HBO says of “The Pony”:
Episode #32:
Gillian (Gretchen Mol) makes her peace with Jimmy’s death, though not with Nucky (Steve Buscemi), as Gyp (Bobby Cannavale) arrives to play ally. Working off his debt to O’Banion (Arron Shiver), Van Alden (Michael Shannon) attends a meeting with Capone (Stephen Graham) and Torrio (Greg Antonacci); later, after a workplace meltdown, he considers Sigrid’s (Christiane Seidel) case for staying put versus resuming a life on the lam. With help from Gaston Means (Stephen Root), Nucky pays an unscheduled visit to Andrew Mellon (James Cromwell), offering the Treasury Secretary a recommendation and a business proposal. Margaret (Kelly Macdonald) makes a stand on birth control; Nucky and Owen (Charlie Cox) shop for a birthday pony; Billie (Meg Chambers Steedle) eyes a future on the silver screen, to Nucky’s chagrin. Written by Terence Winter and Howard Korder; directed by Tim Van Patten.
More in the text invisible.
* The episode begins with that casket in the promo. Richard Harrow’s first line in the promo is in that first scene.
* Gyp turns up unusually late in the episode. Rothstein even later.
* Chalky sits another episode out. So does Doyle. Lucky’s in, but if memory serves Lucky’s Jewish partners are not.
* Van Alden owes O’Banion thanks to O’Banion’s help disposing of Sigrid’s victim.
* Mrs. Shearer, the miscarriage lady, proves full of surprises.
* Julianne Nicholson’s back as Naked Esther!
* Stephen Root continues to crack me up. The witty Gaston Means, like Gyp Rosetti, remains one of the most enjoyable additions this season.
* Good line: “Things were rather tense last time.”
* Van Alden does not disappoint at his meeting. I love Nelson this week. You will too.
* The action this week does not shift for the first time to California. The filmmakers are in Queens.
* “Then our intercourse is concluded.”
* This is the latest episode to defy those who claim nothing ever happens on this show.
* How does it end, spoiler boy? Memorably, on the Boardwalk.
9 p.m. Sunday. HBO.
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