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

BOARDWALK EMPIRE - Season 1 [2010]

“We all have to decide for ourselves how much sin we can live with.”

The Sopranos veteran Terence Winter, enlists the aid of Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg to bring his fantastical vision of Boardwalk Empire to life.   Inspired by Atlantic City crime kingpin Enoch L. Johnson's reign in the 1920's during the Prohibition in New Jersey, the series takes pages right out of history and inserts a few of it's own for dramatic purposes.  The oddly charismatic Steve Buscemi takes the lead role as the corrupt and powerful treasurer, Nucky Thompson, who despite all the terrible things he does you can't help but cheer on.  Michael Pitt, Kelly MacDonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Kenneth Williams and Dabney Coleman round out the fantastic cast who all seem to disappear into their roles with graceful ease. 

Most folks seem quick to compare Boardwalk to The Sopranos, simply because it’s an HBO series about organized crime run by a former writer of the modern classic series.  In fact, unlike The Sopranos, Boardwalk almost immediately gives off the feeling of a much larger scope and aspiration to explode into something far more precisely executed.  Like Deadwood, it meshes fictional characters with the non-fictional which is quite interesting, however the potential of being a speedbump in the future.  Taking a page out of The Wire's writing style, Empire never stops or slows down to explain to the viewer who each character is, instead it assumes we're smart enough to keep up and allows it to unfold as the series dives deeper into the story. 

With some beautiful cinematography, wonderful music, mesmerizing actors and believable sets, Boardwalk Empire is instantly likeable.  With that said, I can't help but be disappointed the series never takes any real risks or chances, considering the subject matter and the fictional storytelling based in a real world.  A gangster HBO series created by a Sopranos writer produced by Scorsese and starring Buscemi has a lot to live up with those names alone and it nearly does.  I suspect this first season is just the beginning and it shows promise of becoming something I can't wait to see. 

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.

3½ Alcohol Funerals out of 5