Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire

Episode Report Card
Joe R: B | 257 USERS: B
YOU GRADE IT
Trapped in the Basement

Chicago. Capone's at the same bar where Jake got beat up, darting his eyes around the room, coiled like a spring. Joe Miller arrives and bellied up to the bar, but before he can even order, Capone is all over his ass. I'm not going to pretend that one vicious beating on an HBO drama is any different from another, but I am glad that this one wasn't prefaced by five minutes of jawing about this or that. Capone just starts pounding on this guy. Miller pulls a gun, but Capone easily knocks it away. He just keeps punching, out of control, and when Miller falls to the ground, he stars stomping. This isn't the kind of bar that sees this kind of action, apparently, because the patrons are all squealing and aghast. Finally, to the loudest squeals of them all, Capone picks up a barstool and crushes Miller's head with it, ending him. He looks around the room of horrified bar patrons, collects his hat, and dumps a wad of money on the bar, to pay for the guy's funeral. "Want to pick on people who can't defend themselves?" he asks to the corpse of the man he just killed, summarily killing any goodwill I might have had for this scene by dragging it down with heavy-handed causality. OH I GET IT! His son is getting bullied so Al killed a bully! I told you nothing good came out of these subplots.

In Philly, Nucky, Sleater, and Rowland hold their collective breath as Waxey's guys finally pack up and leave. Rowland and Sleater have a small laugh at their relief. Nucky seems much friendlier in the morning -- he's not doing cartwheels or anything, but he jokes with Rowland about shitting his britches waiting for the feds to leave and even agrees to Rowland's offer of bacon and eggs. They head upstairs. "Maybe they left a bottle," Nucky says.

Eli drives to Tabor Heights, speeding to get ahead of the convoy. Once there, he spots Rosetti and his men loitering around the gas pumps with guns clearly brandished. He looks the other way and sees the cops marching towards the gas station. What a sad town Tabor Heights must be, where the gas station is your most happening place in town. He watches the cops approach the mobsters ... and the deputy-turned-sheriff and Rosetti shake hands. The men start intermingling and soon it's impossible to tell gangster from cop. They all start to take their positions. Eli assumes he's fucked.

Boardwalk Empire

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