Wordy Old Men on Boardwalk Empire: Season Three, Episode Twelve "Margate Sands"

Boardwalk Empire's third season comes to an explosive end as Nucky takes on Gyp's men while working back-channels to end up on top. Harrow liberates Tommy from the Artemis Club in the bloodiest way possible.

Old Man Duggan: It's pretty rare that a finale, season or series, gives me just about everything I want. While last season's finale brought to a close a season in which the conflict was a bit more personal, this one brought together each last outlying piece of an even more complex season. This season was fucking epic, and this finale made sure of it. Quite the fucking exclamation point, Terence. I'll start by saying, I have no idea how many people died in this episode, but it has to be right around 100. In. Sane.

The reporters laughing at Mayor Bader for insisting that he controlled Atlantic City was priceless.

Wordy Ginters: If only our press were as openly cynical today.  

OMD: Opening shot? Shots. Capone stepping forth with the single bullet to cap it off. Winter and Howard Korder (who penned last week's installment) really followed that fantastic close from "The Two Imposters" with what was promised, Capone offing a handful of Rosetti and Masseria's men. What follows is a gleeful slew of caps being placed indelicately in people's asses. To quote Shea Whigham's character in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, "Whoa." Bodies hit the floor.

WG: The symphony of violence throughout was beautiful. Ghastly, but beautiful. Perfect opening scene. The gangsta's silhouetted in the headlight beams and fog almost looked like they were dancing as they got dusted (Cheney reference) by machine gun fire. Definitely a harbinger of the carnage that followed.

OMD: I can't believe I liked what Mickey Doyle was spinning this week. If they get me in Mickey's corner, I'll be shocked.

WG: Was he operating rogue, or carrying out Nucky's orders? Regardless, it is the first time he's been allowed to demonstrate even a whiff of competence. Or likability for that matter. In that phone call scene, it was a largely unspoken, but effective back at Rothstein's place, showing his complete disdain for dealing with Mickey by reluctantly directing his goon to turn down the record player. 

OMD: It seemed like Nucky called that whole shot. "Big bait? Big rat."

How great was the repeated butting heads of Capone and Chalky? Sure, it was ultimately empty chest pounding, but it made their shared getting off on cutting down Masseria's caravan all the better. 31 down in one fell swoop. Still, the cockswinging was in full effect, and it worked.

WG: It was a nice twist. Of course there would be race issues between Capone and his crew and Chalky's guys. It was a nice way to keep the tension vibrating. Purnsley pissing on the car was great. Capone v. Chalky, who wins? I noticed Chalky immediately got into a traditional boxer stance, moving, feigning dancing. I think Wilfredo Benitez is high on his comp list. I sensed Capone was going to go more MMA style, with a bull-rush, probably try to get Chalky down and work on his ground game. It would be a toss up.

OMD: I'm sure Capone was a hybrid Brazilian jiu-jitsu/muay thai guy. His submission game was likely unparalleled for its time.

Man, I did not see Rothstein screwing over Lucky Luciano coming. I figured something was up, but that was not how I figured the arrest would go away. Looks like that heroin came into play in the big picture though. Just like everything else from this season did. You have to admire the juggling act Winter and crew pulled off this season. There may not have been many developments in the last two episodes that shocked me, but I have to say that for ten episodes there were a lot of strings out there that I never thought would get tied back in to this tapestry.

WG: Me neither. In surface ways, Rothstein has been a somewhat sympathetic character this season, as a partner to Nucky, pragmatic, honest, reasonable. They put the black hat on him in the last few episodes. I assume this might be positioning for Season Four, with him squared up against, rather than tentatively alongside Nucky. 

OMD: If I didn't see Rothstein screwing over Luciano, I definitely didn't see Nucky's whole play coming. He's nothing if not calculating, although that calculation seems to only play well for him in business.

WG: That Capone and Chalky wiped out Masseria's soldiers as they retreated from Atlantic City surely has to stir up a shitstorm that could definitely soil Nucky's fragile situation. 

Stay away from Needles

OMD: Maybe. he told Tonino to bring Gyp to Masseria and tell him they can either be squared up or keep things hostile and acrimonious. After all, Masseria did back a play against Nucky in Nucky's hood. Masseria could have justifiable been retaliated against even more.

Gillian, Gyp, the belt, the needle. All of those chickens came home to roost. Gyp's dirty talk got me going. Or at least it would have if I truly loathed every inch of my being. What a depraved sonuvabitch. I suppose Gillian's failure was inevitable. She stuck the needle in once and got everything she wanted in nefarious ways. Second time was not the charm, though she'll reportedly live to see another day.

WG: Gillian drawing out Gyp's particular brand of kink was compelling as hell. I didn't know whether I should be feeling uncomfortable, aroused, confused, aroused, or horny. The femdom/asphyxiation angle plays well as shock value, and as insight into Gyp's twisted soul. Maybe my favorite character on the show. It's rare to see a character who can exude menace and a loopy, goofy, charm. Usually it comes off like Schwarzenegger's Mr. Freeze. Gyp was just a shade too much cartoon, but for the most part he nailed it. Getting fragged by his main man was fitting. As was his off-kilter coda on the beach. Goo-Goo-Goo.

OMD: The entrance of Richard Harrow hit the precise beat that it needed to. Masseria's men withdraw. Only Gyp's men are left. Gyp storms downstairs after dosing Gillian, and I looked to the screen knowing what was coming brimming with sick glee. And how glorious was Harrow's precise gunning down of all but four of Gyp's men? Methodical. Detached. "Close your eyes, Tommy." I laughed so fucking hard when he sprayed that dickhead's brains across the window with the rifle he was setting down. Harrow's Taxi Driver Preservation of Innocence spree was even more fulfilling than Travis Bickle's. I loved that when Harrow started gunning fuckers down, Gyp ran for the hills, or more precisely the dunes. The beats of Harrow's delivery of Tommy from evil were spot on. If there's a bigger badass than Richard Harrow, I've not seen him. One can't help but imagine that Nucky knows Harrow did his dirty work for him and offers him a place at his side.

WG: Lots of Taxi Driver homage this season. The overhead shots. The endless supply of weapons in his coat. They should have had Harrow hold up his mask and engage in a "you looking at me" dialogue with it to really drive the point home. I hope he's around for Season Four.  I got the feeling he might be headed back to the woods with suicide on his mind. 

OMD: It would certainly be logical to have him join up with Nucky, especially with Owen having had his neck opened up.

It was a nice touch to have Gillian, in an opiate-fueled daze, confuse the Nucky in the house with the Nucky that delivered her up to the Commodore when she was but a wee lass. It was a poetic little reminder of what Nucky's actions have cost people around him.

WG: Maybe the creepiest cold jolt scene in the whole episode. 

OMD: There was an undercurrent of the elders schooling the younger generation in this episode. There were nice parallels between Mr. Sagorksy/Harrow, Joe Masseria/Gyp, and Rothstein/Luciano. The least likely of those playing out was Sagorsky telling Harrow that a soldier leaves the battle at the battlefield. Hell, it was weird just to see him sober. Masseria's clock correction was fucking great. Such a small gesture, yet it meant so much.

WG: Masseria was a nice addition to the end of the series. Has someone blankly looking at their watch and adjusting the time on a clock ever been more chilling? It was like Pacino kissing Fredo in Godfather 2.      

OMD: Cannavale's impression of Nucky was pretty hilarious. If he's gonna have a last moment, why not have it be as crazy as that? Barney Google. Talk about holding onto something. He's still pissed about Nucky telling him not to take things so personally? Even as he's pitching his vision of the Horatio Alger dream he'd been reading about in the book in Nucky's desk and singing the Barney Google song (a comic strip character), it's clear that he's batshit crazy. If he'd never bludgeoned Tonino's cousin to death, maybe Gyp would've survived, but he dug his own grave with those actions, at least as far as Tonino was concerned.

WG: I think you called that one too Carnac. I'm guessing Gyp was too unpredictable to be left upright. Nice insight on Gyp's Horatio Alger musings at the end as well. Gyp's gravestone:  "Killed pissing." 

OMD: I think it was Sepinwall (who I make sure not to read until I've already written what I've got to write) who noticed the book that Gyp was reading from Nucky's desk last week. It sure came back this week.

It'll be interesting to see where Nucky and Margaret's relationship goes from here. I gather that the character she's based on in real life sticks around, but given all that's happened, it'd be hard to see that playing out the same way. She won't take his money. She eschews her staunch Catholicism in favor of getting an abortion. I suppose all of the women's reproductive education plays its ultimate role here in the finale with the ending of Owen's line.

WG: I suspect she'll reluctantly return to the fold. And that Nucky's next bodyguard will be homely and communicate via grunts and hand gestures. 

OMD: So where do we think things go from here? My guess is New Year's Eve heading into 1924. O'Banion dies in November of '24, and it seems like they wouldn't have introduced his character in so central a way if they weren't going to have his demise play out on screen, though he doesn't fall on account of anything he did to Capone or Torrio. Esther Randolph exacts Nucky's revenge by way of Mellon's mandate that control of Old Overholt be seized from the criminal element that took hold there, blowing up his stake in the deal in the process. Van Alden will be in the mix somehow in Chicago. Harrow takes a place alongside Nucky. Margaret is seeing what St. Louis is all about. What think ye?

WG: At this rate, I would be foolish to offer up any alternatives. You've been pre-saging plot twists and character arcs like you worked on the set. I hope Chalky gets a little more screen time. I'm also hoping for more Mellon. I'm already looking forward to Season Four.

OMD: I'm guessing that with Owen out of the way and Harrow's likely coming into the fold that there will be room for more Chalky story. Mellon is a player through the decade. I guess we'll see how badly Nucky burned that bridge, although you got the sense that Mellon wasn't enamored with doing business with Nucky in the first place.

Wordy Old Men on Boardwalk Empire: Season Three, Episode Eleven "Two Imposters"

In the penultimate episode of Season Three, Gyp Rosetti's men storm the Ritz Carlton. Nucky shoots his way out of there, but not before Eddie Kessler takes a bullet. With nowhere else to go, Nucky turns to Chalky for help. Gyp turns Atlantic City upside-down trying to find Nucky, offering $25,000 to any man who brings Thompson to him. Gyp's men take up home at the Artemis Club. Richard Harrow begins to prep Tommy for a departure that Gillian stumbles in upon, leading her to banish him. Harrow begins to ready his arsenal. Capone comes to A.C. thanks to Eli's efforts in Chicago. Nucky and Chalky agree to terms. The powder-keg is primed to blow sky-high.

OMD: More so than any other episode this season, "Two Imposters" flew by. I was actually surprised when the episode ended. The suspense was really amped up here. Nucky was on the run, not knowing who he could trust. There were, what, five times Nucky could have gotten got this week? I was on the edge of my seat for virtually the whole episode.

WG: Much of Season Three has been a brutal tease: a great scene here, a clever line there, an interesting sexual fetish or an unexpected moment of tenderness, but ultimately things just didn't quite add up. This episode brought that promise to fruition. I had the same thought when the credits rolled regarding the time, was it a full 60 minute episode? According to my DVR, it certainly was. It was tight. Like it had been left overnight in the fridge marinating in episode tightner.

OMD: It looks (at least for now) that my supposition that perhaps Nucky tipped off Joe Masseria himself was overstepping his cunning. They could still reveal that Nucky provided some of the backing on Lansky and Luciano's heroin deal, but I'm leaning toward my initial read of the situation being wrong--unless, of course, I'm second-guessing just how subject Nucky is to the sway of jealousy.

WG: I don't know if I'd give up on your initial sussing just yet. The Feds (apparently?) popping Luciano on the rooftop with the sheets blowing in the wind at least leaves the door open to Nucky's involvement. Masseria could have arranged it himself. Means? A corrupt favor called in from the Harding administration? We shall see.

Preserver of innocence

OMD: So fuck Gillian, right? Looks like if anything happens, Harrow will go down swinging--er, shooting. Can Richard really start a family from such prodigious bloodshed as would be unfurled across the Artemis Club if he does, in fact, walk out of there on his own power? I suppose for Tommy's sake, there can be only one. He'll either be resigned to a life of a whore's son, or an existence with a family haphazardly pieced together from remnants of people damaged by the war. For a split second, I worried that the sidearm flashed by Gyp's goon would be discharged in this episode. Thankfully, Harrow will not be departing us in nearly as anticlimactic a way as that. Perhaps more importantly, Gillian's presence on the show wouldn't seem to serve much of a purpose going forward, would it? All I know is that it's about to get all Taxi Driver all up in the Artemis Club. I hope Tommy's innocence can be saved.

WG: If Harrow is starting a militia, I'm in. I want a cot inside the compound. He's got to end up backing Nucky in some form or fashion doesn't he? Gillian might be the one to rub out Gyp. Preview scenes are notorious for setting false expectations, but it appears that eventually she'll end up on the leash holder end of Gyp's Fem Dom erotic asphyxiation fantasies. On the other hand, she's been on a death spiral since Jump Street, with each episode revealing a new repellent low. And her quality in benefactor front men has declined as well, from the Commodore, to Jimmy, to Luciano, to Leander, to Gyp. She's got a career arc like Barry Zito. Don't let that flash of playoff luster fool you, it only gets uglier from here on out.

OMD: I liked the way Nucky handled himself in the penthouse suite in this episode's open. He's a crafty bastard. His skills in self-preservation clearly extend past that of back rooms and the political sphere. I'm thinking I may have sold him short up until now. I'm guessing his foes did as well.

WG: Agreed. Buscemi was excellent. He walked a nice line between running scared and maintaining. Sometimes I have trouble buying him as the heavy. Jesus, he's mixing it up with the legends of the mob world, and seeing him grump his way through dealing with idiotic bit players or mundane love affairs makes him seem dainty by comparison. But not in this episode. What a great scene in the opening when he was grappling through a door with a would-be assassin. Great camera work. Despite being alarmingly on the run in his own town, you never really got the sense that he wasn't in control. He had his dark moment of despair in the canvas-covered truck. And really, what says despair more than canvas-covered trucks? But other than that, he was nails.

OMD: Lucky's dealing with the Mute from Buffalo just go to prove what my grandmother always told me: "Don't trust any Buffalo motherfuckers." It's too bad Lucky's grandmother didn't pound the same advice into his numb skull. It really does seem like there's more the the heroin score than the audience is aware of though, doesn't it?

WG: Is your Grams Anjelica Huston from Buffalo '66? Yeah, the writers have left some room to maneuver with the heroin plot. Leaving it vague makes me think they've created some space to tie up loose ends.

OMD: Anjelica Huston from The Grifters.

Chalky's got beachfront property in addition to his nice family home. He's the 1%. I, for one, hope that the show becomes The Nucky, Purnsley, and Chalky Hour, hijinks will surely ensue. Something is going to have to happen now that Owen is gone. Of course, if Harrow takes out Gillian and even perhaps Gyp, you'd have to think he'd have a place at Nucky's side.

WG: Nucky, Purnsley, and Chalky - the original Rat Pack. What the hell took so long for Nucky to give in on the Babette's redevelopment project? Maybe Sid Bechet will be all up in that piece during Season Four for reals.

OMD: All right, seriously, what is the point of lugging Nucky's desk all the way to the Artemis Club? Nevermind. There is ultimately no point in trying to figure out what crazy-ass shit drives Gyp Rosetti. He probably wants to have sex with a whore on it while getting his balls smashed in each of the top drawers.

WG: Human sexuality is a strange thing. Gyp has already hung dong. Time to bring the scrote and ball-play into the foreground. That desk though. None of those odd details happen just for fun. I'm guessing something crucial is within. Or it could be a ham-handed symbol of Gyp's ham-handed takeover.

OMD: How great was the tension that was ratcheted up while Samuel was operating on Eddie Kessler? The cutting back and forth between that wacko in the yard offering up $25,000 to anyone who will turn over Nucky Thompson and Kessler getting the bullet removed then getting stitched up was first-rate. The quipping between Chalky and Gyp was fucking great, too. It was nice to see Michael K. Williams get his time in the sun, especially since he's already "done cooking."

WG: Very glad to see Chalky get meaningful minutes. Another stellar scene to see Gyp and Chalky square up. How can you not have those two guys together on the screen more often?

OMD: So Winter & Co. dug pretty deep for the title of this episode. Kessler's poetry recitation is of Rudyard Kipling's poem, "If--" in which the two imposters are said to be "triumph and disaster" each of which the reader is supposed to treat the same. The promise at the end of the poem after a series of conditions that must be met is that "yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, / And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!" Kessler is a regular old sage, even while knocking on death's door.

The Queen of the Sur

WG: The poem was vaguely familiar. Nice get. I took a couple of semesters of German in college, but that didn't prepare me to decipher what Kessler was moaning over and over on the harried ride from hotel, to hospital, to Chalky's beach house. In real life, Louis "Kessel" was Nucky's main man. Personal protector, valued confidante, shaman, and partner. I hope he makes it.

OMD: I took enough Spanish to be able to understand roughly 35% of what's going on in a telenovela and to be able to order food at a Mexican restaurant while having a decent idea what I'll be getting.

More so than any other episode this season, I was laughing aloud pretty frequently. With the tension as high as it was, there was a lot more cutting of the tension with chuckle-worthy lines. The biggest laugh of the episode came at the end thankfully. A laugh before the war. Shit is about to get extremely fucking real, but there's nothing like Capone descending from a truck after eighteen hours on the road and dropping the line, "And then you and me sit down, and we talk about who dies. Huh?" Fucking priceless.

WG: Awesome closing scene. The way the sea of soldiers parted and that little bulldog came forward with the great line. It should have been cheezy as hell, but it worked. A fist pumper.

OMD: Holy shit, am I excited for this next episode. It certainly looks to be the most explosive episode of Boardwalk Empire yet.

WG: Let's hope it lives up to the promise created in this episode.