Boardwalk Empire - S1 E07 - "Home"

In Chicago, Jimmy meets another war veteran, Richard Harrow, while he is at the doctor’s inquiring into the pain in his leg. This pain is new and suggests to the doctor a mental reason, so he prescribes a personal inventory (psych test) that Jimmy and Richard blow off; (perhaps this and other scenes this episode imply PTSD, but since this is way before official diagnoses of the disorder, and since I am not a psychologist, I would not be able to tell you). Jimmy takes Richard to the brothel he is staying at for some complimentary service, and then later uses him to kill the man who slashed Pearl.

In Atlantic City, Chalky gets offered money from New York (Rothstein) for his services, which Chalky assumes was a test from Nucky. Whether Chalky would have accepted had he known it actually came from an outside source remains to be seen. Louis, Rothstein’s man, is seen with Lucky Luciano as they approach Doyle and the Italians with a plan to set up a competitive business in the city. From this, we find out that it was the Italians that robbed the man from last episode, and while Luciano was not involved, he had a good idea who did it when he was speaking to Nucky about it.

Margaret has befriended the mistress from last episode as well, and gets advice not to get close to Nucky, which she takes and then chooses to ignore as the episode progresses. Through this, we find out that Nucky had an abusive relationship with his father growing up. His father fell and hurt his leg at the beginning of the episode, prompting the Thompson brothers to get him out of the house. Eli, implied to be the favored son, decides to take care of their father, and Nucky gives the house to a friend. When he sees his father in the restored house at the end, Nucky burns it.

On the side of the main stories we also find out Angela Darmody is a lesbian (I was completely wrong two episodes ago when I said she went to see the photographer instead of the photographer’s wife). One of the men that was part of Jimmy’s raid confesses to Agent Van Alden. The Commodore is sick and might be dying. Finally, Lucy watches a movie alone showing that Nucky did not hold to his promise to go with her.

There a lot of interesting parallels in this episode, although I was not sure exactly what to make of them. Jimmy’s leg hurts which leads him to meet Richard Harrow and Nucky’s father’s leg hurts which leads him to leave his home. The two do not seem to really be that similar, but perhaps they are more representative of the way individual pain affects others. That still seems to be a somewhat tenuous link though, and I feel like I am missing something.

On the other hand, Nucky’s toaster gift to his dad is a much clearer reference to Jimmy giving his wife a vacuum. Both men do not understand the people they are trying to give gifts to, and both men try to fix things with gifts and money rather than actions. In Nucky’s case, the lack of effort is justified since his father is a terrible person. In Jimmy’s case, it is not really justified. Perhaps if he had spent time getting to know his wife, he might realize that she did not love him, and he might even be clued in to the fact that she was not straight.

This last point relates very well to what is probably the theme of the episode stated by Richard Harrow: “It occurred to me the basis of fiction is that people have some sort of connection with each other, but they don’t.” Jimmy’s connection to Angela is his son, but he does not even send money for the boy’s care. Nucky has a blood relationship to his father and vice versa, but his father abused him as a child and Nucky burns their family home out of spite. I think the point of the message though is that we try to form these connections but inevitably fail. Mr. Harrow does not seem to take his own advice as he tags along with Jimmy, and so Jimmy uses him to murder someone. Whether or not Jimmy and Richard’s relationship stays friendly and positive remains to be seen, but if that quote is going to be a theme of the series, I would not bet on it.

One other thing that did not quite make sense to me was the scene of the murder of Pearl’s attacker. The audience knows who shot the man almost immediately, and any doubt they may have had is gone when they see the bullet hole beneath the man’s eye, yet we are still shown the scene of Richard packing up his gun and leaving as music from Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde plays. Perhaps this was the only for them to make a transition to Lucy, but the scene still felt odd. Was I supposed to connect Richard with Jekyll and Hyde? That does not seem likely as the man seems more troubled than possessing a split personality.

Either I am very dense, or this episode felt very clunky to me. Perhaps this is better. If the metaphors and parallels are too clean then the show would probably get unrealistic. Still, I felt that some things were off this episode. I enjoyed it, and I find that I really like the storytelling aspect to the show; it makes everything feel older, as if your grandfather were telling you a story. But something did not quite click with me this time.

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E06 - "Family Limitation"

If I were to give a theme to this episode, it would have to be humiliation. Characters are humiliated by friends, family, and enemies in this entire episode in revealing ways and fascinating ways as we will see.

In Chicago, Jimmy convinces Johnny Torrio to stay in Greek Town so they set up a meet with Sheridan, leader of the Irish. Jimmy and Al Capone then murder all of the rival gangsters in the meeting place. Torrio and the rest celebrate the successful operation which was Jimmy’s idea. We also find out earlier that Capone’s son is deaf.

Rothstein shows Lucky Luciano that he knows exactly what he is doing and whom (Gillian), and reminds him that he has a mission to find Jimmy. Meanwhile, some young Italians attack one of Nucky’s men and Nucky things Luciano is involved, which puts them at odds (something that will probably be expanded on down the line).

Agent Van Alden gets a surprise visit from his boss who decides that Agent Alden has not done enough work. Van Alden then punishes himself for his impure thoughts towards Margaret Schroeder. Margaret quits her job after a confrontation with Lucy, and she moves into a new place provided by Nucky, playing the part of his mistress after some advice from the Temperance movement leader. Nucky, on the other hand, is still sleeping with Lucy and any number of other random women on the side it seems. He also gets a visit from the politician from Jersey to try to secure a highway being built to run through Atlantic City and not Jersey with ambiguous results.

Although Luciano gets humiliated by Nucky and Van Alden gets humiliated by his boss, those characters react in fairly expected ways. Luciano gets angry but decides it is not worth it, while Agent Alden is the good soldier and swallows his pride. Capone and Margaret on the other hand really make this episode feel momentous (even though it seems that very little actually happened).

There is a beautiful scene between Margaret and Lucy in the French clothes shop that mirrors a scene from earlier this season. Last time, Lucy tried to humiliate Margaret by having the latter dress the naked body of the former as a form of aggressive dominance. This time, Lucy asks that Margaret get naked and wear the clothes and it backfires. Lucy criticizes Margaret’s body, making it clear that she thinks she can win Nucky’s affection purely on a physical basis. Margaret counters by attacking Lucy’s intelligence. “You don’t know much” Lucy says before Margaret begins her story, but though the moral of mountain man with the chicken should be obvious, Lucy still has to have it explained to her: she just is not interesting enough to hold Nucky’s attention forever.

Another aspect of this scene comes up in terms of class differences. When Lucy says the above quote, she is also attacking Margaret through her upbringing. Whether Lucy comes from money or she has just gotten used to a better lifestyle, she clearly knows her away around a French shop for instance while Margaret does not. Margaret is an example of the classic American ideal: hard work and intelligence should win out over money. To go this far would not be particularly original but it was handled gracefully by the actors and the script.

The episode, however, then does a brilliant subversion by showing that Margaret has become in a way exactly what she was criticizing Lucy for. Her old neighbor attacks her when speaking with Agent Alden and describes her as a rich type, a social mover in the most negative sense possible. Margaret does not hear this, but has to come face to face with this when she meets her new neighbor and realizes that Nucky might only be keeping her as a type of trophy, a “concubine”. This is a type of internal humiliation that she has difficulty brushing off the way that she brushed off the external humiliation of Lucy.

We get something similar in Chicago with Al Capone. In previous episodes we got the prankster and a little of the psycho in Capone, while also making it clear that he is not particularly bright. This episode established that he has a lot of heart and charisma. Capone did not have to talk to Jimmy about his son and he did not have to bring him steaks (especially after Jimmy humiliated him with the World War I joke), but he did anyway. You could argue that he just does not want to mess with a guy Torrio likes, but it seemed deeper than that; it seemed like Capone looks up to Jimmy, both for being in the war (I looked this up online so don’t hold me to this but Al Capone was not in the war) and for being educated. Capone makes fun of Jimmy by calling him Princeton but I think on some level he is envious. What is charming about the gangster is that he is not envious in a negative way, but in a positive way, as if he is thinking “I get to hang out with this great guy!” Although I certainly was interested in Al Capone in previous episodes this season, it was only in this episode that I really started to like him and feel for him. When he was making fun of Jimmy at the party, Jimmy reacts coldly and attacks Capone in a deeper way, but rather than react in kind Capone just wants to cement their friendship. It was just a surprisingly touching scene from a character that I expected to be more bloodthirsty.

I know I have not been criticizing this show that much and have been focusing on the positive aspects more often than not. Certainly the show is not perfect (an earlier scene from a previous episode with the awesome Michael K. Williams felt flat to me and seemed poorly written which is just one of many). I just wanted to say that the characters here have just won me over. In previous episodes they just seemed more forgettable and the writing was slightly poorer but the 1920s held my interest. At this point many of the characters have become fascinating in their own right, beyond their unique setting, and I feel that as that is the part that draws my attention the most, that is the part that I choose to comment on. I was worried with the pilot that the conflicts the show produced would not be able to draw me in as well, but the conflicts have been slow in coming while building character to audience correspondence which I think is working admirably, even with the sometimes weak writing. Overall, I am really happy with this direction (The Event take notice).

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E05 - "Nights in Ballygran"

Before we get to Nucky, let’s go over the other players briefly. Jimmy is helping Pearl out after her attack by bringing her oranges and laudanum. Johnny Torrio tells him that he has to kick her out within a few days since she cannot earn money for him anymore. Realizing this, she kills herself by the end of the episode, and Jimmy goes to an opium den. Arnold Rothstein talks to his lawyer about the 1919 World Series. Gillian talks to Jimmy’s common-law wife Angela about taking care of her son while she lives life a little bit. Angela rejects the offer, but goes to see the photographer which we can assume means she was in fact sleeping with him.

St. Patrick’s Day is a big day for Nucky and Atlantic City, so he spends most of the episode dealing with that. A group of little people that have to play the leprechauns ask for a raise from Nucky, who gives it to them. Eli tries to give a speech at a dinner the night before the holiday, but instead rouses Irish born versus Irish-American debates, until Nucky settles the argument. Margaret rejoins the temperance league and leads Van Alden to break up the dinner by arresting one of Nucky’s employees. The episodes ends with Nucky going to Margaret’s and initiating sex with her.

The first thing that struck me as I was watching this episode was the difference in money between then and today. The little people want a raise from 5 to 10 dollars each and Nucky bargains it down to 7, which means he thinks the 5 dollars is too expensive. Torrio tells Jimmy that for Pearl to stay where she is, Jimmy would have to pay 100 dollars a day, which surprises Jimmy. So 10 dollars for a few hours work is considered good money, while 7 dollars is at least sufficient. Meanwhile, 100 dollars a day, assuming an 8 to 12 hour day, is very good money not only for a prostitute, but in general. This is not extremely important in terms of the episode, but I personally found it interesting to think about just in terms of how much inflation has changed what we think of as a good salary.

The main plot of the episode deals with Margaret and Nucky’s relationship (for which Lucy is surprisingly absent). I was surprised at how soon Margaret goes after Nucky. Last episode we saw her stealing from her job due to jealousy, and I was glad that she stopped being this perfect woman, while this week we saw just how far her jealousy would take her. She rejoins the temperance league just to mess with Nucky, as we know she really has no problems with alcohol once her alcoholic husband is gone. If she was actually against alcohol and not trying to hurt Nucky, she would have told Van Alden about Nucky’s birthday party, but she does not want him arrested.

Nucky at first ignores her as he already has a woman and views Margaret as a complicating factor in his life. Lucy is fairly easy to please, while Margaret is a more intelligent woman, and with two kids, will probably demand more from Nucky. Thus, he takes the pragmatic view of things and decides that she is not worth the trouble she will cause. Margaret ruins his dinner and then gets his man arrested, proving to him that she is more trouble jealous than taken. That last scene where he goes to her house becomes complicated. Does Nucky have feelings for Margaret? His birthday party would suggest so by him dancing with her, but his rejection of her this episode seems to imply that he only went to her place to keep her pacified so she does not cause him undue trouble.

I found this interesting because either way, Margaret gets what she wants and very quickly. She never asked Nucky to take care of her husband, she never asked for money, and she never asked for a job, all of which she gets due to Nucky’s kindness. But now she was asking for Nucky himself, and when he essentially says no, she starts hurting him until he gives in. The shift in her character was wonderful and all credit has to go Kelly Macdonald who plays the character’s malevolence beautifully.

Steve Buscemi as well in that last scene was great. He was very subdued and his exact feelings and machinations are not exactly clear, which I think was a great portrayal of the pragmatic Nucky dealing with feelings of the heart. It is also a great contrast with Eli talking about how he one day wants to learn to lie as well as Nucky does, which makes me wonder how much of Nucky’s relationship with Margaret is going to be a lie, and what lies is going to have to tell to Lucy or to others about his new relationship. For that matter, what about Agent Van Alden and his interest in Margaret? Things to think about in the coming weeks.

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E04 - "Anastasia"

I waited so long to watch this week’s episode of Boardwalk Empire because I have been busy and this show is something I really look forward to; I wanted to tackle it with a fresh mind. That having been said, let us go through this week’s happenings.

We begin this week with Jimmy in Chicago hanging out with Al Capone and sleeping with a prostitute from Wisconsin. Jimmy helps out Capone with his dealings in trying to take over Greek Town for Johnny Torrio now that Colosimo is dead. The current gangster in charge is Sheridan and though he pretends to be ok with the new leadership, he is just biding his time, as evidenced by his goons attacking the Wisconsin girl, Pearl.

Back East, Nucky is preparing for his surprise party and using the party as a means to bribe some government officials and let them know what they owe him. He makes Senator Edge know for certain that he needs money for roads so that Atlantic City and the surrounding County can benefit from better traffic.

Eli arrests a KKK leader (Grand Cyclops) for the possible lynching of Chalky’s man in the previous episode. Chalky tortures him and is assured that the KKK had nothing to do with it, and we get confirmation near the end of the episode that it was indeed Doyle and his Italian money lenders who did it. They also plan to rob Nucky so that Doyle can pay them back for the money he owes.

Along with last week’s episode, I feel like this show has finally hit its stride. It no longer has even slight moments of awkwardness and all of the happenings seem to be occurring at a moderate but eventful pace. We get a better characterization of Jimmy when we compare him with Al Capone. Capone is classic gangster muscle, he does not think much, he is somewhat of a prankster, and he knows how to push people. He correctly read that Sheridan would back off because he knows the muscle he has and the muscle Sheridan has. On the other hand, he incorrectly reads defiance as compliance from Sheridan and he underestimates his opponent, something that Jimmy does not do. Jimmy plays it cool and polite, the way that Nucky might play it. Clearly Jimmy has learned a lot from Nucky, and he seems to want to emulate him, especially considering that his impulsiveness caused him to be kicked out of Atlantic City. He does not want to be Al Capone, even if Capone gets results.

Nucky is portrayed as ever the pragmatist. He is not really offended by the officer’s racism when he tells him to leave his sight but by his stupidity, and Eli understands this. I have to say I am glad that Eli stands up to Nucky and that he is not a stupid relative that Nucky put in the sheriff position as a form of nepotism. There was not really a point in earlier episodes that would suggest that Eli is stupid, but from the scene in this episode when they are discussing Chalky and Nucky’s relationship, it is clear that Eli understands Chalky’s importance, even if he does not understand how fragile the relationship might be.

From out of nowhere, Gillian has become a fascinating character in pretty much this episode alone. Credit must be given to actress Gretchen Mol for a captivating performance as she manipulates Lucky Luciano throughout. First she responds to his bravado by putting him down a peg, and showing him that she is not impressed or intimidated by the gangster type. Then she takes control of the relationship by making the first move. She is listed as a guest character in the credits, but I do hope they do not kill her or have her only stay for the first season, if only because her strength is unique as a female character on this show (it is the 1920s after all).

Finally, Margaret becomes much more interesting this episode as they throw away the notion that she is the perfect. For a while now my hesitation with Margaret has been that that she is too good, too nice, too smart, too everything. She seemed like something of a wish fulfillment that the other female characters did not. This episode ends with her stealing from her employer, an act that could get her fired despite Nucky’s help. This is important in so far as it is an utterly selfish act driven by her disappointment in the Anastasia story being fraudulent and from her jealous of Lucy. We get a very clear indication that this is the match that is going to happen this season, and if it does not I will be sorely disappointed. Nucky clearly respects Margaret’s intellect, and she is attractive, although a different type of attractive than Lucy. It is also interesting that in the background we see the Commodore stand up and take notice of Nucky dancing with Margaret, which I can only take to assume that now the Commodore is fascinated in a girl that has fascinated Nucky. I very much want to see a scene with the Commodore asking Margaret about the League of Nations since I am sure that she will have an answer for him.

The only other thing that really struck me about the episode (besides Nucky watching the glass cloudy up which I could not for certain figure out what it meant) was Nucky practicing for his surprise party. That was hilarious; especially when he did at the party for real. I thoroughly enjoyed that scene. Very well played Steve Buscemi.

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E03 - "Broadway Limited"

Dark days ahead on Boardwalk Empire. Rothstein’s sister-in-law's nephew survives for a time and names Jimmy as one of his attackers to Van Alden which he overheard from Capone. He dies and someone from the Feds gives the info to Rothstein asks Luciano find out who the second attacker was and to take care of Jimmy. Because of this, Nucky has Jimmy leave Atlantic City. We also finally get to see Van Alden at home with his wife.

Nucky gets Margaret a job at a French clothing store, and she is very unprepared. She meets and is embarrassed by Nucky’s mistress, Lucy, who seems to be jealous of the attention Margaret is getting. Lucy also seems to be trying to get a more permanent relationship with Nucky by talking about having a child.

We are finally officially introduced to Chalky White this episode, the Michael Kenneth Williams character, as he becomes the replacement for Nucky’s local alcohol business. One of his men is hanged outside of his place, and though not stated or implied, in my mind Doyle is the primary suspect as he is having money issues with lenders.

This was a very strong episode. We see the cracks forming in the relationships between the characters. Eli is a little jealous of the attention Jimmy gets from Nucky and he is unhappy being treated like an idiot. Jimmy and his wife are uncomfortable around each other because each of them has different expectations and because they are unused to spending time together. They only knew each other for a short time before he went away, but there is hope in that relationship as she starts using the vacuum once he leaves (implying she is not unthankful even if he is not the man she wants in her life). Nucky seems to be growing bored with Lucy or at least with her desire for intimacy. When the entertainer was singing about liking the dumb girls, Nucky did not look entertained in the least. More likely than not, he does not like the dumb girls, and Margaret, although possibly a charity case like Lucy said, is intelligent and attractive which Nucky has definitely noticed and Lucy is starting to suspect as well. Finally, Nucky and Chalky may have problems as well since Nucky depends on the black vote for elections and racial issues are bound to come up when he hires a black man to work his illegal liquor business both from white competitors and white prohibitionists.

Most of these things are issues Nucky has to deal with as they are cracks forming in the relationships he has with people. Prohibition has complicated things a lot for him. For one thing, election rigging is relatively simple compared with the FBI attention that Prohibition brings with it. For another, Jimmy may have been right in that first episode when he questioned Nucky’s willingness to be a gangster. Corrupt officials are relatively benign compared to the gangster. Certainly Nucky is hardy and willing to kill to get what needs done, but big money like alcohol creates for a much more intense form of competition with people like Rothstein than whoever his political opponent would be. And there is no way to charm away a Rothstein like Nucky might the populace.

On the law enforcement side, the brief look into Van Alden’s family life paints him as the workaholic, the perfect tool to crush Nucky and the rest as he loves his job more than his wife (presumably) and will do anything to get his man. At the moment he is the necessary figure that attacks Nucky form the legal side, but hopefully his smelling of Margaret’s ribbon will paint him as an interesting rival for Margaret’s affections against Nucky (since that seems to be the way the show is heading at the moment, although it could easily be a fake out). At the very least, it provides a complication into his otherwise moral, asexual personification.

I think the best part of this episode was how funny it was. Van Alden’s partner mentioning that Rothstein’s relation is Jewish after Van Alden quotes the Bible, and correcting the insult the mother translates (“little…faggot penis”) were surprisingly dark in this episode.

We are left with the last scene in this episode of different people reacting in different ways to the rain, Nucky most importantly looking at the wet steps he has left on his hotel floor perhaps pondering how everything leads to him and leaves a visible mark, or perhaps how he needs to hurry and erase those marks as soon as possible. Then again, though water is easily cleaned up, the bodies every episode are not.

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E02 - "Ivory Tower"

The episode starts with a glimpse of the funeral for “Big Jim” Colosimo which leads to two generic but necessary and enlightening scenes later in the episode. In the first we see Arnold Rothstein threaten a man by showing his casual attitude towards human life. In the second we see Al Capone beat a man probably to death because he did not like the tones of his questions. Both of them are legends in history and these two scenes show us how the differences that define these men.

In terms of generic scenes, we also get Nucky meeting personally with the cop that is going to be on his case for a good part of the show, Agent Nelson Van Alden. Agent Alden has decided to focus on Nucky instead of Rothstein and starts by questioning Margaret Schroeder about her relationship with the gangster.

The main plot of the episode deals with Jimmy and how his relationships with the people in his life have changed. First, Nucky is not pleased with his theft and murder from the previous episode, despite the money Jimmy gave him. He asks more from Jimmy and establishes himself as the boss. The, Jimmy tries to woo his wife Angela and his mother with expensive gifts, but they seem to be empty gestures and he does not exactly seem sure as to how he is supposed to act, whether that be because he just came back from the war or because he is now a de facto gangster.

The subplot of the episode deals with a businessman named Baxter trying to sleep with a girl he met in Baltimore and finding one of the men from the hold up last week alive. This will complicate things for Jimmy, and probably Nucky by extension.

I liked this episode a lot more than last week’s episode. It still largely seems to be setting up relationships and building up the mythos of the characters, especially with the scenes of Nucky’s wealth. This is certainly important considering how good Rothstein was looking in the last episode and because of the way Jimmy was talking to Nucky, as if he was going to school him on how to be a gangster. Nucky certainly did not seem weak, but he seemed a little unsure of himself. There was none of that uncertainty in this episode. He is not cold per se, not the way Rothstein is, but he has good instincts and a good way with people. When he meets with the Commodore and they discuss the women’s vote, the Commodore makes a point about how most women have no notion of politics by using his uneducated maid as an example. Historically, the women’s suffrage in the U.S. did not change any trends in voting as women largely voted the way their husbands were voting. As for those women without husbands, one can see Nucky working his magic in his scene with Margaret, playfully asking her to vote Republican.

Why this episode is better than last week’s is due to the smoothness of the dialogue. Last week’s was mythos building but expository. This week was mythos building, but it felt more natural. Less happened in this week’s episode, it felt and was shorter, but in a good way. The characters felt more relaxed, and the setting was more relaxed. The touches of the 20s (except for the KKK moment in the beginning) feel more subtle. Money is established with prices with certain items, but because money is shown so often and between people of such different means, it does not seem like another tool to showcase the time, but just a way that people interact with one another.

The other thing that I enjoyed about this episode, and unfortunately it was only briefly, was Jimmy. Right before he meets with his mother, he sees her on the stage. I cannot tell if it was the acting, the actor, or the lighting, but there was something hungry, something haunted in the way Jimmy looked at his mother. That could mean many things, from him wishing for a time when he was younger, to detesting seeing his mother half naked before him, to a manifestation of the person he is going to become or has already started becoming as a gangster, but it felt like a really powerful moment in the darkness for Jimmy. There were little hints in the previous episode that were similar, but they were too brief to really be noticeable. Here, the camera flitted back and forth between him and his mother a few times so I was able to see it. Last week I talked about character building and how interesting I found Nucky. Now I am starting to see that it will not just be Nucky that I will be watching with anticipation every week.

Boardwalk Empire - S1 E01 – “Boardwalk Empire”

I think most reviews of the show are probably going to start with the time and place, so why not: Atlantic City, 1920. If you need a brief introduction to the plot, Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is the gangster in charge of Atlantic City politically and his brother Eli (Shea Whigham) runs the police. Prohibition has just started and these men are getting into the illegal liquor business in a big way. Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt) is recently back from overseas in the Great War, used to go to Princeton, and wants to be a bigger part of the business, but Nucky has relegated him to chauffeur for the moment. Two big things happen in this episode plot-wise. First, Nucky meets Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald) a pregnant woman with an abusive husband and two kids. Her husband is a drunk, beats her and kills her baby, so Nucky has him killed. In the other part of the episode, we are introduced to some big real-life players during this time with Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Al Capone, and Big Jim Colosimo. Jimmy Darmody and Capone rob Nucky’s shipment for Rothstein, at the same as the Feds try to crack down on one of Nucky’s liquor operations. They found out about the operation through Jimmy.

My first impression is that the pilot was weak, but most pilots are weak. There is a lot of exposition, stock characters that ask the right questions so we know both what is going on and what is going to happen. My thought throughout most of the episode was “no surprises here”. That is not necessarily a bad thing as it is beautifully crafted, from the music to the visuals, listening to a stand-up comedian of the era, the Model-Ts, etc. The acting is superb as well, especially considering the weakness of the script in places. I have never been a big fan of Steve Buscemi, not because I do not appreciate his skill, but because his acting ticks do not appeal much to me. He frequently talks too much in movies without seeming like he has a lot to say. Yet, I found him very charming in the role of Nucky. For once he did not talk much, and when he did it was always with a point. Truthfully, he probably spoke the most out of anyone this episode, as he is the main character, but his words always seemed well crafted, as a politician’s should be. He is not the gangster of Tony Soprano’s age. He is more an Al Swearengen type, and hopefully we will get to see a political side to the show as well.

Really, all of my hopes for this show lie with Steve and what he is able to do with Nucky. There are many different ways that they could take this show. After all, shows about the Prohibition Era are not that common. There is a lot of room for depth here, but they can only focus on so many things. The gangster part is obviously going to be important, but I am honestly less interested in that. The Feds were probably the least interesting aspect of the episode. But again, this is just the pilot. We’ll get a much better feel for the show within the next two to three episodes. Hopefully by then the characters will have more substance and the story will be more nuanced. For right now, even with its weaknesses, I am enjoying the introduction to the Roaring Twenties.