs but just wants to know if he’s staying. He says he has to go to Milwaukee and begins to elaborate but she stops him. She just tells him if he doesn’t come back, to stay away. She leaves to search for the dog and Richard opens the book. He finds an overdue bill from the tax assessor.

When a man walks into an office and sees the “Chessmen of Mars” book, we know we’re now in Milwaukee and Harrow is in there. He steps out with his gun and the man tries to go for his but Harrow makes him throw it on the floor using only two fingers. Harrow asks him if he knows Carl Billings and the man says he and Billings were partners with Werner, the man Harrow killed in Episode 1. Harrow reveals that he was hired by Billings to kill everyone he’s killed so far and this guy too. $1,000 a head. The man offers to beat that price but goes in a desk drawer for another gun. Harrow slams his hand shut in the drawer and demands to know if he has family. Inexplicably, when the man reveals he has a wife and 2 daughters, Harrow lets him go and walks out.

Back in Plover, Emma wants Harrow to put Samson out of his misery, but Harrow cannot do it. Emma has to do it herself. Harrow tells his sister he doesn’t want any more to do with killing, but it may turn out to be an unfulfilled wish on his part. He gets a call from a man, who has to be Carl Billings, sitting in the office with his former partner, who now has that bullet hole in his head that Harrow was supposed to put there. Billings pretends to be the county tax assessor calling up about the bill that Harrow apparently left in the “Chessmen of Mars” book.

Eddie Kessler

At the Albatross Hotel in Atlantic City, Eddie Kessler is serving breakfast to Nucky in an unusually messy way. He spills the coffee and insists on cleaning it up until Nucky makes him stop. He says the eggs are overdone (they sure looked it) and Nucky says they will do. Kessler insists they are not edible. Running out of patience, Nucky asks why he served them. An exasperated Kessler says he doesn’t know why he does anything. Nucky thinks he needs help and is too proud to come right out and ask. Kessler is offended. He says he can pack Nucky up for Tampa just fine and wants to know if he will be driving Nucky to Mayor Bader’s construction site. Still unsure what it will take to placate Kessler, Nucky agrees he should drive. “I will endeavor not to crash the car,” is Kessler’s parting shot.

Nucky confronts Mayor Bader about his oversight in not kicking back some money from the construction project. A very nervous and frightened Bader tries to schmooze Nucky into thinking he’s not entitled to a cut on this one. Nucky asks Eddie Kessler for his take on whether it involves him. Kessler tells Bader: “Mr. Thompson is part of everything. He’s in the sky and sea. He’s in the dreams of children at night. He is all that there is. Forever.” Obviously, Nucky is in Bader’s nightmares as well. He agrees to pay up.

The next morning, while Nucky learns of Attorney General Harry Daugherty’s resignation, Kessler enters with a better breakfast and Mayor Bader’s money. He also has his own envelope for Nucky — a letter of resignation. Nucky still struggles to understand what exactly Kessler wants and even tries to give him the Bader money. “Zat is beneath you,” Kessler huffs. “I don’t know that it is,” Nucky observes drily, then pointblank asks if Kessler is quitting or wants a promotion. Kessler leaves it up to Nucky.

When Nucky boards the train for Tampa, he apprises Kessler of his new role. He is never to repeat any part of any conversation with anyone. Kessler has always done that. He tells Kessler to open a safety deposit box and put the Bader cash there (and it ends up being in Kessler’s name). “There will be more to come,” Nucky says. Kessler is now more than a manservant. He will be Nucky’s right-hand man, after Eli, for now — but as viewers well know, Nucky has more reason to trust Eddie than his own brother.

Agent Knox is really an undercover guy named Jim:

Eli and Nucky meet with Supervisor Fred Elliot of the Bureau of Prohibition, former boss of Van Alden, Sebso, Sawicki and current boss of Agent Warren Knox, who is introduced to the Thompson brothers.

Knox somehow thinks that the Thompson brothers will be amused at his declaration that he intends to take his duties “with the utmost seriousness and to enforce the existing laws to the best of my abilities.” They are not. Nucky asks Knox where he’s from. “Atkins, Iowa,” is the reply. Nucky tells him that this will be the only time they meet and from know on he will deal with Eli. Later, Nucky checks out Knox with Gaston Bullock Means, who confirms the Iowa hayseed story.

Supervisor Elliot takes a trip to Washington, D.C. where he slowly realizes that the meeting is an interrogation. His decisions in Atlantic City are not only being questioned — whether he is in Nucky Thompson’s pocket is also on the table. Feeling the heat, Elliot demands to know what authority the younger man questioning him has. He reveals himself to be J. Edgar Hoover, acting director of the Bureau of Investigation. While another man, Ira Pearl, advises him to cooperate with Hoover and his undercover operative, Agent Knox shows up and lays money down on the table, saying Elliot gave it to him after they met with Nucky Thompson. Elliot is furious, calls Knox a little shit and a liar and storms out of the room. In the ensuing conversation between Hoover and Knox, it turns out that Knox’s real name is Jim.

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