Who's The Boss?

Boardwalk Empire served up one of its best installments this week wouldn't you agree Angeler? How bout you Mona?

While there was a little inconsistency at times with the show's main man Nucky, "Blue Bell Boy" delivered in so many other ways that in the end it didn't really matter.

Right off the bat, for the first time, we were introduced to a character who has had a "head" in the game for awhile now and has proved to be stiff competition for Nucky. Who am I talking about?

Even in the days of Prohibition, couples had nicknames for their partners bits and pieces I guess. Katie seemed to be a fan as she pleaded with her Irishman to let her kiss the Blarney Stone one more time before he went off to work.

Last week Nucky spoke of how he wanted his business to run itself, how he wanted to be free from all the little mundane decision making and the stress it causes him. This week, however, he was back micromanaging more than ever consorting with the help like he was one of the guys.

Owen's concern about involving the feds, crooked or not, was a valid point to make. Owen, you could see, has taken on more responsibility; he now has guys coming to speak to him in whispers. This was not lost on Nucky and why I'm sure he felt it so important to send Owen a message by shooting young Roland Smith.

I was surprised when that scene eventually went down the way it did. Maybe Roland should have called Nucky a little sooner.

I sort of thought Roland was going to be the new Jimmy and maybe even give Nucky a second chance to set things right in a way, but no sir. Proving he was one hundred percent in the game has taken its toll on him and he wasn't about to lose that street cred by letting some thief off the hook, no matter how charming or resourceful he proved to be.

It is easy to get lulled into thinking these men are really good at heart. Like when Roland recounted how Nucky had given his mother a Christmas turkey like an early day Nino Brown.

In a way, they can't afford to be, because that is when someone will come and take everything away. That is why we saw the normally collected Rothstein get as agitated as we've seen him when he called looking for his shipment and had to talk with the likes of Mickey.

Lucky saw this first hand when he tried to appeal to Masseria, who had known him as a boy. It is all well and good for these young men to strike out on their own, but they need not forget from whose table they were fed on their rise to manhood. I very much enjoyed the exchange between Luciano and Lansky after they asked a disgruntled Benny to leave the room. The juxtaposition of personalities, where we saw Lucky telling Meyer to not be so hot headed for once, was great. I also got the feeling that as Lucky left for that meeting, Meyer wondered if that might be the last time he ever sees his friend and partner.

Al Capone has been able to control his temper for the most part under Torrio's watch. Having heard about Sonny being bullied at school, when he saw what happened to Jake, Al couldn't keep that temper inside any longer.

 

What an array of scenes we got this week from him. Some fans no doubt had to avert their eyes as he took out his anger over Sonny and Jake on Joe Miller, while others like myself were reaching for tissues during the two tender scenes he shared with his hearing impaired son. I loved the way he tossed the cash on the bar and told the onlookers to pay for the dead bums funeral.

How funny was the initial scene with Al and Jake though when he told the bagman he smelled like a sardine's twat? Anyone else think "shmutz" meant something else when Capone asked Jake what the sticky stuff on the money was? Especially given the game of corn nut-corn hole going on in the background.

Gyp kept delivering the funny again this week and had a number of memorable quotes involving the diner's waitresses.

I don't think he'll have any trouble showing that ginger how to make sauce based on her reaction do you?

His buddy that noted that they should do the shipment of booze at night was lucky to get out alive seeing how we know Gyp to have beaten men for far less of a shot to his fragile ego. 

Speaking of being unnecessarily offended, Margaret's conversation with the nun was very amusing and finally put a somewhat interesting spin on her storyline this season finally.

It is hard to believe that an episode that did not feature Chalky or Richard could be so memorable, but tonight's certainly qualified. Richard seems to be plenty busy on his own expecting the birth of his first child with his girlfriend.