“This here is my daddy’s tools.” (Chalky)

Whoa, whoa, whoa. That was an awesome episode. So much stuff on so many levels. I am shocked. Finally, some closure on the Nucky/Margaret relationship. The moment Nucky saw her at the party, it was clear. That man is madly in love. He might just not know it yet.

Margaret was a princess for a night – not unlike the woman posing as Anastasia (was it Anna Anderson? I wasn’t paying attention). She even had a prince. But in the end, the prince chose his beautiful (but dumb – more on that later) girlfriend over her and thus, she was banished back to the tragic life. But not without an heirloom: stealing that piece of lingerie was Margaret’s way of sticking to her wishes – not that different from serial killers collecting a souvenir of their kills.

But boy, Lucy Danziger. When she’s got her clothes on, it becomes even more apparent how unbelievably stupid she is. Even the commodore’s black servant, who never saw a day of school in her life, has the decency to admit that she has no clue. Lucy, on the other hand, seems to be proud of it. Boy oh boy. It’s only a matter of time before Nucky gives her the boot – and then what’s she going to do?

Chalky might have a small role, but when he’s on, he’s on. While the entire episode focused around powerplay, this was the most blatant example. That anecdote about his father was some fucked-up shit.

Thoughts and things

• Margaret walking into Babbette’s was simply awesome. A whole new world opened for her. It was like Alice in Wonderland – only less creepy. There’s a reason this episode is called Anastasia.
• The Twenties-award of the week goes to every reference to Broken Blossoms. If you’re going to be referencing movies, you might aswell reference the best.
• Nucky practicing his “speech” in front of the mirror was wonderful. As was Eddie’s response. Eddie is the best.
• I never knew the KKK were knights. Makes it even crazier.

In all

But the culmination of the episode was the mob mutilating Pearl. It was set up from a mile away, but that made it all the worse. Poor girl, who had to suffer for some crazy mobster power play. Like the real Anastasia, she was used as collateral damage in a revolution.

This episode was so air-tight it was breathtaking. I hope to see more of this: less focus on what a weird time the twenties was, and more focus on character-driven plot. The heyday of the American mafia is such a mess, I think Boardwalk Empire should be nothing else.