They’re definitely going out of their way to underline the fact that Nucky’s still mourning his wife: this is two episodes in a row where there’s been a blatant cut to her picture that’s either been preceded or followed by a shot of Nucky looking sad and lonely. Still, he instantaneously transforms into All Business Nucky when Agent Van Alden bursts into his office, easily finding a smirk to accompany his question about whether Van Alden would like “coffee…or something stronger.” Still, the agent’s skepticism about Hans Schroeder’s connection to the shooting is clearly weighing heavy on Nucky’s mind, as evidenced by his extremely limited tolerance for George when he encounters him early in the episode. I mean, seriously, he barely even tried to mask his distaste for the man.

When we first see Margaret, she’s still recovering in the hospital, but her spirits instantly rise at the announcement that Mr. Thompson has come to pay her a visit. What disappointment we see in her eyes, however, when it turns out to be Elias Thompson. Though it seems at first that he’s there to offer his sympathies, it quickly becomes apparent that his agenda is to railroad her into backing up their story that her husband is a murderer, and although she refuses to believe it, you have to give Elias credit for his hurtful yet valid reminder that he was responsible for the death of the child in her womb. Elias no doubt thought he was helping seal the deal by giving her the money, but I’m sure the more literary viewers chuckled to themselves over the foreshadowing offered by Margaret’s choice of reading material: Henry James’ “The Ivory Tower,” which revolves around what a corrupting force money can be.

When she returns home, looking utterly shell-shocked, she’s only been inside for mere seconds before Agent Van Alden knocks on the door, feigning ignorance of her having just arrived. Yeah, right: like he hadn’t either been casing the joint or following her all the way from the hospital to her residence. He tries to play the good cop, telling her that her husband was a fine and decent man. What, has he not even looked into her enough to know why she was in the hospital?

Whatever the case, she’s struggling with her conscience over telling the truth, supporting her family, and sullying her husband’s reputation, but in the end, she decides that she’s willing to work with Nucky, just so long as he can permit her to actually do something to truly earn the money he’s giving her…or, at least, that’s how I saw it, anyway. (As we know, I’m off with my perceptions sometimes.)

It should be no surprise that Nucky’s concerned about Margaret to do whatever he can to help soothe her conscience. We’d already seen him asking about her condition earlier in the episode, immediately before he began complaining to Elias that he didn’t dispose of her husband the way he’d intended. He doesn’t seem overly pissed off about it, but that doesn’t mean his annoyance won’t increase if Van Alden keeps nosing around about the situation. From there, Nucky heads over to the hoosegow, where he informs Mickey that he’s out and that Chalky – who, oddly, never actually appeared during the episode – is in. It’s adding insult to injury for Nucky to leave Mickey behind bars (though it makes sense), and I expect Mickey’s anger over the situation is going to come back to haunt Nucky sooner than later.

Agent Van Alden’s opinion that Nucky Thompson is a far bigger fish than Arnold Rothstein is clearly changing the thrust of the revenuers’ investigation, and it’s affecting ours as well, thanks to the nicely-cut sequences which shone a light on all of the various activities in which Thompson is involved. I also thought it was interesting that they showed how Thompson was ingratiating himself to voters who were being ignored by other candidates, thereby keeping his local reputation high and mighty.

By the way, the sequence where Van Alden writes a letter to his wife…well, the narration was straight out of Ken Burns’ “The Civil War,” but there’s something about his expression and mannerisms as he writes it that shows that he’s a good-hearted man. “Boardwalk Empire” may be a show designed to embrace the anti-hero, a la “The Sopranos,” but we’re clearly meant to respect this guy and the work he’s trying to do for his country.

Jimmy seems thrilled by his new station in life, instantly getting a swelled head and turning into a big spender, buying a toy for his son and jewelry for his wife. The decision to buy a vacuum sweeper backfires somewhat, however, and you can see the disappointment on Jimmy’s face…or if you didn’t spot it then, you surely caught it when he convinces the missus to “do it the French way” in bed, only for her to be interrupted by their bawling child. Fed up with being underappreciated in the homestead, Jimmy slips off to visit the one person he knows will be thrilled to see him: his mother. I’m sure I’m not the only one, though, who was at first under the impression that he was seeking someone else to help him, uh, relieve his stress, if you take my meaning.

Jimmy’s seriously self-absorbed, having little idea or concern about the effect his actions are having on other people, as evidence by his apparent shock over Nucky’s reaction to him when he comes in to work like it’s just another day. Jimmy assures Nucky that Torrio only sanctioned his maneuver after the fact – it’s funny to hear Capone referred to as “the chubby kid” – but despite countless apologies, Nucky’s not having it, offering him this brilliant line instead:

“You want to be a gangster, kid? Go be a gangster. But if you want to be a gangster in my town, then you’ll pay me for the privilege.”

Oh, yeah, Nucky’s pissed: not only does he demand a further $3K from Jimmy, but he doesn’t even bother to look up when Jimmy leaves…not that Jimmy notices. He can tell that Nucky’s serious, and if he’s pissed him off already, he knows he’s a dead man if he doesn’t make good on the $3K. The frantic search for the money was nicely done, particularly that bit with Capone coming as close to laughing in Jimmy’s face as one can manage over a telephone line, but it revealed the depths to which Jimmy will sink that he swiped the money from his mother. (That was who he got it from, wasn’t it?) Also great were the Rothstein-related sequences, including that charming cueball anecdote as well as the phone conversation between Rothstein and Nucky. As a writer, though, the scene that made me cringe the most was when the guy from the Chicago Tribute went to visit Frankie at the bar, telling him that he’s going to be linking Torrio to the Big Jim murder. Seriously, how stupid were journalists in the ’20s?

A few other random moments of note:

* The look on the midget’s face after Nucky went looking for the punchline to the question, “Can you lend me a few bucks?” I’d imagine that joke would get a little old.
* How Nucky had regained his composure when he met up with George later in the episode, going so far as to try and help the poor bastard get laid by making claims of a beauty contest that clearly never would have come to pass.
* The Commodore cruelly calling Luanne into his library solely to mock her intelligence and show Nucky who his female constituents would be.
* Nucky trying to prove the Commodore wrong by telling Margaret, “I want you to vote Republican.”
* Paz de la Huerta getting naked again. Always a highlight.
* The arrival of a blood-soaked man to interrupt George’s blow job. I guess that fifth guy got better…

To wrap up, let’s talk about that last scene with Nucky and Jimmy. I haven’t seen such a power play on TV in awhile: talk about a “fuck you” to Jimmy for Nucky to take that hard-earned $3K and then bet it and lose it right in front of him. Nucky Thompson really is a bad-ass…but, somehow, I don’t think Jimmy’s going to end up being anything but pissed off. Revenge would seem to be in the cards in the very near future.

Let’s get started, shall we?

Meet Enoch Thompson, known to his friends…and, indeed, some of his enemies…as Nucky. Described by HBO’s website as “equal parts corrupt politician and gangster (and equally comfortable in either role),” Thompson is the much beloved treasurer of Atlantic City, New Jersey. And why wouldn’t they love him? He’s the kind of guy who promises everything to everyone, even if it involves telling complete lies to make them happy. Indeed, when we first see him, he’s lecturing before the Women’s Temperance League, praising the beginning of prohibition…and, minutes later, he’s having dinner with the mayor, the city council, and several key law enforcement officials – one of whom is his own brother – and telling them how he’s found a way to keep Atlantic City “as wet as a mermaid’s twat.” I’m sure that joke would’ve gone over like gangbusters amongst the suffragettes.

Speaking of the suffragettes, during his speech, two faces stand out in the crowd…or, rather, one in the crowd and one on the outskirts.

First, there’s a young lady in the audience who’s eying Nucky quite intently. That’s Margaret Schroeder. She’s a good Irish girl who’s married with two children and a third on the way, but her husband’s going to be out of a job come the end of tourist season, and she was so affected by Nucky’s speech about how he and his family once had to eat wharf rats to survive (a tale which was either heavily embellished or, more likely, completely fabricated) that she later decides to venture forth to Nucky’s office and ask if she can find work for his husband when the time comes. He agrees, hands her a wad of cash to get her family through the hard times in the interim, and provides her with a ride home. The end result: her husband gets pissed, takes the money, knocks her around, and goes off to gamble at Nucky’s establishment, ostensibly just to rub it in his face. In turn, Nucky rubs his face into a table. Repeatedly. So what does the guy do in response? He heads home and beats his wife to the point that she loses the baby. As soon as word gets back to Nucky, he has the bastard killed…and, frankly, it’s hard to imagine anyone mourning the son of a bitch.

Now, let’s get back to that Women’s Temperance League meeting, so we can address the identity of the young lad hovering in the shadows.

Meet Jimmy Darmody. He’s been part of Nucky’s inner circle for many moons, and after fighting for his country in World War I, he’s now back at Nucky’s side. Once he was a boy, but now he is a man…and he’s looking to be acknowledged as such. Unsurprisingly, it’s hard for Nucky and his guys to see him that way. Jimmy’s tensions rise to the surface when he and Nucky visit a bootlegging operation in the basement of a local funeral home. After Jimmy takes a swig of some formaldehyde-laced liquor, fists and bullets start flying, with one of the latter going through the basement ceiling and straight into a funeral. (I laughed really hard at that, by the way. And after I realized that the bullet hadn’t actually hit anyone, I laughed even harder.) Upon exiting the premises, Jimmy and Nucky finally have it out, with Nucky breaking out his wad of bills and Jimmy dismissing it, saying that he doesn’t want money, he wants an opportunity. After being picked up by the revenuers, though, Jimmy decides to make his own opportunity, teaming with some of Johnny Torrio’s boys – one of whom is a young up-and-comer by the name of…wait for it…Al Capone – to step in and swipe a shipment of Canadian Club intended for Nucky. Later, Jimmy meets up with an understandably pissed-off Nucky, and Nucky is left dumbfounded by the cajones of his former protege, who informs him that he “can’t be half a gangster anymore,” then gives him his cut.

Now that we’ve looked into the lives of these three main characters, let’s discuss “Boardwalk Empire” as a whole. Not unlike what “Mad Men” did for the late ’50s and early ’60s, this series is dropping us into the 1920s and leaving our jaws on the floor with the way they’ve reproduced the era. I mean, just look at that Atlantic City Boardwalk on the eve of Prohibition, with a New Orleans styled funeral for John Barleycorn (complete with the band in blackface), couples holding their baby and toting their alcohol in the baby’s carriage. Babette’s is a work of art, too, for that matter, as are the various stores that we see as the characters stroll down the street, including the place that sells baby incubators…which, of course, confirms what we suspected during Nucky’s initial meeting with Margaret: that he once lost a child. (We’d already discovered that he’d lost his wife to consumption.)

We get glimpses at lots of other interesting characters during the course of tonight’s premiere: Agent Nelson Van Alden, who’s keeping a close eye both on Nucky as well as Jimmy, even trying to sway the latter into his camp; Commodore Louis Kaestner, the man who ruled Atlantic City before ceding the throne to Nucky; Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano, who try to start some shit with Nucky by winning so big in his casino that he can’t afford to pay them everything they’ve won; Lucy Danzinger, Nucky’s girlfriend, who – based on her comments during coitus – may grow up to be Dale Evans; and Mickey Doyle, the bootlegger who gets Jimmy to take that swip of formaldehyde-laced liquor. And who was that African-American gentleman sitting in Nucky’s office when Margaret first came to see him? Oh, don’t worry: we’ll get to him soon enough.

As with any good Scorsese production, we get a nice killshot to the back of the head before the end of the proceedings, giving us a good idea what kind of violence we can likely expect to see in “Boardwalk Empire” in future weeks. I don’t know about you guys, but I was sucked into the show almost instantly, in no small part because of Steve Buscemi. I mean, it’s not like I haven’t been a fan of his work for years, but it’s great to see him in the lead role for a change. He’s perfect for it, too: Nucky’s a guy who’s got a lot of power but isn’t necessarily the most intimidating fish in the pond. I’m not entirely sure about Michael Pitt’s performance as Jimmy, though. Here’s a guy who’s convinced he’s already going to hell and therefore figures it doesn’t matter what he does anymore, but he still looks like a tousled-hair kid to me. If he wasn’t holding a gun, I wouldn’t find him the least bit intimidating…but, then, maybe that’s the point.

Can’t wait for Episode 2.

America in 1920: The Great War was over, Wall Street was about to boom and everything was for sale, even the World Series. It was a time of change when women got the vote, broadcast radio began and young people ruled the world. From Terence Winter, Emmy Award-winning writer of “The Sopranos” and Academy Award-winning director Martin Scorsese, “Boardwalk Empire” is set in Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition, when the sale of alcohol became illegal throughout the United States. The new HBO drama series kicks off its 12-episode season Sunday, Sept. 19, at 9:00 PM EST / PST.

On the beach in southern New Jersey sat Atlantic City, a spectacular resort known as “The World’s Playground,” a place where the rules didn’t apply. Massive hotels lined its famous Boardwalk, which featured nightclubs, amusement piers and entertainment that rivaled Broadway. For a few dollars, a working man could get away and live like a king – legally or illegally. The undisputed ruler of Atlantic City was the town’s treasurer, Enoch “Nucky” Thompson (Steve Buscemi), a political fixer and backroom dealer who was equal parts politician and gangster and equally comfortable in either role. Because of its strategic location on the seaboard, the town was a hub of activity for rum-runners, minutes from Philadelphia, hours from New York City and less than a day’s drive from Chicago. And Nucky Thompson took full advantage. Along with his brother Elias (Shea Whigham), the town’s sheriff, and a crew of ward bosses and local thugs, Nucky carved out a niche for himself as the man to see for any illegal alcohol. He was an equal-opportunity gangster, doing business with Arnold Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg), “Big Jim” Colosimo (Frank Crudele), “Lucky” Luciano (Vincent Piazza) and Al Capone (Stephen Graham).

As “Boardwalk Empire” begins, Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt), Nucky’s former protégé and driver, returns home from the Great War, eager to get ahead and reclaim his rightful place in Nucky’s organization. But when Jimmy feels things aren’t moving quickly enough, he takes matters into his own hands, forming a deadly alliance with associates of Nucky’s that sets the Feds, led by Agent Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon), on his mentor’s tail. Complicating matters further is Nucky’s burgeoning relationship with Margaret Schroeder (Kelly Macdonald) a woman in an abusive marriage whom he tries to help. The show also stars Michael Kenneth Williams as Chalky White, leader of the city’s African-American community; Dabney Coleman as Commodore Louis Kaestner, Nucky’s mentor; Paz de la Huerta as Nucky’s girlfriend Lucy; Aleksa Palladino as Angela, Jimmy Darmody’s Bohemian girlfriend and mother of their three-year-old son; Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle; Anthony Laciura as Eddie Kessler; and Gretchen Mol as Gillian, a local showgirl with whom Nucky shares a long and complicated history.