Boardwalk Empire: The North Star – Bittersweet Reunions

**Possible Spoilers**

The 6th episode of this season of Boardwalk Empire, as the title of the episode may imply, is about people trying to find their way. Many of the characters in this episode were looking to either get back something they had lost or move on. Nucky displayed both sides of the spectrum; at first with a rather awkward first appearance (for this season) by Kelly MacDonald’s Margaret, a character that has seemingly moved on with her life. Yet there is a sliver of hope for Nucky as she, albeit begrudgingly, accepts Nucky’s gift to her son.

As I mentioned in the episode 5 re-cap, bringing Margaret back at this point seems late. Introducing a longtime character of a show halfway through a season seems odd and it will be a major challenge to fit her in. Having said that, I do have faith that the writers of the show know a lot more about what they’re doing than I. It remains disconcerting though, that so much is being added this far into the season and at first this seemed like one of those “same old Nucky” moments with the character seemingly moving backwards.

Later on, however, Nucky pushes through and moves forward, finally settling on investors for his Florida project and also starting an affair with Sally Wheet (Patricia Arquette). One can only wonder, however, if this is Nucky truly moving on from his past or if this is a character who has lost everything of meaning in his life (Eddie being the final straw) and is desperately searching for something to fill the void.

Richard Harrow was also thrown back into the mix this week as he made his return to New Jersey to possibly reunite with Julia and Tommy after discovering Julia’s father has Cirrhosis of the liver and does not have very long to live. It’s quite interesting to see how the program is slowly bringing these characters back into the mix with Richard now looking like he is going to be involved in trying to officially keep Tommy away from Gillian Dormady.

Lastly, but certainly not least, is Agent Knox and his mission to re-infiltrate Nucky’s operation after losing his key witness to suicide. Agent Knox is clearly on of the two “big bads” on the Boardwalk this season (which is interesting since he should really probably be considered the hero… you know? Working for the FBI and everything). Knox turns to Eli, as he tries to confirm the death of Mr. Kessler was indeed due to suicide. The scenes with Knox were some of the more effective scenes of tension in this particular episode. It felt as though he could be meeting his end at any moment.

One more item that should not be skipped over is the second affair that began during this episode involving Chalky and Daughter Maitland. Although it was obvious this was coming, it’s certainly an important plot point of the series and provided some insight to the Daughter character and some of her views about race.

That’s all I have for this week.

What do you think? Leave a comment.