Already on edge due to a city-wide run on cocaine, Thackery worries that Dr. Levi Zinberg a Jewish surgeon and inventor, will steal his spotlight at the next New York Surgical Society presentation. Bertie continues his courtship of Lucy while staving off his father's persistent demands that he leave the Knick. Cornelia, Speight and Bertie go to court in an attempt to keep "Typhoid Mary" Mallon quarantined. Gallinger tries to get Eleanor to move past her grief.

Refusing to collaborate with Dr. Zinberg on blood-transfusion research, an increasingly paranoid Thackery pushes himself to the limit, and beyond, in an effort to "solve the riddle" and beat his rival. Cornelia and Edwards arrive at a crossroads; Barrow trades one creditor for another; Lucy requests Bertie's help. With the Knick in the midst of yet another crisis, Robertson calls for a vote.