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On Sunday's episode of "Boardwalk Empire," the law catches up with two prominent characters and, moreover, we finally see who Agent Knox believes to be the 'weakest link' in Nucky Thompson's chain.

(HBO)

THIS WEEK: Written by the Pulitzer-nominated writer Howard Korder, "Erlkönig" was directed by Emmy-winning 'Empire' helmer Tim Van Patten. Speaking of, who else gets excited when we see an episode delivered by one of the show's masters? And what a doozey this one was. The law catches up with two prominent characters and, moreover, we finally see who Agent Knox believes to be the 'weakest link' in Nucky Thompson's chain.

'Boardwalk Empire' Recap / Season 4, Episode 5 / 'Erlkönig'

UNCLE NUCKY DOES DAMAGE CONTROL

As the show opens, Nucky is in the Albatross Hotel and he's taking a phone call from Will, who's been arrested. Shocker? Not really. We just knew that with Eli heading down Tampa way (or did he just call Uncle Nuck?), Will would call Uncle Nucky to handle the fallout from spiking Henry's whiskey with that lethal dose of the compounds Linoleic Acid and Magnesium Hydroxide borrowed from the Temple University chemistry lab.

When Nucky first sees Will at the police station, he assures him that everything will be sorted out and that he needs a little bit of time to make things right. His friendly interrogation continues as he patiently walks Will through what he should say and shouldn't say.

When Will admits that he got the booze from Mickey Doyle, Nucky is disappointed and asks Will why he didn't go to him directly.

"If the liquor came from me, I didn't know, and now there's a problem," Uncle Nucky says.

Will apologizes and they sort out the story some more as Will answers Nuck's questions with an extreme confidence and vagueness. Approving, Nucky tells him that he'll speak to district attorney.

Later, the assistant district attorney Eugene Mulhern meets with Nuck, who's a tad disappointed the D.A. isn't there himself.

Nuck says that they're making a mistake by taking a "quirk of fate" and making it into a manslaughter charge. Mulhern says that his symptoms are consistent with poisoning. Nucky asks to cut the bull and tells him that he knows (famed Philly bootlegger) Waxey Gordon called the D.A. earlier that day and it was agreed that this occurrence wasn't going to be anyone's fault.

Mulhern explains that Henry Gaine's parents are major contributors to the Pennsylvania Republican Party. Case in point? Someone has to take a fall.

Back at the jailhouse, an angry Nucky asks Will who slipped Henry the "Mickey Finn." (1)

(1) Phrases.org tells us the origin of the expression. "Finn was the keeper of Chicago's Lone Star Saloon in the late 19th and early 20th century. He was alleged to have drugged and robbed his customers. PBS claims, however, that Finn may have been all but a myth. "Mickey Finn was a real person, a saloon owner in Chicago's vice district, known as the Levee. But the dastardly deed attributed to him is most likely a myth. As the story goes, after a customer passed out, he would be robbed and tossed into an alley by Finn and his wife."

Will finally comes clean and admits that he and Clayton spiked the booze. "It was supposed to be a gag."

They soon meet with District Attorney Lawrence Eisley. Nuck says that they want to get the situation cleared up ASAP. A new interrogation begins, this time with Eisley asking the questions and Will, seemingly knocking it out of the park.

"The only thing you can count on is blood," Nuck tells Will. "The blood that's in your veins and the blood that's in mine. ..."The rage you feel. It's a gift. Use it. But don't let anyone see it."

After a rough day, Will is back in his dorm room. Nucky inspects his digs and tells him to shut the door. He tells his nephew that whatever occurred, it's over. Nuck adds that whenever Will thinks of the awful situation to take a breath, "I promise, you can live with it."

"The only thing you can count on is blood," Nuck assures. "The blood that's in your veins and the blood that's in mine. ..."The rage you feel. It's a gift. Use it. But don't let anyone see it."

Clayton barges in and Nucky leaves. After, a frantic Clay asks Will what they're gonna do. "It's been taken care of," Will retorts coldly, before telling him that he wants to be left alone to study.

Later that night, as Clayton studies in the library, he's picked up by the Philadelphia Police and brought in for the crime.

THE WEAKEST LINK

Before leaving for Philadelphia, we can tell Nucky was a tad concerned that Eddie Kessler (Anthony Laciura) wasn't home yet. Last week, he was detained by Federal Agent Warren Knox (Brian Geraghty), who vowed to Edgar J. Hoover to find the weakest link in Nucky's chain.

From the first look of the dank and dismal setting of an abandoned hotel, we can tell that Knox and his partner Agent Selby plan to use the full gamut of mind games on Nucky's loyal valet — with a few sucker punches thrown in for good measure.

Their interrogation begins routinely enough with feigned politeness but soon progresses into a barrage of questions, insinuations and intellectual trickery.

The interrogation of Eddie Kessler begins routinely enough with feigned politeness but soon progresses into a barrage of questions, insinuations and intellectual trickery.

Knox asks Eddie, "Would he do the same for you? You've been here all day Eddie. No one has asked for you." A punch to the gut. "I'm going to own every last bit of you."

Later, Knox walks into the room with Eddie's case file, showing the poor guy just how far his reach can go. Knox holds Eddie's history in his very hands and explains that he knows all about why he left Germany (Eddie stole money from his department store employer and left with his mistress).

Knox speaks German to Eddie, informing him that he worked for Army intelligence during the war. The agent then references the somber J.W. Goethe fairy tale poem "Der Erlkönig" where a father rides through the woods with his son as the boy hears strange beings and afraid of what lies in the night. In the poem, the boy dies. Its last line? "The child in his arms finds he motionless, dead."

Eddie is struck by the poem, since it perhaps taps into the fact that he left his two boys behind (Konrad and Lucas). Knox tells him that they were shamed by their father and changed their last name. He also says that he'll soon be deported unless he gives information up on Nucky Thompson.

CATCH UP ON SEASON 4 'BOARDWALK EMPIRE' RECAPS

•

Episode 1 / 'New York Sour'

•

Episode 2 / 'Resignation'

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Episode 3 / 'Acres of Diamonds'

•

Episode 4 / 'All In'

A tearful Eddie breaks down and tells them that on Nucky's orders, Ralph Capone was the man he met at the train station and gave the money to.

Satisfied, they let him go. But the damage was already done. Deep down Eddie knows can no longer face his boss. Back at home, Nucky inquires where he was and says that he should tell him when he's going to be out for two days. Nucky also goes on to show Eddie that he can't even properly match his socks.

We can tell that Eddie misses those simpler days and perhaps realizes that he brought this whole situation upon himself. Shamed, Eddie writes his farewell letter, organizes Nucky's socks and finally, leaps off the balcony of the Albatross Hotel.

ELECTION DAY, THE CICERO WAY

On Election Day morning, Nelson Van Alden / George Mueller (Michael Shannon) feeds his little ones as wife Sigrid (Christiane Seidel) watches local politicos campaign down their street in their caravan. After she laments a bit about the nature of politics, a horn beckons outside.

"Your friends have returned?" she asks.

Last week, the Capone boys recruited Van Alden to once again crack some skulls for the mayoral election. After chit-chatting about Van Alden's sad looking house-in-a-box, Frank Capone (Morgan Spector) hears the factory whistle in the distance that lets them know their day will soon begin.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

At Capone's office, Al wants to know why Frank brought Van Alden along.

"You asked for him, Garibaldi..." Frank jokes back. (2)

(2) Biography.com tells us that Giuseppe Garibaldi was a folk hero "best known for his military leadership in the unification of Italy in the 19th century." Read more HERE.

Frank has to remind his drugged-up baby bro that Van Alden helped them out the day before. Al remembers and refers to Van Aden as "Daniel Crockett," as he fake shoots his gun. (*)

(*) Hilarious. He actually meant folk hero, frontiersman and U.S. Representative Davy Crockett.

Al tells Van Alden that he knows that he has a wild streak. "Let's see how you do today." After some harmless joshing, Frank steps in and tells his brother to "respect the boundaries," when it comes to Van Alden. Defying Frank, Al makes Van Alden take a bump of cocaine and instructs, "perk yourself up..."

They soon head to the local factory yards — specifically the early industrial telecom leader Western Electric — where the Capones and their men "persuade" the workers to vote for Republican Joseph Z. Klenha. (3)

(3) Says the Chicago Tribune: "For years Cicero`s mayor, Joseph Z. Klenha, a Republican, and his largely corrupt administration ran the suburb with little or no political opposition. That all changed in 1924, when the Democrats decided for the first time to put up a real challenge to the incumbent. But more than simple politics was involved. The Torrio gang had already controlled the beer-running operation that supplied Cicero`s saloons. Rival factions, wishing to get a piece of the action, aligned themselves with the Democrats, and Klenha, fearing for his political career, asked Capone for help. ``Big Al`` was only too happy to oblige."

After Nelson Van Alden tries to rally the factory workers honestly, it soon turns ugly at the plant as baseball bats fly everywhere.

After Van Alden tries to rally the men honestly, it soon turns ugly at the factory as baseball bats fly everywhere. When Al arrives, he's fuming because Van Aden hasn't exactly contained the situation to his liking. Van Alden explains that they're outnumbered. When the gates open once again, Frank tries to calmly tell the men that the election is all sewed up and that the violence is unnecessary. Hothead Al escalates the situation once more and soon, pandemonium erupts. The Capones and their men are getting brutally beaten. Van Alden pulls out his gun and spots Al crawling to safety. It's a perfect opportunity for him to nail Capone and who would be the wiser?

Just then, Frank spots Van Alden raising his gun on Al and he reaches for his own piece when he's blown to oblivion in a hail of gunfire by a special squad of Chicago detectives.

At the hospital, the sobbing Al vows revenge. He tells Van Alden that everything that crawls is going to pay.

A TWEEKY DAY IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD

Over at the Artemis Club, a tweeky and Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol) stares out of her bedroom window. She incessantly and desperately calls the Hotel Arlington in hopes of getting supermarket executive Roy Phillips on the phone. She turns to her spoon for her next fix, but it appears that she's all out.

Later that day, she speaks to the judge involving her custody case regarding her grandson Tommy Darmody (Brady and Connor Noon). In order for her to get the boy back, he explains what the custody officer will be concentrating on.

She babbles about the lack of furniture in her large home. He says that's not important. She goes to explain that she's seeing Roy Phillips before asking for a glass of water and shattering the glass and cutting her hand. The judge wraps his handkerchief around her hand to stop the bleeding when she propositions him.

"Is there anything I can do to help my situation?" she asks, moving her hand down his leg. "Is there anything I can do?" The judge is infuriated by her actions and instructs her to leave his chambers immediately.

On the North Side of Atlantic City, Gillian enters a barber shop where she sees Dunn Purnsley (Erik LaRay Harvey) and asks him for a fix.

"You're far from home, Bo Peep," he says.

She gives him what little money she has and asks, "Perhaps we can discuss some other form of payment? I'm having a difficult day."

He agrees and gives her the drugs as he inspects the track marks on her arms."

"You best go easy Little Bo. I like my lambs keep coming home."

After her fix, she eventually winds up at little Tommy's school and finds him in the hallway. It appears that he doesn't quite remember who she is. After a kiss hello, she tells him that she met a man and they'll all be together soon. She gives Tommy an Abba-Zaba bar as a gift. (4)

Gillian Darmody tries to give little Tommy an Abba-Zaba bar.

(4) OldTimeCandy.com tells us that the treat wase a chewy taffy bar filled with a rich creamy peanut butter center. Started by Colby and McDermott and eventually manufactured by the Annabelle Candy Company, the bar is still available today in specialty shops and out West, according to its official web site.

Soon, an angry Julia Sagorsky (Wrenn Schmidt) appears with two teachers as they whisk Gillian from the site and Julia takes Tommy home.

Back at The Artemis Club, Roy finally shows up and, oddly, seems extremely understanding to her situation. "Does it help you?" he asks of her kit.

"Not anymore," she answers. Good guy Roy tells her that he knows about weakness.

"Roy, I've done the most awful things..." she admits.

Other stuff on my mind

• The episode is obviously

named for the poem

Knox read to Eddie Kessler. Aside from the obvious parallels that the poem echoed in terms of Eddie's relationship with his sons, themes of loyalty and honesty came into play here. In spades. Much loyalty is questioned. Eddie throws Nucky under the bus (ever so regretfully) and Will (with Nucky at the helm) turns a blind eye when he finds out that his buddy Clayton got pinched for poisoning Henry. In the end, the episode deftly explores what we do when we want to save ourselves.

• We're going to miss you, Eddie. You were always Nucky's 'Linus' blanket and, truth be told, quite comical — even under duress. It's going to be interesting to see how Nucky is affected by his death. Who can forget how concerned he was when Eddie was lying on Chalky's table with that life-threatening bullet wound?

Morgan Spector, you're aces in our book.

• We're also going to miss you, Frank Capone. For a second there, you were looking ever the more powerful and controlled 'brudda.' Here's hoping we can all agree that Morgan Spector was a fresh welcome to an already stellar cast. I couldn't help but notice that walking up those stairs, greeting his men, Frank Capone looked like HE was the man in charge — much more so than the little coked-out madman in the office. Or as Frank called him (pardon the pun), "his royal highness."

• Gillian's whole "Now, now..." bit in the beginning as she stared out the window. Thoughts?

• So, did young Will call Uncle Nucky because Poppa Eli was out of town or did he just trust Nucky to keep it between them? After all, didn't Nuck sorta owe him one from letting him hide out at the lumber yard last season?

• After watching the episode a second time, I was struck by how Nucky approached speaking to Will — almost like an interrogation, ala Knox and Eddie Kessler. And those two hummingbirds in teh cage at the top of the episode? Foreshadowing, anyone?

• I keep referring to Van Alden in these recaps. Should I start calling him Mueller? Lemme know.

• "I don't need to ask anyone ANYTHING..." Now THAT'S the Van Alden we know.

• "Mickey sold you liquor?" That gets my vote for the scariest four words of the episode.

• I can't help but play into the foreshadowing and ask myself, "Is Will Nucky's new Jimmy Darmody?" With Owen Sleater gone and confidant Eddie dead, Nucky always has someone close on a day-to-day basis — and it's never really been brother Eli.

• Did Gillian shatter that glass on purpose in order to get the judge near her? I'm thinking, absolutely.

• Nucky telling Will to use his rage. What's THAT about?

• Frank Capone getting blown away certainly had shades of THIS, huh?

• Has Gillian hit bottom? It certainly seems that she was as honest as she's ever been in her conversation with Roy.

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