After a brilliant season opener, Boardwalk Empire’s second episode of the season, ‘Ourselves Alone,’ further illustrates the exceptional writing and acting this young series has become acclaimed for. Unfortunately, this episode does forgo the strides in pacing that this season’s first episode provided in favor of the slow crawl storytelling that carried much of the first season. Thankfully, the episode focuses on some great character moments and lays more foundation for what’s to come this season.
‘Ourselves Alone’ begins with Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald) discovering, via the newspaper and gossiping maids, why Nucky stood her up the night before. He’s been arrested for election fraud, the whole town is abuzz about it, yet Margaret is still trying to maintain previous engagements as well as help Nucky out in a huge way.
The true shining light of this episode is Michael K. Williams’ Chalky White. When Nucky asked Eli to arrest Chalky last episode, I assumed it was a narrative way around not having Chalky involved for a couple episodes. Lo and behold, not only is Chalky in this episode, he’s one of the primary focuses, and the show is all the better for it.
Chalky begins the episode sharing a cell with Nucky, both discussing the double crossing that’s placed them here. Nucky is soon bailed out and Chalky is left behind, finding himself having to deal with a fellow inmate, Dunn Purnsley (a lively and memorable Erik LaRay Harvey). Throughout the episode, Purnsley is doing everything he can to get under Chalky’s skin, from speaking ill of his wife to questioning his own manhood. Once Purnsley decides to escalate things to a violent level, Chalky is able to flex his true power without even breaking a sweat. Michael K. Williams is an actor that thrives in these sort of slow building stories, and I hope we get much more Chalky White as the season continues.
Meanwhile, Jimmy Darmody finds himself in New York, on behalf of the Commodore, attempting to make a new deal with Arnold Rothstein. Rothstein points out on several occasions during their discussion that no mention of Nucky Thompson is being made, to which Jimmy quickly changes the subject. Much as Atlantic City is going through a changing of power, Jimmy discovers New York may be in the same boat. Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky invite Jimmy to a poker game they run, but it’s more so that they can convey their plans to take over, as well as add heroin to their illegal trade. Jimmy seems to hear them out, and takes quite a bit of their money via their poker game, but still feels that Rothstein is the one he needs to nab.
Jimmy is also one of the more complex characters on the show, and with him now being under the Commodores wing, that complexity continues to grow. He’s spoken of being quite educated in the first seasons, but comes off as little more than a brute in most situations. Under the Commodore’s guidance, you can see Jimmy attempting to be the eloquent man he was groomed to be. But, after his meetings he’s jumped by two New York goons after his gambling winnings, and the Jimmy we know doesn’t hesitate to slit a throat and stab the other to death.
Atlantic City has its own issues with loyalty. With the Commodore’s plans to take Nucky down coming to seeming fruition, some have full faith in the Commodore’s eventual success, while others can’t seem to narrow down who they should actually get behind. Nucky’s been good to them for a long time, and for some, that’s hard to forget.
The one having the toughest time is Nucky’s brother, Eli. Having been burned so many times by Nucky in the past, Eli is obviously ready for some regime change as well as seeing Nucky get his comeuppance, but he’s having a real hard time getting behind the Commodore. By episode’s end, we see Eli being introduced by the Commodore to a secret room of really old men that the Commodore claims are the real men the built Atlantic City. It only takes a moment to realize that Eli feels way in over his head, and I can’t help but feel that this may lead to his own undoing.
As soon as Nucky’s out of jail, he’s on the fast track to find out who is still on his side, and unfortunately it’s a very, very slim few. This is a very different Nucky we’re seeing in this episode, as he’s notoriously calm and collected in the face of any transgression. Yet, here we see a Nucky genuinely on the ropes, not knowing where to turn and what to do next. Luckily, he does still have those few friends, and one of them, Margaret Schroder, is beyond invaluable.
Despite an awkward exchange with the newly introduced Irish muscle Owen Sleater, Margaret also had an opportunity to shine in this episode. After the last, there was a worry that she would just become Nucky’s gal and lose a lot of the spunk that made her character so great in season one. Here we see her basically save the day, pulling a fast one on the government agents and rescuing Nucky’s bookkeeping and stashed money while they ransack Nucky’s office. She is able to hold her own when an IRA bigwig comes to dinner and Nucky is still MIA for most of it. And then, her greatest bit of service is revealing to Nucky that she has his books, that he has to burn them, and finally infusing some since into Thompson’s actions. “You’re not thinking clearly now. You must concentrate and not give yourself over to emotion.” Wise words from the young Mrs. Schroeder, and words that Nucky definitely needed to hear.
Despite the previously mentioned pacing issues, ‘Ourselves Alone’ is an overall excellent episode. Even though the show is sold as the Nucky Thompson show, it could quite easily belong to Chalky, Margaret or Jimmy and be just as good, if not even better.
That’s not to sell Nucky short. There’s actually a rather poignant scene that’s simply a phone call between Nucky and Eli when he realizes for a fact that Eli has turned on him, and something that could have easily been a throwaway scene becomes deeper characterization and sets in motion what’s to come between these two brothers. There was a sad lack of Van Alden and Richard Harrow this episode, but hopefully that means there will be plenty of them next week.
– Matt Hardeman
