Boss

I've been concerned.

Any improvement is likely a placebo effect.

Was Tom Kane admitted to your clinic? I need to know.

Yes. We treated him.

That bag you dropped, light at least five grand.

- Mayor Rutledge is in the hospital. - How can I help?

Emma is upset. I want you to take her home.

You're stronger than this.

Had you previously been unfaithful?

I'm not going to answer that question, Jim.

Don't you think we deserve to know who our elected officials are?

I made a fucking mistake.

When I become the next governor,

you and I will seldom coincide, legislatively or otherwise.

We are fast approaching the annual vote

to cover the city's expenditures.

There can be no push back.

It pains me to be the bearer of bad news.

Is this really the legacy you wanna leave behind, Mac?

Of allowing the state's largest city to go under?

This bond acquisition vote provides you an opportunity

to stimulate a wind of change.

Sacrifice the castle to take down the king.

Castles can be rebuilt, men cannot.

Voting will now begin. Alderman Ross.

I vote nay.

Out of the way! Out of the way!

With a tally of 41 nays, this measure is denied

McGantry. Everything you need, you have.

I fully expect you to lock him up

before I hand this slam-fucking-dunk case over to the feds.

Time. I want it.

Don't have it to give, Tom.

While I appreciate your coming to Springfield in your off-hours to ask,

there's nothing I can do.

Financial chicanery could have lasted only so long.

And it's to your credit that for over a decade it did.

But without the state bonds, without your own Council's support,

the city is about to default on some hefty loans.

Who do you think you are?

I've called for an emergency manager.

The advance team will be there in...

Who the fuck do you think you are?

The governor of the goddamn state, that's who.

You have no idea.

How is he?

I'm not sure you have the right to know.

Excuse me?

I spoke to his nurse. Nadeem, I believe.

He suggested you could have had something to do with it.

That, for whatever reason,

you may have withheld your grandfather's medication,

causing him to fall.

Is that what you call it? Medication?

The doctors can't say if he'll ever come out of the coma.

Hard enough seeing him live through a stroke.

You mean the one that you caused?

Sorry?

His stupor. It didn't just happen. It was induced.

And you kept him that way with all the bulbocapnine you keep giving him.

I don't understand what you're suggesting.

Why did you do it?

For his money? For his power? For your husband?

Borden. B-O-R-D-E-N? Great. Thanks.

Credit reports, disciplinary actions if any,

who his family members are, that's what I need.

A real background check.

Got it.

Sussing out a source or a date?

This detective I met with called, said he had some information for me.

Might be moot. Cullen's named an emergency manager.

The city's days from defaulting on its financial obligations.

When it does, Elizabeth Borden takes over.

The attorney who whipped Detroit into shape?

Ran it for over a year.

Mayor's cutting after-school programs to bridge the budget gap.

Nice.

How's he gonna pay for the other five billion?

Exactly. If Kane can't stop the bleeding,

Borden's gonna take him down before you do.

They're here.

Hard up in a clinch and no knife to cut the seizing.

How many?

Dozens.

When can we expect you in?

Soon.

Kill all residential streetlights.

Let this message be heard.

Corruption, political or financial, will not be tolerated by my office.

Take a couple questions.

Morning. - Morning.

Was taken into custody outside his Gold Coast penthouse.

He was a necessary evil, but known and without association.

I'll make the call.

Even my father had to ask for this type of help from time to time.

How is he, by the way, the old man?

Unchanged.

Emma, however, is becoming increasingly unstable,

and made accusations last night about the stroke.

She got physical.

Tom, I want her out of this house.

Going under? If not, the public wants to know what's next.

Will Mayor Kane be able to stave off disaster this time, or is Chicago...

I would ask that you endure for a few more days.

How long before they try and wrest it from you?

Sir, we're ready in your office.

What the fuck are you looking at?

Our phone lines are flooded with complaints about the closures.

Parents, teachers, conservancy groups, park and rec workers.

Temporary inconveniences which must be abided.

Sacrifices must be made, particularly in those wards

which don't provide enough tax revenue.

Nonexistent in the 21st.

Then shutter its day care facilities, shelters, and community centers.

Sir, I understand your hostility towards Alderman Ross,

but his ward's already stretched in terms of public services.

And he no longer has to provide them

to residents of Lennox Gardens,

because there are none

at the moment.

I'll notify DFSS about shuttering those agencies right away.

Smaller measures like these can help,

but, with all due respect, they're a drop in the bucket given the city's deficit.

What we really need is a federal bailout.

Which is why I want you in DC. I need you to push for TARP funds.

Get the Treasury to buy our debt.

That's just what I was about to suggest.

Take the next plane out.

I'll make some calls, get you in front of the right people.

Yes, sir.

Ian, it was a bit chilly

when last I visited the conference room.

Make our guests more comfortable.

It was sound advice and I took it.

To great success, as it turns out.

Congratulations on that McGantry arrest, by the way.

Timing could have been better.

We barely made one news cycle before the budget crisis became a bigger headline.

True, but it's all of one piece,

fall of the status quo, ascendancy of new leadership.

What can I do for you, Mr. Zajac?

Double down.

Help me further separate myself from Tom Kane

by providing your full power of your field operations.

Got to love a man with confidence.

If he gets wind of this...

In a few days, he's a nonissue.

If the city goes broke, it'll be up for grabs.

Pretty big takedown. His biggest PAC contributor for years.

He must have done something huge to piss Kane off this much.

Like contribute to my campaign.

Might not have been Kane's play.

God knows the State's Attorney will do anything to get into the papers.

No, I'm pretty sure Doyle got this handed to him on a silver platter.

Kitty, you give your old boss way too much credit.

And anyway, McGantry is yesterday's news.

Today is all about the fact that Chicago's been run into the ground by the bad guys.

We're ready.

In here.

And you work for the good guys now.

Have a driver meet me at the gate.

I've got my RFP responses here, but I need my PowerPoint overnighted.

I'll call you from the cab.

Good a time as any to leave town.

I'm flying to DC, trying to mitigate some of the damage you've done.

It's not my fault the city can't meet its obligation on loan interests.

Kane's been working this Ponzi scheme for years.

By the time the receiver gets it straight, his term's over,

and you're out of a job.

Should have stuck with Mr. Ross here.

FYI, if Borden takes over, your boss loses, too.

Unlike our mayor, I can rise again.

Seems like your name may not be worth so much after all.

No. No. No.

No! No! No!

You can't fucking do this! Fuck you, you fucking bitch! Let me out!

Sweat it out, bastards.

The city has a pension payment tomorrow of over half a million dollars.

We could save that by shutting down select transit lines

between 7:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.

It'll buy us some time, anyway.

Do it, but don't spare rush hour.

Not a cut the public will respond well to.

Perhaps you should make a statement.

Last thing I want to do is become the official face of this crisis

when it is the Council that is wholly to blame.

I just wish some informed insider would say the same to the press.

Sir?

You heard me.

After all these years, I can't believe I've never seen your home.

We don't entertain here often.

This is a special occasion, then.

John, my husband's trust isn't easily earned.

I've noticed. My family's made more than one overture.

Yeah.

But at the moment,

Chicago is experiencing financial difficulties.

And you see an opportunity.

I do.

Does the Mayor even know that I'm here?