Jimmy's home! You can imagine how psyched Angela is to see him. Things get awkward pretty much immediately, and the Dittrichs gather their things and head out. Once they're gone, Angela tells Jimmy he should've let her know she was coming. He did, he says, then curses Western Union for apparently not delivering the telegram. He tries to kiss her and she recoils -- she's mad at him for never calling, sure, but she's also mad that he came home at all. He persists, she slaps him, and he persists some more. Like, severely so. Is it rape if he's her husband? [Or pseudo-husband even? -- Angel] If she eventually stops slapping at him and starts kissing him back as they do it on the kitchen table? I mean, whatever, I think that question is beside the point anyway. The point is -- these were husbands and wives back then, and it's ugly, which is why you're seeing it. Jimmy's come back a changed person, and you're seeing that too.

The next day, at the Federal Bureau of Postage Stamps, Agent Sebso is greeted by an incensed Agent Van Alden (he slaps the cruller from his hand, the monster!). Van Alden just got a call from Western Union saying that the Darmodys called to complain about an undelivered telegram -- where is this telegram and why wasn't Van Alden told! Slobber! Bugged eyes! Yeah, so, here's the thing: Michael Shannon walks a thin tightrope when it comes to my enjoyment of him. He ain't never going to be subtle, but I appreciate that manic intensity when he's living within a role (Bug; The Runaways); it when he starts to play the performance rather than the character (Revolutionary Road) that he really detracts from me enjoying whatever movie he's slobbering in. This week, he's really setting up camp in that latter category. Sebso apologizes and at first plays like he forgot he even had the telegram, but when Val Alden continues to yell, Sebso snaps back that Supervisor Elliott has been saying that Van Alden is too focused on the Thompson/Darmody/Schroeder angles of their present assignment. He was trying to save Van Alden from himself, essentially. "You kill a snake by cutting off the head," Van Alden explains. "Darmody gives him up, this entire city -- this Sodom -- will be cleansed all at once." Oh, here we go with more of your Sodom-bashing.