I remember when I was first watching The Sopranos, I thought it was a comedy. Whenever I told this to someone they thought I was joking or just wrong. Years later I read an interview with David Chase and he also thought it was a comedy. I didn’t tell anyone, because that would spoil the joke. Even if I was the only one laughing, I will not spoil a joke. This probably only means David Chase and I share a fucked up sense of humor, which is why I will watch his show over and over again, like I will watch Boardwalk Empire in its entirety, several times. It is a good meal. It doesn’t photograph the food or mic up the wine the way The Sopranos did, but it’s their restaurant. “Resignation” was a comedy episode, with breakout comic performances. I knew I was going to love this episode from the song that was playing on Nucky’s breakfast victrola in his first scene, “Wings of an Angel.” That is the song that the remaining Dead End Kids are singing at the end of Dead End, my favorite movie (“Look, they’re dancing like they like it.”). A comfort food kind of movie that also liberally sprinkled humor on top of gangland crime and intense poverty. The best dramas infuse their suspense with comedy. For Alfred Hitchcock, it was an unbreakable rule in filmmaking. Humor must balance whatever horror or intrigue you’re trying to build otherwise you’re building on, who cares, why build? Humor is the concrete in the bricks. It holds together Casablanca, which I can also watch as a comedy, and it holds together. Every character on Boardwalk Empire has their own voice and their own sense of humor. Even Mrs. Shroeder (Kelly Macdonald) got in with some subtle cutting sarcasms and Rolling Stone called her “Prissy O’Frowney. I can’t say I miss her this season. “Resignation” opens with a one-two punch line from Van Alden (Michael Shannon), I mean George Mueller. O’Bannion’s got him delivering flowers. But he sees good things in the big lump of world-pressing responsibilities and sends him off to be his ears when Al Capone’s (Stephen Graham) men are busting Democrats heads because that’s politics in Chicago. I can’t imagine Van Alden telling a joke, but he can throw down like with the best of them. No flies on him, and why shouldn’t there be? He pays his taxes. I think Frank Capone (Morgan Spector) sees this. I also think he’s a little blinded by it. He missed Van Alden’s bible revival blubbering that ended with Al’s fork in his face but came with a nice plate of pasta. Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) and his sister Emma have a complicated relationship that they really strain to keep simple. Half-Moon’s heart’s just not in it anymore and its heartbreaking and affirming that he might be able to return to whatever life he had before he was twisted up in the war. It won’t work out that way. It can’t work out that way. This is HBO and the wolves are at the Harrows’ door in the form of back taxes. Somebody’s going to have to try and bite a flying bullet on this one. I never trusted Agent Knox from the first second I laid eyes on him, he couldn’t possibly be that corrupt. When he winds up as one of the guys sucking on a Hoover, I wasn’t surprised. They made the young Hoover (Eric Ladin) look the way I always thought the young Hoover looked, old before his time. Filled with the righteous rage of a man with a badge and pieces of paper that told him he could use it. I anticipate hating him forever and ultimately holding it against the poor actor playing him. Den of Geek Rating: 4 Out of 5 Stars 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!
