The Waiver Wire

Throughout the third season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, our writers will discuss the ins and outs of each episode. Please beware of spoilers.

War was really the main theme in this episode for me.  This got me extremely excited for the potential for the rest of the season.  We are finally going away from Margaret being involved in the hospital.  What even ended up happening there?  It seemed like that just stopped, probably because they realized they lost viewers whenever they showed those scenes.

Onto the episode that really showed how much is falling apart around Nucky at this point.  He is looking extremely weak to those around him and now looks like he may have to go to war with Joe Masseria all by himself.  Not only is that happening, but his wife is planning to leave him for his general.  If Owen were to leave at a time like this, there is no way that this is going to end well for Nucky and Atlantic City.  All of this is going on around him and he also just lost the real love of his life in Bille Kent.  I do not know if he is strong enough to pull himself out of this one as he cannot use his political power any more in this situation. We need to see Nucky completely transform into a gangster now.

Now the decision by Rothstein to leave Nucky hanging is an interesting one.  He is going to have to go to war with Masseria eventually so why would he not want to do it now when he might have enough people to actually take him down?  Maybe he is waiting to see if Nucky can put a dent in him at all.  Or maybe he is hoping that Masseria will forget about him entirely and focus only on Nucky.  This definitely shows what kind of man Rothstein is.  He never seemed like someone to make a quick decision and also seems to want to avoid going into a war at all costs.  Now, Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky are a little different as I think they may end up trying to convince Rothstein to join Nucky and take out Masseria.  To me, it seems like the smart choice for everyone involved as I think war is inevitable.

One thing we have seen this season more than any others in the past is the shift of a storyline only around Nucky to now having so many different ones.  This is extremely interesting because going forward, Nucky may end up fading into the background while other characters step up and get a more integral part on the show.  The writers could be taking the show in that direction as I think the stories taking place in New York City and Chicago still have a lot more that can happen.