After every episode of Boardwalk Empire this season, I've thought, "Should I write about it now?" And the answer has always been no, because the show has been leading to something big, but until these last few episodes I had no idea what it was. Maybe I should've waited a few more weeks until after the season finale, but the time finally felt right. We found out where Nucky's path this season is taking him, and it looks pretty grim. I've actually been working on this piece for a couple weeks now because most of my time has been consumed with applying to grad school, and then I had a personal tragedy that didn't inspire a desire to watch people get beat to death or shot to shit. I'm still dealing with that loss, but this piece has been eating away at me and it's finally time to finish it.
I'm going to backtrack for just a second and explain my feelings about Boardwalk Empire previous to this season. I've watched it since the beginning, and enjoyed the performances and the beautiful set design, costume design, direction, and cinematography enough to keep coming back to the show, but it wasn't until last season when I really began to FEEL for the characters. Much of this has to do with my current favorite dramatic character, Richard Harrow AKA Sexy Richard Half-Face, but not all. As the stakes became higher and important character information like Jimmy and Gillian's fucked-up history was revealed, the show became imminently more fascinating. The season two finale proved that Terence Winter and the rest of the writers aren't afraid to make big sacrifices for the sake of valuable plot and character arcs. Ok, I was trying to avoid it, but we're gonna get all sorts of spoilery up in here now. Join me after the jump!
So, yeah, when last season ended with Jimmy Darmody getting straight-up shot in the head by Nucky, I knew that this season was going to be big. But I had no idea in what way. And every episode, every plot line this season has been captivating, exhilarating, and the very definition of remarkable television.
We'll get to Sexy Richard Half-Face (oh, trust me, we'll get to him), but the biggest draw for me in season three as opposed to season two has been Margaret. Last season's foray into religious moral ambiguity was a little predictable and the character got rather insufferably preachy towards the end, trying to justify her own questionable life decisions through extreme outward expressions of piety. This season the daring, smart, and brash Margaret of season one is back, and she is carving out a place for herself in this tenuous world. Her work at the hospital, her prenatal health classes, her interest in Carrie Duncan and Margaret Sanger, her assertiveness with her children, standing up to Nucky being a shite, and finally, FINALLY falling truly in love with Mr. Slater...all of these elements show a woman who is striving for agency in all aspects of her life and, in some achieving it. She's a strong female character, but her feminism isn't incongruous to the historical time period. The '20s were a time when women and their issues came to the forefront, and Margaret brings these issues to light without it feeling heavyhanded.
And then there's Margaret and Owen Slater, Hotty McHothotterson, finally giving in to their desires in more ways than one. When Margaret first got together with Nucky, you could see there was a spark there. She was drawn to his danger, his generosity, and his power. However, when she became a kept woman and Nucky continued to have affairs and be an overall douche, her attraction began to fade. Finally, when her daughter was stricken with polio, Margaret blamed herself and Nucky, believing that their immoral actions led to this catastrophe. At the beginning of this season, it was obvious that Margaret had lost all romantic interest in Nucky...but even so, it took a little while - and a bit of danger - before she finally allowed herself the comfort, protection, and sexual satisfaction that Mr. Slater provides.
That shit ended tragically, to no one's surprise, though I thought it would've been Nucky who killed him. After the two of them started making a plan to run away together, all I could think of was the episode where Slater and Nucky get trapped in the house with the bootlegging kid who stole their whiskey. After Nucky shoots the kid, to Slater's shock, he makes it clear to Slater that he has no qualms about taking care of anybody who gets in his way and fucks him over. After Jimmy, and Eli, and the kid...this new, hardened Nucky is not somebody whose wife I would want to steal away. Do I want Margaret and Slater to take the kids and run away to St. Louis? Absolutely I do. Am I surprised that Owen is dead, Margaret is pregnant, and Nucky's world has collapsed around him? Not in the slightest. I am sad, though - Owen is a great character, and I feel like Nucky's flight from Gyp could've been accomplished without his death. I would've loved to see Nucky betrayed by Owen and then murdered or run out of town. This season we've seen a new side to the character, but I'm not sure how much further they can take it - it would've been poignant to see Owen murder Nucky (or give him to Gyp or Joe Massaria) and then step neatly into his shoes as Atlantic City's gangster extraordinaire. Nucky is so obviously on his way out - though Eli, who is maybe the smartest, most level-headed character in the entire show, did come through and brought Capone, so I'm expecting next week we'll see a straight-up '20s gangster war, which should be plenty of fun.
Speaking of Chicago, let's head over that way for a moment. Van Alden (AKA George Nelson?) and his ridiculously awesome Norwegian wife, after a series of trials and tribulations and hilarious Van-Alden-is-the-most-serious-man-alive scenes, are now running a still in their home for an Irish gang. Now, the moments of extreme violence are definitely not the reason I watch this show, but when that total dick of an iron salesman was needling and pushing and mocking and pushing and pushing and pushing him, the moment when Van Alden finally broke and his self-imposed bonds of control shattered and he just totally fucked that guy's shit UP with a good ol' fashioned iron beat-down...that was a beautiful moment. Hard core, disturbing, and totally perfect. Anyway, we've known that Van Alden at his core operates outside of the law ever since he drowned his poor Jewish friend, and now that he's affiliated with a gang we get to see just how well he can function in lawless situations. His wife's idea to use the still to make aquavit to sell in the Norwegian part of town was a great one, even if it did land him smack in the middle of the Irish and Italian gangs, and I'm so excited to see what develops for Van Alden and his family in the seedy underbelly of the Chicago criminal world.
Also in Chicago, Al Capone continues to be fucking great. A few weeks ago I watched this movie called "This Is England" about skinhead gangs in the '80s and it was extremely depressing and whatnot but the guy who plays Capone was in it (he's British) and he was brilliant, per usual, and it gave me a whole new sense of admiration for his acting. It's been quietly, subtly handled, but this season has made it clear that lazy-eyed Torrio is fading into the background and letting the short-fused Capone take over. More Capone, please and thank you.
Man, there is still SO MUCH to talk about. Moving on.
Eli! I fucking LOVE Eli. The way that his failed fraternal assassination attempt, his murder of that dude in his workshop, and then prison have changed him is remarkable to see. From the moment he emerged from prison quiet and drawn, forced to put up with Mickey Doyle's giggling ass-face, his character entered a new realm of captivating. He still looks for Nucky's love and approval, he still hopes to be recognized as a worthwhile man, but he has a new sense of intelligence and morality that makes him one of the best men in the Boardwalk Empire world. The most important goal to him is to be there for his family in all the ways that he can. The scene when he tries to stop the Tabor Heights massacre is absolutely tragic, but also rather satisfying for Eli's character - he was right when everyone else, including Nucky, was wrong. Thankfully, he gets a little bit of a reward for his forward thinking...now he gets Mickey Doyle as a coworker instead of a boss.
The expansion of Mickey's character this season has been yet another thing done very right. He's fantastic comic relief all the goddamn time, and he's just played as the perfect, mid-rung-in-the-organization toady. Here's hoping he doesn't get shot in the face.
Not enough Chalky at the front end of this season, though the little we have gotten has been spectacular, because Michael Kenneth Williams is spectacular. That scene with Eddie Cantor was pure finesse, but I particularly enjoyed his tiny bit in the post-Babette's episode when Nucky is all disoriented. Chalky knows when to keep his cool and when to lose it, and he knows when crazy white guys are acting extra crazy. In this last week's episode he takes Nucky's plain desperation and uses it to his advantage - assuming Nucky doesn't die, Chalky will get what he wants in the form of a somewhat-integrated club on the boardwalk. In return, Chalky chooses the evil he knows (and who is willing to do anything for his help) over the evil that just walked into town. That scene where Gyp tries to tell Chalky that they're the same because Gyp is Italian and Chalky "got left in the oven too long" is fucking brilliant. "You just ain't done cooking" is one of my favorite lines ever. And bringing in the med student son-in-law was a great move, as poor Eddie Kessler with a wife and children Nucky never knew about is put through all sorts of torture in that fly-riddled room where there's no ether and no screaming. Fantastic writing all around on that stripped-down, urgency-filled episode. Anyway, Chalky is a fascinating character and I really hope all of this means that the show will focus more on him and the black community next season.
On to Richard, and then we'll bring it back to Nucky for the grand finish.
Oh, Sexy Richard Half-Face. How can one man's life be so tragic? The defining episode for me last season was the Memorial Day one, where Richard heads into the woods to kill himself but is interrupted by a dog and some hunters. As he lay there staring up into the trees, I understood why he would want to do it but was extremely loathe to see the character go. And man am I glad he didn't. Season two Richard was always so sad - running murderous errands for Jimmy, finding a bit of humanity in his strange relationship with Angela, and then losing Angela and then losing Jimmy and ending up working as a nursemaid in Gillian's whorehouse. SO FUCKING SAD. But this season Richard has been reclaiming his agency bit by bit, starting when he killed that scary Jewish guy who murdered Angela, continuing with his care for Tommy and Richard's attempts to wrest his impressionable little mind from Gillian's twisted control, and finally, falling in love with Julia and allowing her to see beyond his masks and have a real relationship that exists outside the pages of that painfully hopeful little book.
It is the consummation of that relationship - when he says "I wish I could kiss you" and so she kisses him because she CAN - that shows him that just because he's broken doesn't mean he's not still a man, doesn't mean that he can't make love to her or protect her or be exactly what she wants him to be. Damn, I wish I could kiss him, hole-face and all! And the knowledge that she loves him carries Richard through Gillian's selfish, spiteful tirade and allows him to emerge from her utter dismissal of his life and his love with the strength to finally do what has to be done. I am assuming, from the shot we see of him assembling all his many guns, that what has to be done is a removal of Tommy from the whorehouse and probably Gillian's murder as well. I say fuck yeah! to both of those, but I just hope nothing goes wrong. I hope he doesn't snap and murder Julia's father, too. I hope Julia isn't horrified by whatever his actions are. Boardwalk Empire doesn't have a good history of letting things turn out alright for their characters, but if anyone deserves to experience a little family bliss, it's Richard. Tommy, too, for that matter - if he doesn't escape Gillian's control, who KNOWS how fucked up he'll be. One great love story was already ruined with Owen's murder - I just hope they'll let us keep this one intact. If Richard has any more tragic losses, he'll probably just become a soulless killing machine...which is simply much less interesting than watching a nearly-dead man come to life again.
But really this entire season has been building to a final confrontation between Nucky and Gyp. Two men enter, maybe one leaves. Honestly, I think it'd be awesome if they killed off Nucky. Like I said, I'm not sure how much further they can take the character, and my interest in Steve Buscemi is starting to wear thin. The showrunners already proved last season that they're not afraid to kill major players to advance plot and character development, and these past few episodes have made it clear that Nucky is on his way out - mentally, physically, and gangsterly. Either Nucky's going to do something huge with Capone that returns Atlantic City firmly to his bony grasp, or he's going to lose power and have to watch while someone else runs the city and his wife bears a dead man's child and his brother supersedes him in power and intelligence...or he's going to die. Any way it plays out, I'm just thankful for this entire season of television. It's been a great one, and proof that though a show may start out as empty, over-hyped flash, given the right writers and producers and directors it can develop into what can only be described as art. I can't wait for the last couple episodes to see how all these carefully woven threads finally come together.
Image via GrizzlyBomb
No comments:
Post a Comment