What I’m Watching: Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire: Season 1, Episode 9 “Belle Femme” (B+)

As we’re getting closer to the end of the season (only three episodes left), things are picking up on this show. By its close, we have Margaret shot and Jimmy arrested, two things that will affect Nucky much more than he would like. For a man who prides himself on being untouchable, he’s just come dangerously close to death himself, and the new love of his life ended up taking the bullet for him. It’s just like an HBO show to delve deep and heavily feature one character during an episode only to have her suffer a potentially fatal (though I doubt it) injury at its end. Margaret’s trip to the fitting room and subsequent conversation with Nucky was very intriguing, and their relationship continues to be absolutely fascinating. I was caught off guard by Nelson’s move to arrest Jimmy, but I have to hand it to Nucky’s disciple: he does a good job of not talking or giving up any of his partners. The roadside assassination of the other prisoner really doesn’t bode well for anyone, of course, and I’m sure Nelson is going to mad as hell about it. I think the subplots of Harding’s campaign and the search for a new sheriff to take over for the ailing Eli are being very well handled, in a way that doesn’t distract from the primary storyline but still manages to assert their background importances. I doubt that Rothstein is going to give up so easily even if the henchmen he sent have botched their mission, so things will just get even more dangerous in the next few installments.