Happy Halloween

Will watch this week's episode tonight and have recap out tomorrow or Wednesday at the latest.

Here's To Flying Horses

What can I say about this week's boardwalk? A lot I guess so here it goes.
Richard Harrow might not be to smooth with the ladies, but his performance this season so far has everyone talking sweep comes award season.
We almost lost him though if not for Rin Tin Tin intervening and leading him back to Pete and Glemore. At first I half expected to hear banjo music playing as I conjured images of Deliverance. Thankfully the two hunters were of the non ass raping kind and offered our broken soldier a warm fire and some squirrel.

I very much liked the subtle way Glenmore reminded Richard "these woods is for living, understand me there?"

With one failed suicide attempt under his belt, it was back to work. Before he could get motivated for another job though he needed to see if he really had something worth living for and Jimmy's friendship for now was just enough for him to go a scalpin. (And I want my scalps!)


Sorry I can't help but think of Inglorious Basterds every time I saw that scene with Jimmy and Richard teaching the Chip-n-Beef captain a lesson.
Speaking of breakfast meats, according to Eli, the Commodore loves his bacon. Ol George wasn't buying it and when he threatened to "tell the world" he had to be dealt with. Luckily for Eli he had already sent young Brian on an errand.
How many swings with that wrench did it take Eli to finish that fat bastard off by the way? After a closer look i found a flaw in his swing. Any hitting coach worth his metal will tell you, you gotta keep that back elbow up.

Jimmy is in a real bind money wise. The look on his face when the door bell rang as he was sharing a nice kiss with Angela was great. He wheeled around as if to say "who bee knockin on my door when I'm about to knock some boots." Reality quickly kicked in and he was pretty relieved when it turned out to be Richard.

Angela was happy to see him too but was a little put off I think with his answer to why he wasn't at the dedication.
Richard wants that family life but in a way I think he sort of has it with Jimmy and Angela. Despite earlier indications that he might be in love with her, her interaction with him has been very mother like of late. Jimmy also has been a sort of father figure, stopping him to ask what was wrong with him, and later putting his hand on his shoulder to show he meant the line about fighting to the last bullet. Jimmy really does care for Richard, ever since they first met on that bench outside the doctor's office.
Does Margaret really love Nucky? I can't say I'm that sure. He was about to get merked by his baby bro if not for her, and all the guy can say is, next time make sure the gun is loaded? Oh it will be Nucky, just pray it's not pointed at your head. I could totally see Margaret going all Karen Hill on him.

How about the return of Shooter McGavin? Was great to see them put the Attorney General in a golf setting.
Can't say the same for Nucky's hat.

That's it for this week. I did like seeing Katie get it on with Sleater. We were right on the over under for how many episodes it would take to see her Danny Boy's. One last item I'll probably go to Hell for pointing out was the one armed guy clapping. I was like come on bro, slap the side of your leg, something. Looked like my one year old son trying to wave goodbye to me.

Master of the House

Some Things You Just Have To Swallow

Episode 16:


Jimmy is a leopard who wants to change his spots, but he needs to crawl before he walks. We saw a couple instances this week of how he still has a lot to learn. He told Mickey Doyle he would be dangerous if he had a brain, but he's the one who throws a lit cigarette butt on the ground in a warehouse of alcohol. Doyle quickly stamped it out. Doyle is a goof, but he also knows where he can let his little quips fly. Jimmy initially endeared himself to the butcher Manny Horvitz, but cracked one joke too many when he mentioned he only had creamsicles in his ice box after Manny had issued him a warning by telling him about the body parts of people who crossed him in his freezer.

He also does not yet have the intuition to know what is going on in people's minds like Nucky does. He admitted to Angela that Richard is a complete enigma to him.

Ah Richard, will you have enough room on your mantle for all the awards you are going to take home this season. His portrait monologue showed us his biggest obstacle to finding love isn’t the hole in his face, but rather the one in his soul. Unlike Forrest Gump, he was unable to get in touch with the emotions necessary to echo the love his own "Jenny" Emma showed him. While this frigidness has made him a skilled killer it leaves him as empty inside as the empty barrels of his shot gun.


Rose Van Alden can't get Nelson to reciprocate her love and he used the same crumpling of paper trick "Peggy" used on bobby Bowden.

Chalky has nothing but love for his family but the man can only take so much disrespect from that Carlton Banks son of his. While Chalky did resemble the drunk dad from Eddie Murphy's RAW while demanding his Hoppin' John and intimidating his daughter's "educated buck," I think he was really venting his anger over the earlier scene where Travis scoffed at his sister for asking their father to help with her homework.

The poor guy courting the daughter had that same helpless look Elvin used to make when Cliff Huxtable would tear into him. Not sure who Nucky was whittling down that stick for, prob his son, but I hope there's enough left when he's done to go after that loud mouth from the neighborhood meeting too.Given he state of temper, Nucky might want to rethink calling Chalky "boy" going forward.

I was shocked we didn't see Sleater take down Katie, but I'm confident by next week she'll have sampled his "blasting jell."
As if being left looking like Anthony Hopkins in Legends of the Fall after his stroke wan't bad enough, Gillian seized the moment to celebrate "Slapsgiving" a few weeks early.
Some other moments I enjoyed were:



In this last shot, Nucky referred to Margaret's kids as "munchkins" a definite reference to the often mentioned Emerald City. Perhaps this was a sign that Nucky feels like he is getting closer to having his empire back.

Faces of War

Wounded tommies facetiously called it "The Tin Noses Shop." Located within the 3rd London General Hospital, its proper name was the "Masks for Facial Disfigurement Department"; either way, it represented one of the many acts of desperate improvisation borne of the Great War, which had overwhelmed all conventional strategies for dealing with trauma to body, mind and soul. On every front—political, economic, technological, social, spiritual—World War I was changing Europe forever, while claiming the lives of 8 million of her fighting men and wounding 21 million more.

Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/mask.html#ixzz1b9NrqaUN

Say Hello To My Little Friend

Parent Trap

Episode 15:

Well even though the lack or comments on last week's recap had me thinking about throwing myself down the stairs like our girl Lucy, I took Nucky's words to Margaret to heart. "It's important to always have something to look forward to." So once again here we go.
Our aforementioned mom to be is being kept under lock and key like some "bitch" at a puppy mill. I felt pretty bad for her, but the record player from Van Alden gave me hope that he really does care for her in some dark twisted way. I'd love to see him live out that play Lucy was reading and actually marry his boardwalk bimbo. Tell Molly McTwistinthedark to take a hike.
Lucy was right when she added, "Say what you will about Nucky, at least he was fun." He saw that Margaret was upset and tried to cheer her up with a night on the town. Frankly I think getting sauced with the help could have been fun too. You know that Katie would have started shedding her uniform after a few more drinks.


Nucky apparently is invested to the limit with the land deal, but not showing signs of stressing out just yet. He did try to get Attorney General McGavin to help him out when he called in his favor, but the guy just got into office so he's no help.
He is a little insecure about being out of work so to speak. He thought Margaret gave him a look for still being in his pajamas so late in the day.

When Nucky finally decides to grab a shower and hit the town with Margaret he ran into Jimmy and the Commodore and set the stage for one of the most intense scenes to date. Before he ran over to the Commodore's table like Jack Candy in Summer Rental, Jimmy had a couple great lines like when he corrected Mr. McCoy on his Sunt Tzu quote and then his line about war and Atlantic City.

The eventual face off between Jimmy and Nucky was one of the most intense moments thus far. You could feel the rage pounding to get out of Jimmy.
People might not like the fact that the Commodore and Eli screwed over Nucky, but one guy who could care less was good Ole Al who paid his old buddy a visit after delivering the message to Nucky. What an amazing scene this was as well.


So many great lines..."I marry a mick you marry a nagel and we both got sons. Whats that about?"
Richard: How is Odette?
Capone: Who? She's a whore that's how she is.
The last scene though where Capone sadly watched Jimmy and his son talking about tying shoes had me near tears. Tough as he is, if his story about his father the barber was any indication, Capone is a family man and his son's handicap still tears him apart. It was almost too much for me to take.


I thought it was very well done to show Lucky and Meyer all sheepish in the presence of Rothstein and Joe Masseria.
The latter didn't mince words with Lucky when he asked him, "What are you doing with these Christ killers? Come with me I'll make you rich."
I thought Rothstein made his point well, but could have at least taken the 10% out of his half. Lucky and Meyer were like-

The end of this week laid the groundwork for an epic confrontation between our reigning champ Richard Harrow and the newcomer, Irishman Owen Sleater.

Sleater:My talents are being wasted behind the tap.
Nucky: What are your talents Mr Slater?
Sleater: Makin people stop.
Nucky: Stop what?
Sleater: Whatever it is you don't want them to be doin.

So much going down by the shore it's hard to comment on it all. I'll ;eave that top you all hopefully. We will have to see if Nucky makes good on his promise to Jimmy and his pops.

Thanks to "slippinghusband" for some of the gifs used above.

Nobody Wants To Be In School Forever

So I apologize for the delay in getting this recap out. Thanks to Google+ I had every picture on my list of blogs deleted from their posts. Luckily some of the GIF images were spared, but I am in the process of redoing all the posts on my sites from the last few years. After feeling pretty terrible yesterday I am back and ready to take on the world! We will rebuild! That being said I felt like I was wronged like my man Chalky was and am also thinking about getting my own "Jew lawyer down from Camden." Apparently they are the best, or at least Chalky seemed to think so. His wife asked if his lawyer was competent to which he replied, "He's a Hebrew gentleman." Nuff said I guess. I love the life he has made for himself. Beautiful wife and his own David Copperfield son.
Not sure how much longer Chalky and Nucky are going to be able to "go along get along." For the second week in a row Nucky seemed to have no issues with throwing stones from his glass house as he warned Chalky about "precarious" folks just like he did with Jimmy and his "duplicitous" daddy.I liked the subtle detail by the costume designers having both Nucky and Chalky dressed immaculately in jail but wearing striped suits. Sort of a fashionable nod to their incarceration.

Despite his impeccable taste in clothes, we were reminded a number of times of Chalky's origins and just how far he has manged to come despite his poor upbringing. Examples included his inability to read and his manner of speech which included phrases like "he couldn't lead a pig to mud with a bucket of apples."

Few of the main players though seem to have come from any kind of wealth or standing. Look at Capone, Jimmy, and even our NY boys Lucky and Meyer Lansky.

What a pissing match between Jimmy and Luciano with little Meyer trying to break them up. It had started earlier in Rothsteins office when Jimmy dismissed Lucky's attempt to make light of his own father's absence.
Jimmy asked "oh we're friends now?" To which Lucky brought up his past twists with Gillian, "she begged for it!" Yeah that was plenty of reason to drop the gloves.
Jimmy cleaned house at the poker game though and looked like he was going to get his roll stolen before he went on a berserk rage that would have impressed Eric Northman. Even after slicing and dicing the two hoods the kid has his head on a swivel looking for anyone else who might be lurking.
Eli tried to tell Nucky that nobody takes power, somebody has to give it to them. Well Jimmy and the NY boys must have ditched that class because they are all about taking it.

We got our first glimpse of another famous character this week who also went out and seized his power and fortune. Recall when Meyer sent the young guy "Benny" out on an errand but as he was leaving he squawked in Jimmy's face. Meyer apologized to Jimmy saying "he does funny things." Well if you call creating a desert oasis called Las Vegas funny then yeah he is a riot. Benny's full name we will learn is Benjamin Siegelbaum or as he later on was known, Bugsy Siegel.

Meyer was getting shaken down by the two thugs who apparently were associates of a "Mister Masseria."
On April 15, 1931, Masseria was gunned down at Nuova Villa Tammaro restaurant in Coney Island. Legend has it that Masseria dined with "Lucky" Luciano before his death. While they played cards, Luciano excused himself to go to the bathroom as Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, Vito Genovese, Albert Anastasia and Joe Adonis rushed in and shot Masseria to death. Masseria's four bodyguards mysteriously disappeared.
If I was Nucky I don't think I'd be dining out anytime soon. Nucky is in trouble and his jokes aren't going to cut it anymore. Chalky still has his people as we saw in the jail cell.
but
Nucky, however, is looking more like the Commodore did last season, holed up at home in front of the fire with only Margaret to look after him. Huge props for her btw for getting the ledger. How about that Commodore and his Just for Men transformation? He got all kinds of looks but no one wanted to point out the obvious. Sort of like when your buddy's girl gets a new set of bolt ons but you do anything but just stare mutely.

That IRA stooge Sleater was definitely making eyes at her, but I think we'll see him straighten out the maid's carpet and mess up her drapes before long.
His boss McGarrigle (Whose name and looks reminded me of a Hogwarts professor) refused Margaret's lamb saying he does not dig on no "cloven hoof." He was referring to the divided hoof or foot of ruminants such as cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes, and deer. A similar foot ascribed to the Devil, was sometimes used as a symbol or mark of Satan. Loved our Irish Rose's sarcasm as she told Nucky there was plenty of lamb left.

There's plenty of drama left too this season. So many characters to feature I don't see this show slowing down one bit. So far I am loving every ounce of the show.