Episode Title: “Marriage and Hunting”
Writers: David Matthews, Jennifer Ames and Steve Turner
Director: Ed Bianchi
Previously on “Boardwalk Empire:”
Episode 4.08 “The Old Ship Zion”
Some truths are told, some are exposed and still others remain hidden in another busy, yet mostly satisfying episode of “Boardwalk Empire” that drops in on almost every character in Nucky Thompson’s (Steve Buscemi) orbit.
“Marriage and Hunting,” an allusion to a joke Richard Harrow (Jack Huston) makes as he and Julia (Wrenn Schmidt) wait for a marriage license, covers a lot of ground thanks a fast, but not rushed, pace and some tight storytelling. Naturally, some scenes might feel like a bit of a waste (does anyone really care about Arnold Rothstein’s gambling problem?), but overall there’s little time wasted in this hour.
It’s initially frustrating that we don’t get any follow-up on the bombshell Agent Knox dropped on Eli at the end of last week’s episode, aside from a casual yet tense conversation about Willie as Eli (Shea Whigham) and Nucky decide what to do with about Narisse. But as the episode briskly plays out, it’s easy to put this storyline on the backburner and focus on some very pressing current events.
Like the continuing evolution of Van Alden (Michael Shannon). It seems like the guy can’t get a break, as everyone from his wife to his former co-workers to the two mob bosses he’s caught between has a gripe with the prohibition agent turned enforcer/florist. Pushed to his limits, Van Alden reverts to what’s always worked when dealing with difficult people: violence.
Killing three birds with one stone, sort of, Van Alden offers to kill O’Banion for the Capones in exchange for the grand he needs to fix the kitchen sink, which Sigrid (Christiane Seidel) has been nagging him about. The job doesn’t go as planned when Van Alden is attacked by a gang of his old co-workers, out for revenge after he hit one of them in the face with a hot iron. The Capones are irate, but Van Alden ultimately makes good on his promise to kill O’Banion, though it’s three men who come asking about flowers who actually shoot the Irish gangster.
The death of another mobster doesn’t really push the needle on a show like “Boardwalk,” but Van Alden’s final words to O’Banion (Arron Shiver) certainly do. In a few seconds, Van Alden sums up the past three seasons of personal and professional chaos he’s lived though, including killing his partner when he was a prohibition agent, giving up his belief in God and living under a false name. O’Banion doesn’t quite know what to make of it all and doesn’t get much time to, as he’s murdered moments later. That night, Van Alden comes home to Sigrid with the money, feeling competent and capable of taking care of himself and his family, as he tosses it on the bed before her.
The truth makes waves in Atlantic City, as well, as Gillian (Gretchen Mol) tells Roy (Ron Livingston) about her stolen childhood at the hands of the Commodore, Julia learns about her father’s condition and Maybelle (Christina Jackson) sees her father with a badly beaten Daughter Maitland (Margot Bingham). The boldest move, however, is made by Julia, when she asks Richard Harrow to marry her in order to secure custody of Tommy in her legal battle with Gillian. Knowing he’ll need a job to support his family, Richard goes to Nucky, looking for a job. Richard is calling himself to account, as his sister advised, but perhaps not in quite the way she meant.
As for Nucky, he remains the emotionally unaffected, neutral party “Boardwalk’s” more dynamic characters dance around. Chalky (Michael Kenneth Williams) tells Nucky he wants to murder Narcisse for beating Daughter. As always, Nucky takes a cool-headed approach to the situation, reminding Chalky he has a family to think about. Maybe it’s what Nucky lost with Margaret that makes him see things this way, but based on his conversation with Eli, it’s strictly business, which isn’t all that interesting.
There are a few other small threads woven in this episode, like Roy’s whispered telephone conversation, which he lies to Gillian about, Rothstein (Michael Stuhlbarg) selling his life insurance policy on Mickey Doyle to Nucky and Nucky’s late night phone call to Sally (Patricia Arquette). And though not every storyline in this episode begs an immediate follow-up, the big picture is hit with some pretty bold strokes that leave us wondering just how ugly it will get before the season’s through.
