Nelson continues down the criminal path and Nucky tries to assassinate Gyp in a superb episode of Boardwalk Empire.
Shows need themes; they just work better that way. Go ahead and compare the torturous True Blood to any episode of Boardwalk Empire and the lack thematic forethought that goes into the former really shows a weakness in design.
On the fifth episode of season three of Boardwalk Empire, “You’d Be Surprised,” the overarching theme for each of the divergent storylines is that, in gangland, you can’t always get what you want, but if you try sometimes, you might find you get some bullshit you weren’t expecting.
So, what else is new on in the world of Boardwalk Empire? Still, the theme is very well explored and executed, especially along the narrative thread showing the fallout from Gyp Rossetti’s mini-massacre that ended last episode. (Side note: we actually find out how many men died in the incident, so our season-long body count has been adjusted for accuracy!)
This particular piece of the puzzle is a double edged sword — Gyp sees nothing but profit in his supply-line massacre, even though his antics have now pissed off both Nucky and Arnold Rothstein. Gyp still believes he can get what he wants out of them despite making them enemies.
His plight is beautifully played in a bit of metaphorical foreshadowing that opens the episode. Gyp is shacked-up with his waitress friend in Tabor Heights, letting her choke him while he vigorously masturbates.
Yes, just to get what he wants, Gyp is putting his own head in the noose. He’s screwing with Nucky and Rothstein’s business to get what he wants and in doing so only puts himself in more danger.
We then see him making a new deal with a pissed-off Arnold Rothstein, telling the man that he’s ready to sell all the liquor back to the New York kingpin. As it turns out, Rothstein’s business plans are just a ploy and an assassin goes in to kill Gyp while he’s with the waitress, getting down to some more erotic asphyxiation.
The assassination attempt is one of the best scenes of the season (and a nice homage to the end of Taxi Driver) — when the gunfire is over and Gyp is strutting down the hall, naked, noosed and drenched in blood, the fury in his eyes is more potent than the best hooch he’s ever stolen.
The other side of this sword is the payoff for the audience. Not until the assassination attempt are we clued in at all that Rothstein and Nucky had planned the execution from the beginning, a reversal of expectations that knocks you off your feet — much like Gyp’s desires.
These moments of intelligent beauty are what make Boardwalk Empire so great — the themes are so thoroughly thought-out that they creep into every aspect of the show and make for an enjoyably multi-layered experience.
Something strange has been happening on Boardwalk Empire this season, however. The show has been as unrelentingly dark and violent as ever — who would want it any other way? — and each episode has taken a thematic idea and run a few characters thoroughly through the idea’s gears, often to brilliant effect.
Nonetheless, as I mentioned last week, it’s plot more than theme that carries from one episode to the next.
Last week, I was referring to Episode 3, which took us inside Nucky Thompson’s struggle over killing former protégé Jimmy Darmody. It was a great episode with a great theme, sure, but since that episode there’s really been no mention of this struggle, even subtly.
This lack of mounting internal struggle is much in opposition to the structure of Jimmy’s downfall throughout season two. Jimmy’s rise and fall is one of the best crafted character arcs in modern television — despite his bloody, bullheaded climb to the top, Jimmy’s own inner turmoil destroyed him in the end.
The serialized thematics of season two are what made Boardwalk Empire one the best shows on television. As season three barrels ahead, though, this style is much less evident and though it doesn’t hurt individual episodes, it might bring the season down on the whole.
While we’re here, let’s not forget how well the internal structure of “You’d Be Surprised” works.
Every other featured player experiences a shake-up in one way or another. Longtime side-character Eddie Cantor — the not-so-secretly-gay vaudeville star — takes center stage this episode, with Nucky forcing him to perform in a show that will save Billie Kent’s career aspirations.
Eddie has a few great scenes — one with Nucky and one with Chalky White and Dunn Purnsley — both of which demonstrate his fear in the face of his gangster friends.
Billie, meanwhile, is one of the few characters who hits the curveball life has thrown her for a home run. With her stage show back on — thanks entirely to Nucky — life is looking up for her.
Nucky’s obsession with Billie is wreaking havoc on his business, as its perpetually pulls his attention away from work. It’s Nucky’s lack of focus that has lead to the Gyp Rossetti problem and now it has to be fixed. At the end of the episode, Nucky is left wanting to get Billie’s career back on track and to see Gyp turn up dead.
When he gets the news that Gyp survived, while watching Billie practice her routine, the misstep is blatantly obvious. What does Nucky want and what does he actually need?
It’s been a long two weeks, but episode five also sees the return of Nelson Van Alden, still worried sick about the prohibition agent who thought he recognized Nelson.
“You’d Be Surprised” is an obvious turning point for Nelson — he finds out that his new wife has known all along about why they had to flee Atlantic City, which immediately makes their relationship that much more interesting, especially considering her cold, black and white view of Nelson as a good man and everyone else as evil.
All Nelson wants is to avoid the federal agent trying to hunt him down, but in the end, he finds himself stuck in room with the man. As it turns out, the agent only recognized Nelson because Nelson had sold him a steamer.
Nelson gets even more than he bargained for, however, when his wife suddenly and critically injures the fed, thinking he is “bad.” We’ve always known that Nelson was going to end up cavorting with the wrong side of the law, but no one expected his new wife to be the catalyst.
When he marches into real-life gangster Dean O’Banion’s flower shop, intent on disappearing the body, we know this is just the beginning of Nelson’s long road to criminality. All Nelson wanted was to slip quietly into obscurity, and now? We’re about to see a whole new man.
The season isn’t even half finished yet, so it’s possible that we’ll starting seeing all these threads tie together as Gyp works towards his endgame. One thing’s for sure — any episode of Boardwalk Empire offers a nuanced portrait, even if it doesn’t match up with previous weeks.
But hey, you can’t always get what you want.
Tidbits:
–There was a really interesting bit about Gillian Darmody this episode. She’s still complaining about her leaky whorehouse, but doesn’t have the money to fix it. In her mind, the brothel needs to be upscale: The house should exist as a dream, a place where everyone can be anyone they want to be for as long as they stay. Meanwhile, she learns that the only way she’ll ever have enough dough is if she admits Jimmy is dead and gets a death certificate. In the end, she decides to live in her fantasy, letting the home fall into ill-repute (whores on the porch!) while dreamily writing a letter to Jimmy as if he really is just away on a trip. It’s creepy, dark and well-crafted.
–Michael Shannon’s face at the end of the episode, in Dean O’Banion’s flower shop, is one of his greatest crazy-eyes moments. This needs to be a meme, now.
–Stephen Root returned this episode as crooked Department of Justice agent Gaston Means and while he only had a short segment, his creepy demeanor warns of threats to come. It would seem that the Department of Justice is under scrutiny by a legislative committee in Washington and Means believes that the best way for Attorney General Harry Daugherty to avoid a corruption charge is to take down a bootlegger he is illegally in league with. I smell trouble for Nucky.
–Now last week, I had the body count at 19, following the massacre and a few other kills. Well, my massacre count was seven, based on what I could see onscreen, but Eli Thompson tells us in this episode that Nucky lost 11 men in the ambush, which means I’ll be retroactively adding four more bodies to the overall count. On top of that, this episode saw five more deaths – Nelson’s prohi’ stalker, plus four dead in the assassination attempt, which means…
–This season’s body count, so far: 28
diversions@umdbk.com
