Nucky makes it very clear how much he craves respect in the most recent episode of Boardwalk Empire.
Whether wielding it as a weapon, a teaching tool or just reveling in its inherent power, no one on Boardwalk Empire can deny the alluring nature of authority, nor avoid the pain it often brings.
Despite the varying degrees of authority each character seeks, most have one ultimate goal in mind — some sense of control and respect.
Season three’s third episode, “Blue Bell Boy,” embodies this aspect of show, allowing us to witness one character after another attempt to take control of their surroundings (the title of this episode tellingly refers to the nursery rhyme of the same name about a master and his incompetent servant boy).
Trapped in a cellar for most of the episode while crooked federal prohibition agents raid a house full of stolen liquor, Nucky Thompson’s near-death situation perfectly frames this episode’s theme.
Of course, Nucky finds himself in this situation only because he feels his authority being threatened. Making a stop by his booze stash house to rile up his troops and command that they make deliveries to New York via back roads in order to avoid Gyp Rossetti on the main highway, Nucky feels threatened when he witnesses all of the troops turning to Owen Sleater for guidance.
Nucky quickly realizes that his attempts to distance himself from his crimes have caused his men to lose an iota of respect for him. In response, Nucky goes on the offensive, badgering Owen about never finding a small time crook, Roland Smith, who robbed Nucky earlier in the season.
Just to prove he means business, Nucky goes with Owen to Roland’s hideout, ready to make an example out of the thief. As it turns out, the thief is seemingly just a boy of 14 and before Nucky can decide what to do, Roland’s cache is raided by the feds.
Stuck in Roland’s basement for the remainder of the episode, Nucky, Owen and their prisoner have plenty of time to connect. Between Nucky and Owen, the cold hard truth comes out — Nucky has Owen’s allegiance only because Nucky pays, and not much beyond that.
For Nucky, however, this isn’t enough. Nucky needs loyalty and respect, not mercenaries for hire. In response, we witness an episode built beautifully around Nucky’s slow (if apparently clichéd) acceptance of Roland as the sort of naïve kid that the big time gangster could take under his wing.
Right as it seems that Roland is safe, Nucky plants a bullet right in the back of the lying teenagers head (he’s 19!), shocking Owen in the process. Gun still smoking, Nucky has once again broken out into full gangster mode, telling Owen, “As long as you understand now.”
Within the episode itself, this is a neat trick — once again, this season driving home the point that Nucky that means business, that he’s not the Nucky that with a soft heart and we see here just how far he’s willing to go to make a point. Where he once killed with kindness, now Nucky expects to rule by fear.
While this small arc is great within this episode’s internal consistency, Boardwalk Empire’s week-to-week consistency becomes more confusing with each passing episode. After witnessing Nucky’s crippling guilt and fears of loneliness in episode three, one might expect at least some mention of these feelings on episode four.
Instead, Nucky is at the top of his gangster game here. It seems a bit strange that Nucky would go out of his way to try frightening Owen into submission by murdering Roland — a prime candidate for a new protégé — when just last episode he could barely get through the day without crumbling under feelings of remorse from murdering his original protégé Jimmy Darmody.
All this could be explained away in a million different ways — Nucky’s actions this week are a direct reaction to last week’s turmoil, episode three was narrated from Nucky’s perspective while episode four is more of a third person perspective, etc. Honestly, though, Nucky’s actions have been inconsistent since episode one. Each week we get a fantastic character study encapsulated within that episode’s theme, but Nucky’s inter-episode consistency is much harder to identify.
This problem is less noticeable with other characters. Margaret, for instance, grows more headstrong in every scene as she battles tirelessly (and from my perspective, boringly) for women’s health issues. The plotline speaks openly about stringent, church-affected health policy in the 1920s, but with so much tumultuous action going on elsewhere it still feels like a cute aside to the main plot (the catholic nun who insists that words like “vagina” and “pregnant” can’t be used in a prenatal care pamphlet is hilarious but inconsequential).
Conversely, episode four also features Al Capone in a spotlight role, his story a perfect mirror to Nucky’s. Throughout “Blue Bell Boy,” Al is battling for control of his deaf son’s life. The boy has been getting beaten up at his school, and Al wants nothing more than to get the boy to fight. Too bad for Al, this is one battle that he simply can’t win with his fists. It may seem like a rote plot, but actor Stephen Graham’s tough-as-nails interpretation of notorious real-life gangster Al Capone seems completely at odds with this sort of story (this is a good thing).
When Al’s overweight and defenseless friend gets beaten by a crony of Al’s new nemesis Dean O’Banion, Al totally loses it and beats the man to death, finally able to take control of the same situation he couldn’t control with his son.
The quest for authority is evident, but unlike Nucky, who is asserting fear to gain respect from his underlings, Al is taking control by fighting for his friends. Al makes the biggest step with his son: He may not be able to teach his son how to fight, but he when he gives the boy time and attention, Al still finds the feelings of respect and control of his kids life and happiness that he wanted in the first place.
Gyp Rossetti, though less vocal in this episode, finally asserts his own sort of dominance over Nucky as his annexation of Tabor Heights finally reaches a peak. Despite Eli’s attempts to stop it, bull-headed Mickey Doyle chooses not to listen to his underling (or Nucky) and sends his supply line straight through Tabor Heights.
In this season’s first mass murder, Gyp takes out the entire supply line in a violent burst we hear from afar, proving that Gyp is, without a doubt, not a man to be trifled with.
Whether they achieve or not, the players on Boardwalk Empire can’t help but battle for respect, because really, what is a gangster without the respect? The answer is simple — they are no one, or they are dead.
Tidbits:
-Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano are still battling for control of their heroin trade, and I’m still trying to figure out why I should care.
-I don’t understand why Nelson Van Alden takes a week off between each episode – there’s a reason Michael Shannon is listed third in the credits after Steve Buscemi and Kelly MacDonald, and it’s definitely not an alphabetical thing. Van Alden is great character, and Shannon’s crazy-eyes rival Claire Danes’ on Homeland.
-In order to attain this week’s body count, I had to do a lot of DVR pausing and a lot of math (thanks, Gyp). Just so we’re clear, two of Nucky’s bodyguards went down first, followed by the man that Al Capone beats to death in the bar, and then Roland. I am also counting Margaret’s hero, aviatrix Carrie Duncan, whose plane crash is listed on a newspaper. Finally, I counted seven dead on the supply line ambush, which means…
-This season’s body count, so far: 19
berman@umdbk.com
