Previously: Eli went to jail for the Hans Schroeder killing. Nucky's crony in Washington, Harry Daugherty, told him he'd be making his payoffs to a new guy soon. We learned that Nucky has a new mistress, a New York showgirl named Billie. Margaret saw a woman miscarry and got her Sister Suffragette on, this time about women's health. Gyp Rosetti came on the scene and said mean things to a lot of people.

Somewhere in New York City, an unseen man empties out his fishbowl -- goldfish and all -- into the sink, where the water quickly drains, leaving the fish to flop around sadly. If the guy is overly concerned about the welfare of the fish, it's not apparent, as he's moving at a leisurely pace and whistling. But he empties a glass of whiskey into the toilet, fills that glass up with tap water, and puts the fish in there, where there are probably traces of the whiskey still, since he didn't rinse out the glass all that well. And that's all we see if Mr. Goldfish Man, for the moment.

Elsewhere, in New Jersey, a man emerges from prison, in one of those classic scenes where the giant door opens and the paroled inmate walks out into the blinding daylight and just barren land, as far as the eye can see. It's a hell of a metaphor, but I always wonder why they don't let them walk out into the parking lot or something. Anyway, it's Eli, who got the luxury of spending his prison sentence during the hiatus between seasons. He looks skinnier, older, maybe a bit wary of face. A car approaches to pick him up, and to everybody's dismay, it's Mickey Doyle. "He sends you?" Eli asks, incredulous, and also kind of redundantly. Mickey just grins and laughs his wheezy laugh at him. Eli gets in and ignores all of Mickey's dumb attempts at small talk. He does want to know one thing: how the hell is Mickey still alive? Mickey grins and says he brings people together. In hatred of him, yes he does. Eli calls him a "backstabbing shit," almost as an afterthought, but Mickey has the right comeback: "No wonder we get along." Mickey gives Eli the lay of the land: Nucky's a hard guy to get an audience with these days, especially since Horvitz got his face shot off. But Nucky told Mickey to personally pick up his brother, and get him set up. So Eli works for Mickey now, and Eli quite understandably takes in his news and exits the car, prepared to walk home if necessary. Mickey putters after him and reminds him: there's no one else coming for him. This is it. Eli gets back in the car.

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