“I will ruin you.” (Nucky)

Allow me to start this review with a sexist statement: the first thing I noticed about this episode that it was directed by a woman: Susanna White. Immediately, my mind started racing: what could a female touch mean for a male-oriented series like Boardwalk Empire? One sub-plot later, I found out the answer.

I’m obviously talking about Lucy Danziger’s pregnancy. Once again, I apologize for sounding sexist, but had a man directed this episode, I would have never come this close to the pain she was going through. Lucy doesn’t want a baby. Lucy wants to go outside. For the first time, I understood her – for the first time, she seemed less like a mentally challenged bitch and more like a fear-filled wounded bird. I don’t know if it was the absence of make-up or something in Paz de la Huerta’s outstanding performance, but when we received her first close-up, I was in shambles. And things would get worse: when she stood on top of the stairs, my breath stopped and chills ran down my spine. Indepent of what was going to happen, I felt so, so sorry for her. And when she danced to the music at the end… I felt happy for her. The poor little thing.

Sorry women. I apologize for this indecent explosion of neanderthal instincts.

Lucy aside, Nucky reached the boiling point today. I found it kind of weird that Margaret, who was such a fearsome woman in episode two’s final moments, would crawl back into her (fake) shell in the third. The subplot about her so-called sister made sense and it’s certainly intriguing, but maybe it came at the wrong time? Then again, I was proven wrong when I saw what it was all about in the episode’s climax, which featured a delicious-looking lobster. The stand-off between Nucky and the Commodore was pretty sweet – but Nucky and Jimmy, that’s where the real sparks flew.

Thoughts and things

• It’s becoming harder and harder to do the twenties-award of the week. At the risk of sounding lame, I’ll choose the record player. Because I want one of those.
• The stand-off between Richard and newcomer Owen was sweet. Has Richard finally met his match?
• The scene between Eli and his father was revealing, but confusing. Does his father automatically root for the underdog? Or was he delirious? Or did I misinterpret things?

In All…

Another strong episode. The second season is coming along nicely, and a new director is always a fresh wind on HBO. It’s a lot more tight and tense than the first season. I can’t but approve of this. Have a solid first season to establish the characters, then start going hog-wild on the plot. Let’s hope they can manage to keep the bar this high – but with a set-up like this, things can’t possibly go wrong.