“It’s called a skull crusher. It’s for cracking walnuts.” – Jimmy
“Family Limitation” was all about sex and that made the final scene that much more resonant. After an hour of nude women and men prancing around, Agent Van Alden (Michael Shannon) said that’s enough… for all of us. We don’t really know the whole story behind his self-flagellation practice (could he be in Opus Dei? Is there a DaVinci Code involved?), but there was a pretty clear expression sexual repression. And until we saw the scars of past self-harm on his back, I assumed that Van Alden’s evening would be filled with the very opposite of repression. Instead we were treated (not that this disturbing scene was really all that much of a treat in its own right) to a fitting cap to another great episode.
When one of his money collectors is robbed by a group of Italian men, Nucky (Steve Buscemi) brings in Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza) to see if a.) he’s behind it or b.) give him some information about who might be. Luciano is still in town in order to deal with Jimmy, but becomes to wrapped up in his affair with Jimmy’s mother, Gillian (Gretchen Mol). Gillian gets Luciano’s “Little Lucky” back in business for the first time in years, though it’s pretty funny when he is told by Rothstein (who is well aware of everything going on in Atlantic City, it seems) that he isn’t having sex with Jimmy’s wife, but his mother. Luciano claims he has no idea who is robbing Nucky’s man, but he still gets pushed around by Nucky and Eli (Shea Whigham) anyway.
Margaret (Kelly Macdonald) isn’t treated much better by Nucky, though her abuse comes in a more passive way. While he sets her up in a brand new three-bedroom home, he also bails on their date to see Harry Houdini’s brother perform (and he’s just as good, dammit) to hang around with some hookers and the mayor of Jersey City. When another “concubine” shows up to dump her daughter on Margaret’s babysitter, Margaret realizes that maybe she doesn’t hold as much clout over Nucky’s decisions as she thought. For all of her condescending responses to Lucy’s (Paz de la Huerta) own verbal assault, is Margaret really all that much different from Nucky’s “tiger cub?”
The most interesting storyline, once again, came out of Chicago. Johnny Torrio (Greg Antonacci) decides to pull out of his business progression into Greektown in order to avoid the headache of dealing with Sheridan. Jimmy (Michael Pitt) convinces him to at least set up a meeting with Sheridan so it doesn’t look like he’s simply retreating. Torrio, Jimmy, and Capone (Stephen Graham) have a sit-down with Sheridan at a building he owns. They are frisked and give their coats to a cute, blonde coat-check girl. The meeting goes well until a knife is found in Jimmy’s boot that he claims he forgot was there. Sheridan takes the knife and eventually agrees to give up a few blocks in Greektown to keep relations with Torrio clean.
As they leave the meeting a new, redheaded coat-check girl returns Jimmy and Capone’s coats, the same redheaded hooker we met earlier in the episode at Torrio’s brothel. Hidden inside their coats are the guns that Jimmy and Capone use to murder Sheridan and his men. Just before he blows Sheridan’s brains out (“What’s the difference between flat beer and Sheridan? No head.”), Jimmy take his knife back.
The fallout from the massacre might not come from Sheridan’s associates, though. It might come from Capone himself. The coat-check swap was Jimmy’s idea and Torrio is impressed enough to sing Jimmy’s praises at a big party. Capone becomes jealous and begins to mock Jimmy and Jimmy returns the favor by calling out Capone’s less-than-legitimate military record. When Capone shows up to Jimmy’s door later, Jimmy probably rightfully makes sure he isn’t hiding a gun. Instead it’s a steak. Capone wants to make amends. For now at least.
A few more thoughts about “Family Limitation”:
* Capone’s not exactly a model father, but he seems to legitimately care about his son’s well-being, even if he doesn’t show it at the dinner table.
* With all of the nudity in tonight’s episode, it would seem that there was a body double for Kelly Macdonald, which I find interesting in an only partially perverted way.
* Van Alden’s superior officer needs more proof of Nucky’s illegalities before Van Alden can get more resources.
* Someone has to fill me in with the Lysol scene because I didn’t get it.
* “Don’t get so carried away.” – Nucky
* “What kind of way is that to answer a telephone?” – Rothstein
* “You look like the kitchen help.” – Lucy
* “Mr. Thompson is a very nice man.” – Kessler
* “It’s too late to be good tonight, darling.” – Hooker
Some stats and info about Boardwalk Empire, “Family Limitation”
TV SHOW – Boardwalk Empire
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1 Episode 6
AIRED ON – October 24th, 2010
NETWORK/STREAMING SERVICE – HBO/Max
GENRE – Drama, Crime Dramas, Period Show
CREATED BY – Terence Winter
CAST – Steve Buscemi,Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham,Stephen Graham, Vince Piazza, Michael Kenneth Williams, Paul Sparks, Grechen Mol, Michael Stuhlbarg, Anthony Laciura, Jack Huston, Anatol Yusef
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.