"Paul Levinson's It's Real Life is a page-turning exploration into that multiverse known as rock and roll. But it is much more than a marvelous adventure narrated by a master storyteller...it is also an exquisite meditation on the very nature of alternate history." -- Jack Dann, The Fiction Writer's Guide to Alternate History

Monday, September 24, 2012

Boardwalk Empire 3.2: Gasoline and the White Rock Girl

Boardwalk Empire has done a great job portraying the new media of the early 1920s - such as boxing matches broadcast on radio.  In episode 3.2, the plot hinges on the new transportation tech of that era - in particular, trucks, which Nucky uses to transport booze from Atlantic City to New York, and their dependence on gas.

There just weren't that many gas stations around back then.  And the station in fictional Tabor Heights has the last gas until the New York area.  This gives Rosetti a bright idea - take over the gas station, and use it to hold up Nucky's shipment to Rothstein, which can't get all the way from AC to NYC without that refill.  The plan works.  As is still the case in our world, control the energy and you can control the world - or at least, try to.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Nucky's finding true love - or at least true lust - with the beautiful Billie.  When a radiator breaks down, and Billie, naked, gets on the floor and leans over in an attempt to fix it, Nucky says she looks like the White Rock girl.  As indeed she does - I remember looking at the White Rock girl myself on soda bottles back as kid in the 1950s, and thinking all kinds of things.  But nothing quite as fine as Billie.

Boardwalk Empire is off to a good start this year.   No Jimmy, no Manny, but lots other good, gangsterly forces at play - including the return of Nucky's brother, whose ultimate loyalty is still, as ever, in question.

See also Boardwalk Empire 3.1: Happy News Year 1923



"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction, The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -- Gerald Jonas, The New York Times Book Review


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