Boardwalk Empire S4E8
WARNING: This review contains spoilers.
Lots of danger comes to Atlantic City. And not everyone will survive.
This episode delivers that slow burn tension that is the hallmark of Boardwalk Empire. There are many dangers in this gangster life, and not all of them involve an underling with a gun and a contract.
Sally Wheet (Patricia Arquette) shows up in Atlantic City with the shipment of oranges/liquor. Her surprise appearance throws Nucky (Steve Buscemi) off his game, until he can ascertain the purpose of the visit. Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks) does not realize that Nucky has the hots for Ms. Sally, and he makes flirtatious overtones until Nucky hits him with Eddie's old walking cane. The walking cane that Mickey has decided to "hold onto" for safe keeping. But Mickey quickly realizes what is going on and his place in the Thompson operation, and reverts back to a subordinate role. I can't say enough about Paul Sparks' portrayal of Mickey this season, his acting is one of the highlights of a great season and awesome acting performances of Boardwalk.
Sally makes her way into Nucky's bed, then dispenses some motherly advice to young William Thompson (Kevin Csolak), the recent Temple University dropout, who just happened to kill a classmate and with family help frames his former roommate for the death. Willie's defiance and disrespect of his father Eli (Shea Wigham) has led to an inter-family squabble over the past few episodes. But Sally and Nucky convince Willie to return home and apologize to his parents, which soothes everything in the Thompson family.
However, Eli has just been approached by a relentless Agent Knox/Tolliver (Brian Geraghty) and given a choice: either Willie goes to jail for the death of his classmate (after his roommate turns on him), or work with the FBI on delivering the heads of the national crime syndicate. We don't know how Eli responds to this threat, which will play a major role in the remaining episodes this season.
Chalky (Michael Kenneth Williams) is still infatuated with Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham), and Narcisse (Jeffrey Wright) is busy moving in on Chalky's territory in Atlantic City. But after attending the funeral of Deacon Cuffy, Chalky decides to end the scourge of heroin in his community, leading to a confrontation with Narcisse. The good doctor hatches a plan to bring Chalky to him for reasons unknown, but Chalky figures out that Dunn Purnsley (Erik LaRay Harvey) is working with Narcisse, and after a fight breaks out between the two, Dunn ends up dead, thanks to a proverbial knife-to-the-back from Daughter. The fireworks are sure to fly between Chalky and Narcisse.
Boardwalk Empire is delivering the goods this season. While previous seasons occasionally seemed to drag because of the show's slow burn pacing, this season shines because of it. I can't wait to see how the Thompsons and Chalky deal with the threats they face.
Random Thoughts:
- Narcisse's chest wounds are the result of Daughter's mother hitting him with a jar of lye before he killed her.
- No Meyer, Lucky, of McCoy this week. Wonder how things are down in Tampa?
- Knox/Tolliver could use some professional development on management techniques.
What did you think?
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