Boardwalk Empire Season 3 Review

18th Jul 2013

Season Two’s shocking finale saw Nucky murder Jimmy, leaving his son an orphan. Despite appearances, Nucky is haunted by it and it’s a recurring theme throughout the Season. Jimmy’s mother, Gillian, is desperately trying to erase her grandson’s parentage by insisting that she’s his Mother now. Margaret continues to wrestle with her religion and her involvement with Nucky and now that they’re married she’s doing all she can to buy her way back into God’s good graces. Her involvement with Owen isn’t over yet either, but whether there’s a happy ending for them…well, you should know better than that by now.

The inimitable Michael Shannon is back as Van Alden, but he’s been brought low by his actions in season two. There’s simply not enough of him on the screen especially as he’s probably the strongest actor here, certainly the most interesting in terms of the hypocrisies of his actions. Capone’s steady rise is charted, but it’s still Nucky’s city. The Season sees warring between two sides taken to a whole new level, with a formidable showdown.

The draw of Boardwalk Empire has to be the obsessive period research. It goes beyond referencing the aesthetics of the time, it’s the music, the dancing, the recipes and the language. It’s simply gorgeous to watch. Saying that, the show itself has never been something whole-heartedly absorbing in a way that Game of Thrones or Breaking Bad is – it’s never that dramatic despite the sex and violence. It’s more of the same, though in some ways stronger than Season One. We never get into Nucky’s head the way that we do in something like Boss, which is far more menacing and unforgiving. It does have that same meandering quality that Mad Men does.

It’s not as enveloping as it should be, I think we’ve simply seen this period too many times for it to be able to coast on period research alone. But, that’s simply a matter of taste, if you loved the first two seasons, you’ve got more of the same here. The writing is excellent, the acting is fantastic – whatever it’s missing, it’s still worth sticking with.