'I'm What Time and Circumstance Made Me': Boardwalk Empire Recapped

If the penultimate episode of Boardwalk Empire did anything, it gave the series an epitaph for its first season. As Jimmy told The Commodore -- pat on back: I, like many others, had already called that he was Jimmy's pop-pop -- "I'm what time and circumstance made me." So, too, is every other major character populating this east coast Gomorrah. It's enough to make Randolph and Mortimer Duke proud.

It's fun to imagine what Jimmy might have been like if he stayed on the course that The Commodore and Nucky had set him on -- the course that pushed him to Princeton and, presumably, a position inside the Atlantic City political machine. But that Jimmy -- whoever that Jimmy might have been -- is long gone, replaced with a murderous, scheming mad genius, forged by the U.S. military and Prohibition. Circumstance is a helluva thing.

It took 11 episodes, but the young Darmody is finally the protagonist Boardwalk Empire needed him to be. Michael Pitt has always been a strong presence on the series, but Jimmy was adrift for far too long in the early and middle portions of the season. Now, fully ensconced in the machinery (but there through his own means), Jimmy is the power player he was earmarked to be during the pre-premiere hype. It's about time.

Of course, time is relative on Boardwalk Empire. The learning curve for Jimmy was steep -- after all, just two episodes ago, he was crying for his father in a jail cell -- but, he appears to be a changed man; an even more dangerous man. He pauses before dismissing Richard's chilling suggestion to murder the entire innocent side of the D'Alessio family; he talks to his mother about her poisoning plans for his father without over-reacting; and he even coolly allows Angela back into their home after her aborted attempt to flee to Paris. Considering this is someone who just shot a dude in the head for mouthing off just one episode prior, Jimmy 2.0 is a great bit of progress. If he's the Michael Corleone of Boardwalk Empire, I think we can all live with that.

What we can't live with -- or shouldn't live with -- is the treatment of Jimmy's baby mama, Angela. Aleksa Palladino has done some fine work on Boardwalk Empire (in that she's taken her top off and acted like the type of ethereal burnout that Don Draper would have no trouble falling for), but rarely has a character been so abused for so little payoff. Questions: What was the point of Angela being double-crossed by her "kissing friend"? Why would anyone care enough about her to double-cross her? Where does she go from here? Obviously the last answer is nowhere (or suicide), but that's most likely a season two development. Michael Corleone needed a Kay Adams, but Jimmy certainly doesn't need Angela.

On the flip side, though, Nucky definitely needs Margaret. She's a project for him, of course, but there are also some true feelings there. Selfish feelings, but feelings nonetheless. Nucky views Margaret as the incorruptible beauty in his garbage dump of a life -- a salvation -- which is why her leaving him at this moment will actually help their relationship in the long-term. Margaret might be the anti-Carmela, but she's still playing the game. If she continued to allow Nucky to use her to his political advantage, how long before she became just another girl, just another failed expectation. By remaining above the fray -- by calling Nucky out on his misdeeds -- there is hope for these two. Just as long as Eli doesn't try to get some misplaced revenge.

"Paris Green" wasn't all good news though. Van Alden, fresh off his crazy hate-sex with Lucy, acted as if nothing really happened. Any crisis of faith was quickly cast aside in favor of more hellfire, damnation and hate crimes. And, alas, that meant Jewish agent Sepso was drowned by Van Alden in plain view of dozens of onlookers.

(You could argue that because the witnesses were part of an African-American congregation, they would be less likely to go to the authorities to report Agent Sepso's murder; after all, it's doubtful that even a large minority group would have much sway in the 1920s. Still, that entire scene strained the credibility of Boardwalk Empire to an alarming degree. Forget jump the shark -- or nuke the fridge -- Boardwalk Empire teetered on "drown the baptism.")

It's not the worst thing in the world that Van Alden is one-note, but it seems like the character hasn't developed past Terence Winter's initial pitch to Michael Shannon. After almost a full season, shouldn't there be more there there?

That's a question for the finale, though, so for now let's just bask in the glow of what might have been the best episode of the season. Time and circumstance have been kind to Boardwalk Empire's first year -- let's hope the finale is a coronation instead of an arsenic cookie.