Welcome back to Atlantic City! Since you've been gone, Jimmy and Angela got married and moved into a giant house by the beach, Nucky and Margaret are co-habitating reasonably well, and the Commodore has commissioned the KKK to make an attack on Chalky White's establishment, in order to help foster unrest within Nucky's criminal empire. The attack pushes Nucky into having to appease both sides -- because Chalky killed a Klansman as they retreated, so clearly THAT must be avenged -- but arresting Chalky, even if it keeps him from getting lynched, is probably not going to help him in the long run.
Jimmy, for his part, is clearly uncomfortable in his position at the Commodore's right hand. He's eager to do what he can to please his dad, but he's no fan of the Klan and their tactics. And it seems that both Jimmy and Nucky are feeling sentimental about their relationship having gone sour. If Season 1 was about wondering if ambition would drive these men apart, Season 2 might about wondering if their emotional connection will allow them to be enemies.
Agent Van Alden decides to take his wife to Atlantic City for their anniversary. While she's duly horrified by everything AC has to offer, Van Alden does try to show her how he's cleaning up the town. And when the restaurant they dine at appears to be offering them some hush-hush after-dinner booze, the Mrs. hectors Van Alden into making a bust on the place. The raid gets Mrs. VA's engine running, though she'd probably be dampened by the fact that Van Alden uses the money seized in the raid towards the Keep Hugely Pregnant Lucy Danziger Quiet and Out of Sight Fund.
Meanwhile, in Chicago, Johnny Torrio appears to be making a deal with a booze baron out of Cincinnati, which would effectively cut Nucky out. Torrio commissions Al Capone to head to New Jersey to break the news.
And finally, the Commodore makes his biggest move yet by pulling political strings with the governor to get Nucky arrested by the State's Attorney's office for election fraud.
Previously on Boardwalk Empire: Those beautiful ignorant bastards made liquor illegal in the United States, making Nucky Thompson the head of a vast criminal enterprise in Atlantic City. Jimmy Darmody ran afoul of Nucky, exiled himself to Chicago, got hardened, returned, and tucked himself under the wing of his father, the Commodore. The Commodore was dying and forced to watch Nucky take over his old fiefdom without anything so much as a tip of the hat in the 'Dore's direction, which made the old man angry. He got angrier when it was discovered that his maid was slowly poisoning him to death and Nucky elected to let her leave town rather than punish her, but hey, at least he wasn't dying anymore. Margaret made Nucky smile, so he killed her abusive husband. He also installed Chalky as a capo, of sorts, as he played the part of Friend of the Negro without upsetting Whitey too much, a very fine line to walk indeed. In making the moves on Margaret, Nucky spurned Lucy Danziger, his baby-voiced, clothing-averse paramour. Lucy embarrassed herself in several ways, then went and slid on up to IRS agent Nelson Van Alden, who was busy investigating the illegal liquor racket in Atlantic City in the most clearly unbalanced way possible. Lucy ended up pregnant with the world's craziest, most over-acting baby, genetically-speaking. Meanwhile, Nucky had locked horns with notorious World-Series-fixing Arnold Rothstein, who tasked the nogoodnik D'Allessio brothers with, among other things, shooting Nucky's brother Eli. But when Rothstein needed Nucky's help to get him out of an indictment for fixing the Series, they struck a deal, which left the D'Allessios out in the cold. And also murdered by Jimmy and Jimmy's new best pal Richard "Half-Face" Harrow. But Nucky had left too many hard feelings over the course of the season, leading to the secret alliance of the Commodore, his son Jimmy, and Nucky's disgruntled brother Eli, who decided to take control of Atlantic City for themselves. Caught up!
We open the season with a scene reminiscent of the show's (terrible) credits: bottles washing ashore in Atlantic City. While the show's version of Sophie Tucker (holla, Kathy Brier!) sings, "When you get what you want/You don't want what you get," on the soundtrack, we get a montage of the goings-on in Atlantic City. Nucky and his city-council brethren are carousing until all hours. Jimmy and Richard are patrolling the liquor deliveries from the boats. Chalky receiving that sweet Canadian Club at his warehouse, grimacing his usual grimace. Eli checking out his giant awful scar in the mirror. The Commodore, newly invigorated now that he doesn't have poison coursing through his veins anymore, is practicing combat with hilarious spear-like weapons in his room with all the taxidermied big game in it.
Then shit gets real. Chalky answers a knock on his warehouse doors to find one of his men with his throat freshly slit. Before Chalky even has time to process this, the hooded Klan members in the car in the driveway begin opening fire with their mounted machine gun. Inside the warehouse, it's carnage, with bottles broken and workers slaughtered. The Klansmen then enter the warehouse with rifles, looking for survivors. One approaches Chalky, who's been knocked to the ground. The Klansman makes a pledge to "purity, sobriety, and the white Christian's Jesus" and is about to pull the trigger when a woman fires at him. She's killed for her trouble, but Chalky survives as the second one of those cowards is shot, they begin to retreat. As they drive away, Chalky picks up a rife and stalks out to the driveway. He sizes the car up, and shoots one of the men in the neck as they ride away. There's no satisfaction in this for Chalky, but at least he got one.
Margaret is at home, struggling with a disobedient Teddy and a crying baby as Nucky returns home from his night out. Margaret is clearly off-put by Nucky's carousing but she doesn't address it directly. She instead informs Nucky that Teddy was struck by the nun at school. Nucky offers little sympathy, nor any apologies for being out all night. It was important business whoring, okay! He kisses up on her, and she's placated, and he goes to catch up on his sleep.
At the new beachside home of Jimmy and Angela Darmody, Angela is trying to cook breakfast while Gillian frustrates the hell out of her by playing the "I know how my son likes his eggs" game. Jimmy wants to take young Tommy out shooting today, but Angela, ever the wet blanket about shooting things, objects. Gillian says Jimmy was younger than Tommy when he went out shooting with Nucky as a kid. Poor Angela and her sad haircut get no support. After Jimmy leaves the room, Angela tells Gillian not to mom-block her like that. Gillian's like "I would never!" But boys will be boys after all. And then -- are you ready to get freaked out? Gillian tells Angela, "When Jimmy was a baby and I'd change his diaper, I used to kiss his little winkie." That's a special lady, right there.
At the Post Office, where Van Alden is running his operation, we see he's got two brand new underlings to replace Agent Sebso. Agents Sawicky and Clarkson, I wish you luck in avoiding Sebso's fate and advise you to limit the field trips you take with your boss. Sawicky and Clarkson are currently wrassling on the floor as Van Alden enters with his wife. Van Alden tells his underlings to shape up, then introduces them to the Mrs. -- making sure to note that Agent Sawicky is "of Polish stock." They hand Mrs. VA a pamphlet which intends to offer a tour of the more Jesus-friendly areas of Atlantic City. Oh, totally.
CHICAGO. Al Capone is speaking to a man looking to see Johnny Torrio. Al explains that Torrio is dealing with an ear-ache and tries to stall for him. The guy, one George Remus, implies that Capone is nothing but a laundry boy for Torrio, which doesn't sit well with Capone and which will obviously be a thing for Capone this season. The fun thing about this conversation is that George Remus talks about George Remus in the third person, which just confuses the hell out of Capone. When Torrio finally emerges, Remus makes his pitch: he's from Cincinnati, and he's got enough whiskey to supply Torrio entirely, plus a lot more. Capone says they want easy business, no blood on the floor. George Remus owns the distilleries, George Remus owns the pharmacies, George Remus owns the trucks that hijack his own liquor, the clever bastard. Capone thinks they should be in business with THAT guy. Torrio doesn't get the joke. Remus continues that Cincinnati is a lot closer to Chicago than Atlantic City is. "...And who likes Nucky Thompson anyway?" Seems Remus has an old grudge against Nucky for overcharging him for phone calls during a stay at his hotel, seemingly years ago. Looks like George Remus has a deal. After he leaves, Torrio tells Capone to go to Atlantic City, see Nucky, and tell him things have changed. Capone wonders if he's just been given more laundry work.
Back in AC, Nucky and his fellow captains of local politics are dividing up the NJ map so they can sell the land that these new roads will be opening up. They're "land barons of barren land." After getting one contractor to pass them bribe money, Nicky adds the cash to his secret stash and marks it in his secret ledger. Eddie Kessler comes with news of the Chalky shooting. Of course, by now the news has become "Chalky White has shot a Klansman," which is about as depressing as you can imagine. Nucky tells Eddie to call Eli. He already has.
Mr. and Mrs. Van Alden ride the bicycle sleighs down the boardwalk, as Nelson talks about the touristy elements of the city. A hotel shaped like an elephant! The Mrs. is too distracted by the baby-incubator window to pay attention. She's both mildly horrified, as she is by everything in this city, and also captured by longing for the baby she can't have. She should totally talk to Nucky. Speaking of whom, Van Alden stares down Nucky as he passes by. He then changes the subject, telling his wife of a soda fountain that sells potato cakes called "kor-nishes," but by now Mrs. VA is scandalized anew. Seems this Christian guide to Atlantic City has found a back-door way of advertising the "houses of ill repute" -- by listing them as places Jesus wouldn't go, were he to ever visit AC. Heh. Mrs. VA scoffs that maybe it's better we don't have children in"this world."
Nucky and Eli have paid Chalky a visit in his home. His fancy, genteel home, where his son Lester plays the piano, evincing an ill-fitting gentility and calm. Lenore, Chalky's wife, says Lester will be attending Morehouse in 2 years. Oh, damn, RED FLAG for poor Lester there. Wife and son leave, and Chalky's face sours. Both Nucky and Eli as what happened, and Eli in particular focuses on the two injured Klansmen, including one Herman Dacus, who was a schoolteacher! Like it's this huge tragedy. Chalky's like, "I've got four dead bodies and half a dozen wounded, including a woman, so shove it." Nucky assures he'll take care of it, but Chalky's not so sure anymore. Weren't they supposed to be protected from this shit in the first place? He's got his people to take care of too -- "10,000 black folk who make this city hum." He tells Nucky to "go school these crackers," lest he find out what happens when those 10,000 stop making it hum. Nucky: "I'm the only thing keeping you from a lynch mob." Chalky: "Are you ready for what happens here if I turn up at the end of a rope?" Nucky: "Your people have a lot more to lose in that case than I do." He says he'll handle this, but Chalky needs to stay in the fucking house. Chalky says they can see themselves out and exits. Nucky bawls out Eli for not having this Klan shit under control. Eli's response is about Chalky: "That is one uppity shine."
Margaret (wearing her GIANT fur coat) goes to see the nun who beat Teddy, Sister Bernice. Bernice is stern but good humored(ish), and she does not back down from her abuse of Teddy. She tells Margaret that when Teddy says he did nothing wrong, he's a liar. He was playing with matches (from Babbette's supper club, of all places) in the coat closet. Margaret is dumbstruck. Bernice latches onto her widowhood, making all sorts of implications about Margaret living with "Teddy's uncle." Anyway, Teddy is not expelled -- Father Brennan intervened. He's a close friend of Mr. Thompson, after all. Her circumstances having been bared for the bride of Christ to see, Margaret beats a hasty retreat.
At the Commodore's house, we've got a meeting of the No Nuckys Club. It should be noted that the Commodore's sitting room is adorned with all those taxidermied big game from the opening montage. It becomes clear immediately that the Klan attack was their doing. Jimmy uncomfortable with it; did they have to kill a woman? The Commodore says this is war and it's not for the squeamish. Plus he obviously could give a fuck about the darkies. The plan is to sow unrest within Nucky's kingdom. Eli says Chalky's got 10,000 men, but the Commodore says with the Klan on their side, they've got more numbers than that. The Commodore ("Lou," as Eli calls him) further plans to use Governor Edwards, who hates Nucky more than they do. They'll get the governor to intervene should there be anything so distasteful as a race riot. Eli is once again in the position of wanting to know more than the guy in charge will tell him. And likely once again jealous that Jimmy has a better position in the organization. "Nucky Thompson was weaned on my teat!" the Commodore huffs. He will handle him.
Back to the Van Alden anniversary dinner. The Mrs. begs off of butterscotch pudding for dessert (which officially gets me off her bandwagon forever). Nelson hands her a gift -- even though he doesn't believe in gifts OF COURSE. It's a giant cameo, and she loves it. He then calls the waiter over and decides to take him up on the offer of booze. Why Nelson! The Mrs. is scandalized, but when the waiter comes closer, Nelson slugs the guy and slams him down on the table. "This is a raid!" he yells, and soon Clarkson and Sawicki storm in with a swarm of agents. Van Alden instructs Clarkson to get the cash and Sawicki to break into the booze room, which he finds loaded with brandy, wine, and champagne. Van Alden tells him to tag it, catalog it, and destroy it. He places the waiter/owner under arrest. Mrs. Van Alden is VERY impressed.
Cut to: a headboard thumping against the wall. Oh, har-har, it's just Van Alden testing the hotel bed for faulty springs. The Mrs. suggests they could go to Nelson's boarding house, but he shoots that idea down -- it's for men only and certainly not luxurious. Mrs. VA is very proud of her husband. And she admits that it was "thrilling" to watch him command that raid. She kisses him, as hungrily as a woman like her can manage. Pretty soon, they're on the bed -- with both feet off the ground! And the lights off!
Nucky sits at home, looking quite troubled. Margaret notices and asks him about it. To his credit, he doesn't shut Margaret out. He says he saw Jimmy today. Margaret asks about the "newlyweds" and says they should send them a gift. Nucky says he already took care of it. Anyway, he can tell Jimmy's holding something back, and it's bothering him that Jimmy no longer talks to him about that stuff. Particularly when he used to do that all the time as a kid. Margaret asks about Jimmy's real father, and Nucky says the Commodore avoided Jimmy as a kid, because he couldn't control a child. NOW he's interested, Nucky scoffs, and Margaret can detect the jealousy in his tone. Nucky says he's not jealous, he's angry. He knows Jimmy has something up his sleeve. "I was father and mother to that kid," he says, bitterly. (And also without acknowledgment of how he totally cut Jimmy off last year.) Margaret tells him there's another boy down the hall who could use a father. She tells him about meeting with the nun and learning about the matches. And even then, Teddy still wouldn't fess up. She tells Nucky the kid seems to have a fascination with fire. "What's THAT all about?" Clearly it'd have nothing to do with him watching Nucky torch his childhood home, would it?
At the train station, Van Alden sees the Mrs. off. She concludes that it was a fine visit, but she's kidding herself to think she could live here. He agrees, calling it "Sodom by the Sea." She tells him she misses him, then they part until month. "Travel safely and with God," he says, Van Alden-ily.
It's breakfast at the Darmody beach house, and Richard has joined them for what looks like a pretty delicious meal for something cooked in the '20s. Richard looks at his plate but doesn't eat. Angela points Jimmy toward the gift from Nucky, looming large on the table. Jimmy's not interested. I wouldn't be either given the giant plate o' biscuits Angela just brought out. Richard still won't eat, too self-conscious about how it'll look. I have to admit, I had some grotesque thoughts about how what would happen. Jimmy tells him not to be embarrassed and to at least take some biscuits for later. Richard looks at this friend and asks, "How does it feel to have everything?" Hmm. Would Jimmy know? He offers no response.
Nucky goes up to Teddy's room to have a talk. Teddy assumes the position for the belt, but Nucky says he's not going to beat him. But they do need talk about the matches. Nucky instructs the boy to mind his mother, and the nuns at school. Teddy is all "Yes sir," but the kid is so non-responsive it's tough to get much of a sense of the relationship there. Nucky then goes to his old standby: he pulls out a wad of cash and gives Teddy money to go buy some sweets. He tells him to be a good boy. It's sweet, I guess. I'm not sure having either of these guys as a son or father would be a barrel of laughs.
Elsewhere, Jimmy and Richard break into Chalky's warehouse and clean it out of what remaining bottles weren't shattered in the Klan raid. Just being opportunists, right?
Van Alden returns to his boarding house and head upstairs ... to where he's keeping a decidedly pregnant and unsurprisingly naked Lucy. He tries his hardest not to wake her -- and, when she wakes up, not to look at her -- as he takes out a stack of money from the restaurant raid. He hands her the money -- her latest payment, apparently. "Come lay with me, daddy" she squeaks. He tells her she needs to sleep in her own room. She slinks off as he clenches his jaw. Man, is he gonna sleep well tonight after all the flogging!
Jimmy and Richard unload the crates of stolen booze at Mickey Doyle's place. Mickey wheezily laughs at the blood on them and asks whether he should be concerned. Jimmy basically tells him to shut up.
At home, Nucky gets a phone call from Eddie, who says there's a man from the State's Attorney's office there to see him. Eddie can't get the guy to talk to Nucky on the phone, so Nucky's going to have to head down to the office. He tells Margaret she and Teddy will have to head out to the picture show without him. He will join them later.
Richard Harrow sits in his bedroom, cutting out pictures of happy families and pasting them in his scrapbook of sorts. It's sad.
Nucky arrives at the office and finds a few cops miraculously NOT on his payroll, as well as one State's Attorney Solomon Bishop. And Bishop promptly places Nucky under arrest. ...For election fraud, in case you were wondering which one of Nucky's bajillion crimes have caught up to him.
At the pictures, Margaret and Teddy sit with an empty seat between them, watching as Charlie Chaplin horses around with a kid on the big screen. Margaret keeps looking expectantly at the doors, and so does Teddy. Nucky ain't coming.
Jimmy, at home, opens the gift he got from Nucky. There's an envelope of money, which Jimmy tosses aside contemptuously. But there's also a statue of sorts, of a man and a boy hunting together. Aw, look! They're so happy bonding over that dead buck! Jimmy is clearly moved, but then he places it on the top shelf of his closet. Out of sight.
Joe R feels like Richard Harrow would be cheered to know that he is not even in the Top 5 creepiest characters on this show. He can be reached for lavish praise and nothing but at joseph.reid21@gmail.com, and you can listen to him yammer on to his heart's content on the Extra Hot Great podcast.
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