"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

Saturday, September 7, 2013

Boardwalk Empire 4.1: Sneak Preview Review

Hey, I just saw Boardwalk Empire 4.1 - courtesy of a screener provided to me by Starpulse - so herewith is a strictly nonspoiler review, with a proper recap/review to follow after the episode actually airs on HBO tomorrow night.

Fans of the ambience won't be disappointed.  You'll see people complaining about radio reception - which after all was still new in those halcyon days - and a reporter pounding on a manual typewriter. There's tap dancing and a little Busby Berkeley-type choreography on stage.  There's plenty of top frontal nudity, and some sex to go along with it.

If you like the point-blank violence of the show, you won't be disappointed either.  At least five people are killed, in various ways - none of them soft - and for various reasons.   Revenge, self-defense, and typical Boardwalk Empire out-of left-field death meted out are all in play.

All of our favorite real historical mobsters are on hand.   As I always think when I see this show, the top-level mobsters - Arnold Rothstein, Joe Masseria, and JohnnyTorrio - are all due to be killed or badly wounded in real history, not too far in the future from where Boardwalk Empire is now.  Since the show is historical drama not documentary, anything is now possible regarding when these bloody changes of the guard will take place, and this lends an extra tension to the story.

All of our non-historically known characters who survived last season are on hand, too - with the exception of two - but I'll tell you more about that tomorrow night.  What I can tell you now is that the series is back in fine, percolating form.

See also Boardwalk Empire 3.1: Happy News Year 1923  ... Boardwalk Empire 3.2: Gasoline and the White Rock Girl ... Boardwalk Empire 3.3: The Showgirl and The Psycho ... Boardwalk Empire 3.5: "10 L'Chaim" ... Boardwalk Empire 3.7: Deadly Gillian ... Boardwalk Empire 3.8: Andrew Mellon ... Boardwalk Empire 3.9: Impaired Nucky






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