With the billboards, TV ads and assorted hooplah over Sky Atlantic’s blue chip signing in a big-money purchase of HBO’s shows, a backlash was inevitable.
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The final episode of the first series is on Saturday, with its DVD release to follow, and second series is filming now. Containing no spoilers, here’s what makes Boardwalk Empire gripping television: The plot The action takes place in the Roaring Twenties and centres around Nucky Thompson (Steve Buscemi), the kingpin of Atlantic City. He has the mayoralty in his pocket, the police in his family, the liquor trade on tap and various other gangsters circling his turf – including Lucky Luciano, Al Capone and Arnold “Ace” Rothstein. Kelly Macdonald’s Margaret Schroeder is the conscience of the piece, but she’s also self-centred. So she wears her principles but also wears high-class dresses taken as a result of her links with Thompson. Buscemi's character is socially progressive, civic-minded and keen on a certain kind of redistribution of wealth, but also a ruthless, corrupt schemer. That means both central characters can turn on a dime, which makes the storyline impossible to second-guess. The politics One episode took place at the Republican convention. Issues covered across the series include police funding, representation of women in high office, social order and – hey, this is from the Sopranos people and exec producer Martin Scorsese – gun crime. The Dude Buscemi was not the Dude in The Big Lebowksi. He was not Mr Blonde in Reservoir Dogs. He was only a cousin in The Sopranos. But on Boardwalk, he is very much the Dude, the main pivot for the action. The ensemble For all that Buscemi is the central presence, his is not always the most hypnotic character. On both sides of the law, Michael Shannon as Special Agent Nelson van Alden and Michael Pitt’s apprentice hood Jimmy Darmody are mesmerising on screen. Pitt has made films for Bernardo Bertolucci, Michael Haneke and Gus Van Sant, and has threatened to become a major movie star. It is a TV role which could be the thing that manages to do that for him. The period detail The set of the Atlantic City seafront looks like a set, but an elegant one. The clothes – particularly Nucky Thompson’s checked three-piece suits and hats, the dresses, the music, the dancing, the furniture, the music hall turns and of course the alcohol – all evoke the era wonderfully. So many facets of the creation of Atlantic City are covered here. The start of other films Lucky Luciano, whose character appears in The Cotton Club and Billy Bathgate, is present. So is Ace Rothstein, Robert De Niro's character in Casino. Al Capone, also brought to life by De Niro in The Untouchables. All are in the process of building their CVs on Boardwalk. Bugsy Siegel, portrayed by Warren Beatty 20 years ago, is to emerge fully formed in season two in the shape of Adventureland star Michael Zegen. The echoes of now Politicians being elected on private interests and palm-greasing. Soldiers fresh out of a war looking for something to do. One politician got screwed on a Ponzi scheme. The growing power of the gambling industry. Debates over alcohol. There was even something dangerously resembling waterboarding in a later episode. Gold-digging fashionistas, brawling boozers, politicians intent on making a quick buck. What a relief these problems don’t afflict us in 2011.Want to discuss other issues? Join the debate on our new Scottish Voices forum
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