A Quick Thought On the Boardwalk Empire Finale

Pretty well-done. We liked the reconciliation between Nucky and the widow, since that's what the whole show is about. And we like the new Jimmy/Eli betrayal of Nucky. We wish there had been some action and a little of the riotous, dark tone of the pilot.

We don't think we will follow the show live next year. This is a good show, but it would be easier to get/stay into on a DVD binge. We will watch it, but we will wait until we can see many episodes at once. So, goodbye BE weekly recaps. You have been a pain in the neck to write anyway. (Some shows are easier than others to write about. Easy shows to write about: Glee, America's Next Top Model, Grey's Anatomy, Dexter, Breaking Bad, and LOST, which we are still writing about, even though it's over. South Park, Bones, and HIMYM are surprisingly difficult. The Vampire Diaries is difficult for one of us to write about, but we both love it too much to stop.)

Episode grade: B

Dexter vs. Boardwalk Empire

The Sunday night recapper only had time for one of these shows (her first exam is tonight), and when the rubber meets the road, Dexter isn't road kill.

This is a strong statement, because the Boardwalk Empire episode was the finale. Don't spoil it, we're going to watch it later in the week and bring you some thoughts.

Why Dexter? No, it's not because the guys on Dexter are better looking (not hard, with uggos like Steve Buscemi populating BE), but if you guessed that, you are paying attention. We've just been following Dexter longer, this season is more intense than BE's season (we feel more of an urge to find out what happens on this show), and we care more about the characters. Ok, just Dexter, Lumen, and Deb, but that's two people more than on Boardwalk Empire.

As for Dexter, it was a great episode, but the cliffhanger ending left us spitting and unsatisfied. Dexter season finale next week.

Episode Grade: A

Dexter has been renewed for a sixth season.

Boardwalk Empire - Paris Green review

Well, Margaret and Nucky broke up. We aren't sad/don't care. In fact, it would be interesting if Margaret turned on Nucky and took all the information she knows to Van Alden. Actually, we like this development. It makes the character of Margaret more consistent with the woman we met earlier in the show. It was strange that she would throw away her old character and fully accept Nucky and his lifestyle. Seeing it as a temporary slip makes more sense.

Jimmy met his horrible dad, the Commodore, and found out that his mother has been poisoning him. Does anyone else think that Mommy Gillian is the most interesting and capable character on this show full of interesting and capable characters? We felt bad for Angela getting left by her friend when she was all ready to leave Jimmy for Paris. She should have been able to get away.

But the watercooler moment of the episode happened at the end with Van Alden. Sebso, Nucky’s man on the inside who works for Van Alden, angered Van Alden by being a Jew. So Van Alden baptized him to death. Seriously, the man took Sebso to a river and tried to convert him, repeatedly dunking him and then holding him underwater. We don’t know who is more obnoxious, Van Alden or the show writers by making us sit through this. It was awkward and it upset us. It was kind of sacrilegious mixed with super weird. Also, Van Alden should know not to kill Jews. Seriously, that sort of activity is jinxed. If America ever sides against Israel, this blogger is moving to another country to steer clear of the poop storm that would fall. Look at Rome, Germany, Britain when it broke faith with Israel, Spain after the Inquisition, Greece after it desecrated their special temple in the ancient days, and Poland after the pogroms. They were either crushed or their power was significantly cut. It’s jinxed, we tell you. Be nice to Jewish people or be screwed.

But this Death Baptism was pretty stupid in our opinions. Like Van Alden would kill a man for no reason in front of a crowd of nicer Christians when they knew who he was. He’s not THAT crazy. To us, it was possibly the show’s worst moment to date. It was trying to be edgy and daring, but it was incredibly unrealistic. Sure, Sebso wasn’t a good guy; he sort of deserved death. But still … why bring religion into it? Hasn’t the crazed Christian thing been done to death? We WERE surprised that Sebso was killed in that moment though.

We are ready for the season finale and we know that it’s going to be wild and surprising.

One blogger's dad told us to stop being so hard on this show, so instead of giving it the planned C+, we will bump it up a notch. It was decent, after all.

Episode Grade: B-

Boardwalk Empire - The Emerald City recap/review

Can we do the Boardwalk Empire recap in less than 300 words? Sure we can. Our point? What little happens on this show is dragged out for more than 50 minutes. At least SOMETHING happens on this show now. The middle of the season was wrought with all set-up and no pay-off. And we are still mad at the show for that.

Women got the right to vote in this episode, but Nucky had trouble getting an influential woman to vote for his guy in the election for mayor (Bader). Van Alden told Margaret off about her relationship with Nucky, and then he went to find Lucy, who slept with him, of course. Then, like most men who have slept with Lucy, he hated himself afterward. Margaret told Nucky that Harrow was scaring her children. Well Margaret, your children suck, because Harrow is awesome. Harrow donned his mask and charmed the children, so Margaret had to admit that she was wrong about the new protector. Margaret also had a problem with Nucky’s gangster ways, and he tried to tell her that his job was “overseeing,” rather than "cheating, making backdoor deals, and rigging elections". To support her man, she gave a great speech supportive of Bader, but then she caught sight of Nucky manipulating people to get power, as usual. After all was said and done this episode, Margaret is starting to believe that Van Alden is right about her and that Nucky is not the right kind of man for a good woman. Mickey Doyle told Nucky all about Rothstein’s operation. Nucky got Chalky to kidnap and beat the D’Alessios and Meye Lansky. Only Lansky survived, because Chalky got revenge for the death of his driver. Jimmy and Angela’s relationship had improved until Tommy told Jimmy that Robert Dittrich was “Mommy’s kissing friend.” Jimmy beat the poor boy in the crowded boardwalk and gave Angela a good look at his violent side. Mary invited Angela and Tommy to Paris to escape Jimmy. Al Capone is still in Chicago, acting a fool and going to a bar mitzvah where he heard some words of wisdom.

Episode grade: B+

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

Boardwalk Empire - Hold Me In Paradise review/recap

Going into this episode, this show was on its last leg with us. It had no central story arc, no suspense, its characters were everywhere, and its quality was yo-yoing. We also think it needs to find its focus, figure out who its good characters are, and figure out what kind of show it is. We are not the only ones who feel this way. Its ratings have dropped by a couple million and many are losing patience with its focus on sex, nudity, and love over ACTUAL MOB ACTIVITIES AND WHACKINGS. Jeez. But finally, Nucky and Jimmy are back together, we have a “team,” and everything is starting to fall into place. There are only a few episodes left in this season, so if you have been watching, now is not the time to quit. If you already quit, just read this recap and start up next week, because it’s all starting to go down. We would call this episode the set-up. We suggest that you give it one or two more episodes if you are ready to move on. You should have dropped out around episode four, not this one.

Nucky left the boardwalk to go to the Republican National Convention in Chicago, where he made an alliance with Warren Harding’s campaign manager, Harry Daugherty. Warren Harding was pretty much the worst, most useless president ever. Way to go, Nucky. Nucky helped the campaign by allowing Harding’s mistress and illegitimate child to hide in Atlantic City until Harding won the election, and Nucky, in turn, received paved roads. Most of this Republican convention stuff was pretty boring and talky to us, but the rest of the episode redeemed it.

Lucy showed up at the Ritz lobby where Margaret was having lunch with a friend. Lucy drunkenly demanded credit at the lingerie store, her plastic surgery-butchered face squinty and flapping annoyingly. They fought (we loved when Margaret tried to simply politely suggest that Lucy wasn’t at her best at the moment), and Margaret slapped Lucy, winning the fight.

Nucky’s brother, Sheriff Eli, tried to do Nucky’s job in Nucky’s absence, but he’s pathetic and slimy and couldn’t really pull it off. Eli was shot at one of Nucky’s casinos, signaling to Nucky that the mob business was getting rougher and that he needed to get scary. After learning the bad news, Nucky went to the Chicago brothel we always see and ran into Jimmy. Nucky offered Jimmy a job and opportunity to return to Atlantic City, which Jimmy accepted. His awesome friend, Richard Harrow, is also in on this deal. So is Margaret, apparently. Nucky phoned her and told her to hide his business ledger, saying “Until I return, I prefer to rely only on you.” He told her not to read the ledger. He also had her move into the hotel, which is the equivalent of his Bat Cave. Margaret moved into Nucky’s lair, found the ledger, and was interrupted by a phone call with lots of breathing on it. Who is the person most likely to call someone and breathe creepily? Hint: His last name is a two-parter, starting with “V” and “A.” That is unconfirmed though. That's just a suspicion. Margaret read the ledger.

Agent Van Alden experience conflict with his wife over whether she should get an operation that might enable her to have children. She wanted it, and he told her that he didn’t. Rather, he couldn’t afford it. Van Alden intercepted envelopes of money that Jimmy was sending to Angela, tempted to use it for his wife’s operation. In the end, he sent it to Angela. He also sent Rose a holier-than-thou rebuke letter. Rothstein, Nucky’s rival, and his lawyer rehearsed what Rothstein would say regarding him fixing the World Series.

We’re glad this show has stopped meandering and just parading its prettiness before our eyes. Thanks for the set-up, now we want some delivery. The show still has a good cast and it’s perfect for history buffs who want to see historical figures interact with fictional ones. If you enjoyed the pilot, don't back off now.

Episode Grade: B

Also, happy 200th post to us :)

Boardwalk Empire- Home review/recap

Our wish list for this show:
More whackings
More character development (and not the “he was abused as a child” stuff. Lame ploy for sympathy.)
More intensity
Better dialogue (they’ve got the speeches down though)
Less lovey-dovey (including lesbian love scenes)
More plotting
Less predictability
Quicker pacing (at least for some episodes)
More memorable moments

In this episode of Boardwalk Empire, we saw Nucky and Eli’s mean, old drunk of a father, who was taken to the hospital. Nucky gave the house to a man with a family, and he fixed it up for him. Awww, how nice. But then Nucky just burns it down in the end. We find out through a few flashbacks and a speech to Margaret what Nucky went through as a child.

In Chicago, Jimmy went to a veteran’s hospital to have his leg looked at, because it was aching. He met a veteran with one eye, and he was sufficiently creepy and delivered a nice downer of a monologue. We liked it. Jimmy bought him a night with a ho at the brothel, and the one-eyed man helped Jimmy kill the guy who cut up his favorite ho. Oh yeah, and Angela is gay. That's pretty much all that happened in this episode. A whole hour condensed to two paragraphs. The Jimmy side of the story is more interesting than Nucky's. Why can't this show be about Jimmy?

This episode was alright. Meh. This show is getting more and more disappointing after the first couple of episodes. Where is it going? What does it want to say? Who is the character to which we are supposed to feel connected? This show is getting a somber, self-satisfied tone that we don’t appreciate, and now it’s made Nucky a pitiable victim rather than a tough gangster that we both love and fear. Do we need to get Scorsese back to save this slowly sinking ship? Because it still has a whole load of potential to be our favorite show.

Episode grade: C

Boardwalk Empire- Family Limitation review/recap

When we settled down to watch this episode, we thought, “This show needs to be about the mob, stat.” We are done with the widow. We are done with ho’s getting cut up. We are tired of Jimmy and Al Capone doing NOTHING in Chicago. Fortunately, this episode delivered some mob action, complete with a few whackings. Now that’s the stuff.

As the episode opened, Nucky’s bagman was killed by someone from the D’Alessio mob. Nucky later suspected Lucky Luciano. Jimmy and Al sat down with Sheridan to negotiate territory, but on the way out, they shot all of Sheridan’s men. We guess that they are going to get all the territory now. Good. About time they did something. Also, it impressed another gangster, Johnny Torrio, that we guess they want to get in with. That’s what Sheridan and his men get for cutting up Jimmy’s ho. Jimmy and Al Capone aren’t exactly getting along swimmingly. Jimmy let Al know that he doesn’t believe Al’s World War I stories, and Al Capone’s family problems are affecting his partnership with Jimmy.

Yes, there was some romance drama, but it moved quickly. We saw Nucky and Lucy in bed after sex. Nucky seemed completely not into her, and she was being her usual stupid, chattering self. Then she clawed him and explained, “I’m being a little tiger cub.” Nucky was turned off. Dear Lucy, rough stuff is sometimes acceptable DURING sex, not after when you are acting like a three-year-old. As for Nucky’s second woman, the widow Margaret, Nucky offered her a new place to live, financial security, and his thin, lizardy body whenever he so chooses. Uhhh, good for her? She accepted and moved out of her crummy neighborhood.

After telling Nose-Job Lucy off at the dress shop ("Maybe your cunny isn't quite the draw you think it is."), she quit her job, and we said, “BURN.” Nice one, Margaret. We wanted to see a Lucy freak-out when Lucy found out that Nucky is having sex with Margaret. But it seems like she already knows and is taking it better than we had hoped. She’s just being clingy. Sadly for Margaret, she learned that she lives in a building of other “concubines.” We know that Margaret was a formerly moral woman with a lot of pride, and we don’t think she is going to handle being Nucky’s bought-and-paid-for call girl for long. We are happy about that. Throughout this episode, we were sad that Margaret is the show’s example of a “smart girl” and a classy woman. Why is the TV definition of a strong woman someone who sleeps around? Why is that sexual liberation? Everyone knows, in real life, that most women who sleep around are totally insecure/have daddy issues. But whatever. At least she’s better than Lucy (who we secretly like, because she is great comic relief).

Agent Van Alden found out that Margaret is living as Nucky’s concubine now. Through immigration records, he also found out that she left Ireland at 16, and she was pregnant and miscarried at the time. We didn’t pick up on this earlier, but now it’s pretty clear that Agent Van Alden has a really creepy crush on Margaret which could make things interesting. He looked at her picture and whipped himself with a knotted belt, and the camera gave us a view of his back covered in old scars. Uhhhh, we’re girls, so we aren’t experts at how guys pleasure themselves, but we are pretty sure Agent Van Alden is doing it wrong. What a serious creeper.

Also, Gillian (Jimmy’s mom) and Lucky Luciano (not to be mistaken with Nucky, haha) were having sex too. Lucky thought it was Jimmy’s wife, but Rothstein corrected that assumption. Out of all the women, we are most impressed with Gillian, whose confidence, brains, and good nature seem to light up every scene she is in. Lucky looked like he was digging a hole with a sledgehammer. That seriously had to be one of the funniest-looking sex scenes we’ve ever seen, and HBO topped it off with a penis shot. Hey, at least they are equal-opportunity nudity show-ers. Girls show you theirs, then guys have to reciprocate. That’s feminism, we guess. When Lucky insulted Gillian, Nucky about had his head off. It seems like Gillian is actually a woman that Nucky genuinely respects. Maybe SHE is Nucky’s true love? Naw, she’s too good for him.

What this show needs now is some honest-to-goodness tension. We want to worry about someone or something. We want something to be at risk. We want a central plot arc that doesn't involve love. This show can't be a must-see unless its story catches up with its acting and filmmaking quality. If they need to stick close to history, then they have to give us some great plot arcs with supporting, made-up characters that we care about/they can take more liberties with.

Episode grade: B+

Last Night's Dexter and Boardwalk Empire-- some thoughts

Dexter - Beauty and the Beast reviewWe LOVE Julia Stiles’ character on Dexter already. She is tough, pretty smart, and interesting. We think her storyline with Dexter is obviously the most intriguing one, and we are excited about where it is going. We loved how it took her so long to trust Dexter, how she escaped, and how she cut him with the knife. We loved that she trusts him now, and we hope it lasts. At the end of the episode, after Dexter gained her trust, Stiles’ character said something like, “Boyd wasn’t the only one who did this to me. There were others. It’s not over.” At first, we wondered if she was just insane, but now we think this means that there is a gang of Big Bads for Dexter to protect Stiles from. Sounds good. We’ve never had him take down a gang of killers before. This show is always in danger of repetitive plots, but it does a good job of dodging that pitfall.

We are liking Deb more and more this season, and the new nanny is becoming less creepy. We liked how Dexter got her back after letting her down. We are pretty sure she will pose problems later though. It seems like there is more to her.

We like that Jonah Mitchell protected Dexter, probably because Dexter saved him from the dad. That’s gratitude. We thought Dexter had done well with that kid, and we are glad to see him rewarded for his trouble.

Beefs: We are impressed with Stiles’ character and possibilities, but we are less excited by her name: Lumen. Ew. It reminds us of the word “hymen.” LaGuerta and Batista are getting boring, and we don’t actually CARE if Batista goes to jail. He beat up a cop. He deserves it. The show needs better supporting players than these two characters. Quinn is no Doakes, and he should stop trying. We actually like him with Deb though.

Episode grade: A-

Boardwalk Empire - Nights in Ballygran review
Halfway through this episode of Boardwalk Empire, we asked ourselves: is anything going to happen in this show? Is a plot arc going to open up? Are we going to feel some suspense? Are Nucky and the widow ever going to hook up? We felt this way mostly because Jimmy didn’t do anything to the person responsible for cutting up his ho. We expected some retaliation. He could have brought Capone with him on this venture. Instead, most of the episode found him lolling about with the now-ugly, drunkard ho, and she killed herself in the end. It WAS sweet to see the side of Jimmy that would stick around to take care of a sick girl that he liked.

But Margaret saved the episode by taking action regarding her crush on Nucky. Her stealing of the lingerie last episode seems to have been a foreshadowing of her new attitude. She is going to take what she wants, including, possibly, a new life with Nucky. Hold back your disbelief that anyone would find him that attractive and go with it. Margaret baked him bread. That didn’t work. Margaret tried to get him to help her with the temperance league. That didn’t work. So Margaret ratted Nucky out to Van Alden for moving green beer for St. Patrick’s Day. That worked. We expected the show to drag out this will-they-won’t-they thing for the whole season. To our shock, at the end of the episode, Nucky went to Margaret’s house and kissed her. We thought he was just going to tell her off for ruining his night and getting his businessman arrested. We thought he was going to walk off in a huff after whining to her. We were pleasantly surprised. Now we just want Lucy to find out. Hopefully that’s as hilarious as we want it to be.

Now what we want from this show is a good bromance. We thought Jimmy and Nucky were going to be it, but then Jimmy went to Chicago. We want to see more gangster activity, more scheming, and more of that aspect of the show. We saw that in the first couple of episodes, but the last two have abandoned those plots in favor of the love stories. We don’t know where the show is taking things, but the visuals are still good. We liked the scene with Eli and the rest of the Irishmen, where he gave his Irish speech.

Episode grade: C+

Boardwalk Empire- Anastasia review/recap

What was this, the love episode? Our harsh gangster show turned into a fairyland of jealousies, princesses, and widows. Ughh. Shoot someone. We watch Grey’s Anatomy for the love fests. This episode set up a bunch of things, but it was slower than previous episodes. It also focused too much on romance and the KKK. We thought it was a little heavy handed with both things.

In this episode, Nucky got closer to the widow he is crushing on, Margaret Schroeder, at his surprise birthday party that he knew all about. He was stressed about it, and it was a little alarming to see that unhinged side of him. Nucky’s hilarious dumb girl, Lucy, popped out of a cake, looking slutty. But Nucky only had eyes for Margaret, with whom he had just shared a dance. Sadly, Lucy didn’t see Nucky dance with Margaret, so we missed an opportunity for an epic freak out. This episode established the difference between Lucy and Margaret, as if we didn’t already know. It showed them both discussing a woman’s right to vote. Lucy didn’t know what they were talking about, and Margaret had an opinion. We guess it’s about time the show advanced the widow/Nucky dynamic, but it just seemed like too much focus on the love triangle for our tastes. Especially when Steve Buscemi is such an uggo. We were much more interested in the part where Margaret stole a lingerie from the dress shop where she works after seeing Lucy and Nucky strolling together on the boardwalk. We were sad that she has stopped so low as to steal, but we also wanted to cheer a little, because Margaret deserves that lingerie.

The episode also focused on the dynamic between Jimmy and Al Capone, telling us what we already know: that Al Capone is a jerk, and he will spell trouble for Jimmy. We were never fans of Capone, but we’re liking him even less after his…ahem…antisocial behavior this episode. (That poor Greek guy!) We hate him almost as much as we hate Lucy. But we love to hate Lucy, so keep her around, we say. She’s really good at her part. Al Capone and Jimmy were trying to get into the mob in Chicago. They made a deal with Charlie Sheridan, but they didn’t exactly make friends with him. So Sheridan knifed this pretty hooker Jimmy slept with, ruining her looks and making Jimmy sad. Great, there’s another thing that Jimmy can feel guilty about.

Nucky sent his brother to find out who lynched the black guy last episode, so Eli went to a KKK meeting. Of course, the show took the opportunity to have the speaker at the meeting mention that they were Christians, because, if you are in TV, you can’t miss an opportunity to point out that Christians in history were baaaaad, can you? This show also makes a point in every episode that people in the 1920s were racist. We know already. Anyway, Eli arrested the KKK leader and Chalky White questioned/tortured him after giving a mildly intriguing monologue. The KKK wasn’t responsible. So why did the episode spend so much time on this? Who knows. Character development of Chalky, maybe.

The episode ended with a shot of a boardwalk building with the words “GAIETY!” and “FROLIC!” on it. We wish buildings still had these words on them.

Episode Grade: C+

Boardwalk Empire- Broadway Limited review/recap

Agent Van Alden suspected that Jimmy killed the men in the woods (in the pilot). There was one last survivor, who appeared at the end of last episode, and Agent Van Alden was aiming to question him. Elias Thompson tried to smother the fat, dying witness with a pillow in a spectacular, sickly funny scene. You know that’s how smothering someone with a pillow would really god down. Most movies and TV make it seem nice, neat, and quick. Agent Van Alden tricked Elias’ guards by saying that he had a “writ of certiorari” to take the witness. Alarm bells immediately went off in our heads. Thank you law school. He tried to take the witness to New York, but he had to make a stop because the witness was dying. Agent Van Alden hauled the witness into a dentist’s office, where the dentist shot him with cocaine and Agent Van Alden mildly tortured him into naming Jimmy as one of the men in the woods.

In this episode, we met Chalky White, who now runs a bootleg distillery for Nucky. One of Chalky’s men was hung outside the distillery, and Nucky agreed to split the profits 50-50 if Chalky wouldn’t make a fuss about the murder, because it’s an election year. Nucky doesn’t need a race war during an election year.

Nucky got the widow Margaret a job dressing rich ladies in a French clothing store. Nucky’s girlfriend stopped by, and Margaret had to help her out. Lucy looks like she’s had some work done in the face, and her voice betrays her possibly intentional idiocy immediately. She has a GREAT body though. Holy moly. The girlfriend, Lucy, informed Margaret that Nucky got her the job because he’s “a soft touch for charity cases.” We know from an earlier episode that Margaret has a touch of pride when it comes to taking charity, preferring getting work to getting money from Nucky. We don’t know what her problem is, because everyone needs help once in a while, but we hate Lucy for needling her about it. Lucy asked Nucky if he wanted to have a child with her, and he put the issue off until later (meaning, “No, you’re dumb as a rock, and I don’t want you raising my children”). We really hope Nucky dumps her for Margaret. That'd show her.

Jimmy’s mother told Nucky that she had trusted him to be a role model to Jimmy and help him. She also wanted Jimmy to go to college, but then he went to war and took a job from Nucky, and now he is a shell of himself. Nucky told Jimmy that he had to leave Atlantic City/that he was done there. Jimmy suspected his girlfriend of cheating on him with her photographer friend while Jimmy was at war, so it made leaving her and his son easier. We’re not that sad for her, because early in the episode, when Jimmy started talking about guns they used in the war and opening up about that subject, she got annoyed and said, “We used to talk about books.” The guy is hurting, ok? Let him talk about what he wants. We sort of hope they patch up their relationship though, because their kid is adorable. We really like Jimmy’s mom. She’s pretty, interesting, strong, and she seems really smart.

We would call this the most accessible episode so far. Everything is set up for us to see the characters interact, fight, and mob around. It probably ran the smoothest of the episodes. While it was not as visually exciting as the pilot, we think it was the easiest episode to watch and follow. We also enjoyed the song about how a guy likes dumb girls. Delightful. And we aren’t being sarcastic; that song was funny, a little true, and catchy. This show continues to impress and entertain.

Episode grade- B+

Ern's Five Favorite New Shows

Leeard needs a little more time to decide (three episodes instead of one or two), but Ern is pretty sure that these are the five shows worthy of viewing, if the genre is your taste, of course. Neither Leeard nor Ern really have genre biases. We like guy shows, girl shows, sci-fi, history, fantasy, teen stuff, soapy stuff, mysteries, violence, medical shows, legal shows, satire, comedies, and more. Here is Ern's list pulled from all the new shows that are still on air. Lone Star would have made the list, but the network drones took it off after two episodes.

1. Boardwalk Empire - This should come as no surprise, due to the quality, acting, history, characters, and story. It makes us feel like we've been watching this show for years. It plopped us right into Chicago mobster history with style, a little family drama, humor, and brutality. It's unpretentious for an HBO show and easy to watch, but it's not stupid.

2. Blue Bloods - Ern doesn't usually flock to cop shows, but this one pulled her in immediately. There is family drama, a secret organization of cops who act more like vigilantes, a "dirty" cop who you kind of root for, an overarching murder mystery, and, so far, interesting cases. There's really nothing else on Friday nights, so there's really no reason to skip this cop drama. Plus, it has Len Cariou in it. He's the really old guy with white hair. Broadway nerds will remember that Len Cariou was the original Sweeney Todd with Angela Lansbury. His voice is so great that when we watch the Johnny Depp Sweeney Todd, we watch it with Len Cariou on our ipods and mute the TV during the songs. Just hear for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Kt5PsyEMWk&feature=related He's the guy who talks first and sings second (the one who doesn't sound like a creepy old man) We love that this talented old-timer is still kickin and making shows.

3) No Ordinary Family- This show was surprisingly fun, and it's good for the whole family to watch. The pacing made it easy to stick with, but it wasn't infantilizing. We hope this one can find an audience and stick around.

4) The Event- So far, this show is one of the best because we don't want to stop watching it. It's exciting, we think it's going to start focusing more on character development, and we like a high-concept show. It could get bad, like Flashforward did. But for now, it's one of the most promising new shows.

5) The Defenders- This is sort of the best by default because Ern wasn't impressed by most of the new shows. But it's a perfectly solid and fun legal drama for people who like to see laughs and twists in the courtroom.

Honorable mention: The Big C. This show is more of a comedy than Ern's other favorites, and it didn't make the top five, because it really started in the late summer. It's hard to call it "a new fun show," but it's too good not to mention it. It's light and breezy, yet respectful and true to the pain a cancer diagnosis can bring. We love the crazy main character, her precocious student (played by Precious' Gabourey Sidibe), and the main character's voluntarily homeless brother.

One to give more time to: We think that if it gets off of its "sex sells" gimmick and starts giving us smarter stories, Nikita could someday be a good show. For now, it's not as exciting or cohesive as it needs to be, but it's one Ern is keeping an eye on.

Ern's bottom five: My Generation, Chase, Detroit 1-8-7, Undercovers, Hellcats (just rent Bring It On, people; it's way better)

Boardwalk Empire- The Ivory Tower review

Short recap: Agent Nelson Van Auden suspected that Nucky pinned last week’s murders on the dead drunken husband, because it’s just too convenient. Agent Auden visited Nucky, who freaked a little bit, and got his brother, Sheriff Elias Thompson, to help with the situation. He also takes it out on Jimmy a little. Nucky met with Margaret (the new widow), who needs help providing for her adorable kids. Nucky and his mentor, Louis Kaestner think about the upcoming election after Al Capone beats a Chicago reporter.

Comments for those who watched it:
-This show is taking opportunities to show how racist people were in the 20s. In the pilot, the show-makers gleefully gave us white men in blackface playing trumpets, as well as an Anti-Semitic pamphlet and a few other hints at racism. In this episode, Jimmy bypassed a KKK recruiter. We wonder if the show is building up to a plot with this theme, trying to be true to history, or getting a kick out of showing racist things because it can (because it is historical).
-Dear Jimmy’s kid: Don’t be sad, we were scared of vacuums when we were kids too.

-Dear Jimmy’s wife: Don’t get naked, let your husband rub all over you, make out with him, and then say you don’t want to have sex right now. That’s just cruel.
-The guy who made the professional thing-swallower guy choke on a large cue ball on purpose is a jerk, but that was kind of a funny story. We hope it isn’t true.
-Jimmy, we are glad you aren’t cheating, but way to wait a month before you visit your mother.

This episode showed that this new series wasn’t all about its flashy, Scorsese-directed pilot. It is still shaping up to be a fun, interesting mob history piece. Stay tuned.

Episode Grade- B

New shows- Not original enough?

The Event features mysterious visitors and is trying to be the next LOST.
Nikita is a remake.
Better with You is from a Friends writer and has a laugh track.
The premise of Raising Hope (a single young man having to raise a child) isn't groundbreaking.
The same goes for Running Wilde. (Liberal vs. conservative love premise)

Call us pessimists, but when watching this fall's crop of new shows, we kept thinking, "Have we seen this show before?" It feels like many of the new shows exist to replace old ones. Are we missing something unique or weird about a show? We've been pretty underwhelmed with the ideas for new shows lately.

We suppose Lone Star and Boardwalk Empire are pretty original. But we expect nothing less from HBO, and Lone Star will get canceled if its numbers don't improve.

We know original ideas only carry a show so far, and the real test is whether it's carried out well. But having a premise that is interesting and good to work with can help writers. Is it just us? Are we wrong? How do you feel about the new shows this season?

Boardwalk Empire Pilot review

Every time this blogger tries to study, the TV gods put something else on that’s good. Boardwalk Empire is going to earn this blogger a D in business entities, guaranteed.

We were nervous about this one because, frankly, leading actor Steve Buscemi is an uggo. We like someone nice to look at when it comes to TV. But he IS a good actor, and we really like him in this part. We were also nervous because one of us is still mad at pilot director Scorsese for Shutter Island. That movie’s ending was a cop-out, and the whole thing made one of us feel icky the whole day after it. We weren't that interested in Boardwalk Empire's subject either. But this show is a lot of fun. It's like a classy, nice-to-look-at Goodfellas in the 20s. Why is it on Sunday nights? It’s just going to make this blogger want to drink and dance. And this blogger never wants to dance.

This series is about a man who profits from getting people liquor during Prohibition (which was one of the top ten stupidest government ideas of all time, easy). We are history nerds, and we love period pieces. This blogger particularly loves this era’s clothing and music. It’s nice to see all that in a series. We hope it pays off so it doesn’t get cancelled like Rome for being too expensive.

The main character, Nucky (Buscemi), is all for prohibition, because it is going to make him rich. He even spoke at a meeting of the “Women’s Temperance League,” where the women seemed to be swooning over Nucky. Their motto was “Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine.” Funny, our motto is “Steve Buscemi’s lips shall never touch mine.” But enough about how unattractive poor Steve is. His character, Nucky, is about the nicest gangster we’ve seen in a while. He goes to great lengths to help a pregnant woman with an abusive husband (even if one of the ways he helps her is by having the husband whacked). The other main character is a young guy named Jimmy who is played by one of the actors who creeped us out in the horror movie Funny Games. Jimmy has a wife and a cute kid, but plenty of demons from serving in the military/war. Jimmy’s goal is for Nucky to give him more credit and responsibility. He hangs out with a young Al Capone, believes he is going to hell for how he acted in the war, and most of this plot relies on questioning Jimmy’s loyalty to Nucky.

It being on HBO, there is a lot of violence, gore, sex, and the F word appears not five minutes in, so our young or discerning viewers should steer clear. This show was devilishly funny in bits. The pilot episode had more of a plot than most HBO shows’ whole seasons. There are a few surprises we won’t give away. Also, they played Enrico Caruso in a stretch where people were getting whacked, which always earns points with us.

Not yet good enough to GET HBO if you don’t have it, but it could reach that level. We expect this show to sweep the Emmy Awards next year. This is the best pilot in a long time. Looking forward to next week’s show.

Episode grade- A