Episode Title: âThe North Starâ
Writers: Eric Overmyer and Howard KorderÂ
Director: Allen CoulterÂ
Previously on âBoardwalk Empire:âÂ
One of the most frustrating things about âBoardwalk Empire,â is its main characterâs inability to open up. In âThe North Star,â while visiting Tampa on business, we finally hear Nucky (Steve Buscemi) talk about his feelings, or rather lack thereof, about the life heâs made for himself and the people in it â people whom Nucky could seemingly care less about as long as the moneyâs coming in. Listening to Nucky express astonishment at his own behavior for the first time in a long time, we get the sense that this could be a major turning point for a man so dispassionate and unflinching, living in the midst of so much chaos. And then Sally the bartender has to go and punch him in the face.
In all fairness to Sally (Patricia Arquette), sheâs really just a just a product of the environment Nuckyâs created for himself. He had someone who was willing to listen to him âwhineâ in Margaret, (whom he reunites with briefly at the top of the episode in Penn Station on his way to Florida) and then there was Eddie, a man who by Nuckyâs own account, âlived for him.â And yet, not surprisingly, Nucky is only concerned about secrets Eddie might have kept from him. Itâs disappointing not only to see how outwardly unaffected Nucky is by Eddieâs suicide, but also that he canât even talk about it without being drawn back into the endless cycle of making deals, thwarting rivals, avoiding prosecution and sleeping with random women. Perhaps Nucky is on the verge of some sort of epiphany that will play out in a future episode? But more likely the purpose of the scene with Sally, in which an attempt at drunken introspection ends in angry sex, is to demonstrate just how broken Nuckyâs life is.Â
We get the same idea in an earlier scene with Margaret (Kelly Macdonald). Considering itâs her first appearance of the season, her reunion with Nucky is a little anti-climactic. Like Eddie, Margaret knows Nucky all too well, as she points out the fact heâs ordered a cinnamon roll, something she knows he wouldnât eat. But the point here is that to know Nucky âwell,â doesnât really extend beyond knowledge of the type of pastry he prefers.Â
Thereâs more than punch-drunk sex and cinnamon rolls in this episode, of course. Eli (Shea Whigham) cleverly enlists Agent Knox (Brian Geraghty) to retrieve the money in Eddieâs safety deposit box when a banker turns Eli away. Knox is reminiscent of Van Alden in a past life, when he was a tenacious prohibition agent, bent on taking down Nucky, despite the odds against it. Knox is playing a dangerous game, going âundercoverâ as a crooked prohibition agent and Eli may have him figured out. While at Eddieâs apartment, Eli gets emotional about the possibility of leaving his own family behind. Knox hands him a handkerchief. Eli notices the monogram âJTMâ on it, which could mean trouble for Agent Knox aka âJim,â as J. Edgar Hoover called him.
In other developments, down in Tampa Bill McCoy (Pearce Bunting) finds a replacement investor for the late Auggie Tucker in Vincenzo Petrucelli (Vincenzo Amato), who has ties to the north and more importantly, Joe Masseria. He recognizes Lucky (Vincent Piazza), whoâs in town with Meyer (Anatol Yusef) to solidify the deal and mentions Masseria. Lucky contemplates killing Petrucelli causing Meyer to cut Lucky out of the deal. Words are exchanged and the two former partners leave things on less than amicable terms.Â
Back in AC, the ongoing tension between Chalky (Michael Kenneth Williams) and Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham) leads to the second angry sex scene of the episode. We can trying guessing where this is going as Dr. Narcisse probably wonât be pleased to learn that Chalky is bedding his talent and he and Dunn Purnsley are already looking to take over Chalkyâs territory. Meanwhile, Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) returns from Wisconsin to learn that Juliaâs father, Paul is dying from cirrhosis. Julia (Wrenn Schmidt), herself, is hesitant to let Richard back in her and Tommyâs lives after he fled Atlantic City, but knows she canât go it alone. And now that heâs back in town, we canât help but wonder if Richardâs decision to abandon a life of violence will hold in the place where it all began.
âThe North Starâ chugs along like a typical âBoardwalk âepisode; thereâs plenty of deal making, a few minor revelations that could mean something more down the road and the usual sprinkling of sex. Itâs nice to see Patricia Arquetteâs character, Sally again, as she seems to challenge Nucky in ways other women donât, though she could have picked a better time to punch him in the face. And then thereâs the sort-of return of Margaret, whose post-Nucky life we havenât been privy to. Nucky may be untouchable when it comes to the feds, but his personal loses are starting to pile up to the point where they cannot be ignored. As viewers, we feel it. And as this episodes hints, Nucky may be starting to, as well.
Â