'Boardwalk Empire' Season 1, Episode 1 (Series Premiere) Recap

['Boardwalk Empire - 'Pilot']

After a couple of Martin Scorsese's trademark tracking shots Ghost Whisperer series dvd, which followed Nucky Thompson's exit from the Ritz Hotel and his arrival at Babette's nightclub, we got to the meat of the first episode of 'Boardwalk Empire': Nucky arrived at a dinner party, at which we met Atlantic City's power players and began to understand their relationships and conflicts.

Perhaps it's not surprising that Big Love set, as the show's sumptuous pilot unfolded and Nucky and company dug into a lavish supper, a food analogy came to mind.

If 'Boardwalk Empire' were a meal Insanity cardio dvd, it would be an incredibly delicious traditional dish. It's not experimental; it's not giving us flavors we've never tried before or taking radical chances with familiar ingredients. 'Boardwalk Empire' is a classic dish prepared with exceptional skill and attention to detail.

There was a lot to feast on The Office dvd set canada, for the mind and for the eye.

As was the case with 'Rome Spongebob Squarepants buy,' another HBO drama that spared no expense to re-create another era Spongebob Squarepants box sets, 'Boardwalk Empire' is beautiful to look at. From the restaurants to the clothes to the Commodore's grand home Nip/Tuck entire series, every detail added to the sense of being in another era. And of course there was the boardwalk set itself Leverage seasons 1-2 dvd, which Scorsese swept through with several lingering shots.

Though the pilot sets up serious themes about unintended consequences and the cost of hanging on to morality in a fast-changing world Dexter dvd, one got the sense that Signing Time dvd, if nothing else, Scorsese and his crew had a great time playing with this toy -- the gigantic re-creation of the Atlantic City of 1920.

Just as the unfortunate Big Jim Colosimo took time to savor his beloved Enrico Caroso records Dallas complete collection, 'Boardwalk Empire' wanted us to savor this playground and the lives of the people we met there. It was hard not to.

Of course Michael Jackson complete collection, whatever its budget, 'Boardwalk Empire' is not free of the requirements of any pilot -- to set up a world and populate it with interesting people. It's to creator Terence Winter's credit that the exposition in the 'Boardwalk Empire' pilot was pretty painless and elegantly delivered.

At the dinner in Babette's back room Big Love complete set dvd, we met Nucky The Simpsons complete collection region 1 Supernatural complete series, the kingpin of Atlantic City; his brother Star Trek Original special box, Elias, the head of local law enforcement; Jimmy, Nucky's restless protege True Blood series buy The Wire complete box set, as well as other assorted dignitaries. Soon we encountered Lucy, his sensual and none-too-bright girlfriend, Margaret Schroeder, a local resident with a brute of a husband, as well as other locals like Mickey Doyle and even Chalky White (he was briefly seen waiting in Nucky's reception area).

In the gangster arena, things were a little more confusing, so it was helpful to hear Agent Van Alden attempting -- with limited success -- to explain to his partner who the various visiting made men were. It helps that Arnold Rothstein and Lucky Luciano are played by memorable actors and that the characters provide an interesting contrast; Rothstein is the calculating yet ruthless gentleman and Luciano is the hothead in a very expensive suit. Al Capone also made an impression (I remain stunned at Stephen Graham's excellent American accent. You'd never know the actor is English.)

It's not clear -- at least it wasn't to me -- who killed Big Jim Colosimo and why Michael Jackson box sets, though the Chicago crew's forays into bootlegging surely had something to do with the changing power dynamics. Everyone knew that Prohibition would bring big profits Monk dvd set complete, but the restive younger generation saw it as an opportunity to move up the ladder, and Big Jim was a relic from another age. There are likely a number of people who wanted him out of the way.

Back in Atlantic City, Nucky's got a full plate just keeping Atlantic City running, and now he's got this array of new personalities and possible dangers to deal with. And frankly NCIS buy, though he sees Prohibition as the route to massive wealth Big Love dvd complete seires box, Nucky's conscience may end up being liability with this crew. Clearly he's ruthless when he needs to be, but he's a man with a code Heroes dvd complete series region 2 The Closer complete series dvd set, and even a sense of melancholy about him. When he peered into the display of premature babies Stargate Atlantis buy, I got the sense that there's a tragedy involving children in his past.

Unfortunately dvd buy, his good intentions with the pregnant Mrs. Schroeder had tragic consequences. There's every chance her husband's fists would have caused her to lose her baby had she never met Nucky, but his encounter with her brutal husband ended up having the worst possible outcome for her.

Speaking of unintended consequences, Nucky's dismissal of Jimmy's ambitions -- or rather, his assumption that Jimmy would be willing to wait out a long apprenticeship in the political machine will and grace complete set, as he had -- led indirectly to the massacre in the forest, and his new dealings with other mobsters quickly created friction with Rothstein even as the situation in Chicago took a violent turn. Nucky has not quite realized that he probably has to be more like Jimmy or Lucky Luciano than he would like. He can't NCIS dvd, as Jimmy said Star Trek Original dvd box set Roma box sets, be half a gangster.

(As an aside, I was unimpressed with Michael Pitt's delivery of Jimmy's big speech to Nucky on the boardwalk -- the speech about how the war had affected him and why he thought material wealth was the one goal worth pursuing, given that he thinks he is essentially damned. Pitt's delivery and affect that were simply flat dvd buy, and made a well-written scene less than it could have been. Given how strong the rest of 'BE's' cast is, lapses like these are unfortunate. Pitt holds his own, for the most part, but if part of the goal is to get me invested in Jimmy's journey Mad Men uk dvd box, well, I'm not quite sure how that's going to work out. At this point, he's not holding back the show, but I'm more interested in the characters played by better actors, of which there are many.)

In any case, the gangsters are a fact of life now. 'Prohibition means progress' to the women of the temperance league, but it's not likely to lead to the kind of progress they hope for (though one of 'BE's' interesting side notes is the way in which the temperance movement allowed women to assert their rights in methods that were socially acceptable in that era). It means progress into a murkier, more dangerous, more violent society, one in which a wide array of regular citizens were willing to look the other way at criminal and even murderous enterprises, as long as it meant they could get their hands on a drink.

As for the drinks themselves Signing Time box sets, a visit to Mickey Doyle's distillery proves that the liquor of that era was foul Big Love complete series on dvd box set, if not actively poisonous, thanks to the additives that were used to make cheap rotgut at least look like quality liquor.) And just as dyes and additives camouflage what the drinks are really made of, some ugly truths lurk behind the sparkling facades of Atlantic City.

But how glorious it all looks. The overhead shot of Van Alden's men storming Mickey's operation dvd , the sweeping shots of the boardwalk, the murderous montages set to period music, the opulent decor The Wire complete set Miami Vice set, the sharp suits. It may be the start of a whole new kind of unpleasantness, but damn if it didn't look fine.

'Boardwalk Empire' airs 9PM ET Sundays on HBO.

For my pre-season review of 'Boardwalk Empire Stargate Atlantis box set MacGyver dvd set,' look here. For my interview with creator Terence Winter Daria box set, look here and here.

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