Boardwalk Empire, Season 4, Episode 2: “Resignation”
Written by Dennis Lehane and Howard Korder
Directed by Alik Sakharov
Airs Sundays at 9pm EST on HBO
Kate is new to Boardwalk Empire this season and her reviews will approach the acclaimed series from the newbie’s perspective.
In last week’s season premiere, we checked in with most of our main cast, the significant exceptions being Michael Shannon’s Nelson Van Alden/George Mueller and a touted-in-the-marketing new character played by Jeffrey Wright. Both are front and center this week, along with Agent Knox and the ever intriguing Richard Harrow, and prove to be excellent additions to the ensemble. Not being familiar with the previous seasons, there is assuredly much more going on with Mueller than we’ve seen in just the past two weeks, but his internal conflict is engaging for this viewer nonetheless. Shannon is an incredible actor and it’ll be fun to piece together his history on the show over the course of the season. Jack Houston is another favorite, for the second week in a row, his final scene promising more action and suspense to come and acting as a delicious tease for next week.
“Resignation” features much-needed levity in the form of the painfully corn-fed Knox. Geraghty drips with simple sincerity in his early scenes while remaining utterly inscrutable, and should be a formidable and entertaining adversary for Nucky down the line. There are other sources of humor as well, but after only two episodes, it seems fairly clear that comedy on Boardwalk Empire, at least in season four, is a subdued, underplayed thing. The show is beautiful, but muted visually and tonally, and every bit of comedy is a welcome relief, be it from Knox or Nucky’s valet, Eddie.
There’s clearly a lot happening with Eddie as well this week. Tracking his relationship with Nucky as Eddie rises through the ranks should be interesting, and it’s nice to have at least one character that Nucky clearly cares about and for. This is perhaps the single most intriguing relationship for this newbie, as it’s such a long-standing and (subtly) affectionate one and the subtle touches of domesticity laced throughout are a nice touch. Once again, the sets and costumes look fantastic, and there are several memorable moments (notably, the death of the dog and the final reveal), but this is clearly an early episode that is building the groundwork for payoffs down the line. The Mayor and J. Edgar Hoover may not be particularly interesting at the moment, but they presumably will be before too long, and for now, Knox and the other various looming threats are enough to keep the momentum going.
The highlight of the episode, however, is Jeffery Wright’s entrance as Dr. Valentin Narcisse, a measured, intellectual business associate of the booker killed in “New York Sour”. His interactions with both Chalky and Nucky are hilarious, with Wright the definition of cool as both, in separate scenes, become increasingly frustrated with him. Wright leaps through the screen and demands attention in a way that, while the cast is full of fantastic actors, few others do on this show. His subdued performance and soft speech patterns pull the audience towards him and based on his few scenes this week, it should be a joy to spend more time with him over the course of the season.
In what is fairly standard for Boardwalk Empire, there are several characters we stay away from this week, but thanks to the return of Shannon and introduction of Wright, they aren’t particularly missed. Watching the PtB balance the remaining episodes between their surplus of characters should be fun, and for now, this viewer is happy to go along for the ride.
What did you think of this episode? Did you enjoy Narcisse as much as I did? Which characters are working for you and which do you miss? Just how invested should I be in the Eddie/Nucky relationship? Post your thoughts in the comments below!
Kate Kulzick