Interesting SC. Do you really think Van Alden was completely misguided? Maybe I'm misreading your point...
I read his actions as quite purposeful. I think he saw an opportunity to both save a "heathen" soul and get a confession at the same time. Either that fellow was going to confess to being in cahoots with Nucky or he was going to die. I think Van Alden's a real sort of Knight Templar sort of character. He's creepy and cunning.

I really liked the confrontation between Margaret and Nucky. And the foreshadowing "Deception requires a willing participant" was cool.

"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives."
Winter is Coming

Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.