Boardwalk Empire Recap: Breathe, Nucky

Chalky brokers the détente by telling Samuel that’s not going to happen, that he’ll have to work on Eddie right there in the kitchen. His diplomacy needs some work. Samuel looks at Eddie and says he can clean the wound and try to stop the bleeding, but he can’t promise anything beyond that. Then he pointedly tells Chalky that this could ruin him. Chalky shows that he’s got a bit of Nucky in him when he says “We all take care of each other,” looking at Nucky and not noticing that Samuel never needed that kind of care because he’s a good, kind, law-abiding man whose greatest mistake was dating a hood’s daughter. And she didn’t even LIKE him.

Realizing that he’s dealing with a couple of assholes who don’t really give a shit how their actions ruin others, Samuel sets about taking care of Eddie, telling Chalky to fill up pots with water and boil whatever fabric they can find to clean and sterilize it. He looks at Nucky and tells him that since they have no ether they’ll need to get Eddie good and drunk to deal with the pain. Then he orders Nucky to wash his hands since he’ll be assisting and needs alcohol to clean his instruments. In Samuel’s world that’s rubbing alcohol but here it’s a bottle of bootleg whiskey and he further curses the day he asked Maybelle out on a date.

You? Lose my number. You? Fuck yourself.

Meyer’s balking at this deal Charlie set up because he doesn’t know Magaddino but Charlie does, and thinks all he needs to know about the deal is that it’s $15K. They have to start moving the heroin because Masseria isn’t going to wait forever for his payout. Meyer tells Charlie that in light of what happened the night before it’s best to sit but Charlie doesn’t know what Meyer’s talking about. He’s talking about Owen coming to take out Masseria and getting sent home in a box.

Charlie calms down so Meyer can channel Arnold and tell him that with everything still up in the air they have to be careful who they’re seen doing business with because one wrong move means they’re dead, too. Charlie, again, only sees the obvious and says Moceri is from Buffalo…and it’s $15K. Charlie gets antsy and says he couldn’t sleep because he was running the numbers in his head all night and Meyer, bless, doesn’t make a crack about Charlie having to count it out by stomping his foot. Instead Meyer says he knows, right down to the penny but, everything connects and they just have to stop and think it through. Charlie just makes his shrunken apple face of consternation and walks off because thinking’s hard.

I’d explain it with finger puppets but you got confused the last time.

Then Charlie makes my joke for me by telling Meyer he makes Charlie’s head hurt. Bitch. Meyer tells him to just let this one go and Charlie mutters a completely non-commital “Yeah,” prompting Meyer to channel his mother and say “I’m serious.” Charlie barks out like he’s five that he “said Yeah,” because he’s a moron. I totally understand how Lucky Luciano got arrested 25 (or was it 32?) times in real life.