Farewell Daddy Blues

An angry Chalky sneaks into the Albatross with his gang to confront Nucky over his partnership with Narcisse. Nucky states he wants to kill Narcisse as well. For this, Nucky talks with Narcisse over meeting with Chalky and settling the ownership of the Onyx Club.

During Gillian's trial, Richard is brought to testify. He claims that Gillian made Roger's body appear like Jimmy's, but the defense claims that Richard's disability prevents him from identifying. To support it, Richard asks Nucky to know Jimmy's location so he can use it as evidence. Nucky accepts to inform authorities with a favor from Richard, for which he will have to perform a hit. Richard then bids farewell to Julia, Paul and Tommy, sending them to live with Emma, promising to meet them there in a few days.

In Chicago, Van Alden suspects that Torrio orchestrated the hit on Capone's life. Later, Torrio is gunned down outside his house but survives. At the hospital, he announces his retirement and appoints Capone as the new boss, intending to move back to Italy.

Eli meets with Nucky at the Albatross, only to be held at gunpoint by Nucky. Nucky reveals his knowledge of his informant status and demands answers. Eli confesses that he was forced to inform Tolliver about Nucky's operation, revealing he works for the Bureau. Willie walks in on the confrontation, and Eli proclaims that he did it to protect Willie from prison. Willie flees and Eli goes to the house, only to be confronted by Tolliver. Tolliver attempts to arrest Eli, but infuriates Eli by stating his intention to arrest Willie, implying he will be raped in prison. Enraged at this threat to his son, Eli throws a punch. The two men get into a violent fight in the living room, which culminates in Eli beating Tolliver to death as June and the rest of his children scream from upstairs in terror.

Chalky meets with Narcisse at the Onyx, with Narcisse revealing that he has Maybelle hostage and wants Daughter back if he wants her released. During the meeting, Richard aims a rifle at Narcisse from afar, but he hesitates when he gets Narcisse at the spot. He then fires, but Maybelle has already moved in front of Narcisse, dying and shocking both Richard and Chalky. A gunfight ensues and Richard is wounded, forcing him to flee the club. Chalky also escapes, but Narcisse is arrested when authorities arrive at the club in search of Eli. Making his way to the boardwalk, Richard rests under the pier.

Hoover meets with Narcisse in jail. To his surprise, he offers a deal; Narcisse will reveal details surrounding Marcus Garvey and be released, or face prison time for Tolliver's murder. Nucky is also stopped short from leaving to Florida when authorities question him over Eli's whereabouts. Eli's family moves out of town and Nucky instructs Willie that he must take care of his family now, telling them that Eli is safe. Eli is revealed to be arriving in Chicago, where he meets Van Alden. Gillian is informed in prison about Jimmy's body's discovery, devastating her as she has lost everything. Margaret is introduced to her new home by Rothstein. Chalky flees back to Oscar's house in Havre de Grace, Maryland, having lost the Onyx Club, his family, and his standing in the community, while also devastated over Maybelle's death.

Richard boards a train and then walks up to Emma's farm house, where he reunites with Julia, Paul, Tommy, Emma and her husband. As Julia approaches him, Richard's mask disappears, revealing the event to be a fantasy. Back at the pier, Richard's mask has fallen off and Richard has died peacefully from his wounds.

The episode marked Jack Huston and Michael Stuhlbarg's final appearances in the series.

In October 2013, HBO confirmed that the twelfth and final episode of the season would be titled "Farewell Daddy Blues", and that it would be written by series creator Terence Winter and executive producer Howard Korder, and directed by executive producer Tim Van Patten. This was Winter's 12th writing credit, Korder's 18th writing credit, and Van Patten's 16th directing credit.^[1]

Terence Winter felt that Richard's death "brought him full circle." He further added that the writers couldn't continue bringing out of retirement get back in the main storyline, saying "as it played out it just made the most sense dramatically to bring him to a conclusion in that way."^[2] He commented that while the writers considered having him return to his family, "it just felt a little too nicely wrapped up and neat. This felt like a much more realistic, dramatic way to go and tell that story."^[2] He compared it to Oscar's warning to Chalky in the previous episode, "As Oscar tells to Chalky, eventually we all run out of road, and we knew at some point, Richard was going to run out of road."^[3] Jack Huston stated that he favored the decision as he did not want Richard to repeat the same actions as previous seasons, explaining, "If he was going to die, they wanted him to die when people still loved him – not when he was just another character."^[4]

Winter wanted to avoid having the antagonists die or wrap their storylines with the finale, in contrast to previous season finales, which is why the writers kept Narcisse alive. He said, "It actually worked in our favor anyway, so we didn't feel the need to kill him, or wrap it up in any more of a conclusive way than it was handled."^[2]

Commenting on Eli's new role in Chicago, Winter said, "in terms of the story, we are always trying to be surprising and do something different than what the audience expects as long as it falls within the framework of the reality of the show. I really try not to do things that feel like TV, or the TV version of something."^[2]

As the fifth season's storyline is set seven years after the conclusion of the episode, the episode also marked the final appearance of Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein.^[5]