Boardwalk Empire Recap: Breathe, Nucky

Eddie quickly gets scattered and can’t remember the rest of the poem. He gets anxious but Nucky calms him, telling Eddie not to trouble himself. They’ll look it up later. This works and Eddie agrees, they’ll look it up when they are home. Nucky finally has a sincere moment with his valet but it’s quickly over when he hears Chalky pull up. Nucky hides in the shadows until Chalky comes in. Chalky and Dunn are ready to take Nucky wherever he wants to go, and he’s even got an apartment for Eddie. Nucky just needs to give him the go ahead. Nucky tells him to take the White Horse Pike and to keep going until he tells them to stop. It looked a lot more resolute than it reads.

Remember this moment the next time you call me stupid.

Luciano’s on some rooftop surrounded by someone’s undergarments drying in the night breeze. He’s as skittish as a cat and looking around to see if someone’s following him but he still got ambushed by Jimmy in Gillian’s bed AFTER he knew she was his mother. He’s not that bright. Caiozza and Moceri come out of the shadows and give Charlie some flak for making them wait. He says he has his route so he can tell if he’s being followed (see above) and thinks that’s how you stay alive. Or, you know, don’t be a criminal.

But enough small talk. Charlie wants to know if Moceri has the money. He pulls out the stack of bills and holds it for Charlie to grab…holding on just a little too long, making sure to freak out Luciano. Once he has the money, Charlie forces it into his jacket pocket then pulls the heroin out of the chimney. Caiozza asks if he has it all stashed up there. Charlie’s trying to be all business, pulling out the big bundles of heroin, five bundles, each a pound.

He tells them they can check but Caiozza says they trust him while Moceri opens his leather bag but makes Charlie put the bundles inside. Charlie snorts at how weird Moceri is acting, not thinking too deeply, as he puts the heroin in the bag with a flourish. He hears something behind him and grabs for his gun, but Caiozza sucker punches him from behind while two other guys wrestle him to the wall. Then, THEN, mute Moceri walks over, calling Charlie an asshole as he dangles a pair of handcuffs in Luciano’s face, telling him he’s under arrest. Heh. See above.

Oh, Charlie.

Chalky’s loading Nucky into a cattle truck, asking if he’s all right. He’s fine but Chalky thinks it’s best Nucky stays hidden until Chalky gives him the all clear. Nucky agrees and Chalky’s men “secure” him by closing the burlap flaps. I know I’d feel safe. As they drive along, Nucky appears to have an existential crisis because he can’t sleep? Or maybe because he looks to be sharing the truck bed with a stuffed, dead, white, Persian cat. Whatever it is, though, they get stopped and Nucky gets thrown to the ground.