Boardwalk Empire: “Resolution” Review

Fancy dancy Egyptian party on Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire, the HBO prohibition era mobster drama (or the drama that got me into good television), returned tonight with the Premiere “Resolution” and we will kick off this season of recap/reviews (with full spoilers) after Nucky gets to go full gangster…

“Put a bullet in his f***ing head”-Nucky Thompson

So we’re back in Atlantic City and a lot seems to have changed since poor Jimmy was shot at the end of last season. “Resolution” picks up about a year and a half after the second season on the eve of 1923. Nucky returns this time as a full on gangster, with a colder approach to friends and enemies alike and a cleaner, less politically complicated plan to move his booze. New enemies made and plots are formed in the solid premiere of a solid show.

Let’s start with the set up to what seems to be our new villain. Rosetti get’s introduced to us in the opening scene of the premiere by beating a poor man who attempts to help him with his car and then leaving him in the street to potentially send a message. Yes Rosetti is definitely a knock off of the Joe Pesci character from Goodfellas, a violent man who disguises himself as a joker, but the scene pops and sets us up for a good potential showdown opponent.

As the episode deepens, i.e. at the Margaret and Nucky Egyptian party, Rosetti’s role begins to take a little more shape (and becomes more and more like a Joe Pesci character) when Nucky turns him down he goes on a bit of a joking verbal rampage ending with the very creepy moment in which he gives Margaret the puppy that he stole from the man he shot in the opening scene of the show (yeah dramatic irony as Margaret had no idea where the puppy came from it’s just a strange man handing her a new puppy).  I wonder where we will be going with this…

Now that’s out of the way time to move to the episode as a whole. As mentioned earlier this was a solid premiere that helped put numerous plot pieces in motion. Nucky, again as mentioned earlier, is now in full on gangster mode and is not taking any crap.  The first Nucky scene involves him calmly calling for the murder of the thief he captured after allowing the thief to begin to get comfortable. Classic cool gangster fake out! Nucky seems to have no problem getting his hands dirty now after two seasons of wallowing in half politician position. Sure Nucky still has the big New Year’s party featuring high class politicians and big men of society but it seems like Nucky now seems more aware of who he is and what his role is.

In Chicago Al Capone get’s some brief scenes that really don’t amount to much but setting up a semi central conflict. Van Alden also ends up in Chicago as a now disgraced iron salesman. The Chicago stuff works in this premiere but I fear, as has happened to the series in the past, the supporting characters will get lost in a limbo of having arcs that have little connection to the Nucky situation. It’s great to have these guys and gals on the show, as their scenes on their own are fantastic but let’s hope the series doesn’t get too caught up on things that bog down the narrative like last year. Also no Eli and Chalky in the premiere as well leaving the thought that we won’t see everyone in all the episodes this year which could be a good or a bad thing.

Finally my new favorite character on the show, Jimmy’s former gunman and friend Richard, deals with the dynamic between Jimmy’s mother Gilligan and Jimmy’s son throughout the episode. Gilligan is still in denial of Jimmy’s death and tries to convince Jimmy’s poor son that she is his actual mother. He tries to tell the kid stories of Jimmy and his wife but ends up getting shut down. This leads to the great climax of the episodes in which Richard gun’s down one of Nucky’s main men at his own house as he himself is going to off someone (more irony). Whether it leads to much in the next few episodes or not, it was the standout character arc of the episode and made for a nice climax to the episode.

Overall Boardwalk Empire get’s off to its usual strong and slow start. The show still looks great, has an amazing atmosphere, and has solid individual characters. How well the individual moments arcs is still to be determined but for now what was here definitely made a fine hour of television.

Other Thoughts:

• Oh Margaret and her church. We find out that the large sum of land was indeed given in the church and that it was made into a seemingly poorly run hospital. This has also rendered Nucky and Margaret’s marriage practically null and void with Nucky hating her for the land movement and Margaret disliking his full gangster mode.

• The violence was around in full force this episode as the opening sequence featured the most brutal violence on the show in a while; the scene involved Rosetti pounding the pulp out of an innocent bystandered with a wrench with lots of brutal glorious detail. Also numerous people get shot in the head this episode (the ideal way to kill people this week apparently) in many dynamic fashions.

• Great Egyptian party sequence that involved good music and Nucky giving away lot’s of treasure. Man parties were cool back then. 

• Sorry about the jumpiness of the review this week but the show is a little jumpy and sometimes stories really don't connect to one another (at least at the beginnig of the season). So expect these reviews to be a little jumpy sometimes.

That’s just me. What did everyone else think?