Return to Normalcy, Indeed: Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire Season One Finale: Return to Normalcy

There were a lot of subtle ironies and pregnant pauses in the finale, Return to Normalcy, of season one of Boardwalk Empire, and even a pregnant woman — Lucy! And, more’s the pity, the child is the fruit of the loins of the biggest demon on the show, Agent Nelson Van Alden!

The episode opened up with Van Alden delivering a speech in which he quotes St. Augustine and likens Atlantic City to the ancient city of Carthage by the Sea. You’re wondering what the hell is going on – did he get fired, how did he explain Sebso’s death? Well, Van Alden, for all his self-righteousness, is not in the least adverse to covering his rump by claiming Sebso died from a heart attack. He is warning the agents of the temptations of being bribed, coerced and tempted on a daily basis. When one of the prospects makes the crack “bring on the dancing girls,” Van Alden immediately slaps him in the face with great vigor, saying he won’t have Agent Eric Sebso’s memory “sullied with infantile humor.” And he told Sebso not to be glib!

Supervisor Elliot is not behind Van Alden’s plan to depart either. He’s had a change of heart about sending Van Alden to the Everglades and wants him to reconsider staying on. Later, when Van Alden tells his wife he wants to buy into his Uncle Byron’s feed farm in Schenectady, and get out of Carthage by the Sea, as it were,  we find out why: after Sebso’s death, Van Alden found the still out by mile marker 14 on the Black Horse after baptizing Sebso to death, and got all the credit. But Mrs. Van Alden wants him to stay on, because she likes being a Fed’s wifey. “You are doing God’s work, Nelson,” she says. If God wants him to stay in Atlantic City, he replies, “let Him give me a sign.”

Later when Lucy shows up at the post office, looking just like a mannequin, Van Alden, it seems, is expecting her to be Margaret and fusses around so he can look nice and important. He screws that up too, because Lucy thinks he’s just a postal worker. She delivers the news that she is pregnant in as deadpan a way as any mannequin. Lucy has not been the most sympathetic character, but we shudder to think what will befall her now that we have seen what Agent Van Alden is capable of, although it may be preferable to giving birth to the anti-Christ. We also recall Van Alden’s wife’s fertility problems and assume Van Alden will see the child as a definite sign from God, while at the same time figuring out what to do with Lucy.

More Personal Relationships

Margaret is hanging out at Nan Britton’s, reciting a highly adulterated version of Robert Burns’ “Halloween” she learned from her Nana, while making a Barm Brack, an Irish Halloween fortune-telling fruit bread (although Margaret is calling it a cake).

“Upon that night when faeries light …
beneath the moon’s pale beams …
there up the cove, they stray and rove, and haunt the highway …
Boo!”

Nan Britton thinks the poem is Robert Frost. “Warren loves poetry,” she sighs. Yeah we know — the way your thighs hold him in paradise.

The concoction Margaret is baking up contains a ring, a sixpence and a rag. If you get the ring you’ll be married, if you get the coin, you’ll be rich and if you get the rag you’ll be destitute, she says. Margaret thinks Nan Britton is delusional that Warren Harding will send for her and their illegitimate child — but old Nan gets the ring and Margaret gets the rag, and then tells little Emily it doesn’t mean anything — it’s just a silly superstition.

Later as part of All Soul’s Day, Nan, Margaret and the kids trip through the graveyard. Margaret is stunned to come across the grave of Nucky’s wife and son, but even more appalled to learn that Nan already knew about Nucky’s dead child, when Nan says that Nucky and Margaret “have that in common.” Margaret later visits Nucky who matter-of-factly tells her the horrifying story of his wife nursing their child for a week after its death while he was “too busy” to even know what was going on and how his wife, suffering from melancholia, committed suicide a few weeks later.

We could have sworn Nucky told Margaret he lost his wife to consumption in one of the early episodes, but just for the record, the real Mabel died from tuberculosis in 1912; and the real Nucky Johnson did remarry years later — a Ziegfeld Follies showgirl named Flossie. Be that as it may, Margaret cries and struggles to understand ‘the real’ Nucky Thompson: “There’s kindness in you, but how can you do what you do?” Nucky’s reply: “We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with,” is great advice, since Margaret does just that and goes back to him later on. But we love how they act their parts out. They both say more to each other with their eyes than their words — particularly Steve Buscemi as Nucky.  He’s awesome!

Poisoning the Old Goat

Luanne Pratt is interrogated in the arsenic poisoning of the Commodore and his dog. The recovering Commodore has this to say to Luanne “You goddam ignorant bitch, after all I did for you.” Solicitous Gillian tells him to calm down. “The hell I will,” he says and wants her arrested. Luanne says she did it because: “If I used a shotgun, I’d have had to clean the mess up myself. I had all I could take of his abuse.” LOL, brave and loyal, too. We still think Luanne is covering for someone. Nucky takes the maid aside and peels off a wad of bills, telling her she should take the money, go far away, change her name and don’t come back. She says “Bless you, sir, and you be careful, ” and hands him a book with a page marked in it, which Nucky looks at quizzically. As pat as it all may seem, no, we can’t see Nucky behind the arsenic poisoning. Surely, he’d choose a quicker and more surefire method?

Happy Campers

As Bader, Chalky and other members of the team meet in Nucky’s office, the idea that Fletcher might actually beat Bader has Nucky on edge, but the rest of the fellas are prepared for either event. If Fletcher wins, they’ll blame it on Nucky; if Bader wins, they’ll have a big party and continue to yuck it up. Boss Fleming says there are even going to be spooks voting Republican. Chalky takes that the wrong way until he explains he means dead people are being used as voters. LOL. There was just something ironic about a black guy named “Chalky White” getting upset about that.  Chalky will be happy camper when Nucky shows him some appreciation in the form of money, a new car and an invite to the election party, a tall order, Nucky says.  But Chalky reminds him that delivering 100% of the colored vote was no small feat, and Chalky does get what he wants — even the invite.

After navigating a rainy Halloween in New York City with clowns and scarecrows skipping by, Arnold Rothstein meets up with Nucky with Johnny Torrio acting as intermediary in the interest of “putting an end to their hostilities.”  Rothstein wants to get out of the world series mess. Nucky puts a million dollar price tag on the favor plus delivering up the D’Alessio brothers, to which Rothstein readily agrees. After all, he’s got a million dollars worth of insurance on those guys, remember? It’s all good.

Unhappy Campers

Jimmy, who yells out in German in his sleep with his eyes open and scares the crap out of Angela and Tommy, wants to make another go of it with Angela even though he has been giving her the cold shoulder and insinuates she’s lucky she didn’t get an butt-whupping.  He tells her how he used to think of her hair when he was in France. Angela says she will try, but when she gets an Eiffel Tower postcard from her errant lover — “Forgive me, but don’t forget me. Je t’aime, ma cherie. Mary” — she bobs her hair.   When Jimmy sees that, he touches her hair and it’s back to the cold shoulder.

Sourpuss, Eli Thompson just doesn’t like his brother and continues to simmer with resentment and bitterness over his ousting as  sheriff even though Nucky cuts him in on the Rothstein money and later, after Halloran has served his purpose, has Bader reappoint Eli Sheriff.  Nucky tells him that blood is thicker than water, and Eli has to trust him.  But as we see in the final montage, that isn’t happening.

Jimmy tells Nucky he will use anyone — man, woman, 13 year old girl.  Nucky pretty much tells Jimmy to stop feeling sorry for himself and Jimmy tells Nucky to do him a favor:  “Stop acting like you give a sh*t.”

Those Two Montages

While Nucky holds a press conference, Richard Harrow, Jimmy and Al Capone dispatch the D’Alessio brothers to their final rewards.  Harrow calls upon Ignacious, who says “What the bleep are you doing? Halloween’s over,” right before Harrow takes him out, while a shaking Pius futilely fumbles to load a gun to no avail. Killing machine Harrow shoots him without a word. The dentist brother, the mom and sisters were spared seeing this frightening apparition in their last moments on earth.

Al Capone takes out Sixtus and eats the apple from his groceries so we know killing has no effect upon his appetite,  while Jimmy dispatches the heavily lathered throat of Leo in the barber shop.

At the election party at Babette’s, Anabelle has a new man and shows up with Baxter, the guy who was in the car with the reluctant would-be beauty queen when the shooting survivor staggered out of the woods; Margaret shows up to find out if Uncle Nucky really misses her and the kids; and the news comes over the wire from Pittsburgh that Warren G. Harding is elected President, amidst great revelry.

While Eddie Cantor sings “Life’s a Funny Proposition,” the final montage shows Van Alden looking for divine guidance in his bible; the Commodore, Jimmy and Eli are having their treasonous confab while Gillian smokes a cigarette in the other room; Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano are conducting business as usual – killing the delivery driver after getting a shipment of bootleg liquor; Nan tries on the ring she found in her cake; Angela sits at home alone while Jimmy, after leaving the Commodore and Eli, doesn’t go home but walks along the beach. As dawn breaks. Nucky and Margaret amble across the boardwalk to the fence to watch the sun rise arm-in-arm.

We missed a lot of details, we know, but this is getting long as hell, and, besides, we hope our next post will make it up to you:

Click here to see Boardwalk Empire, Season 1 Fatalities.