Nights in Ballygran
Margaret wakes to see men working for ward boss James Neary offloading beer barrels into a garage behind her house. She meets Nucky on her way to work, but he disappoints her with his sudden aloofness. After discussing the garage at a Temperance League meeting, Margaret and a colleague meet with Nucky, who promises to take action but does nothing. Margaret sees the deliveries again that night; brushed off by Neary and ignored altogether by Nucky, she reports Neary to Van Alden. The agent initially dismisses the operation as one of hundreds in the city, but she catches his interest by mentioning that Neary works for Nucky. As Nucky and Eli prepare for St. Patrick's Day celebrations, Eli mentions his coming re-election campaign and presses to "say a few words" at the Celtic Dinner, a gathering of local Irish bigwigs. Nucky is skeptical of Eli's efforts to improve at public speaking, but reluctantly accedes. Local dwarves, who work at a boxing ring, are hired to dress up as leprechauns for the Dinner. When they complain about the degrading gig, their leader Carl promises to have Nucky double their pay. In Chicago, Jimmy takes care of Pearl after her disfigurement, but she continues her spiral into depression and laudanum addiction. Torrio orders her evicted because her scarred face prevents her from working as a prostitute. Jimmy offers to pay for her keep, but realizes he cannot afford to. Pearl seems to understand her predicament: later that night, she drunkenly flaunts her scarred face in the lounge and, after a last kiss with Jimmy, fatally shoots herself while he is washing up. Subsequently, Jimmy visits an opium den in Chinatown. Nucky meets with his ward bosses, who anticipate large profits from selling booze on St. Patrick's Day. Nucky jokes about Eli's upcoming speech at the Dinner, to the amusement of everyone but an offended Eli. Carl comes to see Nucky, who bribes him into selling the other dwarves on a much smaller raise. Elsewhere, in New York City, Rothstein reads a newspaper article about the unfolding Black Sox Scandal and tells his lawyer he is worried about his involvement becoming known. Meanwhile, Gillian suggests that Jimmy's wife Angela should start over with another man, even offering to raise Jimmy's son for her. Angela angrily rejects her offer and leaves to meet a "friend", who is later revealed to live in the Boardwalk's photography studio. At the Dinner, Eli's speech is a debacle, inflaming a factional dispute and forcing Nucky to intercede. Eli drinks heavily and reveals his resentment of his brother's easy charm and diplomatic skill. Van Alden, acting on Margaret's information, raids the Dinner, arrests Neary in front of Nucky, and shuts the event down. Nucky sees Margaret with the Temperance League, cheering on the raid, and realizes what she has done. Later that night, he visits Margaret's home unannounced. They abruptly embrace and begin a physical relationship. "IGN" said the episode was "Outstanding" and gave the episode 9/10. They said "For those who are still on the fence about Boardwalk Empire's greatness, shut up and watch episode five, "Nights in Ballygran". The episode features the show's strongest character interactions yet, as Margaret's role in the Temperance League threatens both Nucky's political and criminal enterprises as Federal Agent Van Alden applies pressure to both." "The more shows like this make it harder for their main characters to do the right thing - the farther away they get from what the right thing is - is when television approaches being great. With "Nights in Ballygran", Boardwalk pushes past great and puts its sights on landmark. " The episode rebounded a bit to a 1.3 adults 18–49 rating after the previous week's plunge to a 1.1 rating and received a total of 2.850 million viewers.
Reception
"Nights in Ballygran" received positive reviews from critics.