Boardwalk Empire was inspired by the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson James, about historical criminal kingpin Enoch “Nucky” L. Johnson, and had all the prestigious TV ingredients to be an incredible success: a writer from The Sopranos, a movie actor as their lead, and Martin Scorsese directing the pilot. Even with all that pomp and circumstance, the show decided to be something else; slower, denser, and sadder, with a protagonist that was less anti-hero and more of a businessman villain. That’s why it’s a show that should be revisited, and that’s why today we’re talking about its best episodes, ranked.
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8 Boardwalk Empire - S1 E1
HBO EnterprisesWarner Bros. Television Distribution
It all started in the prohibition era in Atlantic City, and a pilot episode that cost 18 million dollars (the most expensive ever at the time) was directed by the one and only Martin Scorsese. The pilot episode showed us how all that money had been used, with incredible costume and set design, and a spectacular cast that included Steve Buscemi as the lead character “Nucky” Thompson, Michael Pitt, Michael Shannon, Kelly McDonald, Michael Stulhbarg, Shea Whigham, and Gretchen Mol. The pilot episode also presented all the important relationships in Nucky’s life, and all the villains he was going to have to fight with, especially the mafias of Chicago and New York. The most important lesson from this episode is what Jimmy (Pitt) tells Nucky: “You can’t be a half gangster” as it will resonate for the show’s five seasons.
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7 Georgia Peaches - S2 E10
HBO EnterprisesHBO EnterprisesWarner Bros. Television Distribution
The second and third seasons are the best of the show. Especially with very tense, thrilling, and memorable endings. This episode is setting some of those incredible final moves. It has Jimmy’s troubles with trying to take all the alcohol business from Nucky; but also Margaret’s (Kelly McDonald) guilt for everything she’s done in the season, including having an affair with Owen Sleater (Charlie Cox in one of his best performances, and the role where most saw him for the first time). There’s also the tragedy of Jimmy’s wife, Angela (Aleksa Palladino), and her lover, Mary (Lisa Joyce), being killed as collateral damage because of the fight between Jimmy and Manny Horvitz (William Forsythe).
6 Devil You Know - S5 E6
After five seasons and many times when it looked like this might be the end for Nelson Van Alden (Michael Shannon), this is the episode where he finally gets killed by another undercover cop. Van Alden started as a religious fanatic, but the more he went into the underworld, the more he became a nihilist who didn’t know how to cope with everything he had seen and done. Michael Shannon has played many villains and psychopaths over the years, but this role might be his best one ever.
5 Friendless Child - S5 E7
The penultimate episode of Boardwalk Empire is the beginning of the end for “Nucky”, as he has to give part of his boardwalk empire to Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza) to avoid a war he’ll lose. This episode also marks the death of Mickey Doyle (Paul Sparks), with a bullet to the throat. Through the years, Doyle has insulted every dangerous man in the world, so it’s fitting that it’s his talking and not his evil doings that kill him.
4 El Dorado - S5 E8
The last episode of the show, the one that ends the story of “Nucky” Thompson, and it’s all because of his original sin. The fifth season also showed us the rise of Nucky in the late 1800s, and how he pimped a 13-year-old child to get closer to the Commodore. Throughout the seasons, we find out that poor girl was Gillian Darmody (Gretchen Mol), and that first sin is what ends Nucky’s life on the boardwalk. Where else could it be?
About the ending of the show, creator Terence Winter told Esquire: “Art of it is inherent because with any finale there’s a disappointment in the audience because it’s over, so there’s a little bit of foot stamping and petulance. It’s never going to be good enough because they’re sad that you’re leaving. It’s like breaking up with somebody. Even if in your heart you know it’s the right thing to do, it’s never easy.
3 To the Lost - S2 E12
Jimmy Darmody (Pitt) had been going on a collision course against “Nucky” all season. Although they used to be allies, things had gone too far, so one of them had to be killed. This episode marked the death of Jimmy, in an incredible performance by Michael Pitt, and the moment “Nucky” really became a gangster, as it was himself who executed Jimmy. Pitt’s character had become a nihilist, and his death might’ve been the best for him, as he says before dying: “I died in the trench, years back”, talking about his experiences in World War I. Some people say the show never recovered after killing the charismatic Pitt, but with everything that had happened in the second season, this was the only logical conclusion that didn’t feel like a cheat, while also showing how “Nucky” was already on the dark side.
2 Margate Sands - S3 E12
This is Jack Huston’s episode. The actor had his breakthrough performance in this show as the tortured, disfigured Richard Harrow, who was also a master shooter after World War I. The war between season three villain Gyp Rossetti (Bobby Cannavale) and “Nucky” is in full blow. Harrow doesn’t care about that at all; what he cares about are the Rossetti’s goons, who have kidnapped Tommy Darmody, the son of his late friend Jimmy, and he’ll do anything to save him. So, he goes to get him back and kills everyone in his path, with the precision and brutality that would make most action heroes proud.
1 Two Imposters - S3 E11
This episode is as surprising as it is bloody, with “Nucky” killing four of the six people he would kill during the whole show in just one scene. Rosetti’s men barge into Nucky’s suite at the Ritz to kill him, and a bloodbath follows in a scene that is surprising and thrilling until the end. “Nucky” has to hide with Chalky White (Michael K. Williams, in one of his best performances ever) while thinking about his next moves, as this is his first full mob war. It looks like Rosetti has the upper hand, and this might be it for “Nucky”. An incredible episode of television that is as tense as it is well written; making it the best episode of Boardwalk Empire ever.
