At first I wasn’t sure I liked it. There were parts of the episode that worked, but overall I wasn’t sure if it all coalesced as it should have. However, a few minutes after the credits rolled I began to feel like the episode went down perfectly. I’m reminded of The Sopranos in that we were given a lot of shocks but we didn’t get the satisfying moments we were hoping for (intentionally so). Narcisse is in a shitload of trouble with the FBI, but as much as we dislike Narcisse, Hoover is even worse, which takes away any satisfaction we might get from seeing Narcisse’s comeuppance. Hoover forcing him to call him “sir” was devastating and the look on Jeffrey Wright’s face was pitch perfect for the scene, making me sympathize with him over Hoover. The death of Agent Knox is so incredibly brutal that there’s no fist pump moment, only grimaces and gasps as Eli viciously beats him. Nucky returns to his life of crime, but it’s done off screen. We don’t get a dramatic NUCKY’S BACK moment; we’re just shown that he goes about his business while Sally Wheet sits alone in Florida.

I first saw an episode of Doctor Who in September of 1999 (“Four to Doomsday” in case you were wondering). I was ten years old. Being an American, I didn’t come across many people who had heard of Doctor Who, let alone anyone who was a fan (Doctor Who had a number of positive influences on me- helping me make friends in middle school was not one of them). Thanks to my aunt, who had taped episodes when it aired in the United States during the ‘80s, I had access to this wonderful, inventive, at times awful, but usually brilliant, show. I count myself as damn lucky.

Gretchen Mol is the show’s must underrated actor (with Buscemi right behind her because some people still inexplicably think he’s wrong for the part). She knocks it out of the park in every single scene, creating sympathy for a character for whom we should feel none. Gillian’s psychosis could easily turn her into a nasty, hate-able character, yet Mol gives every line a dose of tragedy, constantly reminding us of the rapes she went through at the hands of the Commodore (back in season two when she slapped the immobile Commodore across the face again and again is one of the most disturbing and upsetting moments of the entire show). This meant that tonight’s reversal, while completely deserved, also made me cringe. Roy turning out to be not who he claimed wasn’t exactly a huge revelation, but I was surprised that he ended up being an investigator looking into the drowning of the boy Gillian used as Jimmy’s body last season. Mol’s screams as the men took her down were heart wrenching no matter how much Gillian deserved it. Her life has been so fucking awful and this can’t possibly improve it. Was I the only one feeling bad for her?

Let’s talk about tension because this episode was absolutely packed with it. We start off with Eli sitting with Agent Knox, telling him what he knows about Johnny Torrio’s operation in Chicago. Beginning with Eli talking to the Feds is a smart move as it gets us on the edge of our seats right away, something Boardwalk Empire occasionally forgets to do when they have more lethargic openings- although, credit where credit is due, they’ve gone away from that a hell of a lot this season, with this being just the latest example.

Man, the titles for episodes this season have not been very inspiring, have they? This week’s is especially blasé. In seasons past we had titles like “You’d Be Surprised” or “Under God’s Power She Flourishes.” I miss those nifty titles.

Boardwalk Empire has long had outstanding direction thanks to a group of A-listers like Tim Van Patten, Allen Coulter, and, of course, executive producer Martin Scorsese. Likely because of Scorsese’s involvement with the show, direction has been such a focal point and tonight’s episode is no different. Helmed by Tim Van Patten, we have beautiful scene after beautiful scene. The most striking one comes just before the end, between Chalky and Dunn Purnsley. The fight scene, which is ugly and truly feels like a fight of desperation, is outmatched by the moments directly before it, when we know violence is about to erupt but we’re just not sure when and how. The shot of Dunn Purnsley at the door, his cruel smile showing us his gold tooth, is absolutely perfect. It’s impressive how actor Erik LaRey Harvey is able to look utterly evil while still having a friendly face. There’s nothing I can point to and say, “That’s what’s off about his look.” He just manages to create a general appearance that tells us violence is about to happen without becoming overtly menacing. We saw that look at the end of last week’s episode, right before he killed the deacon, and we see it once more tonight, before he tries to kill Chalky. I was a little iffy on the killing of the deacon last week as it seemed predictable and a little unnecessary but after tonight I think it worked as some great foreshadowing.

Well, well, well. Talk about opening scenes that grab your attention. It doesn’t get more arresting than seeing Al Capone walk up to a cop and shoot him at point blank range. While the rest of the episode doesn’t continue to play at quite so heightened a level, the scene hangs over all the proceedings, reminding us that we have a number of characters who are unhinged and ol’ Al is just one of them.

I’ve been enjoying this season of Boardwalk Empire, but have been wondering if its meandering might be getting to be just a little too much. Tonight, the season really started to come together in the best episode so far. The opening scene between Nucky and Margaret is an absolute master class in writing, directing, and acting. There’s so much history between these two characters, yet very little of it is actually talked about; it’s only hinted at. The most devastating moment comes when Nucky makes a joke that he wouldn’t put anything alive in a box and immediately realizes he’s just brought back memories of the death of Owen Sleater. The look on Buscemi’s face is perfect, a flash of horror and sadness, a look we rarely see from the normally composed Nucky Thompson.

Before Breaking Bad’s finale I must have read at least five articles, such as this one, on how the finale wouldn’t really matter in regards to the show’s legacy. I agree that a series finale doesn’t make or break a show, it is still important in terms of a show’s legacy. A bad ending leaves the viewer with a sour note and means the creator did not figure out a way to properly wrap up the story and character arcs. There’s no question it is more difficult to pull off an ending for a television show than it is for any other medium (except, perhaps, an ongoing book series such as A Song of Ice and Fire, and even in that case George R. R. Martin doesn’t have to worry about catering to a network and relying on hundreds of other people to nail the episode down); it has years of episodes to wrap up, especially if it’s a serialized drama. For instance, people criticize the ending of Seinfeld, but the show’s rank as one of the top comedies never suffered. Expectations were high for a really funny episode, but beyond being letdown on that front, people still eagerly watch the previous nine seasons in syndication. No one’s ever said that nine years of their lives were wasted because the finale of Seinfeld didn’t make them laugh enough.

 At the start of the episode I figured Eddie would become an unwilling snitch, a la Adriana in The Sopranos. Once Knox slammed him in the stomach, causing him to vomit in a brutal scene, I was positive. Eddie was loyal, sure, but, like I talked about last week, his bond with Nucky is different than the one between Rothstein and Lansky (who don’t appear this week, along with Richard, Chalky, Dr. Narcisse, and the long absent Margaret); Eddie isn’t a mob man at heart and the relationship between him and Nucky is a complicated one.

In season two, Meyer Lansky said he learned a lot from Arnold Rothstein but qualified it with the line “nobody wants to be in school forever.” We saw him and fellow Rothstein man, Lucky Luciano, branch out a little in season two and then even further in season three, with Luciano leaving Rothstein and going with Masseria. This season Lansky is still with Rothstein and still very loyal, almost loving, to him, but is ready to start going out on his own a little. He does so by taking Nucky Thompson up on the deal that was previously offered to Rothstein. Meyer going into business with Nucky is a huge step and you can see it on Meyer’s face and by how quickly he repeatedly says yes to Nucky’s conditions. Meyer is ready to be a player but does he have the skills?

Earlier this week, TV critic Todd VanderWerff tweeted that he finds it interesting Nucky is reluctant to be in the position that he’s in, making him different from most anti-hero characters. Todd is right and Nucky says it himself in this episode, saying he was happier when he was just a crooked politician. And who can blame him? In many ways, those were the good old days for Nucky Thompson. He still had Jimmy, he could still regularly appear in public, he didn’t have to watch his back every other step, and, in season one, he found Margaret.

Poor Boardwalk Empire. It’s unfair that the beginning of this season has to go up against the final four episodes of Breaking Bad (OH MY GOD, I KNOW). I had to give myself some time after watching Breaking Bad before I went to see what our friend Nucky Thompson was up to, knowing that Breaking Bad’s insane episode might color my enjoyment of HBO’s drama.