Monday, Bloody Monday.
There was a point during “The Gift of the Magi” where I wondered if there would be any characters left by the time the episode was over. Joe Bulo—who is revealed to be quite the coward—and a Kitchen brother were two of the episode’s biggest causalities.
The war between the Kansas City mafia and the Gerhardts escalated to a bloody showdown in the woods. To make his mother feel better about how Rye died, Dodd and Hanzee tell Floyd it was one of the Kansas City men known as “The Butcher” who killed him, not an actual butcher. Rye couldn’t die at the hands of just an ordinary person. Dodd, who wants war, convinces his mother that this is the Kansas City mob making the first move. His brother Bear, who cries silently at the news of his brother’s death, doubts Hanzee is telling the whole truth and tries to get him to come clean, but Hanzee is loyal to Dodd above all else.
Simone and Charlie both think they’re ready to play in the big league, but neither are—they’re more like kids playing dress up. Charlie begs his uncle to let him be the one to kill the butcher. But when Charlie comes face-to-face with having to kill Ed not only, but also Noreen, the butcher shop cashier (who he actually flirts with), he can’t do it and ends up with a package of meat instead. He goes back into the shop to finish the job, but he misses the first shot and his gun jams leaving Ed ample time to fight back and kill one of the Gerhardt henchman, before rescuing Charlie and Noreen as the butcher shop (and Ed’s American dream) goes up in flames. “I saved the kid, didn’t I?” Ed desperately says to Noreen, now shocked by the fact that he’s killed two men.
Simone goes to see Mike, who shows her Joe Bulo’s head in a box. Simone is also in way over her head, thinking she has a relationship with Mike that she clearly does not. “I want to know what they’re going to do before they do it every time. Otherwise you can die with the rest of them,” he tells her.