Oscar (Lou Gossett Jr.) hasn’t forgotten either. Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) is on the lam and woodshedding with the easy riding singer Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham). That shed is like a fortress in the woods because Oscar remembers how it was and knows how it is. It doesn’t matter if he’s not in the city anymore. He knows what’s shaking when Chalky gets thrown at his gate. Oscar apparently had a similar arrangement with the Commodore that Chalky’s got with Nucky. Sure, times have changed, but not enough where you can trust a buck or a brown. Pinkerton Detectives were a force of private dicks and when they stuck it to you, you felt it all the way up the river. Gillian is finally free. Gillian has always been in one cage or another. She was caged by the Commodore. She was caged by a son she had too young who lived too long but died too soon. She was trapped in his wake long after the flowers dried. I’m not sure if she appreciates how much she underestimated Richard (Jack Huston), but I think Gretchen Mol plays her as a woman trapped at the age she was broken. When Gillian loses she always loses big and it’s heartbreaking in a way that your heart rips when a kid loses a toy they love. When she was telling Roy (Ron Livingston) that he could make himself get used to everything, her face, the lighting, the desperation behind her eyes made her glow with insidious temptation. It was like those latter-day Bette Davis thriller horrors where you knew you were looking at something scary that didn’t have a monster’s name. When the Pinkerton prick pulled his pants off she went out in a nightmare that will keep me up nights. I always look forward to penultimate episodes on HBO. They have a network of putting the best episode of the season right before the last. Although it’s not a hard and fast rule and I haven’t seen every show they run, but it has been true of Boardwalk Empire and it was certainly true with The Sopranos. “Havre de Grace” moved and grooved, it had two shootouts in the dark and an aerial view of horror, but they are still saving the best for last. This episode cleared the chamber. The gun goes off next week. They will have to pick up the pieces next season. “Havre de Grace” was directed by Allen Coulter and written by Howard Korder. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
