Boardwalk Empire S02E05

"You'll get me into trouble..."

This week's episode, written by Howard Korder and directed by series vet Tim Van Patten, elevated the 'Empire' game. While we've been building on character nuances from the get-go, elements are starting to fall into place, the action is amping up in a big way and Heather Lind's boobs made their spectacular entrance. The result? Chatter for the water cooler for the 'boysie' show that is gradually developing a greater female focus.

Boardwalk Empire returned for a second series boasting a clutch of awards but also some critical opprobrium. The show's creator Terence Winter remains understandably sanguine. "You can drive yourself insane reading reviews whether people like the show or hate it," he told the Independent. "We've had everything from the highest praise to people just trashing the show but we've also had an embarrassment of awards, which bears out what we're doing."


Winter feels that perceived problems were in part caused by the difference between the show he is creating and that which audiences expected to see. "I think when you see a poster and it says directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Terence Winter of The Sopranos then you expect a certain type of show, you automatically think gangsters," he says. "And that's reasonable but the story we're telling here isn't just a gangster's tale. To me violence is meaningless if it's simply killing for killing's sake. If you're not interested in human emotions and dynamics between people then maybe Boardwalk Empire is not your type of show. It's not aspiring to be a slam-bang action fest."

Yet there are issues surround the show's depiction of female characters, who last season came in only two sizes: Madonna or Whore. Winter remains bullish about suggestions that his women come a poor second – "I'm not interested in writing an alternate reality just to make people feel comfortable... in rewriting history to suggest these women had a power that they didn't," he says – but the problem isn't so one of power or the lack of it so much as it is of screentime or even reaction shots.

When the show's most problematic character, former showgirl, Lucy Danziger (played by Paz de la Huerta) is on screen we are rarely allowed to know how she feels, instead our reactions to her are entirely filtered through the male gaze, whether that of Nucky or repressed Federal Prohibition Agent Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon). It's arguable that this issue is partially due to de la Huerta's opaque performance but it's also the case that while we have no idea how Lucy feels about being pregnant, we're well aware of Van Alden's on-going battle to square that pregnancy with his conscience.

It's a criticism with which Kelly Macdonald who plays the widowed Margaret Schroeder partially agrees. "I get the concerns about the treatment of women," she says. "I think it's a very boysie show... but there is more for the female characters this year, last year was more about the men, it wasn't good or bad, it's just what it was. This year there's more of a concentration on the family, we see more of the character's personal lives."

Winter agrees that this season will have more of a family focus. "We get a chance to broaden and go deeper into our female characters lives, it's a function of where the stories are taking us," he says." We learn more about Margaret's background, spend time with Lucy... We have a new character called Esther Randolph played by Julianne Nicholson who is based on a real historical figure, a woman who was the assistant attorney general during the 1920s. When we get to these women's stories then I'll be writing them to the best of my ability."

Television Series: Boardwalk Empire (S02E05- Gimcrack & Bunkum)
Release Date: October 2011
Actress: Heather Lind
Video Clip Credit: DeepAtSea










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