TV Recap: Boardwalk Empire, ‘The King of Norway’

Back in 1897, the young and newly deputized Nucky Thompson (Marc Pickering) tries to win over Mabel’s wealthy, disapproving father and to get ahead for himself by taking on a more integral, hands-on role in the Commodore’s regime. Back in the present day, Nucky (Steve Buscemi) learns of Sally Wheet’s fate, survives yet another attempt on his life, and reconnects with an old friend. Over in the women’s mental hospital, an increasingly terrified Gillian (Gretchen Mol) learns she may not have gotten off so easy in avoiding a prison sentence, after all. In New York, Margaret (Kelly Macdonald) closes the deal with Rothstein’s widow. Out in Chicago, Capone (Stephen Graham) begins to feel the heat of his impending federal indictment and both Eli (Shae Whigham) and Van Alden (Michael Shannon) face a day of reckoning. Chalky (Michael K. Williams) returns to seek vengeance on Narcisse (Jeffery Wright), but encounters another face from the past instead.

Early on in the “The King of Norway,” Al Capone (Stephen Graham) recants Nucky’s somewhat cryptic comment when told of Luciano and Lanksy’s planned hit that “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.” Although Capone puzzles over its meaning (“is it a riddle?”), the quote (often attributed to Mark Twain) looms large thematically over the episode. History doesn’t repeat itself in the sense that there’s no return to the days of old, nor even any way to securely maintain the present status quo. Change awaits for all and yet while the road ahead is unsure, it’s not truly free or rife with opportunities for new beginnings either, as our pasts have a way of limiting our futures and there are only so many words that rhyme with the ones we’ve already uttered.

The idea of the current way of life coming to an end is prevalent throughout “The King of Norway,” and several characters speak openly of new beginnings or ultimate endings. When surprised by a visit from Chalky, who asks for Narcisse’s whereabouts, Nucky instead provides him with the location of his family, who relocated to St. Louis after Maybelle’s death. When Chalky rightfully points out that he can’t return to them or the life he once knew, Nucky offers cash and proposes a new start, acknowledging that though they’re no longer young, they aren’t dead yet either and there’s a lot of ground in between left to cover. Chalky’s view remains pessimistic, countering that perhaps Nucky just doesn’t realize that this is the end. For a man like Chalky, who’s already lost everything – his family, his fortune, his power – there’s no going home again, no rebuilding. It’s the end of the road and the victory of vengeance, no matter the cost, is all he can hope to achieve. And yet, as the episode closes and Chalky enters Narcisse’s private room in his brothel and instead finds Daughter, the great love whom helped lead him down his current path, his eyes flash with both hurt and perhaps a glimmer of hope.

Drunken, depressed Eli, on the other hand, echoes Nucky’s optimism and finds hope in a visit from his pregnant wife, June (Nisi Sturgis), telling her his rise in the ranks of Capone’s gang is an opportunity for them to start a new and better life together in Chicago. Eli’s partner, George Mueller / Nelson Van Alden also recognizes change is on the horizon, in light of his nearly being outed as a federal agent. And while he doesn’t necessarily share Eli’s hopeful outlook, he plans to confront whatever lies ahead head on, staunchly telling Eli at the fateful dinner party between the two couples, that he’ll abide “no more running.”

http://youtu.be/TUGoV9ZrINk

The dinner party at the Mueller’s house is the highlight of the episode, bringing both Eli and Van Alden’s storylines to riveting climax. The evening starts off in typical Mueller fashion – Sigrid chain-smoking and throwing bitchy barbs, George scolding the children for existing (George’s hilariously cruel critique of his son’s musical talents – “Chester, that would sound better much further away.”) – but soon falls apart when a simmering Sigrid (Christiane Seidel) spitefully and icily reveals the lurid details of her and Eli’s clandestine kitchen tryst. Not a moment after the Thompsons’ find their blissful reunion irrevocably shattered, another reckoning arrives in the form of federal agent and mole in the Capone operation, Mike D’Angelo (Louis Cancelmi), who gives the two fugitives a choice between the gas chamber or helping snare Capone on tax evasion charges. The pasts both Eli and Van Alden were running from have finally caught up with them and present them with two very limited choices, both of which could easily end in their deaths. I’ve enjoyed the partnership between Eli and Van Alden this season, as Shae Whigham and Michael Shannon play off each other really well. Shannon, in particular, has come up aces at providing the comic relief on this show and his interaction with Eli in the holding room was priceless, particularly his characteristically terse response to Eli’s complaint that his life is a shipwreck, “Well, land ho.”

While the end of the road might loom on the horizon for some, others continually find new paths on which to make their way in the world, like the ever-obnoxious Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks) who will seemingly outlive everyone, like a post-nuclear explosion cockroach and Mrs. Margaret Thompson, who successfully brokers the deal with Carolyn Rothstein (Shae D’lyn) and subtly strong-arms her boss at the firm into setting up a secret account for Nucky. If there’s one thing you can say for Margaret, it’s that she’s a survivor, quietly powerful and adept at making the necessary connections – and then getting what she wants from those connections – to get herself ahead.

For Margaret, getting ahead simply means making a life for herself marked by personal autonomy and freedom from want. As we see in this week’s flashbacks (skipping ahead a few years from his childhood to the beginnings of his career in 1897), however, Nucky’s definition of getting ahead varies significantly. (It must be said that Marc Pickering absolutely nails the mannerism and voice of Buscemi’s Nucky, so much so that the resemblance becomes uncanny. Also, whoever designed the Buscemi snaggleteeth he dons for his performance should win an Emmy for costuming.) Now an Atlantic City deputy, young Nucky still bristles at any mention of his humble, poverty-stricken beginnings, be they from the doomed Mr. Halligan or Mabel’s snobbish, old money father. For Nucky, getting ahead doesn’t merely entail a comfortable lifestyle and a way to provide for his family, but an absolute eradication of his previous identity as the impoverished fisherman’s boy, the servile bellhop, the rags-to-riches Ragged Dick. Financial security and personal freedom aren’t what Nucky craves – it is power and respect.

And while the onset of the Great Depression endangered practically everyone’s financial security, present day Nucky isn’t really hurting in that department, but finds his grasp on the reigns of his kingdom – the prize he has sought all along – slipping away from him. The fact that supposed friend and retired boss Johnny Torrio (Greg Antonacci) sold him out to Luciano and Lansky to set up the attempt on his life shows just how far his stock has fallen and how little he can count on those he previously considered loyal. Similarly, when he hears of Sally’s death, he also learns he can’t buy retribution or vengeance, can’t bring anyone into account because “there are no names.” The Cuban militia that shot her remain as faceless to him as he is to them and his money is useless, a fact that hammers home the changing of the guard, the fact that the old way of doing things is on its way out and as Boardwalk Empire wraps up its final season, I can’t wait to see where Nucky finds himself at the end of the road.

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Kimberlee Rossi-Fuchs is a Senior Writer for Pop-Break, regularly covering Game of Thrones, Louie, Futurama, and Boardwalk Empire, as well as other delectable nuggets of TV, film, and music throughout the year. Since graduating with Highest Honors from Rutgers University with a degree in English, Kimberlee currently finds herself in a financially comfortable, yet stifling corporate environment where her witty and insightful literary and pop culture references are largely met with confused silence and requests to, “Get away from me, weirdo.” Still, she’s often thought of as a modern-day Oscar Wilde (by herself) and one day hopes her wit, charm, and intellect (again, self-perceived) will make her a very wealthy, very drunk woman. She’s also the mother of a darling little boy, Charlie Miles (aka Young Chizzy) who she hopes will grow up to not be too embarrassed of all of the baby pics she relentl
tyhands on Twitter and Instagram @Scarletjupiter
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