Boardwalk Empire 4.11: Nucky on the Beach

A powerful  Boardwalk Empire 4.11 tonight, with no less than three stories receiving sizzling treatment, only one of which is resolved.

Let's start with the resolution.   We knew there was something not quite right about Jillian's beau - I could feel it in my bones, not to mention the snippet of the conversation we caught him having on the phone.  I thought for a brief few minutes tonight that maybe I was wrong.   But few if any people live happily ever after on this show.   So after he "killed" the guy in the garage, and Gillian began pouring out her heart and history to him, it occurred to me that maybe he faked the killing, to loosen Gillian's tongue.  And sure enough, that's just what it was.   (I didn't see that Dominic Chianese's Leander was behind it - but it all makes awful sense.)

Of the two other stories, the slightly less significant but bigger action one concerns Chalky, taking refuge with Maitland at Oscar's, his old mentor.  Lou Gossett, Jr. put in a great performance as Oscar, and the shoot-out at the end was one of the best of the series.   I thought for a second that Chalky might end up a goner after all, and it was good seeing Oscar's men come to the rescue.  With any luck, they'll be regulars on the series next year.

And there's Nucky and Eli in the beach house..  So now Eli knows, and Willie suspects that Nucky knows, though just what Willie can't be sure.  Nucky tells Sally at the end that he wants "out".   As well he might and does, since almost the last thing he'll want to do is kill his brother.   But of the two - Nucky leaving the business or silencing Eli - I can't really see him doing either.   Which means there will either be a third alternative - in which Nucky is able to get Eli to get the Feds running around in circles - or, well, if I had to pick, I'd say Eli will go.

Which I'd hate to see, but it's the only logical move for Nucky, if he can't come up with a plan that saves Nucky and gives it to the Feds at the same time.  The meeting he's agreeing to is somehow a part of this.   He already has a plan in motion, even though he's telling Sally he wants out.   Is that part of the plan?

We'll see in seven days.

See also Boardwalk Empire 4.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: J. Edgar ...Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.3: Honey, Sunny ...Boardwalk Empire 4.3: Nucky, Sunshine, and Heroin ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview Review 4.4: Downfalls ... Boardwalk Empire 4.4: Bullies and Betrayals ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.5: The Gift of Rage ... Boardwalk 4.5: Two Deaths ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.6: Good Lovin' ... Boardwalk Empire 4.6: Sally and Margaret ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.7: Beds, Promotions, Surprises ... Boardwalk Empire 4.7: Family and History ... Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.8: The Blues ... Boardwalk Empire 4.8: Knives in the Back ... Boardwalk Empire 4.9: The Imbecile ... Boardwalk Empire 4.10 Sneak Preview Review: Unholy Alliances ... Boardwalk Empire 4.10: Family Treachery

And 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

And see also Boardwalk Empire 2.1: Politics in an Age Before YouTube  ... Boardwalk Empire 2.2: The Woman Behind the Throne ... Boardwalk Empire 2.3: Frankenstein and Victrola ... Boardwalk Empire 2.4: Nearly Flagrante Delicto ... Boardwalk Empire 2.5: Richard's Story ... Boardwalk Empire 2.6: Owen and Other Bad News for Nucky ... Boardwalk Empire 2.7: Shot in the Hand  ...Boardwalk Empire 2.8: Pups with Fangs ... Boardwalk Empire 2.9: Ireland, Radio, Polio ...Boardwalk Empire 2.10: Double Shot ... Boardwalk Empire 2.11: Gillian and Jimmy  ... Boardwalk Empire Season 2 Finale: Stunner!

And see also Boardwalk Emipre on HBO ... Boardwalk Empire 1.2: Lines and Centers Power ...Boardwalk Empire 1.10: Arnold Rothstein, Media Theorist  ... Season One Finale of Boardwalk Empire

#SFWApro