Boardwalk Empire has grown into such an expanding saga, some characters can be gone for weeks before reappearing on the series. Such is the case with arguably the biggest name to emerge from the show so far, actoraMichael Shannon.
His deeply disturbed character Agent Nelson Van Alden was first a G-man playing by the books except for his odd personal peccadillos. But when he became corrupted, drown his partner and shot a guy at work, he hightailed it to Cicero, Ill., with his nanny and baby. Under a different name he tried to become a salesman, though it didn’t work out, and lately he’s been working for a florist who also heads the Irish mob, and is at odds with the Capones, who sort of like this lug.
So after a joyride with the Capones puts him in deeper trouble with his boss O’Bannon since it results in the death of a guy named Stowe, he’s caught in the middle, mistreated by both mobs, but starting to side more with Capones.
Agreeing to put an end to O’Bannon, his plans are dashed when the guy whose face he sizzled with an iron at his salesman job happens to see him (we might have forgotten all about this if it wasn’t dug up for the “previously on” clip reel). He and his salesmen buddy beat Van Alden up, but he takes out the gun he had hiding for O’Bannon and kills all three.
He’s beat up, he disappointed the Capones, his wife is mad at him for not making money or knowing how to fix the kitchen sink. He insists he’ll get the job done at night, but another gang beats him to it. But not before Van Alden comes clean to O’Bannon at the point of a gun, in what is Shannon’s best speech in the series’ four seasons:
“I didn’t kill Stowe, Al Capone did. But I have killed other men. The one you know about: the three that attacked me, and my partner. I was a prohibition agent. I drown him with my bare hands. My name isn’t Mueller. I’m not legally married to my wife. I used to believe in God. Now I don’t believe in anything at all.”
Just saying that has put some zip in his step, and he relieves the cash drawer of its contents before going home to declare himself Nelson Van Alden to his would-be wife. They seal it with some sex.
But in addition to the Van Alden stuff, there was a lot of other things going on in Boadwalk Empire world, since the season will wrap up just before Thanksgiving.
The war between Chalky White and Valentin Narcisse was still at fever pitch, but Nucky was reluctant to go on the warpath with Chalky. Wasn’t there another way? Chalky was upset by his reluctance.
Narcisse, for his part, wondered why the woman he set up as a singer and infiltrator in Chalky’s Cotton Club, says that Dunn Purnsley never did show up the night he was supposed to come and kill Chalky. She’s grown fond of Chalky and ended up stabbing Dunn in the back herself n last week’s episode. Narcisse can see through the ruse, and notices the broken glass on the rug. He proceeds to beat her.
News of the beating interrupts Chalky at one of his genteel in-law dinners at home. He rushes to see her, and she is grotesque in her injuries.
Narcisse, meanwhile, causes a scene by walking into the club and sitting next to Nucky – to sit in a night club where all the entertainers are black, was still unheard of in Atlantic City in the 1920s. But Narcisse insist, and as they begin to talk, Chalky barges in and yells. It looks bad all around, and Chalky won’t leave until after he’s turned over the table.
There is activity in the attempt of Gillian Darmody to retain custody of her grandson Tommy. She’s gotten completely clean and stands on the boardwalk in the sun — in one of the rare outdoor scenes on the beach — as she recounts her early, sordid life to the man who has been saving her Roy Phillips, played by Ron Livingston.
But what is his interest? Gillian interrupts a phone conversation he’s making late at night to somebody — clearly not business, as he claims — to whom he said he’d be “done shortly.” What is he seeking from her?
Meanwhile, on the other side of the custody battle, Julia, the girlfriend of Richard Harrow, sees her chances of keeping Tommy diminish considering her income and her marital status. She and Richard get married at a justice of the peace and he doesn’t even get a new mask or anything. Then he shows up at Nucky’s to ask for work.
Like Van Alden, Harrow is a guy who goes missing for several episodes, only to pop up later. So far this season, it seems he lost his appetite for killing, so it will be interesting to see what kind of worker he’ll be for Nucky (should he grant him a job).
Rothstein is seen briefly, trying to sell one of the insurance policies he took out on business associates. He tries to sell the half million dollar one he has on Mickey Doyle, but Nucky would offer only a “plug nickel.”
“He’s an imbecile I’d be glad to get rid of,” Nucky says.
He buys it for $20,000 just to keep Rothstein happy; the New York mobster has gotten into gambling trouble again.
His other partner, though, has gotten involved in the Florida import business with Nucky. What Nucky isn’t told, though, is that heroin is also part of the shipments, according to the coming attractions trailer for next week.
Patricia Arquette’s sultry Sally Wheet, who appears just briefly in a late night phone call with Nucky, is the one who will inform him. Also in the mix next week (and left out of this week’s episode) are Eli Thompson, who looks to be turning evidence for the FBI, Willy and maybe the showdown with Narcisse, unless they’re saving it for season’s end.