St. Patrick’s Day is a big day for Nucky and Atlantic City, so he spends most of the episode dealing with that. A group of little people that have to play the leprechauns ask for a raise from Nucky, who gives it to them. Eli tries to give a speech at a dinner the night before the holiday, but instead rouses Irish born versus Irish-American debates, until Nucky settles the argument. Margaret rejoins the temperance league and leads Van Alden to break up the dinner by arresting one of Nucky’s employees. The episodes ends with Nucky going to Margaret’s and initiating sex with her.
The first thing that struck me as I was watching this episode was the difference in money between then and today. The little people want a raise from 5 to 10 dollars each and Nucky bargains it down to 7, which means he thinks the 5 dollars is too expensive. Torrio tells Jimmy that for Pearl to stay where she is, Jimmy would have to pay 100 dollars a day, which surprises Jimmy. So 10 dollars for a few hours work is considered good money, while 7 dollars is at least sufficient. Meanwhile, 100 dollars a day, assuming an 8 to 12 hour day, is very good money not only for a prostitute, but in general. This is not extremely important in terms of the episode, but I personally found it interesting to think about just in terms of how much inflation has changed what we think of as a good salary.
The main plot of the episode deals with Margaret and Nucky’s relationship (for which Lucy is surprisingly absent). I was surprised at how soon Margaret goes after Nucky. Last episode we saw her stealing from her job due to jealousy, and I was glad that she stopped being this perfect woman, while this week we saw just how far her jealousy would take her. She rejoins the temperance league just to mess with Nucky, as we know she really has no problems with alcohol once her alcoholic husband is gone. If she was actually against alcohol and not trying to hurt Nucky, she would have told Van Alden about Nucky’s birthday party, but she does not want him arrested.
Nucky at first ignores her as he already has a woman and views Margaret as a complicating factor in his life. Lucy is fairly easy to please, while Margaret is a more intelligent woman, and with two kids, will probably demand more from Nucky. Thus, he takes the pragmatic view of things and decides that she is not worth the trouble she will cause. Margaret ruins his dinner and then gets his man arrested, proving to him that she is more trouble jealous than taken. That last scene where he goes to her house becomes complicated. Does Nucky have feelings for Margaret? His birthday party would suggest so by him dancing with her, but his rejection of her this episode seems to imply that he only went to her place to keep her pacified so she does not cause him undue trouble.
I found this interesting because either way, Margaret gets what she wants and very quickly. She never asked Nucky to take care of her husband, she never asked for money, and she never asked for a job, all of which she gets due to Nucky’s kindness. But now she was asking for Nucky himself, and when he essentially says no, she starts hurting him until he gives in. The shift in her character was wonderful and all credit has to go Kelly Macdonald who plays the character’s malevolence beautifully.
Steve Buscemi as well in that last scene was great. He was very subdued and his exact feelings and machinations are not exactly clear, which I think was a great portrayal of the pragmatic Nucky dealing with feelings of the heart. It is also a great contrast with Eli talking about how he one day wants to learn to lie as well as Nucky does, which makes me wonder how much of Nucky’s relationship with Margaret is going to be a lie, and what lies is going to have to tell to Lucy or to others about his new relationship. For that matter, what about Agent Van Alden and his interest in Margaret? Things to think about in the coming weeks.
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