“The moral of this story is that if I’d cause a stranger to choke to death for my own amusement, what do you think I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me who ordered you to kill Colosimo.” – Arnold Rothstein
Last night I watched the Coen brothers’ most recent film, A Serious Man, for the first time and was greatly impressed by how Michael Stuhlbarg portrayed the protagonist, Larry Gopnik. The role is all about pitiful exasperation and Stuhlbarg plays it with a natural ease.
It is a testament to his ability that he can play the menacing and downright terrifying Arnold Rothstein with the same ease.
Rothstein has become my breakout character on the show and his monologue to Frankie Yale about tricking a man into choking to death on a cue ball is a big reason for that. Each fact of the story is told so matter-of-factly because Rothstein knows that these details are only important in the context of that final line listed above. That’s the snap of the mousetrap. Everything else is just the smell of the cheese.
And then there’s Rothstein’s smile. We saw it in the premiere and we saw it again tonight. They say a model has to smile with her eyes. In much the same way, Rothstein’s eyes show what’s really on his mind when Yale makes a senseless quip about not swallowing billiard balls. Contempt, pure and simple.
Rothstein looks to be a major antagonist to Nucky going forward, but for now Nucky seems to be living as Agent Van Alden describes, “like a pharaoh.” I loved the scene where Van Alden describes Nucky’s day-to-day lifestyle (with accompanying montage) to his superior. It provided valuable insight into just how Nucky is able to maintain his operation despite forcing every business in town to provide him with kickbacks. The people love him, especially the black residents, and he’s yet to encounter any problems in being re-elected (though there are hints that the upcoming election might be a more difficult battle.)
Nucky has a heart, sure (he continues to try and provide for Margaret Schroeder), but he also isn’t afraid to hurt people just to show he can. Take his exchange with Jimmy (Michael Pitt) near the end of the episode. He had demanded Jimmy pay him an extra $3,000 for his take in the botched liquor heist and Jimmy (having already spent most of the money) had to resort to stealing a necklace that he had just given his mother in order to cover it. But Nucky didn’t <em>need</em> the money and to show how frivolous it all was to him, he simply blew it on one spin of the roulette wheel as Jimmy was forced to watch.
The most interestingly out-of-place scenes tonight dealt with a cutlery salesman named Baxter and the young girl he picked up from Baltimore to show around A.C. Baxter wanted some lovin’ but the girl was having none of it, despite how lavishly Baxter treated her. It was all pretty funny, but I wasn’t sure how it related to anything else going on (with the exception of Nucky throwing in a few lines to the girl to help Baxter get laid). But the final scene was the kicker and set up the trouble that will befall everyone next episode.
On the way back to Baltimore, the girl finally relents and gives Baxter the old rope wringer in the woods outside of Hammonton (The Blueberry Capital of the World). Earlier in the episode, Jimmy mistakenly (or at least we assumed it was a mistake) tells Nucky that he and Capone had killed five men in the massacre, and Nucky corrects him and explains it was only four. All is dismissed until Baxter and his lady friend are surprised mid-hand job by a survivor of the shooting; a man who might have a few things to say about whether or not Schroeder really committed the deed.
Between Rothstein, a deep digging Van Alden, and now this new development, Nucky is going to have his hands full.
Other thoughts on “The Ivory Tower”:
* Gretchen Mol (Age: 37) plays Michael Pitt’s (Age: 29) mother. Creepy.
* The Al Capone-Jimmy Darmody alliance doesn’t seem too strong at the moment.
* A KKK member openly recruits on the boardwalk, one of many reminders of how (thankfully) times have changed.
* Speaking of prejudice, Dabney Coleman’s role is as unsympathetic as you can get from an otherwise sympathetic actor.
* No sign of Michael Kenneth Williams this week, but we learn his Chalky White will be taking over Mickey Doyle’s operation.
* Nucky used to be the sheriff. Interesting.
* I enjoyed the “cameo” by Molly Parker as Nucky’s dead wife (in photograph form only, of course).
* I’ve never read any Henry James. Any insight on The Ivory Tower, loyal readers?
* “Shoe shine? Coffee? Something stronger maybe?” – Nucky
Some stats and info about Boardwalk Empire, “The Ivory Tower”
TV SHOW – Boardwalk Empire
SEASON/EPISODE – Season 1 Episode 2
AIRED ON – September 26th, 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.