Atlantic City, 1921. In a city whose fortunes have soared in the wake of Prohibition, Nucky Thompson is paying a steep price for wielding ultimate power in the world's playground. Steve Buscemi returns as Nucky in Season 2 of this hit HBO drama series that follows the continued rise of organized crime at the dawn of Prohibition. Though the 1920 election he successfully rigged is over, Nucky finds himself the target of a federal investigation for vote tampering--and an insurrection by those he counted among his closest allies. All the while, top mobsters like Arnold... Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Al Capone wait in the wings, looking for the chance to grab a bigger piece of Nucky's pie. Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Shannon co-star. [show more]
It feels good to be back in Atlantic City with Boardwalk Empire's second season - even if that positive sentiment is unlikely to be shared by many of the show's central characters. After all, season one ended with both the brother and surrogate son of gangster-kingpin Nucky Thompson conspiring to lead a secret rebellion against him, at the same time as the authorities began to close in on him for election fraud, and a gang war was continuing to brew between Nucky's crew and the gangs of Chicago. And that's not to mention the show's other dark turns (including prohibition agent Van Alden descending into murky moral areas through murder and marital infidelity) and deep-seated psychological angst (including Jimmy Darmody's increasing awareness of how his mother was abused by the men in her life).
So where can the show go from there?
The answer, it seems, is even darker and even deeper. Because Boardwalk Empire season two manages to add even more depth and shade to its characters, pushing them all into ever-more-difficult circumstances whilst continuing to plough forwards with the larger narrative surrounding the gangsters, politicians and law-enforcers who battle to keep control of Atlantic City and Chicago during the heyday of prohibition.
But despite the added complexity that's inevitable with the second year of an ensemble show like this one, the sophomore season of Boardwalk Empire somehow feels like it gives us even more of an "origin story" for the show than the first. That's possibly because the writers feel more comfortable in stepping away from the day-to-day affairs of Nucky, his friends and his enemies, instead focusing in greater detail on the characters themselves. So, we get a much more detailed look at Margaret's Irish family; we learn more about Jimmy's upbringing and his wartime experiences; we see Nucky put in positions where he's no longer the most powerful player in the room and has to really fight to survive; and we witness Van Alden's incremental corruption as his past sins conspire to find him out.
Yes, by the end of this season, you'll feel like you have a much fuller understanding of all the characters of Boardwalk Empire and how they relate to each other, including relatively minor players like Chalky White (who is one of those characters that I wish we saw more of in this show) and the burgeoning criminal activities of Al Capone (who's another).
However, my one criticism of the show is that there's a nagging feeling that all of this extra depth comes at the expense of a truly compelling central plot. Rather than hanging everything off a relatively central core storyline (as in the first season) we get lots of intersecting subplots, most of which take several episodes to play out in their entirety - and even then they only lead to more intrigue and backstabbing, rather than getting a truly satisfying payoff. It's a sophisticated web of storytelling, certainly, but it's missing a little of the visceral thrill that made the first season so enjoyable.
That said, perhaps it's unfair to hold season two of Boardwalk Empire to the extremely high standards of the first, because I'm not sure anything could really top what the show achieved in its first year. And to give the series its dues, the final episodes of this season do in fact manage to pull off some genuinely daring and unexpected developments, with certain characters rising in prominence at the same time as others are shuffled off the stage (and I'll say no more than that to avoid spoiling the shocks and twists). I just occasionally wish there was something a little more substantial and fast-moving to get your teeth into. Perhaps that will come in season three.
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Please note this is a region 2 DVD and will require a region 2 (Europe) or region Free DVD Player in order to play. Atlantic City, 1921. In a city whose fortunes have soared in the wake of Prohibition, Nucky Thompson is paying a steep price for wielding ultimate power in "the world's playground." Steve Buscemi returns as Nucky in Season 2 of this hit HBO drama series that follows the continued rise of organized crime at the dawn of Prohibition. Though the 1920 election he successfully rigged is over, Nucky finds himself the target of a federal investigation for vote tampering--and an insurrection by those he counted among his closest allies. All the while, top mobsters like Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky and Al Capone wait in the wings, looking for the chance to grab a bigger piece of Nucky's pie. Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald and Michael Shannon co-star. Actors Steve Buscemi, Michael Pitt, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whigham, Aleksa Palladino, Michael Stuhlbarg, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Paz de la Huerta & Michael K. Williams Certificate 18 years and over Year 2011 Screen 1.78:1 Anamorphic Languages English
All 12 episodes from the second season of the Golden Globe-winning HBO period drama set during the 1920s Prohibition era. Atlantic County Treasurer Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson (Steve Buscemi) sets up a bootlegging business, hoping to get rich. As he progresses in his venture he crosses paths with politicians and mobsters alike but his lavish lifestyle soon leads the federal government to grow suspicious of his activities. In this series, Nucky's position of power is threatened by his former employee, Jimmy (Michael Pitt), his brother, Eli (Shea Whigham), and his predecessor, Commodore Louis Kaestner (Dabney Coleman), who formulate a plot to bring him down. The episodes comprise: '21', 'Ourselves Alone', 'A Dangerous Mind', 'What Does the Bee Do?', 'Gimcrack and Bunkum', 'The Age of Reason', 'Peg of Old', 'Two Boats and a Lifeguard', 'Battle of the Century', 'Georgia Peaches', 'Under God's Power She Flourishes' and 'To the Lost'.
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