Roger McAllister: New Kid in Town

Roger McAllister – a face on the Atlantic City boardwalk that instantly captures the attention of would-be tasteful brothel owner, Gillian Darmody.

Gillian is in quite a pickle: she is partners with Lucky Luciano in her brothel endeavor but she’s not making any money and the roof is leaking buckets. Worse than that, the ownership of the Commodore’s mansion, which has been rechristened Club Artemis, is actually in the name of her son, James “Jimmy” Darmody. But Jimmy is dead. He was killed at the end of Season 2 by Nucky Thompson.

Nucky went home and told his wife Margaret that Jimmy had re-enlisted in the service. Margaret did not believe him for one minute. What Gillian was told, we don’t know, but Richard Harrow surely knows what happened to Jimmy.

The opener of Season 3 showed Gillian signing her son’s name to a check to pay the water bill. She has refused to acknowledge that he is dead, but now that attorney Leander Whitlock has impressed the negative consequences of this course of denial on her ambitions, Gillian takes down all Jimmy’s photographs.

Another mother struggles with her child: Teddy and the Pooka

After this, she goes out on the boardwalk and that is when she spies a young man from Indiana who happens to bear a strong resemblance to her lost son.

Most mothers encountering a strong look-alike to their lost or dead child would react far differently than Gillian Darmody, wouldn’t they? Gillian seduces Roger and we shudder to think what plans she has in store for him. It’s highly doubtful that she would be able to pass him off as Jimmy, but we wouldn’t put it past her to pass him off as Jimmy’s corpse! Roger may never find out Gillian is not really 29.