Review – Boardwalk Empire

Boardwalk Empire – HBO – 9:00pm Sunday – USA

Here’s the one word review of Boardwalk Empire: Brilliant. The Martin Scorsese directed, Terence Winter written, HBO produced epic set in prohibition era Atlantic City starring Steve Buscemi is every bit the masterpiece you would expect from talent of that calibre. In all honesty you are going to have a hard time finding a better hour of television this year than the first episode of Boardwalk Empire. Don’t get me wrong, there have been some fantastic episodes of television in 2010 but there hasn’t been anything of the scale of Boardwalk Empire and that’s what sets this apart from other class acts.

Prohibition has just come into effect and that means the big business to be a part of is the illegal booze racket. Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi) is the Treasurer of Atlantic City and he’s got a plan to keep the city’s liquor flowing which he sets into motion over a boisterous dinner with the city’s finest, from the mayor, to Nucky’s brother Eli who just happens to be the chief of police. Everybody’s on the take because everybody loves a drink and everybody loves money. “But what about the Feds?” Somebody asks. “Dog catchers with badges,” Nucky dismisses them, “No offense to dog catchers.”

Nucky is a man on both sides of the law, but he isn’t a soulless asshole by any means. He’s a savvy chap who knows how to make money, is no stranger to corruption and he could have you killed if that’s what’s necessary, but he’s also the kind of guy who’s going to take pity on a battered woman he’s only just met, or forgive a close friend and colleague who does wrong by him. Steve Buscemi is Steve Buscemi and it’s fantastic to have him on television in such a complicated and fascinating role. He’s surrounded by a trove of wonderful actors including Michael Pitt as Nucky’s driver Jimmy, Kelly Macdonald as the battered woman Margaret, Michael Shannon as Agent Van Alden, and Stephen Graham who was brilliant in This Is England as a young Al Capone. Oh, and how could I forget the tiny but notable appearance of Michael Kenneth Williams, otherwise known as Omar from The Wire.

What’s fantastic about this first episode is that not only is the world fully formed and created but nearly every major player is already established in our minds by episode’s end. We know who these people are, and we seem to have some grasp as to what they’re about. That’s difficult for some shows to pull off after a season, but to have that already there after the first hour is just masterful. It’s a testament to the writing of Winter and the direction of Scorsese that even with all these fantastic sets, and the lavish production values, that some of the most riveting scenes in the first episode were nothing more than a bunch of guys sitting around having dinner and talking ‘business’.

Oh, but those sets. The sets are absolutely fantastic; this is one of the best looking series ever to air on television. Spectacular. Superb. Stupendous. Other words that essentially mean the same thing. Television has on occasion looked this good before, but it’s rarely looked this BIG. There are seemingly hundreds of extras that fill out even the less important scenes. Every single cent that has been spent on this show can be seen up there on the screen in every single frame. Winter & Scorsese have done the one thing you ask from any television show, they’ve created a living breathing world that you can’t wait to visit again.

Making a show this good is cheating on HBO’s part really; they have the money to splash out on these epic productions. It almost feels like when you call something like this ‘one of the best shows you’ll see all year’ that you need to put an asterisk next to the title. They’re working with performance enhancers. Of course HBO are going to make something that looks fantastic, but what about the shows that deliver brilliant television on a shoestring, it feels bad lavishing praise on Boardwalk Empire when this episode cost, by my rough estimates, about 7 times as much as a single episode of Mad Men. You could fund two whole series of Rubicon sized shows for the money spent on this pilot. That’s not the point of course, HBO and everybody involved, have brought their A game and it shows. This is television at its best, and really, we as an audience are ridiculously spoiled for choice at the moment, what with Boardwalk Empire, and new episodes of Mad Men, Rubicon and Sons Of Anarchy all appearing within the same 24 hour space. It’s a good time to love television, and Boardwalk Empire just gives us one more reason to do so.

Good, Alright, Bad Or Ugly?
Good