Wikia

"Paris Green"
Season 1, Episode 11

Air date	November 28, 2010
Written by	Howard Korder
Directed by	Allen Coulter
Episode Guide
previous "The Emerald City"	next "A Return to Normalcy"

"Paris Green" is the eleventh episode of the first season of Boardwalk Empire, and the eleventh episode overall. It was written by supervising producer Howard Korder and directed by Allen Coulter. It originally aired on November 28, 2010.

PlotEdit

SynopsisEdit

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.

Arnold 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 comes upon them talking and then accuses Nucky of desiring to cheat on her. She strongly insinuates that he was responsible for the death of her husband, Hans, while he accuses her of not caring. Eli is furious at Nucky for not outright denying 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.

RecapEdit

Main: Paris Green recap

A detailed recap of the episode scene by scene.

Appearances Edit

First Appearances Edit

Lemuel Cuffy, Deacon of the Atlantic City's Shiloh Baptist Church.
Theodore Hardeen, magician and escapist, brother of Harry Houdini.

Deaths Edit

Eric Sebso, drowned by Nelson Van Alden in an unsuccessful attempt to make him confess Winslow's murder.
Jerry, collateral victim of The Commodore's arsenic poisoning by Louanne Pratt.

ProductionEdit

CastEdit

StarringEdit

Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson
Michael Pitt as James "Jimmy" Darmody
Kelly MacDonald as Margaret Schroeder
Michael Shannon as Agent Nelson Van Alden
Shea Whigham as Sheriff Elias "Eli" Thompson
Aleksa Palladino as Angela Darmody
Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein
Stephen Graham as Al Capone (credit only)
Vincent Piazza as Lucky Luciano (credit only)
Paz de la Huerta as Lucille "Lucy" Danziger (credit only)
Michael K. Williams as Chalky White (credit only)
Anthony Laciura as Edward "Eddie" Kessler
Paul Sparks as Mickey Doyle (credit only)
and Dabney Coleman as Commodore Louis Kaestner

Guest-StarringEdit

Co-StarringEdit

MusicEdit

ReceptionEdit

"Paris Green" slid two tenths of a point to a 1.1 share in adults aged 18–49, but had a nearly identical average viewership to the preceding week. The episode had a total of 3.004 million viewers.^[1]

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."^[2]

The A.V. Club gave the episode an A-.^[3]

Memorable QuotesEdit

'This is my life on the line. I got eight kids. You waltz around town like its a circus, gettin' your ass kissed. Nobody cares about you, they only care about what you can give'em.' (makes money gesture) 'And that includes your Irish chippie who you've just handed a blank cheque.' - Elias 'Eli' Thompson

'You know it's to bad you didn't see Hardeen the other night.' - Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson

'What?' - Elias 'Eli' Thompson

'It's an entertaining act, but if he wasn't Houdini's brother, nobody'd give a fuck.' - Enoch ' Nucky' Thompson

ReferencesEdit

External linksEdit

Season One


#01 Boardwalk Empire	#07 Home
#02 The Ivory Tower	#08 Hold Me in Paradise
#03 Broadway Limited	#09 Belle Femme
#04 Anastasia	#10The Emerald City
#05 Nights in Ballygran	#11 Paris Green
#06 Family Limitation	#12 A Return to Normalcy

[0] ttp://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2010/11/30/sunday-cable-ratings-boardwalk-empiredips-soul-train-awards-real-housewives-dexter-top-gear-more/73858

[1] ttp://ie.tv.ign.com/articles/113/1137180p1.html

[2] ttp://www.avclub.com/articles/paris-green,48287/

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