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Wednesday, September 28, 2011

"It's an awful waste of a lot of good tablecloths"


Man, so that was actually an awesome episode of Boardwalk Empire. I mean, this is what they did last year - started out strong and then quickly got slow and boring and kind of lame. But the premiere episode opened up a lot of promising new storylines, and I'm actually excited to see where they take us, which is a nice surprise.

Let's tackle them one by one, shall we?

Well, Omar AKA Chalky got hit by the KKK (I know a call a lot of things The Worst on here, but let's face it, the KKK is actually THE WORST hands down), which appears to be orchestrated by Jimmy's dad (The Commodore? The Commander? Something like that.) This is the one piece that doesn't sit well with me because Chalky is my all-time fave on this show and this development seems to hint towards less Chalky and less of the black perspective in general, which is not good. More Chalky! Let my Chalky go! Anyway, this is part of Jimmy's dad's plan with Eli and Jimmy to edge out Nucky and take back Atlantic City. Good luck old man. There was a real creepy scene in his game room where he talks about how the bear thought he didn't have to be afraid of him and then he shot him in the stomach. Not a big stretch to realize that Nucky is the bear.

Jimmy married his baby mama and they are living in a creepy Oedipal house with Jimmy's mom, who admitted that she used to kiss his "winky" when she changed his diaper. (A) Gross, and (B) GROOOSSSSSSSSSSS. Jimmy's wife (Amelia or something? I can never remember these people's names) is understandably skeeved. I am rooting for Sexy Half-Face and her to get together; that scene of him gluing the pictures of families, lovers, and children into the bible was my favorite scene of the whole episode - so poignantly tragic and beautiful. That actor, whoever he is, is incredible. More Sexy Half-Face! Meanwhile, Jimmy continues to reject Nucky for reasons that aren't entirely clear, possibly because I kind of stopped paying attention to this show halfway through last season. Did Nucky try to kill him? Or is it just because he wouldn't give him enough responsibility? I've not no idea, but it doesn't really matter. Nucky is hurt because he pretty much raised Jimmy and cares for him, but Jimmy is selfish and also clearly has HUGE parental issues being that his mom is a creepy whore who is only 13 years older than him and his dad is The Worst. So Jimmy puts Nucky's gift of the statue of the man and the boy bonding over a dead deer in the closet and symbolically turns out the light.



That scene with Al Capone and the guy who insists on talking about himself in the third person was great, one of the funniest scenes in this show ever. I love the guy who plays Capone and while I could care less where that storyline is going I could always do with some more Capone.

Then we get to Michael Shannon's character, Nelson Van Something (I keep wanting to say Van Pelt but no, that is the hunter from Jumanji. Van Alden? I am too lazy to look it up). This show really lost me last year when he killed the Jewish guy by forced baptism and I still think that was a mistake, but I am enjoying the internal conflict he has now between his responsibility to (eew) Paz De La Huerta's baby and his equally-insane uber-Christian wife. I also thought it was really interesting to find out that the raid on the restaurant was entirely for selfish purposes - not only to impress the wife, but also to steal the money to give to HIS baby mama. Again, Michael Shannon is a fantastic actor and I'm glad to see his character being given more nuance. Also, I think Nelson should be careful - his federal underling agents seems to have little to no loyalty towards him; here's hoping that gets interesting.

Irish lady whose name I can't remember AKA Nucky's mistress is having trouble with her son, who has developed a fire fixation since Nucky burned down that house and is acting out at school. Nucky realizes that just because Jimmy's being a dick doesn't mean that he's not a good father figure, and uses some positive reinforcement instead of "the belt" to secure Teddy's affections in what I thought was a great scene. Margaret! Her name is Margaret. Anyway, their family starts to come happily together just in time for Nucky to get arrested for election fraud, something that I bet was orchestrated by Jimmy's dad. Man! That is a lot of stuff to happen in one episode! Oh also something something roads and buying land, I'm sure it'll come back later and then I will try to care.

For the most part it was a great, riveting episode. Michael Pitt's character grows more grumpy and glowering by the minute. The direction was fantastic. But my favorite moments of this show are always the subtle ones, like Chalky's son playing the piano and planning to go to Moorehouse, or like the aforementioned scene with Sexy Half-Face. Here's hoping Boardwalk Empire just keeps getting better and manages to hold my interest for the whole thirteen episodes. I know it's asking a lot, but I think they can do it.

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