TV Review: Boardwalk Empire 3.1, "Resolution"

rating: 4.5

I may have been in the minority when last year's finale closed out with the death of the show's co-lead Jimmy Darmody, beautifully played by Michael Pitt, but I was shocked and not a little awed by the balls on the writers. Sure, Jimmy played himself into his own grave, but you never truly expect a television show to kill off such a crucial character within it's first few seasons. It was the stuff of series finales. It was, in many ways, my Ned Stark moment. I questioned whether or not I would return to Boardwalk now that my favourite character had been eliminated from the equation. How foolish I was. The boardwalk is most definitely still in full swing, and some noticeable changes have occurred in the twelve months that we've glossed over since last season ended. Nucky is no longer a man of politics and has fully embraced his role as a mob boss and this is never more evident than when he coldly orders Manny Horowitz to dispense with a thief after moments previous presenting said thief with the illusion of forgiveness. Jimmy's words to him in the very first episode of the show have come back to haunt him - €œyou can't be half a gangster€. Nucky seems to have finally come to the same conclusion and is now fully embracing his position. Jimmy may be gone, but his half-faced partner Richard Harrow is still very much in play. Few television figures have been as compellingly tragic as Harrow, and he seems to be carrying much of the screentime that used to belong to Jimmy. If I have a read on Boardwalk's audience at all, this is more than welcome. His caring for Jimmy's son, a boy already being corrupted by his grandmother to the point where he cannot even recall his biological mother, pulls at the heartstrings in a way that few television shows can. Richard's murder of Manny Horowitz obviously seems like a revenge killing for Jimmy, though I would not be entirely surprised to learn there's more to it than it initially seems. I'll miss Manny. The tenderness in the scene between him and his wife was genuinely surprising in a man that happily cracks skulls with cleavers as readily as most of us crack eggs. The passage of time can also be felt in Chicago, as Al Capone looks to be setting himself up to finally begin laying down the foundations of his criminal empire that we all know is inevitably coming. His chance encounter with van Alden in the florist is hopefully just a glimpse of the things to come between these two characters and their association. Seeing van Alden forced into a salesman job that he attacks with his characteristic restraint was almost sad, and the relief on his face when the florist agrees to take on two dozen of his irons made me genuinely feel for the man. When he returned to his company's headquarters expecting the bonus only to be denied it, he looked like a man about ready to explode. Nelson's slow descent into darkness is inevitable, and when it crescendos, it's almost guaranteed that he'll begin working against the very laws he once upheld. And I suspect under the instruction of a certain famous Chicago mobster. Margaret continues to look beyond the constraints of her social standing. Being the wife of a powerful man does not make you powerful, not in 1920's, but the running theme of females being put in place just as Carrie Duncan shows the world exactly what women can do, and Margaret seems determined to make her own mark. I doubt she's even ignorant of Nucky's infidelity, or that she'd be particularly bothered if she did find out. One of the best things about Boardwalk Empire is how littered it is with characters that pull your eye and want you to invest more time with them, from black leader Chalky White to the smug, lethal stare of Arnold Rothstein. The genius of the writing is that you get just enough to keep your wanting more. It's good to be back in the 20's.