All In - BE

Boardwalk Empire - Episode 4-04 - "All in"

Written by David Matthews, writer and story editor on Law & Order: SVU

Directed by Ed Bianchi, who directed a lot of great episodes of Deadwood

• Open with one of Capone's guys making collections, plodding up the stairs, and you can't help but think about Clemenza going up the steps, stopping to wipe his brow at the end of One.
• Not the first time this show made you think of The Godfather, as it did at the end of Season Two
• Agent Knox calls Hoover "Edgar" which seems more familiar than one would expect
• Hoover's also intent on referring to his men as "agents"
• Anyone who's ever been promoted can feel for Eddie, trying to draw clear lines that prevent him from backsliding into his old position
• O'Bannion's man refers to being a veteran of the Philliipine-American War
• Being "summer of '01" would mean he served during the administration of future U.S. president and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Governor-General William H. Taft
• Just one of those many U.S. military conflicts that don't get much attention because why focus on anything but World War II in history class?
• Good to know the "my [insert family member] is sick" excuse was as good back then as it is today to get out of work
• I would not have guess a Herc and Eddie side adventure would take place this season, nor be this entertaining
• The focus on the window (soon to be broken by a flying body) during the Capone Bros. collections just happened in another show, but I can't remember which...
• Sir Not Appearing in this Episode
• Gillian, Lucky, Kelly MacDonald
• Body Count - 1 (13 for the season)
• Aforementioned Phillipine War Vet - Alphonse, outside the bread truck, with the Tommy Gun

The expectation of AR playing cards with Nucky, who clearly didn't want to gamble, is that AR would win and decline Nucky's deal.  Instead, Nucky emphasizes that his best bet is to only play the winnable hands, or to not play often.  He explained just that to his hillbilly friend last week when initially declining the Florida deal, the risk was too high and he didn't have to take it.  

Nucky plays cautiously even with his flush.  AR buys back in for $200k and loses it immediately.  Nucky rightly gets up from the table at that point.  AR said earlier that he learns a lot playing cards with someone.  Some people get very upset when they lose at cards.  Both Silvio and AR are incredibly calm, even, calculated individuals.  But when they're losing money, they lose their minds as well.  Instead of AR learning about Nucky, Nucky learns about AR and pulls the deal.  Not only that but Nucky now feels comfortable enough with Meyer to make a deal behind AR's back.  While Meyer says AR isn't his boss and he doesn't need to clear it with him, we all know it's not going to be good when AR finds out and no one is going out of their way to tell him what's up. 

Between the Nucky-Meyer Alliance and the death of the Temple student via Nucky's booze (additives or no additives), we have some major threads that will likely carry the rest of the season.

"Take care, and God bless!"