BOARDWALK EMPIRE - Season Two [2011]

"Don't think I can't play this game?"

"I don't think you even know the rules."

With Season One of Terrence Winter's Boardwalk Empire I felt it's biggest drawback was that it simply took no chances.  I can safely say Season Two did away with that from the very get go and risked everything almost instantly making it one of the most intoxicating series of 2011. 

It makes puts Season One in perspective as merely laying out the board and placing the pieces in their respective places, allowing Two to let the games begin with a barrage of bullets.  The canvas becomes larger and more complete as the vast variety of characters all begin to intricately interwine as well as spread out into new hostile territory.  With characters switching sides left, right and center, most series would be in danger of turning into a soap opera but Boardwalk does so with such class and craftiness it feels naturally authentic and respectable.

  

Season One already allowed Steve Buscemi, Michael Shannon, Michael Pitt and Michaek Kenneth Williams to prove their heavy acting chops, now Jack Huston steps up to the plate as one of the most interesting characters in television since LOST’s Desmond Hume.  Huston's portrayal as disfigured ex-soldier turned assassin is tragic, frightening and so astonishingly well-woven it brings tears to my eyes in nearly every scene he's in.  As much as there is going on with the characters, the backdrop is just as interesting by touching on subjects as racism, the rise of the Ku Klux Klan, sexism, bigotry and poverty. 

Season One required a lot of patience and concentration only to reward you with gold in the second season. 

I'll drink to that.

12 episodes. Roughly 50-60 minutes each.

Buyer's Guide:
Available in both DVD and Blu Ray box sets. Also available from iTunes, Netflix and Amazon Instant Video.

4½ damned face-stealing mutts out of 5