The Knick Episode 2.01 Ten Knots

Lucy gets ready for work. As she moves through her day at the Knick, we hear in voiceover a letter she wrote to Thackery, updating him on the goings on at the hospital: Sister Harriet is awaiting trial after being arrested for performing abortions, the ground breaking for the new Knick facilities is scheduled for next week, Dr. Edwards is Acting Head of Surgery, Bertie has not forgiven her for her relationship with Thackery, and Dr. Gallinger's suspension has been lifted.

Thackery performs a nose job on a fellow female patient at Cromartie, receiving several vials of heroin as payment. Thackery offers to perform further cosmetic surgeries on the patient in return for more of the drug. He is no closer to recovery than when he was first admitted to the hospital.

Algernon learns that he has a detached retina in his left eye--an injury from one of his street fights. He asks a fellow doctor if there is any cure, but is told all the procedures are experimental and too dangerous to try. Struggling to see during surgery, Algernon begins to delegate surgical responsibilities to Bertie.

At a meeting with the Knick board (now officiated by Cornelia's brother, Henry Robertson), Algernon presents himself as an official candidate for Chief of Surgery. He also asks for additional surgical hands. Barrow tells the board that he has the perfect man to add to the staff: a general practitioner, Dr. William Mays.

Cleary pays Harry a visit in prison. He expects to have some money coming his way, both from a wrestler he's managing and from a deal he's brokered with Barrow on a new motorized ambulance. Cleary tells Harry that he will hire a good lawyer to plead her case.

Gallinger assists his wife, Eleanor, as she selects teeth to create a set of dentures. Gallinger's sister-in-law, Dorothy, has come to stay with the couple to help with Eleanor's recovery--both from the death of her baby girl and from her time in the insane asylum.

Learning that he will have to work under Algernon upon his return to the Knick, Gallinger seeks out Thackery to bring him back to his responsibilities at the hospital. When Gallinger sees his mentor's unimproved state at Cromartie, he abducts Thackery and sequesters him on a sailboat to suffer through withdrawal symptoms. They'll return home when Thackery has the wherewithal to assemble a complex series of knots.

In San Francisco, Cornelia speaks with a Dr. Feng about the plague quarantine in Chinatown and learns that no food is coming through. She returns home and takes a pair of earrings (an heirloom in her husband Philip's family), selling them for food supplies. She pays the police guard, and they let her through the barricade with the newly-purchased provisions. Back at home, Philip announces a surprise visitor: his father, Hobart Showalter. He's come to bring the couple back to New York.

Standing alongside the mayor, the board members and Algernon pose for a picture at the Knick ground breaking ceremony. Henry tries to drum up more money for the hospital's construction, and learns from a friend that there is an opening for investors in the development of the new underground subway system.

Having suffered through the worst of his withdrawal, Thackery tells Gallinger that he plans to treat his addiction as a sickness, not a disease. He intends to find a cure.