My fascination with the Boardwalk Empire, based on the prohibition era of Atlantic City and on the Bootlegging king Nucky Johnson, called Thompson in the series, the rise of Al Capone in Chicago and, the rivalry between New York based Crime organisations is questionable in terms of personal priorities and the state of the world around with me given the horror in the Philippines, the Tornadoes striking the USA and other more pressing concerns in the UK. However this manages to hold its own against the standard bearer, The Sopranos and the Italian Romanzo Criminale as it enters its fourth season.. As with many similar products there are characters and stories particular to one season while a few manage to survive and continue have significant parts from season to season. Although eh creators have provided us with some end of season shocks, similar to the Downton Abbey Christmas specials and occasional fires, murders, and planes dropping from the sky in Eastenders, Coronation Street and Emerdale.
Because of the need for some continued I am quoting from Wikipedia or using their summary as a reminder to me, edited according to my view of what is of continuing interest and what is not, I also try and note those characters who carry forward to the present seasons as I go along.
The Boardwalk Empire premiered on September 19, 2010 and concluded on December 5, 2010, consisting of 12 episodes. The series was created by Terence Winter and based on the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson. Set in Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition era, the series stars Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson (based on the historical Enoch L. Johnson) political figure who rose to prominence and controlled Atlantic City, New Jersey, during the Prohibition period of the 1920s and 1930s. It is factual that Johnson was involved with several historical figures in both his personal and political life, including mobsters, politicians, government agents, and the common folk who look up to him. The federal government also takes an interest in the bootlegging and other illegal activities in the area, sending agents to investigate possible mob connections but also looking at Nucky's lifestyle—expensive and lavish for a county political figure.
The first season takes place between January and November 1920, beginning with the start of national prohibition and ending with the 1920 presidential election., with a final cost of $18 million was directed by Martin Scorsese and was the most expensive pilot episode produced in television history. The series was given widespread praise, particularly for its visual style and historical accuracy The American Film Institute named Boardwalk Empire one of the ten "best television programs of the year".
On the eve of Prohibition, Atlantic City Treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, arranges a deal with many of his associates to get into the bootlegging business, in order to pay finances for the city. He has employed as a driver returning from World War Jimmy Darmody who is married with a son, and is frustrated that Nucky refuses to give him the respect he believes he deserves. There is back story about the two which Jimmy does not know.
Nucky is approached by a pregnant woman, Margaret Schroeder, asking for him to find a job for her alcoholic and abusive husband. She belongs to the Temperance League who are strongly opposed to secret activities of Nucky and his brother Eli who control the city police. Eli is married and has a an increasing large family.. Margaret is to have a major role in the series until the end of series three although she does reappear for some episodes in the present fourth series but not the first four episodes which have so far been shown in the UK and elsewhere outside of the USA and Canada,
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Nucky goes to discuss operations with gangsters Arnold Rothstein (his Jewishness is significant on terms of the divisions between criminal organisation based in mew York and New Jersey. Nucky also develops business associations with and Charles “Lucky” Luciano of New York, and Jim Colosimo and Johnny Torrio of Chicago. Afterwards, Jimmy befriends Torrio’s driver, Al Capone, and both plan to steal whiskey shipments from one of Rothstein and Nucky’s deals in order to make their way into the bootlegging business. The heist goes wrong, however, resulting in the death of many of Rothstein’s men, and the raiding of the Nucky’s Irish Associate Mickey Doyle’s hideout from the feds, led by Agent Nelson Van Alden. Capone delivers his part of the shipment to Torrio, who orders one of his men to assassinate Colosimo. Nucky fires Doyle and replaces him with a black man, Albert “Chalky” White. All these are key characters although the involvement of Jimmy and Mickey has ended by series four.
Nucky learns that Jimmy was behind the heist, and is advised by Commodore Kaestner to find a fall man. Commodore Kaestner is the old power in the City and a man who takes great interest in Jimmy and Nicky was once his protégée. He lives with a black servant woman.
After learning Margaret husband has ended her pregnancy through beatings Nucky orders his brother, Eli the sheriff, to kidnap and murder the man, framing him for the massacre of Rothstein‘s men. Van Alden is suspicious about the conviction, however, and investigates Nucky and Margaret, becoming infatuated with the latter, despite the fact that he is a married Christian and is very religious..
Eli and Nucky manage to persuade Margaret that Hans was behind the massacre, and Nucky offers to help with her finances, and she becomes infatuated with him. She faces off with Nucky’s jealous girlfriend, Lucy. Margaret becomes frustrated with Nucky’s lack of attention, and she informs Van Alden of a bootlegging operation, which results in the arrest of one of Nucky’s men. Nucky then allows her to become his mistress, and Lucy is forced to live on her own.
A survivor of the massacre, Simon, is found in the woods, and is kidnapped by Van Alden, who intends to get a statement from him. Before he dies from his injuries, Simon manages to convey to Van Alden that Jimmy was one of the gunmen. With the Feds, Rothstein, and Luciano now on Jimmy’s tail, Nucky orders him to leave Atlantic City. Jimmy leaves for Chicago, partially motivated due to his distant relationship from his family, especially his wife, Angela. Angela developed a friendship with the wife of the local photosphere and the two women planned to run away together to France, however the woman goes off with her husband instead leaving Angela humiliated and even more vulnerable.
In Chicago, Jimmy and Capone continue to expand Torrio’s bootlegging business and subsequently threaten the business of another supplier in the area, Sheridan. Jimmy also falls for a young prostitute, Pearl, who is brutally attacked by Sheridan in order to send a message to Torrio, after noticing her attraction to Jimmy. Pearl soon commits suicide from the shame, and Jimmy, bent on revenge, takes out Sheridan and his crew with Capone. He soon befriends another war veteran, Richard Harrow, a man missing half his face. Richard is to have a important role tot his day in the series and become a good friend of Angela and the child of the marriage with Jimmy although Jimmy is stranger to the boy.
Doyle struggles with his finances after getting fired, falling in debt to the D’Alessio brothers, who want repayment of their loan to his business. He allows them to attempt to kill Chalky and steal Nucky’s money, though the plan backfires and one of Chalky’s men is lynched and killed. Doyle then tells the brothers about a $3000 collection Nucky gets each week from one of his ward bosses, and their robberies halt Nucky’s operations. The D’Alessio brothers are soon approached by Luciano, bringing them into business with Rothstein, who is dealing with increasingly hostile accusations about fixing the World Series.
Nucky prepares for the upcoming election day, hoping to get Warren Harding nominated for and elected president, so that he can get his money earmarked to pave the roads to Atlantic City. After going to Chicago for the Republican Convention, he briefly leaves Eli in charge, though he is soon shot and wounded by the D’Alessio brothers in a robbery. As a result, he allows Margaret to get further involved in his business, and he also gets Jimmy to come back to Atlantic City, who brings Harrow with him. Once Nucky returns, one of the D’Alessio brothers attempts to assassinate him, but fails. He is forced to fire Eli. This becomes and even me significant act later.
Van Alden is soon approached by Billy Winslow, the decoy Jimmy and Capone used during the liquor hijacking, who tells him that Capone and Jimmy were behind the massacre. Jimmy is subsequently arrested and set to be put up for trial. Agent Sebso, one of Van Alden’s men, who is revealed to be working for Nucky, murders Winslow and wounds himself, making it look as though both were attacked and freeing Jimmy from all charges. Afterwards, Jimmy attempts to repair his marriage with Angela, but she continues to feel frightened and remains distant from him. Meanwhile, Van Alden’s obsession with Margaret leads him to depression, culminating in him sleeping with Lucy Nucky’s former mistress) and getting her pregnant. Eventually, he kills Sebso in a baptism, aware of his involvement in Winslow’s murder. Thus Van Aden has commenced on his slippery slope, also stealing Federal funds in order to keep Lucy happy and for a time his wife still committed to him.
Doyle returns to Nucky’s side, revealing his connection to the D’Alessios, and Nucky’s gang kills two of the brothers, preparing for war. Meanwhile, Nucky continues to use Margaret for his political gains, who grows increasingly suspicious of his actions. She contemplates leaving him behind, but decides to stay his mistress in order to support her children. Rothstein is eventually forced to compromise with Nucky, due to the Black Sox Scandal, and he allows Nucky to kill the remaining D’Alessio brothers. Nucky uses the assassination to earn political favour with the public, and on Election Day, Republican Bader wins the mayoral election, and Harding wins the presidential election. Bader reinstates Eli as sheriff.
It is now Jimmy learns that the Commodore is his father, having had sexual relations with Gillian when she was just 13 years old. The Commodore, who Jimmy discovers and reveals is dying from arsenic poisoning, tells him that Nucky previously worked for him as a pimp early in his career, and set up the meeting between him and Gillian. After the maid is revealed to be poisoning the Commodore, he reveals that he and Nucky were caught election rigging in the past, and in an arrangement with Woodrow Wilson, only the Commodore took the fall. When he was released from prison, he found Nucky in control of the city. He enlists both Eli and Jimmy to help him take back Atlantic City from Nucky.
The second season takes place between February and August 1921. Jimmy, Eli, and the Commodore move along with their plot to remove Nucky from power. Nucky has suspected a plot, especially after a Ku Klux Klan attack on Chalky White's warehouse and Jimmy's increasingly distant attitude. The Commodore's faction decides to frame Nucky for election fraud, vengeance for the Commodore's own imprisonment for similar charges.
A heavily pregnant Lucy is forced into living with Van Alden until the baby arrives. She eventually gives birth to a girl, before leaving the child with Van Alden. After discovering his secret, Van Alden's wife, Rose, asks for a divorce. In desperate need of money, and due to having a vendetta against Thompson, Van Alden agrees to supply evidence that could further prove Nucky's guilt.
Jimmy attempts to make allies with powerful criminals, such as Arnold Rothstein and Manny Horvitz. Although Rothstein does not make a business deal with Jimmy, Manny takes a liking to him until the relationship turns sour.
Margaret meets Owen Sleater, who has come from Ireland to assist Nucky. She is attracted to him, but does not act upon these feelings immediately. She eventually sleeps with him after visiting her family in New York. When her daughter, Emily, contracts polio, Margaret is plagued with guilt over her past sins, which include living with the man who ordered her husband's death.
Jimmy reluctantly orders a hit on Nucky upon the insistence of Eli. This event, along with his upcoming trial, forces Nucky to resign. Jimmy has a short-lived and unsuccessful reign as boss of Atlantic City, while Nucky uses the time to get out of his predicament. Manny Horvitz, meanwhile, murders Angela, Jimmy's wife in revenge. Rothstein sets Nucky up with his lawyer, while Van Alden flees to Cicero, Illinois after the death of his former partner is brought up, and Jimmy, high on heroin, murders the Commodore.
After having lost his wife, Jimmy tries to fix all that he ruined, and Nucky marries Margaret so she cannot testify against him. After the charges are dropped, Nucky is able to forgive Eli but not Jimmy for the plot against his life. He then murders Jimmy, insisting that he is not seeking forgiveness. When Margaret learns that Nucky most likely did kill Jimmy, she responds by giving a land grant that Nucky was going to use for roads to Atlantic City to the Catholic Church. During this time the war veteran befriend by Jimmy, a sharp shooter, becomes his hit man murdering people on command in a detached way or so it seems. The death of war veteran Jimmy .more a victim in the series is hard to take along with the young women who have been used, abused and killed.
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