3.5 You’d Be Surprised Nucky is still underperforming commercially. Is he letting his relationship with Billie Kent cloud (or even remove) his judgement? Rothstein certainly seems to think so, and calls him out on it in a fantastic opening scene that neatly summarises the parlous position in which they find themselves. Rosetti, it transpires, is connected to Masseria, who, as we know, can make things very difficult in New York. We should have seen this coming. The racial connections I mentioned last week are proving definitive, and likely to prove bloody. Speaking of which, proud Sicilian Gyp Rossetti had an interesting episode, driven partly by luck but chiefly by sheer brute determination. The shoot-out scene – the episode’s pinnacle – established just what a tough mother he really is, even if he is a little odd in bed. Sleater’s laconic “…four fatalities, none of them Rosetti” deliberately underplayed the brutality of the scene. The naked, bloodsoaked Gyp, still wearing the ligature from his kinky session, made for an arresting sight, the overhead camera making it particularly so. Rosetti frequently sounds dumb, but this is clearly a ploy as his knowing look at the dead paperboy revealed. He’s a cunning operator and would test even Nucky at his best. That is not something we can necessarily say of Chalky and Dunn Pernsley. Their role in the episode was interesting to say the least. Chalky is still essentially a business associate of Nucky and having him run what was a personal errand showed just how confused Nucky is by his situation. He’s letting his private life affect his business life and using his business associations to straighten out his personal affairs. It also spoke to the central crisis at his heart: just which side of the gangster/politician divide is he now on? He made a game effort to sweet-talk Cantor into accepting his offer, and seemed genuinely taken aback at his resistance to bribery, but when it failed had no compunction about sending the heavies in. It also served as an unintentional metaphor for Chalky’s role in this season, surely there’s something better for him to do? Gillian’s inability to separate her business from her private life is also troubling. Despite the sympathetic but insistent lecture from Leander Whitlock, she can’t let go of Jimmy. It’s not clear how far her denial is wilful, but it is certainly real. Gillian is not always the easiest character to like but it was hard to remain unaffected watching her write to her dead son as if he is simply out of town for a while. The large Darmody-shaped shadow that has been hanging over this season is one of the most subtle yet important features of the writing. It’s been fantastic how little Jimmy’s absence has directly affected the plot, except through the actions of the three characters who were closest to him, Nucky, Gillian and the (sadly absent) Richard Harrow. Read Michael’s review of last week’s episode, Blue Bell Boy, here. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.
title: “Boardwalk Empire Season 3 Episode 5 Review You D Be Surprised” ShowToc: true date: “2025-07-28” author: “George Rivera”
After last week’s ambush resulted in a number of Nucky’s men being killed, and Rothstein not getting his agreed upon shipment of booze, the two men have an intense disagreement over the Gyp Rosetti problem – Nucky: “What do you expect one would do with a mad dog?” – and the two men’s personal disregard for the other boils over into a full blown shouting match, the most public display of vitriol between the two crime bosses yet. Albeit, this is partially obscured from the auditory perspective of their respective henchmen in an adjoining room, a key detail that hides the final betrayal from the viewer after it subsequently appears Rothstein cuts a side deal with Gyp leaving Nucky out of the picture, that is until the final scene…more on that later… Nucky’s personal life is no less discordant as his affair with showgirl Billie Kent is discovered by Margaret and it clear that this is just a marriage of appearance at this point, even if there are brief flickers and intimation of the passion and love the two felt for each other at one time. Nucky devotes more time to the acting career of Billie and – acting out of a perceived combination of jealousy and affection – has Chalky White pay Eddie Cantor a semi humorous and wholly intimidating visit to convince “man of his word” Cantor to renege on another acting contract and replace Billie’s attractive yet less than talented co-star in a show. Cantor wisely agrees but leaves Billie with the biting sobriquet, “You ever hear of (Nucky’s former mistress) Lucy Danziger?” Also on the home front, disgraced Fed and now struggling working class stiff Van Alden is being followed by Agent Coughlin and confesses to his wife Sigrid of his checkered past and how he thinks Coughlin may be trying to arrest him. The fear is unfounded when Coughlin finally confronts Van Alden at his home to complain about a defective iron the former agent sold him but a panicked Sigrid does what she can to protect her family and bludgeons the FBI agent much to the chagrin of a shocked Van Alden. At that point, the family man tells his wife to avert her eyes and does the right thing by her and suffocates the semi-conscious agent, calling in his chit with Dean O’Banion to help dispose of the body. Other developments: – Gillian is clearly in some sort of denial about the extended disappearance of her dead son James, writing letters imploring him to come home, perhaps this is something she even truly believes. – The introduction of Andrew Mellon (played by James Cromwell) testifying about the corruption within the Justice Department, a storyline perhaps paving the way for a righteous group of prosecutors and FBI agents down the road. – Margaret’s continued feminist empowerment at the head of a sex education class held within the strict confines of a Catholic hospital and her burgeoning attraction to the opinionated and gruff Dr Mason who is alas engaged. If there is any major fault with the show, it is the sin of plenty (too many characters, too many historical subplots) as the writers try to balance both the conceits of a crime show and the narrative tics of a prohibition era historical drama. Surprisingly, the show never really collapses under that weight and ends with a bang, a haunting, brutal violent display notably devoid of stylized choices, just rough and dirty death.
