No.11 Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Part 2 Eps. 7-12 (2011) 40 of 100

 

The second half of this season is better than the first and it clears the board (walk) for new characters and events in the next batch of episodes.

Shannon’s Van Arlen is sinking deeper into the mire as his wife files for divorce, somewhat understandably, and Nucky starts to get his claws into the hapless prohibition agent. The noose is tightening on Nucky as his rivals move in, so Van Arlen is soon blackmailed into spying on his new boss. A lady federal prosecutor has set up shop in Van Arlen’s office and she’s keen to take Nucky down. Van Arlen’s dossier on her target is a great help but unbeknownst to her our man is on the take.

He is still walking the thin line between good and bad and he turns down a lucrative sting offer from Mickey, but it’s not clear if he’s still on the right side of the law or that he has a good eye for an unreliable partner. On the home front he is living a meagre existence with his baby daughter Abigail and his sing-song voiced Scandinavian nanny. She respects his rules and work ethic and, as the season ends, we suspect they are doing more than just the nappy changes together.

The overriding arc of the season half sees the main players jostling for position in the booze market with assassinations, failed and successful, going on all over the shop. Jewish butcher Manny shows he’s not a man to be reckoned with, with his deft touch with a meat clever and the Ku Klux Klan find out who their friends are when Chalky White calls in a debt.

The main clash between Jimmy and Nucky comes to an end in what I felt was a bit of an unsatisfying conclusion. Richard Harrow tries to finds some peace in the woods and heroin starts to appear in New York. Nucky also takes a trip to the old country, with the programme doing Ireland a lot better than ‘The Sons of Anarchy’ managed. The Irish were just as devious and backstabbing as the New Jersey gangs, so the motivations change but the mentalities don’t.

Nucky and Margaret’s daughter catches polio and Margaret catches religion through her guilt. Margaret is a right pain in the arse throughout and it’s hard to see what Nucky sees in her, especially as she starts boffing Daredevil, Charlie Cox too. At the end Nucky escapes his legal wrangles and is toasting his new road building fortune – alas Margaret has the religion bug deep and Nucky may soon regret where he’s hidden his assets.

As the season ends Van Alden’s past indiscretions, well his murder, comes back to haunt him and he has to shoot his way out his office. We catch up with him as the religious ‘George Mueller’, with his young family, and he looks ready to settle down, but I doubt that will last for long.

I enjoyed this second half of the season more than the first and it felt like it was moving forward at a pace rather than treading water. The politics angle had worn out its welcome, with there being fewer scenes of sex and violence, with more in the courtrooms and lawyer’s offices. I’m glad that imbalance started to be addressed by season’s end.

The show has a good momentum at this point with there being a sizeable investment in a number of characters. The women are poorly served with Margaret and Jimmy’s mum both being somewhat annoying. There are however enough colourful characters like Manny, Harrow, Mickey and Van Arlen to keep every episode filled with several treats.

When is Shannon-On? - 05.35 (Episode 7)

Outcome? Setting up home under a new identity with his nanny and daughter.

Programme 4/5

Shannon Stars 4/5