Boardwalk Empire Season Two 2011

     This series is inspired by the book Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times and Corruption of Atlantic City by Nelson Johnson.  The series returns to Atlantic City in the 1920’s.  Nucky Thompson is the treasurer for the city and he has many relationships with mobsters.  He also has political contacts and he gets his money from bootlegging.  The Federal Government is trying to stop the booze from flowing in but they are not very successful.  The Volstead Act was passed on July 22, 1919 with a vote of 287 to 100 with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives.  It remained in effect until the passage of the 21st Amendment which repealed Prohibition in 1933.  The Act did not make it illegal to drink alcohol but forbade the manufacture, sale and transportation of liquors.  Any wine, beer or spirits purchased before January 1920 were able to be enjoyed in private homes.

     You never know what is going to happen next in this series!!  You are also wondering who will be killed off and what the body count will be for this installment?  There are also active members of the Ku Klux Klan in this area.  Some of the people living in Albert "Chalky" White's neighborhood are bothered by the Klan.  Of course, Chalky is a friend of Nucky and he has his own bootlegging warehouse.  4 1/2* (I really liked this series)

    

Each episode 55 min, created by Terence Winter with Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Shea Whiggham, Stephen Graham, Vincent Piazza, Michael Kenneth Williams, Paul Sparks, Gretchen Mol, Michael Stuhlbarg, Anthony Laciura, Jack Huston, Anatol Yusef, Michael Pitt, Aleksa Palladino, Paz de la Huerta, Dabney Coleman.

Note:  Imdb 8.6 out of 10, 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon Video 4.7* out of 5* with 4964 reviews, Metacritic 82 out of 100 with 14 critics 8.5 out of 10 with 341 ratings.

Special Note:  Filmed in New York.  Terence Winter always phoned an actor when the writers decided to kill off this character.  The unmasked disfigured face of war hero character Richard Harrow is entirely computer generated.  He also placed cotton on the left side of his mouth to change his speech and jaw placement.  Some famous characters were based on the real person but other characters are fictionalized.  Alex Baldwin was considered for the role of Nucky Thompson.  Michael Shannon was not happy working in television.  The filming was spread over six months and he had little or no time for discussing the script or his character.  The series premiered on September 19, 2010 and completed five seasons on October 26, 2014.

Titles:  21, Ourselves Alone, A Dangerous Maid, What Does the Bee Do?, Gimcrack and Bunkum, The Age of Reason, Peg of Old, Two Boats and a Lifeguard, Battle of the Century, Georgia Peaches, Under God’s Power She Flourishes, To the Lost.