Boardwalk Empire Recap: “You’d Be Surprised”

The following recap contains spoilers

by Veronique Medrano:

Boardwalk Empire Recap: “You’d Be Surprised”
Original Air Date (HBO): Sunday October 14, 2012
Season 2 Episode 5

OMG! It just got realer than the Matrix…that is all I can say without ruining this episode for you. I will say that some of the review is NSFW. Just a friendly reminder: This recap covers the characters you should pay attention to, and while other recaps give you the rundown of the episode from start to finish, I want to cut the fluff and take you to the milky caramel center. So before we enter let me remind everyone, just so ya won’t forget, that the following recap contains spoilers (i.e: info about the episode that you may not want to know before watching).

This week’s episode, while split between different areas, blended the characters plots so well I felt the long awaited juicy drama was well worth it. The main people for this week are Gyp Rosetti,  Nucky and the two femme fatales in his life, along with Alden. After 4 weeks of being strung along through the muck of slow-moving plot, we finally get some head way. Let’s start with Gyp Rosetti:

We begin our episode with some autoerotic asphyxiation. Gyp Rosetti is banging it out with the red-head maid from the diner, which shows his weakened state during sex. This type of sexual act is brutal and intense, but it assuredly leaves him in a vulnerable state. After the hot and heavy deed goin’ on, we see Gyp later on in the episode meeting with Rothstein  at the diner in Tabor Heights to strike up a bargain because he has the upper hand in the liquor shipping. Rothstein seems to be entertaining the idea of  striking up a deal with him, just to get the liquor he needs.

But all of this turns out to be one big ruse, as Seigel goes off to Tabor Heights and disguises himself as a paperboy to get inside Gyp’s house (hotel), and walks in on him in the middle of getting freaky. Seigel shoots and kills: the mistress, three of Gyp’s men, and the paperboy who was contracted by Gyp earlier that day. Of course this leads us to the full frontal male nudity, by the showing of  Gyp’s junk throughout this scene. While some may feel it was forced or in bad taste, the scene itself was built to showcase how vulnerable Gyp is due to his weakness because of desire. The added layer for Gyp is in his empathy for the  paperboy he hired lying dead by the front door. But in his bloody rage, the moment fades away only to be replaced by cold vengeance, that will color this Season RED.

Nuckynuckynucky…if anything is more annoying about him is his puppy-dog infatuation for Billie Kent. I mentioned it before, and I’ll mention it again, Nucky seriously needs to get his heart out of his butt! He continues to fall deeper and deeper  into this infatuous and toxic relationship with Billie Kent (otherwise known as: Lucy 2.0). Now don’t get me wrong, Billie is the perfect example of  a free-loving and independent performing female out in the world, desperately trying to make a mark for herself in the acting field, but Nucky is repeating the same mistakes that he made in Season 1,yet it is more complicated.

In season 1, with Lucy 1.0 (original) Nucky wasn’t married, and he was in an honest to goodness romantic relationship with her, but during the 1st Season we see his devotion to his job more than his relationship and tries to find someone who is more his equal mentally (i.e: Margaret Schroeder). Now his personal life is interfering with his responsibilities as a businessman, father, and husband. He is out for weeks pampering Billie, and has had such a hands off approach to his business, and home life  that his sudden involvement is too little too late.  Billie I’m expecting to either get killed off  or disappear like Lucy 1.0 by the end of this season. The most telling scene of the possible direction that their relationship will go is when Eddie (who is ‘coerced’ to work in Billie’s production) asks Billie if she’s ever heard of Lucy Danziger. She replies no, and he snarkily says under his breath that the next girl on Nucky’s arm won’t know who Billie is either.

Margaret Thompson on the other hand  grew some major balls this episode. Despite her flirtation with her colleague in the Women’s Health courses, he turns out to be engaged. Later on in the episode Nucky comes by to visit her and lets her know he is going out of town, but that he is watching out for her.  As stated before it is all a ruse. While Margaret is handing out flyers yet again, she stops in at Madam Jeunet’s boutique to drop off a stack of her flyers. Madam Jeunet tries to rush her out of the store, but Margaret ultimately catches Nucky buying dresses with Billie. Margaret is calm and cool with  Billie, hands her a flyer for to the Women’s Health class and leaves. Later on, Nucky shows up at the house to apologize for his “bad form.” Margaret, instead of taking his shenanigans, plants some good zingers on Nucky by reminding him that an independent woman is going to be hard for Nucky to handle,  since he picks women who need saving. Nucky says he’s changed and she replies that so has she.

Van Alden is coming into his own this season. While we have seen him take a lot of knocks throughout the series, due to all the events from Season 1 &2 he is now moving in the direction of being part of gangster family. The events really start up from Episode 3:  Bone for Tuna when Van Alden heads out to a speakeasy with some co-workers, and the prohibition police come in and break up the good times. One of the agents stops Van Alden and tells him to pay him a little bit of money on the side and he’ll clear the charges on him.

We fast forward to the current episode and Van Alden is being followed by the agent he bribed in the speakeasy. He comes to his apartment and leaves his card under the door and comes to his office to speak to his boss about inconsistencies on his tax forms. Van Alden believes that the agent is on to his real identity. Van Alden feeling guilty for his 2nd life sits down to tell his wife the truth. His wife stops his explanation and  tells him that she knows he goes by a false name and that he does so because he was framed by “bad men” for bad deeds. The next night, Van Alden comes home to find the agent in his living room, sitting with his wife. The agent explains how he has been trying to find Van Alden because the iron he sold him broke and he wants a refund. As the agent bends down to pick up the iron, Van Alden’s wife reappears with a lead pipe and beats the agent over the head, severely injuring him. Van Alden then suffocates  the agent to death. He later drops by the flower shop and tells the “florist” the he needs to “ dispose of a body.”

This is the first time I have been moved to say this, but damn this episode is the best of the season, so far.  I really suggest that you take a second gander at it ’cause I’ve heard around the internet that there are some interesting lines and actions from other ‘gangster films’. Let us know what you think of this week’s episode in the comments box below!