A little Jacobean drama and a whole lot of Oedipus made for an insane, no-brakes hour of television, which delved into the festering swamp of crazy beneath the show’s painstaking period reproduction.

In “Georgia Peach,” an episode about retribution but not justice, Boardwalk’s moral universe exacts payback–often, from the innocent.

An act of God throws an innocent character into a battle, while everywhere else in this story, men try to whip up wars of choice.

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, finish playing that fortuitously instructive board game with your ersatz family and watch last night’s Boardwalk Empire. As I’ve mentioned in these reviews before, Boardwalk Empire is a tale of three generations: Jimmy Darmody’s, which fought the Great War; the Commodore’s, which came of age around or just [...]

There were a lot of big guns in “Gimcrack & Bunkum”—loaded, unloaded, described in retrospect—that took center stage in this gripping and violent episode.

Spoiler alert: Before you read this post, stop reading that derivative script about the rich society boy who falls for the servant girl and watch last night’s Boardwalk Empire. I need to keep this week’s Boardwalk Empire Watch brief, which is just as well, since “A Dangerous Maid” (1) dealt largely with advancing more pieces [...]

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, put down that copy of Tom Sawyer—or David Copperfield, or whatever—and watch last night’s Boardwalk Empire. Two men begin this episode of Boardwalk Empire, “Ourselves Alone,” in jail. One is quickly set free on bail and eventually returns to his luxurious home for a sumptuous dinner. The other [...]

While we now know whose genes Jimmy has, the central conflict set up for this season—on a show very much concerned with literal, figurative and spiritual paternity—is: who has Jimmy’s loyalty?

Spoilers for the season finale of Boardwalk Empire coming up: Lead TV characters often develop a signature move over time: a gesture or expression that comes to define them. Think Ralph Kramden’s gesturing into the air on The Honeymooners or Larry David’s incredulous stare on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Nucky Thompson’s signature move is reaching into [...]

Spoilers for last night’s Boardwalk Empire coming up: Last week’s Boardwalk Empire may have had the actual gunfire, but “Paris Green” was chock full of people pulling triggers. There was a welter of activity, mostly surrounding characters ending relationships, or trying to, as the series set up to end its first season next Sunday.

Spoilers for last night’s Boardwalk Empire coming up: “The Emerald City” was an underwhelming episode of  Boardwalk Empire, partly because it seemed largely to be mechanically setting up conflicts for the season’s final two installments. But also—after a run of strong episodes—it particularly indulged in some of Empire’s biggest weaknesses as a series.

Spoilers for last night’s Boardwalk Empire coming up: While Boardwalk Empire is a crime story, it’s not a story mainly about the men who pull the triggers but rather the men who hire them. And while it is in many ways a political story, it’s not mainly about political leaders but about the men who [...]

Spoilers for last night’s Boardwalk Empire coming up: One of the pleasures of Boardwalk Empire has been how thoroughly and freely it has mixed historical and fictional people and events, without seeming bound to history or constrained by it. The writers have seen fit to change elements where necessary—making Nucky Johnson into Nucky Thompson, for [...]

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, put down that Tom Swift book and watch last night’s Boardwalk Empire. Boardwalk Empire is a work of historical fiction, but the past has its own past. And “Home,” the season’s seventh episode, focused on Nucky Thompson and Jimmy Darmody each settling some scores and dealing with old [...]

SPOILER ALERT: Before you read this post, take out your belt, lash yourself strongly across the back and watch last night’s Boardwalk Empire. With “Family Limitation,” you’ve now seen as many episodes as I did of Boardwalk Empire before reviewing it. (I have the next five episodes, but am planning to hold off watching them [...]