Boardwalk Empire - Belle Femme recap/review

The episode before this one made it clear that things are getting hairy for Nucky. Someone doesn’t respect him and shot his brother, so Nucky needs to toughen up. Sadly, another problem presented itself this episode. A man intent on reform is running for mayor of the boardwalk empire. Nucky dealt with more political situations, and he survived an assassination attempt. An innocent woman, sadly, did not.

Madame Jeunet asked Margaret to talk Nucky out of raising her rent. Margaret tried to help her out, but it only ticked Nucky off. She decided to go the sex-pot route, with the help of free sexy dresses from Madame Jeunet, which worked better.

Everybody knows that the real action on this show usually comes with Jimmy. The D’Alessios hired Arnold Rothstein to take care of Nucky. Nucky has Jimmy gunning for the D’Alessios. Jimmy took action first with an attempt to take out Lucky Luciano (with the help of his spunky mother). Agent Van Alden interfered and Jimmy was arrested only to be let out by a guy named Agent Sebso, who is secretly one of Nucky’s men. Agent Sebso also killed Billy, the witness against Jimmy in the case of the woods massacre (that happened very early in this show’s season, in case you don’t remember). Jimmy clashed a little with Angela, who is not happy to have Jimmy back, mostly because he wants to have another baby.

Pretty good, but not the rip-roaring revenge fest we wanted after last episode. The season finale had better be awesome, or it's not getting a season two pass from us. We wish Jimmy were the main character, not Nucky. His character and the supporting players in his life are much more interesting than Nucky, his temper, and his widow.

Episode grade: B