Baccano! Episode 04

"Ladd Russo Enjoys Talking A Lot and Slaughtering A Lot" is the fourth episode of the 2007 Baccano! anime.

Recap Scenes
Barnes saving two bottles from a fire (E03); Elean Duga telling Eve Genoard that Dallas Genoard's whereabouts are still unknown (E03); and the three-way hijacking of the dining car, culminating with Nick leaving the scene (E03).

Synopsis
In 1931, Ladd Russo hears gunfire in the corridor of one of the Flying Pussyfoot's Second Class cars. Nick runs past him, screaming to his boss that he didn't know that the situation would turn out "like this." Ladd skips a little down the hall, gradually breaking out into a run in his eagerness to see what has transpired in the dining car.

Title card.

Ten hours earlier in Chicago, Don Placido Russo of the Russo Family throws objects at two of his subordinates - furious that they would give him a "fairytale" report on the robbery of the Russos' profits for the month. One of them insists that the report is true: a pair of robbers dressed in the uniforms of Babe Ruth and a Ty Cobb (Isaac Dian and Miria Harvent) stole the money. Placido refuses to believe it, but the men said that they interrogated the man transporting the money and believe him to be telling the truth.

Disgruntled, Placido brings up the part of the report on the Russo capo Sidaris (Sedley in the novels). The men somberly explain that they found the capo's nearly unrecognizable remains at the edge of the factory grounds. Placido slams a wanted poster of Jacuzzi Splot onto his desk and asks them if a 'puny guy' like Jacuzzi could really pull something like that off. His men say that Jacuzzi's crew is "pretty tough" and ought not to be underestimated. Placido decides to go after the robber duo first, and orders his men to put heat on every couple in the city.

Ladd - Placido's nephew - enters the room and warns Placido against issuing such an unwise order. He ignores Placido's order for him to leave and moseys up to the desk, stating that money is the only thing Placido cares about other than his life - money that has now been stolen from him. He announces that he has good news as he looks over the now-crumpled wanted poster, but Placido does not want to hear it.

Unruffled, Ladd says his uncle will thoroughly search for the criminals, and choke them - and so saying, he grabs one of the Russo men by his throat and chokes him until he dies. He grabs the other man by his hair and slits his throat. The man crumples to the ground, his blood splattering across Placido's face.

Placido grimaces and calls Ladd a freak, but Ladd is quick to point out that Placido is being awfully rude to his best assassin. Placido counters that Ladd has no use except for assassin work, and Ladd leans over the desk and asks him if he ever thought that Ladd was the only person he could really count on. Ladd informs him that a special train called the Flying Pussyfoot will depart from Chicago that night on a nonstop journey to New York. He says he plans on riding the train and threatening to crash it right into Manhattan if the railroad company fails to cough up money. If the company refuses, then Ladd will escalate by holding all the passengers hostage. If he kills off half the passengers, he is sure that the company will pay them off. The idea is a win-win: Ladd gets to kill people, and Placido gets money. Placido is not so optimistic, and shouts at Ladd to leave.

A group of white-clad people enter the room, including Who, Vicky, Dune, and Lua Klein. Ladd introduces the men as his similarly-minded friends, and Lua as his lover, girlfriend, and fiancée. Fed up, Placido says that Ladd can go and kidnap and kill as many people as he likes as long as he doesn't do it in the Russo Family name. Ladd hefts a rifle, aims it at his uncle, and says that he kills only for his own pleasure. There is a special type of people he likes to kill: those who feel that they are invincible, never even considering that they might die. In other words, people like his uncle.

Afraid, Placido begs Ladd not to kill him. Ladd pulls the trigger, and demonstrates that the rifle was empty. Laughing, he says that there was no way he would kill his uncle, since he has to have some gratitude for all the years he spent in his uncle's care. Defeated, Placido weakly dismisses Ladd and slumps over his desk. Ladd obliges, noting that he'll have to change clothes first. Placido asks him why everyone is dressed in white in the first place, and Ladd explains that wearing white will make the blood look unbelievably pretty.

In the dining car, Vicky shoots and wounds one of the three Lemures while a woman in coveralls escapes out the window. The two other Lemures shoot Vicky dead, and he collapses in the middle of the car. Ladd enters the car moments later, grinning at the sight of his dead friend. The two Lemures move to stand near Vicky's corpse, aiming their machine guns at Ladd as he approaches them, truthfully claiming that he is unarmed.

So saying, Ladd kicks the gun-toting arm of the nearest Lemur upward, and uses it to shoot down the Lemur behind him. He lets the wounded Lemur escape to First Class and knocks the remaining Lemur to the ground, wrenching his machine gun from him. The Lemur growls that Ladd won't come out of the night unscathed, but Ladd is unimpressed at words he has heard from many a mobster before and tosses the machine gun to the side. The Lemur seizes the opportunity by taking a knife out from his sock, leaping to his feet, and slashing at Ladd - only for Ladd to punch him in the gut. Ladd begins punching him in the face, over and over; when the Lemur rasps that there is no way Ladd can stand against Master Huey, Ladd's attacks only become more vicious. He punches the Lemur to death, ranting about how superior the Black Suits consider themselves with their fancy weapons.

Two of Ladd's White Suits enter the dining car, asking him what happened. Ladd laughs lightly but doesn't answer, standing and walking over to a elegant woman shielding two children. He identifies the woman as Natalie Beriam, the wife of Senator Manfred Beriam, and decides to switch up the order of his plan: he now plans to take care of the Black Suits first, and then come back and deal with the Senator's family. Natalie and the two children - Czeslaw Meyer and Mary Beriam - watch in silence as Ladd plucks Vicky's two handguns from his hands and exits the dining car with his friends. Czes smiles darkly to himself and thinks that he can use Ladd and his men.

In 1932, Eve Genoard and her servants Benjamin and Samantha exit the Daily Days and enter their car, despondent from bad news. Eve's servants try to reassure her that Dallas Genoard will come home eventually, and Eve tries to convince herself that they are right.

Elean Duga and Nicholas Wayne watch the Genoards' car drive off through a window in the Daily Days, and Elean murmurs that it doesn't feel right pretending not to know anything about Dallas. Nicholas believes that they didn't really lie necessarily, since they don't really know what is actually going on. He refers to how they fooled the men from the Runorata Family into thinking they had something, and divulges that apparently Dallas is blackmailing Gustavo Bagetta over Gustavo killing Raymond and Jeffrey Genoard. Apparently. Nicholas and Elean both know that this information must be a lie, but Nicholas doesn't yet know what reason Bartolo Runorata had for lying in the first place.

Elean mutters to himself that Nicholas is right, given that Dallas case is classified. Nicholas overhears this and is surprised, since as far as he knew the Gandor Family had 'taken care' of Dallas. Wincing, Elean tries to pass it off as nothing, but Nicholas won't let it go - he asks why Elean can't share information with a colleague. Elean admits that The President of the Daily Days told him to keep quiet. Nicholas suspects that Elean's secret might have something to do with the "people who don't die." Elean neither confirms nor denies this and asks Nicholas to keep their conversation to himself before leaving the room.

In 1930, Isaac and Miria enter a hat shop, bumping into Maiza Avaro and Firo Prochainezo on the way in. The two try various hats on once inside, eventually settling on purchasing a Japanese helmet, a wooden mask, a black fedora, and a woman's lace hat. After they bring their hats to the counter, they warn the haberdasher to forget their faces if he doesn't want any trouble.

Walking down the street, Isaac and Miria reminisce over the eighty-seven robberies they have committed over the past two years, and Isaac announces that their last big job will be carried out right here in New York. After they commit this 'big crime,' they will live like kings in Miami. The two dance in the street, dreaming of a manor with a heated pool and their own personal train - and then they are hit by a car.

In 1931, the Lemur whom Ladd wounded in the dining car has made it safely to Goose Perkins' first class cabin, where Goose, Chané Laforet, Spike, and other Lemures are gathered. While one Lemur treats the bullet wound in the hurt Lemur's shoulder, Goose has the hurt Lemur report on the dining car events. Goose orders one of the Lemures to summon the surviving Lemures, and the man leaves the room. Goose wonders if this is a trial; when Spike says it is too early to tell, Goose acquiesces and replies that they cannot reach Master Huey's heights through normal routes.

Chané leaves the compartment without saying a word. Spike asks Goose if he is just going to let her go, and Goose says to leave her alone since she'll do what needs to be done. Furthermore, she'll only live until tomorrow.

Back in 1930, Szilard Quates chastises his chauffeur Ennis after she accidentally hits Isaac and Miria with her car. Ennis explains that they had appeared out of nowhere, and that she could not brake in time. Szilard orders her to drive and she does, ignoring the aggrieved shouts of Isaac and Miria on the street.

Szilard mutters that he cannot understand the youth today, but admits that he couldn't understand the youth from two hundred years ago either. He says that he hasn't been able to trust anyone younger than him ever since Maiza went mad. Ennis points out that as far as she knows, everyone is younger than him.

In 1931, Ladd assembles his White Suits for a meeting in one of the Second Class compartments aboard the Flying Pussyfoot. One of his men asks him who the Black Suits are, and Ladd replies that they are a "special treat," and that the White Suits will be able to kill at least two or three apiece. He tells his men that it'll be safer if they split up, and that they should reassemble in the compartment once they think they've killed enough Black Suits.

In 1930, Ennis and Szilard enter at a building situated near Grand Central Station. Szilard raps his heel against the floor, resulting in an elderly man opening a trapdoor a couple feet in front of him. The man greets Szilard with respect, remarking that it has been a "long time" since they last saw him. Szilard replies that it has "only" been twenty years as he and Ennis follow the man down a spiral stairwell.

The stairwell leads to a nicely wallpapered room, where several men ranging from middle-aged to elderly stand and greet Szilard with similarly respectful awe. Szilard asks where Barnes and Stagen are, and the man leading him down the stairs replies that Barnes is in the 'distillation room' while Stagen passed away the year before. Szilard calls Stagen's death unfortunate, recalling that he could only give Stagen and the men the failed, incomplete product. If Stagen had only lived for one year more, he would have been able to see "this day arrive" with the rest of them.

Szilard says that the men's ever-present fear of death will come to an end today, for the complete Cure-All Elixir has finally been completed. Confirming that Barnes has the finished product, Szilard orders Ennis to go find Barnes and bring him to the meeting room. He adds that if Barnes has touched even one drop of the product, or if he failed to preserve it and subsequently ruin it, then Ennis must kill him without hesitation. Ennis nods, and leaves the room.

In an alleyway, Dallas slams Barnes against a wall and sneers that Barnes shouldn't have expected him to just 'look away' after he kicked Dallas' leg. Barnes, still clutching his crate, retorts that Dallas and his three friends were the ones that tripped him. Dallas grabs Barnes' shirt, slaps him, and reminds him that he was the one who called them scum in the first place. Slapping him again, he says that that was why he stuck his leg out accidentally - so obviously it is Barnes' fault for walking into his leg - and he kicks Barnes' left leg in turn. Agitated, Barnes agrees that it was his fault and offers to give them money. Dallas throws Barnes to the ground, causing the crate's lid to dislodge. Dallas notices the two bottles and assumes they are liquor; he and his friends proceed to wail on Barnes.

A scene from episode three is replayed: Ennis stares at the granary conflagration with horror, elbows her way out of the crowd, and bumps into Firo. She apologizes and runs off to search for Barnes. She is so focused that she does not notice Firo's cry for her to wait, nor that her cufflink is missing.

In 1931, Nice Holystone and Donny run through the cars in their haste to catch up with Jacuzzi. A red shadow looks through the window and vanishes, leaving a bloody handprint on the windowpane.

Differences between the Anime & Novels
The murdered Russo capo's name is translated as Sedley in the novels, but Sidaris/Sidalis in the anime.

The scene with Placido and Ladd is a little shortened in the anime: Placido should also be upset that Nader Schasschule has yet to contact him, but Nader and his coup have been cut from the anime (thus Goose also does not mention Nader in the first class cabin). He also isn't talking to his men in the novels; he's grousing over the various pieces of bad news along (thus, Ladd kills no one in the scene). Placido's and Ladd's conversation mostly stays the same, except for some of Ladd's lines about warriors and battlefields having been left out. The anime entirely leaves out Ladd's parting farewell, in which he explains that he doesn't think they'll ever meet again given that Placido has riled up Lucky Luciano. He also notes that Chicago's police and tax men also have their eye on Placido.

In the novel, Ladd asks Placido for his white suit as a commemoration gift for Ladd's and Lua's future wedding. The fact that the suit has Placido's name on it later becomes a minor plot point when Ladd and the police interact, but Ladd does not make this request in the anime. The scene in which he changes clothes on the bus he and his friends are taking to the station is also cut from the anime, and some if Ladd's dialogue in it redistributed.

Vicky only has one handgun in the dining car, not two.

The passenger Turner is missing from the dining car. He is cut entirely from the anime.

Ladd's confrontation with the three Lemures in the dining car has some slight changes: When Ladd threatens the wounded Lemur with the machine gun in the novel, he raises the first Lemur up into the air by his collar with his left hand. The Lemur kicks, struggles, and tries to gouge out Ladd's eyes with his free hand, but Ladd had expected this and bites a chunk out of the Lemur's hand. Spitting out the flesh, he asks the wounded Lemur what he plans on doing - the Lemur turns tail and runs. Ladd drops the remaining Lemur, and the rest is faithfully adapted.

In the novels, it is implied that there are more White Suits entering the dining car than just two. Natalie is lying on the floor and covering the children with her body, not just crouching over them. Ladd doesn't just pick up Vicky's gun, he picks up the Lemures' dropped guns as well. He also mentions that he dislocated a few joints thanks to the fight, but that he is still ready to go.

Elean's and Nicholas' conversation in the anime is largely fabricated, since Elean told Eve the truth about Dallas and Nicholas wasn't excluded from knowing about the immortals in the novels.

Miria tries on a Native American headdress in the anime, but in the novel she tries on a U.S. soldier's cap instead. The four hats they bring to the counter are the same across the anime and novels.

In the novels, Chané does not leave the First Class cabin when Goose orders a temporary recall of all the Lemures. Her leaving, and the line about her dying come the next day, occur after the Beriams have been captured and brought to First Class in a later scene.

Szilard's and Ennis' dialogue in the car is slightly abridged in the anime. In the novels, Szilard orders Ennis to drive off after she informs him that Isaac and Miria seem to be alive and moving. He only asks her why she hit them after they have already driven away, which is when she explains about the breaks. She also guesses that Isaac and Miria were rehearsing for a play considering their fancy attire. Szilard's line about 'not understanding the youth' is said in response to Ennis pointing out that Isaac carried several hats and a Japanese helmet.

A few of Ladd's lines during his address to his White Suits don't make it into the anime: After his comment about killing two or three Lemures apiece, he scoffs at the fact that the only people in the Second Class compartments are his White Suits and the Black Suits. He is referring to three Lemures in the compartment next to theirs that the White Suits killed while Ladd was in the dining car. The anime doesn't point out that this occurred. After that, he makes the comment about splitting up and grabs his rifle.

The anime does not include the entirety of Szilard's exchange with his elderly followers in their secret meeting room; it removes the conversation about the blender's untimely death the day prior at the hands of a beggar, which might have been prevented had Szilard permitted him to drink the failed elixir (all the details about the blender do not make it into the anime). Though it is uncertain if one of the old men in the anime is meant to be Superintendent Veld, Veld's role is ultimately also missing from the anime.

There is a minor line missing in Dallas' and Barnes' argument in the anime: Dallas doesn't say that Barnes' "scum" comment was in response to Dallas asking him if he wanted help carrying his heavy-looking box. One of the thugs jams his thumb and index finger into Barnes' throat in the novels, but does not in the anime. One of the bigger changes is that Barnes' remains conscious in the anime, whereas he is kicked in the head and rendered unconscious in the novels. Once he is out like a light, the thugs open the crate to find the bottles inside.

Ennis' and Firo's encounter in front of the conflagration plays out differently in the novels, as described in the notes for Episode 03.

Trivia

 * Grand Central Station's name is misspelled as "Grando Central Station."

New Characters

 * Placido Russo
 * Szilard Quates
 * Spike

Unanswered Questions

 * How does Szilard know Maiza? What did he mean when he said Maiza "went mad?"
 * Will Isaac and Miria be all right?
 * What was the red shadow?
 * How did Dallas Genoard go missing, and where is he in 1932?
 * Why is the Dallas case classified, and does it have something to do with the "people who don't die?"

Quotes

 * "It's guns! I love guns! ...machine guns? That's even better! This could be fun! Sounds like death, and danger. Daaanger, daaaaanger...What's happening in the dining car? Is there blood? Who's killing who? Where did they get shot? I have to see! Things are really starting to get exciiiting! Yes! Yes yes yes! YES YES YES YES YES!" - Ladd Russo.
 * "C'mon, put up ya dukes! You think you're Pete Herman? Haha, more like Jack Dempsey! Or more like Jack Johnson! You got no moxie! You got no technique! ...do you even know any of these boxers I'm talkin' about? Any red-blooded American would have to know what I'm talking about, RIGHT!? You don't? Oh, you don't!? I'll make you pay for not knowin' them! Of course, even if you did know 'em, you'd still! Have! To! PAAAAAAY!" - Ladd Russo.
 * "I just know you are all my newest enemies...and you have really nice guns. You people are all the same. You think you're so SPECIAL! "Oh yeah, with all of our wonderful guns on this pathetic train, there's no way anyone can stop us! We are invincible and unbeatable! We are SO STRONG with all of our men and our guns!" Hahaha! You are my absolute favorite people to kill! You are so beautifully amazed when you die! Especially when I squish your brains! BETWEEN MY FINGERS! LIKE A FREAKING SAUSAGE!" - Ladd Russo.