"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 28, 2013

Boardwalk Empire Sneak Preview 4.4: Downfalls

Continuing with my sneak preview reviews of Boardwalk Empire - this one of 4.4 - courtesy of screeners from Starpulse, guaranteed to be spoiler free, and to be followed this Sunday with a proper recap/review right after the episode has aired in New York City, just up the road from A.C.

 Episode 4.4 is a darker than usual show, in which almost nothing ends up well for the characters on center stage.  Murder, humiliation, betrayal, and arrest by the Feds are the fates  our characters encounter.
  • One major mobster is humiliated in a high-stakes card game.
  • Two mobsters are betrayed by underlings or seconds-in-command.  One is not quite a full betrayal, but will set in motion betrayals in the future.  And, if BE follows real history, this betrayal will eventually lead to the murder of this top mobster - who also happens to be the mobster humiliated in the card game. The second betrayal is more a straight-forward perfidy, and it's not clear what its outcome will be, since the character betrayed has no clear analog in our real history.
  • The murder stems from an act of revenge, but the death is not intentional.  Also, the perpetrator is not a mobster, and is not Al Capone.   Al does throw someone out the window and enjoys it, but it's not clear if the victim is fatally hurt.
  • The arrest comes at the end of the episode, and happens to one of my favorite characters on the show.
Speaking of arrests, this one's part of a new crackdown on organized crime ordered by J. Edgar Hoover.  As I indicated in a review several weeks ago, Hoover is moving into the position of major governmental antagonist of Nucky.   The arrest moves that antagonism a big step closer to face-to-face.

 But not everything is grim in this episode, and in fact we get one of the best scenes in years between Nucky and his brother Eli, which is almost heart-warming.

 And I'll be back with more about this in my review after this episode airs on Sunday.

 See also Boardwalk Empire 4.1: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: Sneak Preview Review ... Boardwalk Empire 4.2: J. Edgar ...Boardwalk Empire 4.3 Sneak Preview Review 4.3: Honey, Sunny ... Boardwalk Empire 4.3: Nucky, Sunshine, and Heroin

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





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