'I Ain't Building No Bookcase': Boardwalk Empire Recapped

As some of you have learned from Rubicon, judging a series based on its first three episodes is a fools errand. There are few exceptions -- the incubating stages of Mad Men, Lost and 30 Rock come to mind -- but there is no way to completely know what kind of series you've signed up for until you get one of those episodes. For Boardwalk Empire, "Anastasia" was one of those episodes. But was it good enough?

I've been critical here and with good reason: Despite the fawning cabal of television critics pervading Twitter, Boardwalk Empire started out like a house on room temperature and has had trouble finding a steady grove. Last week's episode was the best of the first three, and yet there were still problems -- chief being that Empire is as subtle as a construction site. There are flourishes of greatness, but too often they get lost in style, a lack of substance or some combination of both.

That said, huzzah to "Anastasia"! Last night's episode -- the best Boardwalk Empire episode since last week's -- was the closest to a whole enterprise that the series has offered thus far, if only because it finally featured a decent teleplay.

What do I mean? Let's start, like the episode, in Chicago, with Jimmy and the merry prankster that is Al Capone. The minute Jimmy told his new hooker girlfriend that she was beautiful and ought to be in pictures, you knew her fate was sealed. If you still weren't sure, though, Boardwalk Empire helpfully inserted Pearl into the Torio-Sheridan business summit, which ended with many threats and percentage points; it might as well have been subtitled: "Prepare for this girl to get mutilated!" There's always a problem when episodic television series try to accomplish this sort of thing -- we're meant to welcome Pearl into our homes, find her charming, start to care and then feel awful when her face gets cut open as retaliation -- but Boardwalk Empire actually made it work. I cared about Pearl and was horrified as she was cut, even though I knew it was coming from three miles down the road; it was like watching a car wreck in slow motion -- I simply couldn't turn away.

Of course nothing that happened to Pearl means anything to Jimmy -- unless you want to believe that he was so deeply in love with her after just meeting her; which, come now -- but at least it was just another way for Boardwalk Empire to show that Jimmy Darmody has the Midas touch of death and destruction. Everything he does turns to bad news.

Speaking of which, what to make of Gillian's dance with Lucky Luciano? The clumsiest parts of the episode dealt with their courtship -- though their first conversation had a really nice To Have and Have Not-vibe coursing throughout -- and it led to more questions than really need asking at this point: Who's playing who there? What happens when Lucky finds out that Gillian is Jimmy's mom? And can he overcome that painful case of gonorrhea? Based on Luciano's temper and what we know -- plus the fact that Gretchen Mol is only listed as a guest star and not a series regular -- don't expect this to end well for Gillian; she might be lucky if she gets off as easy as Pearl did. If you were wondering how Jimmy was going to get back to Atlantic City, the brutal murder of his mother seems like one possible explanation.

"So where are the examples of this great teleplay?" you ask impatiently. I'm getting there! How about Chalky White? Michael K. Williams hasn't had much to do thus far, but he's gotten an incredible amount of mileage out of his limited screen time. That pretty much sums up his appearance in "Anastasia" as well, which required him to show up, deliver a ridiculously good monologue about the lynching of his father and then go all Sayid Jarrah on a Klan Cyclops. The way Williams expressed Chalky's fury and sadness (plus a good dose of crazyeyes) made this one of the more special moments on any television show this season. Critics have latched onto Chalky/Williams, and for once, with good reason: He's tops. As I said last week, more please.

Also more please? Margaret, and by extension, Kelly MacDonald. Positioning Margaret as an Atlantic City version of Anastasia during "Anastasia" was incredibly obvious, but damn if it didn't work, too. The scene during Nucky's birthday party -- where Margaret got to speak like a college student doing a thesis on women's suffrage (ah, screenwriting) and dance like a princess -- was a master class in empathetic performance artistry. MacDonald is a rare Boardwalk Empire presence: subtle, fragile, hopeful. She never lets Margaret become the wilting flower the character is sometimes written as. There have been some concerns here about Margaret and Nucky's progressing relationship, but this episode seemed to prove that not only could it work, but it could become a strong backbone for the series in general. Margaret brings out the best in both Nucky and the show; position her in a love triangle between Nucky and Van Alden and you've got yourself some romantic conflict. As such, put me firmly on Team Mucky!

Which brings me to Nucky. The faux-toughness of the pilot episode has been replaced by a businessman's cool -- he's going to get what he wants and he does expect to have everything. He's also more human, more three-dimensional. Buscemi's work in the pilot and second episode was excessively hit and miss; I didn't buy him as the tough gangster and the show seemingly refused to allow him to be anything else. No longer, though. Considering the impending wars Nucky has brewing with the mobs in Philadelphia and New York -- not to mention the familial battle simmering between him and his brother -- the gangster part of Nucky's persona will have to show its ugly face again. But with the foundation that Buscemi has laid in these last two episodes, it seems those tough guy flourishes will be a whole lot easier to swallow. Boardwalk Empire still isn't as good as everyone said, but it's getting much, much better.

Some quick bullets:

· That Pearl looked exactly like Jimmy's wife wasn't an accident, right?

· Stephen Graham's portrayal of Al Capone is...fine. Thus far, though, the secondary mobsters -- Luciano, Rothstein, Capone -- have been one-dimensional parodies, and if Boardwalk Empire wants to separate itself from the pack, it should limit their involvement.

· The rampant misogyny is expected and uncomfortable -- even moreso than the early episodes of Mad Men -- but it does feel a little too pat that Nucky is the only progressive voice among the elites. Granted, he only sees the color green when it comes to social change, but still...

What did everyone else think?