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We kick off season 4 of "Boardwalk Empire" in February 1924, roughly seven months after the climatic season 3 finale. Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), looking a bit worse for the wear, still reels somewhat from Gyp Rosetti's takeover of the region last season.

(HBO)

THIS WEEK: We kick off season 4 of "Boardwalk Empire" in February 1924, roughly seven months after the climactic season 3 finale. Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), looking a bit worse for the wear, still reels somewhat from Gyp Rosetti's takeover of the region last season. In fact, the former A.C. treasurer makes a peace offering to New York boss Joe Masseria while keeping bootlegger, gambler and all-around thorn in Nucky's side Arnold Rothstein satisfied in the wings. The episode was written Howard Korder and directed by Emmy-winning 'Empire' producer Tim Van Patten.

Some other key events:

• Chalky White continues to run The Onyx Club, the boardwalk's newest hotspot, after Babette's went BA-boom. Things run afoul when he and sergeant at arms, cross paths with a deviant booking agent and his wife.

• There is a new apple-pie "prohi" officer in town and his name is Federal Agent Warren Knox. He's teamed with Agent Sawicki and it isn't long before they're knocking on trouble's door.

• Former madame Gillian Darmody has seen better days. She keeping busy seeking custody of her grandson Tommy as well as finding a way to keep The Artemis Club from entering into more disrepair than it already has seen by seeking "suitors" up for the task. Something tells us she won't have a problem finding a taker.

• Eli’s eldest son Will takes an interest in the family business but we must admit that we saw that one coming last season.

• Al Capone, still on the rise and expanding his business ventures to Cicero, Illinois, enlists his brothers Frank and Ralph.

• Former Great War sniper Richard Harrow embarks on a pilgrimage of violence that leads to a most unlikely haven.

Boardwalk Empire Recap / Season 4, Episode 1 / "New York Sour"

We fade in.

Chalky White (Michael kenneth Williams), Dunn Purnsley (Erik LaRay Harvey), booking agent Dickie Pastor (Jeremy Bobb) and his bored wife (Jo Armeniox,) look at the dancers on stage at the Onyx Club.

It's February, 1924. We open on a snowy roadhouse somewhere in Warsaw, Indiana. Inside is cozy and homespun, direct from the cover of Saturday Evening Post.

Two shady goons, obviously not from the area, sit at the lunch counter and give the innkeeper a hard time about the radio. It seems as though they're amusing themselves more than anything by toying toying with this poor, old man. They ask how far they are from Columbus, Ohio. The innkeeper says about five hours. Making more small talk, they ask him about the sights in town.

The innkeeper tells them that Warsaw has the second-longest contiguous brick wall in the world.

As they leave, Goon No. 1 gives the innkeeper a 'sawbuck' (A ten dollar bill). The other goon objects. After they enter their truck, they see it won't start. Goon No. 2 steps out and pops the hood. Silence. Something is up.

After a few moments, Goon No. 1 steps out into the snow to see what the progress is. To his utter shock, he finds Goon No. 2 with his throat slashed as we see Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) pointing a gun square in his face and pulls the trigger.

He takes an envelope from the goon's inside pocket. It reads: 'Old Mission Title Insurance.'

Back in Atlantic City, Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) is knee-deep in auditioning dancers for his new boardwalk hotspot The Onyx Club (Ever since Babette's blew up last season in episode eight, entitled "The Pony," Chalky has long sought Nucky's blessing to endorse opening his own boardwalk nightspot).

Chalky, Dunn Purnsley (Erik LaRay Harvey), booking agent Dickie Pastor (Jeremy Bobb) and his bored wife (Jo Armeniox,) look on at the dancers on stage. Dickie and Chalky negotiate the terms of the two dancers that the agent is hawking. Chalky thinks the hoofers are 'rough' but Dickie sells him.

We see the booking agent's wife scribble on a piece of paper before asking Purnsley for a refill for her New York Sour. It's obvious that the two are instantly attracted to one another. The flirting comes easy.

Chalky thinks he's being conned and continues to haggle with Dickie on the price of his dancers — two weeks at a grand each. That's a lot of scratch... The inflation calculator at the Bureau of Labor Statistics tells us that $2,000 measures up to about $27,321.17 today.



You carpetbagging me," Chalky insists. (1)

Do NOT carpetbag Chalky White.

(1) Merriam-Webster describes "Carpetbagger" as an epithet used to describe "A Northerner in the South after the American Civil War usually seeking private gain under the reconstruction governments which, after a while transcended and meant to mean an "outsider; especially : a nonresident or new resident who seeks private gain from an area often by meddling in its business or politics."

"I'm treating you square. I always do," the agent replies.

"I want Fletcher Henderson up there," Chalky counters, referring to the dancer's young pianist. (2)

"Who doesn't?" Dickie jokes.

Jazz legend Fletcher Henderson

(2) Here's me wondering if the writer's room actually put Fletcher Henderson on the Onyx Club stage or is Chalky being facetious, referring to the pianist as 'Fletcher Henderson'? In any case, NPR calls Fletcher Henderson of of the most influential (and least known) bandleaders, arrangers and pianists in jazz. "During his orchestra's peak years in the 1920s and '30s, he helped define the sound of big-band jazz, pioneering musical ideas which today are taken for granted." Enjoy the streaming podcast below about the jazz legend.

When Purnsley returns with the lady's drink, she gives him the look that suggests something much more. She motions to check his pocket. Inside, he finds a lewd drawing that she left which signifies that she's interested in a tryst.

From a loft room above, Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) looks down onto the stage. It appears as though Nucky has officially aligned himself with Chalky, perhaps more out of necessity than anything else. It certainly seems that he's setting up some new boardwalk digs at The Onyx Club.

His loyal valet Eddie Kessler (Anthony Laciura) enters. He now walks with a cane, an injury sustained from taking a bullet at the end of last season and is now left with a significant limp.

"All have arrived," he informs Nucky.

"Where's he sitting?" Nuck asks.

"Where you wanted him," Eddie answers.

After putting on his blazer, Nucky enters a side suite hosting our colorful cast of gangsters which include: Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlberg), Charlie Luciano (Vincent Piazza), Meyer lansky (Anatol Yusef) and the late Gyp Rosetti's right-hand man Tonino Sandrelli (Chris Caldovino).

The purpose of the meeting is to make things square with the New York hoods — namely boss Joe Masseria (Ivo Nandi). Nuck's brother Elias "Eli" Thompson (Shea Whigham) looks on.

It's probably safe to assume that the bad blood between Charlie Luciano (Vincent Piazza) and Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlberg) has begun.

Nucky extends his hand but boss Masseria takes a drag of his cigarette instead. Luciano, under his breath, tells the New York gangster that he should shake his hand.

"Does he speak English?" Nucky quips.

"He's not in the mood," Luciano snaps back.

Eli jumps in. "We'd like to settle things. We think you do, too."

"What makes you think that?" Rothstein asks.

"Why else would you show up?" Eli answers.

"To see what the Thompson brothers are contemplating," Rothstein says.

Nucky explains that he has his bootlegging territory — South to Cape May, North to Asbury Park and West to Trenton. He says that it's more than enough for him because he's not looking to expand. He also says that he runs the local casinos, numbers racket and the wire. "I'm not looking for anything else," he assures.

Referring to slain psychopath Gyp Rosetti, Nucky says he didn't ask for trouble and merely returned what was brought to his doorstep. He would expect anyone in the room to do exactly as he did. (It was Tonino, based on Masseria's orders at the end of last season, who put a knife through his boss on the beach at Margate Sands).

Luciano explains that Masseria lost 15 good men that day and it isn't long before all the hoods in the room bicker amongst themselves.

Masseria slams his hands down in disgust to silence everyone."Why should I trust any words that come out of your mouth?" he asks.

"That's a reasonable question," Nucky answers. He motions to one of his men. "Let him see it." One of Nucky's guy's opens a satchel of cash and places it in front of Masseria.

Masseria asks what he wants. Nucky insinuates that he wants to visit the Big Apple and not look over his shoulder every waking moment. "I want peace," Nucky assures. "That's all."

"Where you eat or where you shop is no concern of ours," Rothstein states.

"This ends that," Masseria says pointing to the money.

Rothstein asks Luciano how he is. "I'm well, A.R...." he answers. (Luciano is still probably seething with anger after Rothstein stole Luciano's heroin after the young gangster got arrested at the end of last season. As a result, the rift between young Luciano and Rothstein was officially underway.)

After a few awkward glances between Rothstein and Masseria and Luciano and Lansky, the meeting adjourns.

"All of man's troubles come from his inability to sit quietly in a room by himself," Rothstein tells Nucky.

"You should try it," Nucky says back.

"Is that what you do in here?" Rothstein asks, referring to Chalky's new digs.

Nucky, once again, tries to break the ice and smooth things over a bit. He tells Rothstein that he spoke to Lolly Steinman and that he'll float Rothstein's credit over at the tables in the casino.

Rothstein tells Nucky that he ran the odds on the drive down whether Nucky would kill him.

"What'd you come up with?" Nucky asks.

"14-to-1," Rothstein answers. "Against..."

* * *

Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol ) and her lawyer Leander 'Uncle Junior' Whitlock (Dominic Chianese) appear in court, battling for custody over her grandson Tommy Darmody (Brady and Connor Noon).

Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol ) and her lawyer Leander 'Uncle Junior' Whitlock (Dominic Chianese) appear in court, battling for custody over her grandson Tommy Darmody (Brady and Connor Noon).

Also seeking guardianship of the small boy is Harrow's former galpal Julia Sagorsky (Wrenn Schmidt) and her father Paul (Mark Borkowski). (At the end of last season when Richard Harrow stormed the Artemis Club with guns blazing, he snagged little Tommy from the brothel and brought him to the safety of the Sagorsky household.)

Gillian attempts to play on the sympathies of the judge but Julia loses her temper and exclaims, "She was running a cathouse. She was raising that child in a cathouse!" The judge assumes that both parties are bending the truth and asks them both what really happened with little Tommy and the actual circumstances leading to him landing outside of his blood home.

Across town, Eli is busy teaching his eldest son William (Kevin Csolak) how to drive. He's all over the road. Eli tells him to pull into a warehouse area of sorts, otherwise known as the home base for the family bootlegging operation. They see Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks) from the distance. William asks if he runs the place. Eli doesn't answer, instead diverting attention to the cigarette smoke smell emanating from his son's coat.

Inside, Eli and Mickey meet with U.S. Treasury Officer Stan Sawicki (Joseph Aniska) and his new partner, the apple-pie faced agent Warren Knox (Brian Geraghty). Eli wants to know the reason for the meeting.

After they excuse Knox from the room, Agent Sawicki insinuates to Eli that he's gone above and beyond his pay grade ( I guess even dirty prohibition cops know where they should draw their line). Eli counters by insisting that they've both been helping one another. Nevertheless, it's obvious that Sawicki is looking for an additional handout.

Just what are Nucky and Eli Thompson cooking up this season?

Outside of the room, Agent Knox sees the payoff of money between Sawicki and Eli and we can tell he's puzzled. The young agent is having a conversation with Elmer (Wade Myliusone), one of Doyle's bootlegger drivers. The portly fellow tells Knox that he's having a problem with some pineys stealing his hooch — specifically 1000 gallons of whiskey at his own warehouse.

"Don't you catch bootleggers?" Elmer asks.

"Not for other bootleggers," Knox answers.

Elmer says that he has a surprise for the next fox in his hen house in the form of a booby-trapped door with a pulley and a shotgun.

The action shifts to Cicero, Illinois where Al Capone (Stephen Graham) unloads a truckload of prostitutes at what he calls 'The Cicero Quilting Society.' It actually looks to be his new base of operations apart from the Four Deuces, his old social club.

Chicago boss Johnny Torrio (Greg Antonacci) calls Capone into a back room, who enters with new 'Empire' regulars — Capone brothers Ralph and Frank (Domenick Lombardozzi and Morgan Spector)

An angry Torrio, sits with Cicero mayoral candidate Joseph Z. Klenha. (3) Torrio throws a newspaper towards Capone. The headline reads:

DEMOCRATS TO RUN REFORM TICKET

Proclaim "Criminal element shall not prevail"

Capone scoffs at the paper, noting that their boy Klenha has the election in the bag. It's all fun and games until Ralph reads the article aloud, joking that Al is being called Torrio's 'factotum.' Adding insult to injury, his name is also incorrect. Capone is livid.

As for the definition, Merriam-Webster defines 'factotum' a few ways namely, "a general servant."

Joseph Z. Klenha

(3) My Al Capone Museum says that Joseph Z. Klenha was mayor in Cicero from 1924 to 1932. During that time, the gangsters were said to be wreaking all sorts of havoc in the city. He was finally defeated in 1932.

Back at the Onyx Club, Nucky chit-chats with Eddie Cantor (Stephen DeRosa) who is busy bragging about his new movie "A Few Moments with Eddie Cantor" (See the short film here.)

Nucky, being Nucky, isn't exactly impressed — even when the latest showgirl-of-the-month raves about the film.

Cantor leaves for rehearsal but Cantor's showgirl pal stays behind to chat with Nucky. She asks if he knows Owney Madden, owner of The Cotton Club. (4)

Owney Madden

(4) The Gangster Museum of America says that Owney 'The Killer' Madden was an organized crime figure from Hell's Kitchen, New York who ran The Cotton Club and The Stork Club. His gangster pals ran far and wide including, according to the Museum, Meyer Lansky, Lucky Luciano, Ben Siegel, Dutch Schultz and even Sing Sing warden Lewis Lawes.

"You ever go up to Harlem?" Nucky asks her.

"When someone takes me," she blushes back.

She admits to Nucky that Cantor didn't want them to meet. "He says you're dangerous," she admits.

"If you think so, you better hightail it," he says.

At the Artemis Club, Gillian walks a prospective buyer through the rooms. It looks more rundown than ever. In fact, The Commodore would be angry to see what's become of his compound. Nevertheless, she talks up the rooms and what they have to offer.

"It's waiting for the right man to bring it back to life," she says.

"You're quite the scene-painter," the gentleman says.

"I'm just describing the possibilities..." Gillian tells him.

She leaves the room, allowing him to "think about it." She retreats to her bedroom and prepares a syringe — opium or heroin, perhaps — and injects herself (although we never see it, we're left to assume).

They talk numbers — at first we're led to believe it's about the house but we quickly see she's negotiating something quite different, as Gillian's obviously become the last, sad trick in the brothel.

* * *

The action shifts to a darkened office. We see a panicked man rushing to get rid of his secretary for the evening. She tells him that she left "the present" on his desk and all he needs to do is to sign the card. When she leaves, he begins speaking to someone, obviously afraid, making nervous small talk.

"I'm a middle man, that's all... I take orders from Milwaukee... I don't ask questions." He tries to bribe whoever is in the room by offering them $5000 (roughly worth $68,302 by today's standard, according to the inflation calculator at the Bureau of Labor Statistics).

We see that it's Richard Harrow sitting in a chair pointing a gun at the man, who is quickly losing his composure. "You don't know me... You don't know anything about me," he says crying.

"I know... you're ... gonna ... die," Harrow says coldly.

The man asks Harrow if he can at least sign the card for the wrapped present that's on his desk (a pair of roller skates, he explained earlier, probably for his child).

Masked man Richard Harrow certainly seem to be starting season 4 on an odd pilgrimage of violence

Instead, the man scribbles something different and says, "The is who you want... His name... His address." A moment after, Harrow fills him with lead, picks up the card and leaves the room.

Back in Atlantic City, Nucky has dinner with Eli, his wife and their hundred children at Eli's home. They watch eldest son Will sing the Temple University fight song "T for Temple U," (complete lyrics here).

After asking how many football games he's attended, Eli grills Will about his grades. After naming all of the boys he attends the football games with, his mother June ( Nisi Sturgis) asks if they smoke.

"Me?" Will says agitated and motions to his father. "He's like a chimney."

Eli scolds Will for snapping at his mother and makes the boy apologize. Nucky checks his pocket watch, notices the time and excuses himself. We see Will watch his Uncle Nucky leave. The boy's mid is brewing something.

Outside, he catches up to his uncle and tells him that he should've stayed in school over the break. Nucky objects and says that Will needs to see his family. The kid, however, maintains that Eli should be telling him how the business works.

"Which business is that?" Nucky asks.

"Ours..." the boy answers.

Nucky says that it's nothing for him to worry about. "What you need to do now is get the degree we're all counting on."

"I do smoke," Will admits.

Nucky says he knows and it was during his one year of college where he picked up his own bad habits.

* * *

Back in Illinois, Capone is still lamenting to his brothers the fact that the reporter in the newspaper spelled his name wrong.

What happens when you spell Al Capone's name wrong in the newspaper? The Capone 'bruddas' come looking for you.

"Alphonse Capone... Seriously... How hard is that?"

His brother Ralph says that the reporter's last name is "St. John" and that he's probably "a pilgrim." He's not going to know an Italian name.

"He spelled Torrio right," Capone counters.

His other brother Frank says that's a good thing. "Let him take the heat."

"I was here first," Capone says. "I'm not nothing..."

Back in Atlantic City at a flophouse, Dunn Purnsley and Dickie's wife begin their "quickie." He hands her a shot and, after she downs it, she asks for another.

She says that Chalky should be careful because her husband is not an honest man. "He steals from the acts. He steals from the owners. He's a nasty little thief."

"For someone in a hurry, you talk a lot..." Purnsley says, lowering his pants.

As they begin, they're interrupted by her husband Dickie watching them. Dunn and Dickie's wife are both thrown, although it's apparent that they've maybe done this before.

"Dickie, he made me..." his wife says.

Dickie, brandishing a pistol, listens to a lavish story his wife tells saying that Purnsley kidnapped her and brought her there. Still waving his handgun, Dickie insults Purnsley racially and even more oddly, insists he has sex with his wife.

Purnsley is utterly confused. "I'll put your brains on the wall," Dickie tells him.

"It's all just some fun," the wife assures. Not to Purnsley who, after they begin the humiliating deed, blasts a whiskey bottle clear across Dickie's face. It's doesn't just stop there, however, the beating continues until the booking agent is dead and his wife, in horror, escapes through the window, naked. Purnsley stands there a bloody mess.

We catch up to Agents Sawicki and Knox sitting in their car in a dark alley. Knox tells his partner about the booze that Doyle's driver Elmer is stockpiling as well as the lavish bankroll he's flaunting. From the get-go, it smells like a setup for poor Agent Sawicki. Knox, knowing full well that the door is booby-trapped, lays it on thick. We see Sawicki's gears spin and so begins his demise.

Dunn Purnsley finds himself in trouble with Chalky White and Nucky Thompson in "New York Sour."

Back at the flophouse, Chalky scolds Purnsley hard. "You know what you've done here? I signed contracts with that man. He's connected in New York," he says.

Chalky goes on to say that he was working on making Dickie his friend inch-by-inch for the good of The Onyx Club just to be crapped for the sake of a woman. Chalky refers to him as a "sweetback." (The Urban Dictionary informs that sweetback refers to someone "who is too smooth and fresh to go by any other less respectful term." )

Just then, Eli and Nucky enter for some damage control.

"Jesus Christ... His head is practically off," Nucky blurts. Leave it to Nucky to be blunt.

"He earned it," Purnsley darts back.

Nucky asks who he was. Chalky tells him that he was a booking agent who worked for Owney Manning.

Chalky says that they have to find the girl and "take care of it." Nucky adds that people in and around the flophouse must stay quiet.

Later, out in the marshes, we see Purnsley dragging Dickie's body into weeds for burial. Chalky and Eli look on from the car, egging him on, taunting Purnsley as he digs.

* * *

Back at the tattered Artemis Club, Gillian now snorts her dope. This time, though, the man she leaves alone in the master boudoir to think about buying the place is Roy Phillips (Ron Livingston), a businessman not from the area. He says that she's asking a lot.

"Is there anything I can do to persuade you?" she asks.

Phillips maintains that she really doesn't want to sell the place. Gillian says that she does. He says that he only needs someplace to live for a few months.

She asks what brings him to town. "Piggly Wiggly, the supermarket chain..." he answers. "We're expanding to the Northeast and I'm here to set it up." (5)

(5) According to their web page, Piggly Wiggly was "America's first true self-service grocery store, and founded in Memphis, Tenn. in 1916 by Clarence Saunders. In grocery stores of that time, shoppers presented their orders to clerks who gathered the goods from the store shelves. Saunders, a flamboyant and innovative man, noticed that this method resulted in wasted time and expense, so he came up with an unheard-of solution that would revolutionize the entire grocery industry: he developed a way for shoppers to serve themselves."

Since he's new to the Atlantic City area, Phillips asks Gillian to tag along on the next few stops he has to make. She agrees.

Back in Illinois, The Capone 'bruddas' visit the pencil-necked reporter who wrote the piece about Torrio and Al. It's not hard intimidating the kid. Capone recites the meaning of the word 'factotum.'

"Making a name for yourself, huh?" Capone asks.

"I'm reporting the truth," he answers.

Capone scribbles down something on a piece of paper and tells the reporter to read it aloud one letter at a time.

"C-A-P-O-N-E," he recites.

"Now ya know..." Capone says before leaving.

At Chalky White's Onyx Club, the gorgeous Onyx Girls perform their lavish production.

Back in A.C., we're at the Onyx Club where we see the gorgeous Onyx Girls perform their lavish production.

In a corner, Nucky asks Purnsley why he didn't find Dickie's wife — especially since she was white and half-naked in the African-American side of the tracks. Purnsley back talks Nucky as Chalky orders him to go check the bar.

"The man stood for you when it count," Chalky tells Nuck.

"Just so we're clear, I don't want anyone else's grief," Nucky says.

When Nucky walks back to his table, we see that he's out with Eddie Cantor's showgirl.

Agents Sawicki and Knox are parked outside of Elmer's warehouse. Knox wants to go in proper while Sawicki suggests they just "blow this hillbilly over." Knox, knowing about Elmer's booby trap, allows Sawicki to open the warehouse door and be blown to bits. When Elmer goes outside to inspect, Knox shoots him in the head, goes inside and takes a huge gulp of some bootlegged whiskey. Outside, he tells Sawicki, who's presumably dying, that he called in the shooting and that he's pretty rattled and needs to get a grip on himself.

Nucky is staying at the simple Albatross Hotel, certainly a far cry from his extravagant suite at The Ritz. He's just finished having sex with Cantor's showgirl and they agree to keep their tryst a secret. (6)

"The 'dumba' they come," Nucky mocks in a Cantor-esque voice.

She confesses that she wanted to meet Nucky for quite a long time. "Everyone talked about you and Billie." (She's referring to Nucky's late showgirl girlfriend Billie Kent who died in the explosion at Babette's last season).

"What did they say?" he asks.

"How else could she have starred on Broadway?" the girl answers. Nucky doesn't like the answer. It was the wrong thing to say because he had genuine feelings for Billie.

Nucky excuses himself and a moment later Eddie Kessler comes into the room and tells the girl that Nucky has left. It's obvious he's lying.

Is the Albatross Hotel that's in "Boardwalk Empire" the same one that's in Ocean Grove? Sure looks that way.

(6) I'm not exactly sure where this Albatross Hotel is supposed to be in the confines of the show, but there is an Albatross in Ocean Grove that bears a striking structural resemblance.

Later, Nucky exits to the balcony and reads the contents of a folder. It looks like a prospectus of some sort. He looks at a photo of a man with large fish. We can make out the words 'MANATEE COUNTY FLORIDA' and 'IDEAL LAND COMPANY.' He flips through the pages and we see lots of maps and topography grids. What's he cooking?

Harrow walks up the show-covered front yard at what looks to be a very simple home. After hiding his gun in the firewood, he knocks on the door. Just then, we see a woman has a rifle pointed at him and, when she sees its Harrow, lowers her weapon. It's his twin sister Emma (Katherine Waterston). Many will remember Harrow speaking fondly of his sister. It was she who cared to his wounds after the war but he found it hard to reconnect their close relationship so he left Wisconsin who he was able.

"Emma..." he says. "I've come home."

We fade out.

Other stuff on my mind:

• The title of the show, "New York Sour" is a reference to the drink Dickie's wife was drinking when she asked for a refill and suggested a tryst with Purnsley. If we want to dissect further, it's more than obvious that things will go sour in New York for Nucky — especially since the booking agent connected with Owney Madden and The Cotton Club was brutally killed in Atlantic City. Also take note that we've yet to meet this season's chief baddie — Dr. Valentin Narcisse, (Jeffrey Wright), a Harlem philanthropist. Many speculate that the character's inspiration is W.E.B Dubois. We'll explore that more as Wright appears.

For those who want to imbibe, Epicurious says that a New York Sour is merely a wine-spiked whiskey sour. Here's the recipe on how to make your own.

• Of the two goons in the opening scene. I always find it funny how out of place these gangsters usually look taken out of their element ala Tabor Heights (Gyp Rosetti and Co. last year) or in the opening homespun road house.

• Speaking of ... Was I the only one who thought for a split second that one of the goons that Harrow killed in the first scene was Nelson Van Alden/George Mueller (Michael Shannon)?

• Question: Of the title that Harrow pulled out of the goon's pocket after killing him... I have a theory. Could it possibly be for the Overholt Distillery that Nucky tricked Rothstein into taking off his hands at the end of last season?

• Fans of "The Wire" will be glad to see two alums from the landmark drama on 'Empire.' "Mystic River" novelist and "The Wire" writer Dennis Lehane will be a creative consultant and scribe for season 4. Also, Dominick Lombardozzi otherwise known as Sgt. Thomas 'Herc' Hauk will star as Capone's brother Ralph.

• So Gyp Rosetti got our Gillian Darmody hooked on smack...

• We all know that Chalky can a run a decent juke joint. How does everyone feel about him operating a premium hotspot in the vein of Babette's?

• While we're on the subject, what happened to Nucky's suite at The Ritz? I know it was blown to bits when Gyp's men descended upon it, but shouldn't it have been renovated by now?

• The vanity of gangsters. Who remembers Christopher Moltisante in "The Sopranos" rushing out to buy copies of The Star-Ledger when his name appeared in print?

• After shooting the businessman in his office, I love how Harrow turns off the desk lamp.

• I may be a softy but ... Wasn't it nice to see Nucky having dinner with the large Thompson clan and not have things be awkward?

• It just wouldn't be 'Empire' without a weird sex scene, right? Is this a new trend in gangster dramas? Last season it began with Gyp's asphyxiation and continued with "Magic City" on Starz where baddie Ben Diamond (Danny Houston — Harrow's real-life uncle) enjoyed somewhat of a cuckold fetish.

• Wouldn't Dunn Purnsley have heard Dickie enter the room at the flophouse?

• Okay, who's coming off as more of an odd bird — Agent Knox or former Agent Nelson Van Alden? Speaking of Knox, let's keep our eye on the show's new cast member since he's a Jersey boy and graduate of Toms River High School East in 1993. He's appeared in such films as "Jarhead," "The Hurt Locker" and "Flight."

• R.I.P., Agent Sawicki... Say hi to Agent Clarkson in the Big Distillery in the Sky.

• So ... No Margaret yet. No Van Alden. Who misses them?

• Let's end the season's first recap with the 1924 Fletcher Henderson tune "My Papa Doesn't Two-Time."

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