Paris Green

"Paris Green"
Boardwalk Empire episode
Richard tells Nucky that Margaret has disappeared, along with her children
Episode no.	Season 1 Episode 11
Directed by	Allen Coulter
Written by	Howard Korder
Production code	111
Original air date	November 28, 2010 (2010-11-28)
Running time	50 minutes
Guest stars
Gretchen Mol Tom Aldredge Michael Badalucco Josiah Early Jack Huston Lisa Joyce Erik Weiner
Episode chronology
← Previous "The Emerald City" Next → "A Return to Normalcy"

"Paris Green" is the eleventh episode of the first season of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, which premiered November 28, 2010. The episode was written by supervising producer Howard Korder and directed by Allen Coulter.

Plot

Agent Van Alden continues to probe deeper into the killing of Billy Winslow, prompting Agent Sebso to make a call to Nucky asking for some leads to regain his boss's trust. Looking for a still, the two encounter a black church's river baptism. When Sebso, who is Jewish, puts in for a transfer to Michigan, Van Alden brings him to the river to be baptized. However, Van Alden holds Sebso under the water too long, drowning him. Whether Van Alden planned the murder is left unclear.

The Commodore, now revealed to be Jimmy's father, is dying. Gillian asks Jimmy to visit, and although their relationship is frosty, Jimmy decides to stay with his father as he passes away. The decision is a crucial one, for Jimmy holds the Commodore down while the doctor gathers samples for a hair test which later reveals significant amounts of arsenic (Paris Green) in the Commodore's blood. Jimmy confronts Gillian with an empty canister of arsenic which he found in the trash while the Commodore recovers. She does not admit responsibility.

Rothstein is called to Chicago to defend against charges that he rigged the 1919 World Series.

Meanwhile, Angela carries out her plan to leave town with her son and Mary Dittrich, leaving a note for Jimmy and going to the photography shop. There she finds the shop empty, as the Dittrichs' have absconded (in another scene we are shown that Robert Dietrich knows his wife is about to leave for France). Angela returns home to find Jimmy has read the note and knows of her plans.

Nucky continues to deal with the twin pressures of winning the election and the gang war with the D'Alessio brothers. Margaret's neighbor Annabelle's patron loses all his money in the original Ponzi scheme. Desperate, she offers to resume her former relationship with Nucky. Margaret catches them talking and later argues with Nucky. She strongly insinuates that he was responsible for the death of her husband, Hans, and accuses him of not caring. Eli is furious at Nucky for admitting his role in the murder. After a heated argument between the brothers Nucky drops Eli from the Republican ticket in favor of Deputy Halloran. Nucky arrives at the house only to find that Margaret has left, whereabouts unknown.

Reception

Critical Reception

IGN praised the episode, calling it "outstanding" and went on to say, "With his safety nets gone and his finger tightening around a trigger gunning for Rothstein, Nucky is a man alone, surrounded by a war that can go any way but good. The future is uncertain, tension hangs and fans of the series are in the best position possible going in to what's sure to be a game-changing finale."^[1]

The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-.^[2]

Ratings

"Paris Green" slid two tenths of a point in to a 1.1 adults 18–49 rating, but had a nearly identical average viewership vs. last week. The episode had a total of 3.004 million viewers.^[3]

References