For the first time this season, Nucky’s flashbacks actually served a point, and it only took until the final five minutes of the fifth episode to happen. I could spend 5,000 words on Young Nucky’s teeth alone (he was played by Marc Pickering, an Englishman), but instead, let’s get to the most important question of the episode: “Then who will be called to account?” It’s what Nucky asks in regards to Sally’s death. The answer — “No one, I’m afraid” — is unsatisfactory, and leaves Nucky in a confused, I-need-a-shot rage, but it’s something he’s known nearly his entire life, from the time he first became a deputy to when he offered to help Sheriff Lindsay with his, let’s say, “off-duty work” for the Commodore.
I take back something I said earlier. “Then who will be called to account?” isn’t only the question of the episode, but of the entire season, with only three episodes left (that is not nearly enough time). Who will be called to account for Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Johnny Torrio attempting to assassinate Nucky and Salvatore Maranzano? And Eli having sex with Van Alden’s dead-inside wife (they’re going to make great unofficial Untouchables, working for Mike D’Angelo)? And Chalky, what of Chalky? He heads to Harlem to settle his score with the dastardly Dr. Narcisse, but instead he discovers Daughter Maitland, the woman he fell deep in love with seven years prior.
Meanwhile, in American Horror Story: Let’s Go to the Gretchen Mol:
For as miserable as Nucky thinks his life is, Gillian’s had it ten times worst. From the time she was an unwilling participant to the Commodore’s most depraved sexual fantasies, to her stay at the mental hospital where the cure for everything is, “Let’s cut it out of her,” Gillian could really use a win. Hell, everybody on Boardwalk Empire — which is hitting its expected end-of-the-season stride — could right now. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that half-faced snipers are the most sympathetic creatures. Oh, and Nucky probably isn’t wise to take on Luciano, Lansky, and Torrio. But will art imitate real life, or is Terence Winter willing to rewrite history? Who will account? We’ll find out soon enough.
And now, Good Parenting with Nelson Van Alden.
And, The Nelson and Sigrid Show.
And, Undercover Buddies.
Michael Shannon was in fine form this episode. As was Constipated Capone.
