Top Ten Favorite Episodes of "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (2010-2014)

Below are my top ten favorite episodes from HBO's "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (2010-2014). Created by Terence Winter, the series starred Steve Buscemi: 


TOP TEN FAVORITE EPISODES OF "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (2010-2014)



1. (2.11) "Under God's Power She Flourishes" - Following his wife Angela's death, Jimmy Darmody recalls his school days at Princeton and a fateful visit from his mother, Gillian. Atlantic City political boss Enoch "Nucky" Thompson stumbles across a discovery that ends Agent Nelson Van Alden's career as a Federal lawman. And a confrontation between Jimmy and Gillian over Angela ends with the death of Atlantic City's power broker, Commodore Louis Kaestner.





2. (4.12) "Farewell Daddy Blues" - In this explosive Season Four finale, Eli Thompson's reluctant attempt to betray Nucky to the FBI conclude unexpectedly; and the final confrontation between Atlantic City's black political boss Albert "Chalky" White and usurper Dr. Valentin Narcisse result in a double tragedy.





3. (3.11) "Two Imposters" - In this nail biting episode, Nucky goes on the run, when nemesis "Gyp" Rossetti and his crew take over the city; forcing Nucky to seek Chalky's help. Following Rossetti's takeover of the city, Gillian Darmody forces henchman Richard Harrow to leave her whorehouse.





4. (2.12) "To the Lost" - In this Season Two finale, the Federal charges against Nucky are dropped after he weds his mistress, Margaret Schroeder. Van Alden flees Atlantic City for Cicero, Illinois. And Jimmy seeks to regain Nucky's forgiveness, after his betrayal against the political boss falls apart.





5. (4.10) "White Horse Pike" - Nucky's new lady love, Sally Wheat, discovers that heroin id being slipped into their bootleg shipments by future mob bosses Charlie Luciano and Meyer Lansky at Masseria's behest. Chalky fails to kill Narcisse and finds himself on the run with his singer/mistress Daughter Maitland.





6. (1.11) "Paris Green" - This episode featured many shake-ups in the relationships of Nucky and Margaret; Van Alden and his assistant, Agent Sebso; Jimmy and his relationships with his real father, the Commodore, Nucky, and Angela.





7. (2.10) "Georgia Peaches" - While Jimmy deals with the workers' strike and Nucky's new supply of Irish whiskey, Philadelphia mobster Manny Horvitz seeks revenge for Jimmy's failed attempt on his life.





8. (3.12) "Margate Sands" - In this bloody Season Three finale, Richard Harrow takes matters into his own hands, as he attempts to get young Tommy Darmody out of Gillian's whorehouse, now occupied by Rossetti's men. Chalky White, Al Capone help Nucky engage in a bloody battle to regain control of Atlantic City on the latter's behalf.





9. (1.01) "Boardwalk Empire" - The ninety (90) minute series' premiere episode introduced Atlantic City treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson at the dawn of Prohibition in January 1920; and his plans to make himself and his associates very rich from the bootlegging business.





10. (4.01) "New York Sour" - Chalky's lieutenant Durnsley White encounters trouble with a booking-agent and his wife; heroin addict Gillian Darmody tries to regain custody of her grandson Tommy; and Nucky makes peace with Arnold Rothstein and Joe Masseria.

TAGS: 1910s, 1920s, boardwalk empire, dabney colem

Controversial Finale: "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (2.12) "To the Lost"

CONTROVERSIAL FINALE: "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" (2.12) "To the Lost"

The Season Two finale of "BOARDWALK EMPIRE", (2.12) "To the Lost" has been viewed as an end of an era for a good number of the series' viewers and television critics. It marked an event that left some fans satisfied and others in a state of anger and resentment. But one cannot deny that this event – along with a few others – allowed the series to enter a new phase for its third season. 

One of the changes that materialized in "To the Lost" turned out to be the marriage between Atlantic City's re-installed political boss, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson and his Irish-born mistress, the widowed Margaret Schroeder. Although both harbored feelings for each other, their marriage obviously seemed like one of convenience. Margaret had received a summons from Federal prosecutor Esther Randolph as a possible witness against Nucky for her husband’s murder back in Season One. By "To the Lost", Margaret had embraced religion as a reaction to her daughter becoming a victim of the polio outbreak. When Nucky learned about her summons, he asked her to marry him in order to prevent her from testifying against him and to avoid serving time in prison. Margaret agreed. But she had also hoped to convince Nucky to do the same – before and after the charges against him were dropped. To her disappointment, Nucky revealed no interest in embracing religion. Worse, he had signed over a piece of valuable property to Margaret, when he feared that the Federal government might confiscate his possessions. 

When Margaret learned about the murder of Alderman James Neary – an enemy of Nucky's – she immediately assumed he was behind the crime. As it turned out, she was wrong. Nucky's former protégée, Jimmy Darmody, committed the deed with friend Richard Harrow’s help, in an effort to win the political boss' forgiveness for his betrayal. However, Margaret went ahead and signed over Nucky’s land to the Catholic Church. The ironic aspect of Margaret’s reasoning behind her actions was that she harbored a secret of her own. In the season’s seventh episode, (2.07) "Peg of Old", she had sex with Owen Sleater, Nucky’s new bodyguard. This happened at a time when Nucky was facing an assassination attempt arranged by Jimmy. Margaret eventually found the nerve to confess her infidelity to the local priest and to God. Margaret seemed willing to judge Nucky for his lies – real and imagined. Yet, she failed to find the courage to confess her sin of infidelity to Nucky.

Albert "Chalky" White, the unofficial leader of Atlantic City’s African-American community, had to endure numerous difficulties during Season Two. The Ku Klux Klan attacked his bootleg operation in the season’s premiere episode,(2.01) "21", resulting in the deaths of several of his men. Chalky managed to kill one of the Klansmen during the attack. He ended up being charged with murder. Nucky's attorney managed to get him out of jail on bail, but Chalky still faced a trial. This ended when Jimmy managed to get the State Attorney’s office to drop the murder charges. Jimmy, along with Richard’s help, attacked a Klan gathering at gunpoint, shot two men and demanded the men who had attacked Chalky’s warehouse in "21". After delivering the men to Chalky and the latter’s new right-hand man, former jail cell nemesis Dunn Purnsley, Jimmy asked the former to contact Nucky on his behalf. This arrest would lead to the first of two meetings between Jimmy and Nucky and the former's controversial death that ended Season Two.

Like many other fans of "BOARDWALK EMPIRE", I had made the mistake of assuming that Nucky would eventually forgive Jimmy for his Season Two transgressions. After all, the Jimmy Darmody character was the second lead in the series. After watching "To the Lost", I realize that I had been living in a fantasy. So had Jimmy. The deaths of his wife Angela and father, the Commodore, in (2.11) "Under God's Power She Flourishes" had left him shaken to his core. I suspect this also led him to realize it would be in his best interest to seek forgiveness from Nucky. Jimmy engaged in a campaign to make up for his past transgressions – which included a murder attempt on Nucky. With Richard’s help, he nabbed the Klansmen who was responsible for the attack on Chalky’s bootlegging operation; set up both Alderman Jim Neary and Eli Thompson for election fraud, before faking Neary’s death as a suicide; and claimed that Eli was responsible for introducing the idea of a hit on Nucky. But all of this did not work. It was Richard who pointed out that no matter what Jimmy did, Nucky would never forgive him.

Now that I think about it, I found myself wondering why Jimmy never considered the possibility that Nucky was not the forgiving type . . . until it was too late. Surely he must have remembered Nucky's reaction when he and Al Capone had stolen Arnold Rothstein's whiskey shipment in the series' premiere, (1.01) "Boardwalk Empire". Nucky had been so angry that he fired Jimmy as his driver and demanded that the World War I veteran pay $3,000 as compensation for committing the robbery in his town and without his consent. Jimmy was forced to flee from Atlantic City to Chicago, when a witness to the heist reappeared. And even though Nucky asked Jimmy to return to help him deal with his war against Rothstein, he remained angry over the heist. Now if Nucky was unable to completely forgive Jimmy for the whiskey heist in Season One; his chances of forgiving the younger man for an attempted murder seemed pretty moot. And no one - including myself - seemed to realize this.

I am not condoning Nucky's murder of Jimmy. I believe that what he had done was wrong. But I must admit that I found some of the outraged reactions against the crime rather puzzling. Although some had expressed disappointment over Jimmy's sanction of the murder attempt on Nucky in "Peg of Old", the level of anger toward Jimmy seemed particularly mute in comparison to their anger toward Nucky for his actions in "To the Lost". This same television season also saw the death of lead actor Sean Bean in another HBO series, "GAME OF THRONE". Some had expressed surprise at the turn of events, but not anger. 

Some fans might point out that it was Nucky's younger brother and Atlantic City's sheriff, the resentful Eli Thompson, who had initiated the idea of killing Nucky. Jimmy even told Nucky of Eli's participation in the hit. I suspect that Nucky suspected that Jimmy had told the truth. But he had considered two things. One, Eli was his brother. And two, it was Jimmy who gave the final decision to have Nucky killed. In the end, even Eli failed to completely escape Nucky's wrath. Although his life was spared, the political boss forced him to plead guilty to the corruption charges and face at least two years in prison (or less with parole). Something tells me that Eli's career as Sheriff of Atlantic County had ended permanently.

Jimmy had also been wrong to order the hit on Nucky. Yet, the level of anger toward his act was barely minimal. Were these fans upset that Nucky had succeeded, where Jimmy had failed? Or was their anger due to the loss of the younger and good-looking Michael Pitt, who had NOT been the series' lead? Because no one had expressed similar sentiments over the older Bean's departure from "GAME OF THRONES". Was this major outrage over Jimmy's death had more to do with superficial preference than moral outrage? It is beginning to seem so to me.

I had enjoyed Michael Pitt's portrayal of the troubled Jimmy Darmody, during his two-year stint on "BOARDWALK EMPIRE". But unlike many other fans, I cannot accept the views of some that the series had jumped the shark with his character's death. I refuse to claim that the series' quality will remain the same, or get better or worse. I can only make that judgment after Series Three has aired. But the very talented Steve Buscemi remains at the lead as Enoch "Lucky" Thompson. And creator Terence Winter continues to guide the series.  The number of changes that marked"To the Lost" and Season Two, were merely hints - and rather large ones at that - of things to come in future seasons.

"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" Season Two (2011) Photo Gallery

Below are images from Season Two of HBO's "BOARDWALK EMPIRE". Created by Terence Winter, the series stars Steve Buscemi: 


"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" Season Two (2011) Photo Gallery

“BOARDWALK EMPIRE”: Top Five Favorite Season One (2010) Episodes

Last September, a new series based upon Nelson Johnson's book about the famous New Jersey coastal city during the Prohibition Era, "Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City", premiered on HBO. Created by Terence Winter and produced by him, Mark Walhberg, and Martin Scorcese; "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" starred Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Pitt and Michael Shannon. Below is a list of my top five (5) favorite episodes from the series' first season:


"BOARDWALK EMPIRE": TOP FIVE FAVORITE SEASON ONE (2010) EPISODES



1. (1.09) "Belle Femme" - This episode about Enoch "Nucky" Johnson's efforts to deal with the threat of a Democratic mayoral candidate screaming corruption and the D'Alessio gang; his mistress Margaret Schroeder promises to help a former employer; and Jimmy Darmody's return from Chicago proved to be my favorite episode this season.






2. (1.10) "The Emerald City" - Nucky asks for Margaret's assistance in backing his mayoral candidate with the passage of women's right to vote, leaving her conflicted about her role as his mistress. He, along with Chalky White and Jimmy confront Meyer Lansky and two of the D'Alessio brothers. Jimmy's common-law wife, Angela Darmody, witnesses his violent side against her photographer friend, and Federal agent Nelson Van Alden grapples with his emotions and has forceful encounters with both Margaret and Lucy.






3. (1.01) "Boardwalk Empire" - The ninety (90) minute series' premiere episode introduced Atlantic City treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson at the dawn of Prohibition in January, 1920; and his plans to make himself and his associates very rich from the bootlegging business.






4. (1.04) "Anastasia" - Michael Kenneth Williams has a field day in this episode in which his character, Chalky White extracts vengeance from a local Ku Klux Klan leader for lynching one of his men. And in Chicago, Jimmy and Al Capone expand their business operations by taking over territories from a local Irish gangster, resulting in vicious consequences for a prostitute that Jimmy was fond of.






5. (1.11) "Paris Green" - This episode featured many shake-ups in the relationships of Nucky and Margaret; Van Alden and his assistant, Agent Sebso; Jimmy and his relationships with his real father, the Commodore, Nucky, and Angela.

"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" Season One (2010) Photo Gallery

Below are images from the HBO series called "BOARDWALK EMPIRE". Produced by Terence Winter, Mark Wahlberg and Martin Scorcese, the series stars Steve Buscemi:


"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" Season One (2010) Photo Gallery