Deception, Houdini’s brother tells us early on in the penultimate episode of Boardwalk Empire, requires complicity. “Paris Green” was the episode where the veils of self-deception were torn off.
Maggie (Kelly Macdonald) finally dealt with her own complicity in her role of concubine to Nucky (Steve Buscemi), no longer content to be demure. “A good person wouldn’t be here right now,” Nucky tells her. She must have believed that a part of herself was worth saving, choosing to leave him. She’s a liability now and this can go either one of two ways: Nucky does the unthinkable or Maggie returns to the partnership with a much stronger hand to play. I’m guessing the latter.
Angela’s (Aleksa Palladino) deception was self-inflicted, believing that she could ever get away from Jimmy (Michael Pitt). Pitt was brilliant in this episode as we finally learned the identity of his father. Pitt’s face was like a chameleon upon learning that Nucky was essentially his mother’s pimp. It’s clear the seeds are being planted here for Jimmy to believe he can take on Nucky directly next season.
Nucky meanwhile, was forced to confront his own self-deception by Eli (Shea Whigham) who accused him of taking up Maggie’s cause as a way of trying to absolve himself of his sins. It was a worthwhile wait to see Eli finally stand up to his brother in such a powerful, and accurate, manner. Still unable to face himself, Nucky did what he always does when faced with any reminder of the blood on his hands: washed it off by removing Eli as sheriff.
Speaking of sins, the core series of scenes in 1.11 was the killing of Sepso by Van Alden (Michael Shannon). Some critics have gone off on this scene, labeling it as too over the top. Personally, I loved it. Van Alden’s “battle against the Devil himself” is necessary to the core of Boardwalk, the tale of how our souls become corrupted. His fanatical and now murderous belief system is itself a different kind of corruption: a corruption of shame and guilt into power and control through the use of religious zealotry. Van Alden believes he is doing God’s work to judge the wicked, but the truth is that the only judge and jury on the Boardwalk is wielded by those who commit the violence. Nucky commits his sins under the rationalization that all humans are fundamentally selfish. Van Alden commits his under essentially the same rationalization, only he believes they should be punished for it (himself included).
The scene was powerfully shot, disturbing, and the build to it throughout the earlier scenes with Sepso were brilliant. No one can simply “wash themselves clean” of the sins they have committed here. They have to pay with consequences and karma.
Other highlights of note:
– The first Ponzi scheme!
– How chilling was Richard (Jack Huston) telling Jimmy how he’d “flush out” the D’Allessios?
– Nucky goes to the fortune teller but we are left to guess at his future.
“Paris Green” was a bit slower than I expected from the next to last show of the season, but that only leaves us with the promise of what will hopefully be a truly epic season one finale. The previews tell us that retribution is coming, and I believe it.
Grade: B+
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