Thursday, October 28, 2010

HOW MANY LINKS PRINCETON?


This is always a good sign and boy were they right on the money.
I was thrown by the opening scene though which featured two guys riding horses and in the background amongst the billboards was one that read Budweiser. I would have thought with Prohibition those types of signs would have come down, but after some research I saw I was mistaken and the show was accurate. Budweiser continued to brew its beer, alcohol free, and produced Bevo, a non alcoholic cereal beverage. I'm guessing it did not "taste great" but was very "filling."


Nucky set up Margaret with the whole Pretty Woman fairytale making her one of his mistresses. I loved the scene with the head of the temperance league...

Margaret- A man has made me an offer
Old Shrew- Financial? Domestic? Sexual?
Margaret- Yes
Margaret goes all Maino and answers ALL THE ABOVE!
Lucy thought her little tiger cub routine would keep Nucky interested in her jungle, but Margaret hit it on the head when she said, "maybe your cunny isn't quite the draw you think it is." Apparently she was right, because Nucky seemed to have women all over the city as do other men of influence. The Concubines of Atlantic City have it nice nice. A little Lysol flush up the easy bake oven and there's nothing to worry about.

Meanwhile Lucky splashed the pot multiple times with Gillian, but attracted some heat from both AR and Nucky.

A.R.- What kind of way is that to answer a phone?
Lucky- Can I call you back I'm with his wife right now.
A.R.- No you're not. You're with his mother.

Like Smokey said in Friday, "the older the berry the sweeter the juice."

Lucky- Since when do u need permission to look at the ocean?
Nucky- Look at my ocean?
Nucky- Since your boss tried to lift a hundred grand out of my pocket.
Lucky- Mr. Rothstein doesn't see it that way.
Eli- Mr. Rothstein doesn't run this town.
Lucky- No he runs New York maybe you heard of it?


How great were the scenes with Jimmy and Al. First the one where Jimmy is playing Five Finger Fillet with what has to be on of the most bad ass knives ever. I would have to put it in my top three along with Mick's from Crocodile Dundee and the Night Slasher's from Cobra. Also have to throw in my man Tristan from Legends of the Fall too. He get's freaky with his blade as well when he avenges Samuel.


Jimmy must have taken his entrance test to Princeton in pen because the kid brought a knife to a gun fight and walked away clean. Hova!

The scene in the Capone kitchen was amazing. How good did those sausages look?! Capone's wife offered up her condolences to Jimmy and Al chimes in, "you know Pearl, the waitress" Al's wife was lead to believe she got hit by a street car. Al tells her he wants to talk to that driver and make sure he's more careful in the future, WINK. While on the subject of Pearl, the man who cut her face, Liam, was not present when Jimmy and Al took out the Irish. We just might get to see that knife put to some good use I have a feeling.

The most moving scene of the episode came after Al came to visit Jimmy in his room. Capone brought him steaks as a sort of olive branch. He admits that Jimmy's jokes about him and the war hurt his feelings. We learned he considers Jimmy a friend. So much so that he opens up to Jimmy about his son's handicap. Capone's son is deaf, but I learned it is Al's fault. Capone suffered from neurosyphilis and was the cause of his son's birth defect. That's what he meant when he told Jimmy it's in the blood. Capone was apparently a talented musician. He played the mandolin as he said to Jimmy. I read that he wrote and composed his own music as well. So it appears he is a little more than the guy who "walks the dog and washes the car" as Torrio stated.

Other notables:

The guy who got jacked on the boardwalk tells Nucky "if there's a nickel of your money in a nun's cooz we'll shake it loose."
Nucky- "Why don't you let Eli handle that...and put a steak on that."

The Mayor of Jersey City gave Nucky a good heads up about not endorsing his man in the Senate. Sounded like Mr. Pimms Cup is a silent partner in a paving company in J.C. and will be giving the road money to them so he can turn a healthy profit.

Jimmy put a wad of cash that could choke a hippo in an ordinary envelope to mail home to Angela, no insurance, no mail order, no wax seal. Not even one of those string things you wind around the cardboard circle.

The card that fell out of Pearl's book had me misty eyed.

We learned that Liam the Irish thug who cut Pearl's face, was not present at the meeting which ended in the blood bath. I have a feeling we will get to see Jimmy's knife be put to good use soon enough.

I hope they didn't hurt that blond coat check girl when they offed the Irish fellas. Jimmy still has Liam to deal with, the goon who cut Pearl. He was not in that meeting.

And lastly...someone PLEASE TELL THIS GUY what "beating off" really means. JESUS!!!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

It's Lie AS WELL As Me, You Dolt



Roll down your sleeves, put on your jacket, bring Mrs. Schroeder a chair then go outside and block the entrance.

Agent Van Alden may be a ribbon sniffing creep, but he is proving to be sort of a bad ass too. First the aforementioned line where he orders the other agent around and then he walks in and decks the Irishman. Nucky definitely underestimated him that's for sure. The stare down they had outside the banquet hall was like two fighters sizing each other up at a weigh in.

The only reason this all went down was because Margaret Schroeder told Van Alden that James Neary lectured her. Without that bit of color, her report about the barrels of beer would have just been another pin in the map. This obsession with Margaret gets our square jawed lawman into some trouble it looks like in coming weeks.

Not to be outdone by anyone, Nucky also had his share of great scenes this week. My favorite of which had to be when he tells Eli, "you wanna be taken seriously, learn how to fuking speak!" After Eli takes a swing at Nucky and misses(which was awesome by the way) Nucky tells his brother to go home to his wife. Eli asks Nucky where he is going to go and in doing so exposes Nucky's weak spot once more.


Nucky wants a wife again and most likely a family. Recall the scene where he is looking longingly at the babies in the incubator store window. I think we may learn that he and his wife had a baby at one point but lost it. If this proves to be so, it would explain his hefty donation to the incubator store in a previous episode.

Also explains why he went knocking on Margaret's door late at night.

Too bad Nucky couldn't use some of that cash to bring in a decent plastic surgeon to fix my girl Pearl's face. When she walked into the parlor showing off her scarred face, she reminded me of Jerry Hall in the Tim Burton Batman movie. looking like The Joker's girlfriend in the original Batman movie. I still thought she looked pretty darn good even with the eye wrap and all. Sadly I knew as soon as she kissed Jimmy that she was going to off herself. I figured she would down a whole grip of opium, but the gun was certainly the quicker route. No palm trees though that way.

I guess she heard Torrio when he said, "if she was a filly, they'd shoot her." Poor pearl should not have gone out like Barbaro.

Speaking of lame, I expected a little more out of my man A.R. I was disappointed at how nervous he was about the article tying him to the Black Sox scandal. A man of his wealth and power should just have that writer removed from the staff, or have the story buried. A man like A.R. doesn't sit around with horseshit on his pants waiting for it to dry, he goes out and buys a new fuking suit. Am I wrong? Man up Arnold!

I love this Gillian, Jimmy's mother. Angela walks in to find her son passed out on the floor. Gillian recalls she used the same trick with Jimmy as a child, "whiskey and milk were a godsend."

From the scenes for this weeks upcoming episode it looks like she and Lucky "bump" into one another next week. Go head Lucky!

I really liked the story Jimmy told Pearl about the 4th of July where his mom and him went on a sail boat with one of her beaus. Great picture he painted with The Stars and Stripes.

Loved hearing Duncan O'Connor belt out Carrickfergus at the banquet.


My heart fluttered every time I heard Margaret say "barrels" and "garage" in her Irish brogue.

And lastly the little person Joaquin Phoenix look alike had me buggin out. I like how he stood tall (no pun intended) and told Nucky he only looks like a child when he was negotiating a raise for him and his men.

Nice to know some things never change. A new movie is set to come out called The Soprano State which shows that N.J. is still the most corrupt state in the nation. Here's the trailer,

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Well...I Aint Building No Bookcase


Sorry for the delay in posting this recap it has been a crazy week.

Nucky is worried about keeping Chalky's vote so he can stay on top, but if you ask me it's Chalk who should be running this town. The monologue with the Grand Cyclops was Emmy worthy. Chalky is like Michael Corleone, Sayid Jarrah and Nino Brown all wrapped into one bad ass gangster. "My father, he'd make that wood sang..." He spoke with so much emotion and the pride in his voice was genuine when he described how he and his father walked right in through the front door of the white man's house to see those book cases. You know what was coming at the end of that story, just like you knew what was going to go down when he took out his daddy's tool, but my heart was still pounding the whole time.


Nothing though shook me more than when the Sheridan's goon cut the face of Jimmy's girl Pearl. Again, I knew it was coming but there was nothing I could do from my couch. Keep the bandages clean and rub some Vitamin E on that cut girl and I'm sure Jimmy will still share his bed with ya. She had the "mass appeal" going when she whispered to Jimmy that she was going to head "East" to the opium den.

I was also on cringe alert every time Lucky came around Jimmy's mom Gillian. Initially I thought he was there to kill her and send a message to Jimmy, but it seems he is letting his little head call the shots for now. I can't really blame him. Guy just got his equipment cleaned out and back in running condition. I'm sure he wants to make sure it works and Gillian presents quite a nice opportunity. Loved how she did not want to be called grandma, "not while the peaches are still in season."

Mrs. Schroeder turned some heads as well when she showed up the Senator and out debated him at Nucky's party. Nucky could not be more smitten with her and less interested in Lucy right about now. I'm a big Lucy fan but even I was yelling uncle when she popped out of the cake.

When the senator finished his champagne in Nucky's office and asks for another drink I could have sworn he said, "I think I'll have a pimps cup." I quickly realized I was mistaken and he was in fact asking for Pimms Cup. Pimms is still sold today. Created in 1840 by James Pimm it is distilled according to a top-secret formula only known to six people. Its a light and refreshing taste blended from excellent liqueurs and full extracts apparently. Maybe try some Pimms in a Pimp Cup.

How about this cat Mickey Doyle and the brothers from Philly.
"What is yas all named after Popes?"
"What of it you don't like god or somethin?"

Did Micky remind anyone else of Newman from Seinfeld? Same creepy and sinister laugh and wiggling fingers.

Loved the episode and loved getting more into the other characters like Al Capone, Gillian and of course Chalky. Nucky is the focal point, but I can see his appeal wearing thin with too many scenes. Chalky on the other hand needs more screen time which I think we will certainly see. Jimmy showed off why he got into Princeton when he tried to give Capone some good advice. Jimmy is book smart but he also appears to have graduated Magna Cum Laude from the School of Hard Knocks growing up under Nucky.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

We're In Business


Nucky and Chalky come to an agreement and are in business together. Nucky asking the Jewish guy "what's mother fukker mean," had me rolling. It's like when Dave Chapelle said "wait until white people find out what 'skeet skeet skeet' means."

So Lucky Lu we learn intentionally got gonorrhea so he could avoid the war. I would think maybe intentionally breaking you leg would have been the way to go after watching that doctor prod and probe Luciano's D like he was that dude aboard the mother ship from Fire In the Sky.

What is Nucky's problem? Never seen a guy look do forlorn whilst getting the French treatment. And no way would I let Lucy have a baby and ruin that figure. I'd tell her to go pick up one of the preemie's at the incubator store and like Method Man said "never ever give my cootie away and keep it tight aight." That scene in the changing room at the French store was legen...(wait for it)...dary!

how about the Dentist giving the shooting victim the cocaine? The guy snaps to and starts cursing out Dick Tracy in tongues. I too like the woman do not care to repeat what he said, but that sh-t was funny.

A.R. wants Lucky to kill Jimmy for him and get him to tell him who the other shooter was. A.R. is one cagey cat. I feel like he's got his eyes on the prize while Nucky is being pulled in ten different directions. Nuck better watch out.

Vinnie Delpino shows up as part of D'Allesio brothers from Philly who are looking for their money from Doyle.

Jimmy is on his way to Chicago to join up with Capone it looks like. I like how the show is not just focusing on Atlantic City but crime syndicates all over the country. It's cutthroat out there. Chalk's man get strung up but he knows "it's all in the game." Instead of raising a fuss, he gets his percentage raised instead. Always business, never personal.