Pajiba

Was there speaking during the Van Alden's dinner? Many scenes on this show are delivered in Charlie Brown adult voices as I leer, ogle and swoon over the production design. You might be saying poor Mrs. Van A or wondering how long it takes Mr. Van A's belt wounds to heal and if he considers that pain holy and gets off on it (okay I wonder that too), but I'm mostly sighing things like "pocket doors" and "did you see that fireplace"? The dining room alone at the Van A's is to die for. * You can keep your hideous space age, modern, post modern, you know the harvest gold fridge is a comin, Mad Men interior design. For my money, 1900 to about 1940 was the highpoint.

Does anybody else kinda love it when Buscemi yells and he can't keep the innate weasel out of his voice? Frankly, it kind of breaks the fourth wall for me, but the weasel can never be contained for long.

*I'm big on the asterisks of late, eh? On another side note and speaking of drooling, yesterday on The Barefoot Contessa, Ina was given a giant cupcake made of molded chocolate and filled with chocolates. Mr. Julien and I actually sat there with our mouths hanging open. Then there was a suggestion that I had not made a fancy dessert in a while and I pointed out I had recently tried, twice, and failed, twice, to make an apple cider spice cake, but that did not appease him.

@Mrs. Julien:
Personally, I can't help but see him as his character from Ghost World when his Buscemi-ness shines through. I enjoy the show, but sometimes that effect is a little disconcerting.
Also, the production design is one of the main reasons I've stuck with this show too. That, and I am kind of crushing on Jimmy--something about an intellectual guy dealing with the emotional and physical scars of fighting in a horrible war while dabbling in the world of gangsters is super sexy to me.

I absolutely love this show. Every week it gets better for me. Buscemi was the reason to start watching in the first place and continues to be my main reason but the side characters are amazing. Van Alden is the creepiest character by far, but I was so glad to see he returned the money Jimi had been sending Angela. I love what you pointed out about Jimi's mother showing her breasts to pay the rent, did not see that scene as that deep. I'm glad that Jimi knows about Gilian messing around with Lucky, that worried me for a moment. I am curious as to why noone has mentioned how young his mother is. How old was Gilian supposed to be when she gave birth to Jimi? 5, 6, 7...when?

Oh, but the Van Alden fakeout with the money got me....

Van Alden couldn't motivate a hooker to take her top off.

Meanwhile I'm still not sure if Paz de la Huerta can act or if she's delivering the greatest acting lesson known to man.

Coming between the mayhem of "The Walking Dead" and the awesomeness of "Sherlock", it's beginning to feel like "Boardwalk Empire" is kind of lame.

@PaddyDog

The Target on Route 10 in East Hanover is my home away from home. I live in West Orange.

My true love is the Arts and Crafts movement and I have a William Morris calendar above my desk although, frankly, this month's pattern (Autumn flower) is not only ugly, it looks one of those still lifes (lives?) where they make a face out of vegetables: The nose is a pomegranate.

I disagree. Walking Dead is the Sunday night appetizer. Boardwalk Empire is the main course.

Of course Gretchen Mol is too young, but she did finally seem properly maternal in that scene with Jimmy at the end. I don't know if it was intentional, but the casting also worked out in allowing Luciano to believe he was with Jimmy's wife and not his mother.

Warren Harding is historical flavor, as many of the elements of the show are. If you are not enjoying the main characters, then I can understand the complaint of not delving further into its ancillary elements. I don't think this show has a problem with too many characters; I think it's deliberately paced and will develop all the threads in good time.

I think one of the best period details on the show is Paz de la Huerta. It's as if she's channeling Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight with the slattern turned up to 11. She's so deliciously blowsy. I agree though that she doesn't seem to be acting, but I've never seen her in anything else.

Van Alden's character is fascinating to me. All that, I assume Catholic, guilt and righteousness being taken to and beyond its logical end. The scene where he beat the lust from his body after confirming that Margaret, like all the others, is just another whore was chilling and terrifying.

If Gretchen Mol's character was in her teens when she had Jimi and he is in his early twenties, then his mum's age seems right to me.

If you are not enjoying the main characters, then I can understand the complaint of not delving further into its ancillary elements. I don't think this show has a problem with too many characters; I think it's deliberately paced and will develop all the threads in good time.

I don't think it has too many characters either, there just happen to be a few that I wish they would have decided to explore sooner. I do like the main characters for the most part. My main issue is the pacing. I know, I'm just being impatient.

I'm going to have to go back to watching The Walking Dead on another night. I find it too filling to be the appetizer.

I think Gretchen Mol is the right age for the part as well.

Paz is the perfect specimen to play Lucy. I have read profiles on Paz that say IRL she is a lewd flouncy caricature who is part grifter, part muse, and frequently naked. A manic pixie nightmare. I just love to watch her chew on the scenery and on Nucky and I think that that fact that Nucky dated her says volumes about his character.

The dynamic between Gretchen Mol and Jimmy is perfect. I know everyone seems to be hung up on how young she looks ruining the verisimilitude, but I think it adds to it. You know Jimmy didn't have a "proper" childhood with being raised by showgirls, seeing his mum topless to make ends meet, and banging rich older men, but their relationship actually seems lovely. Nucky's childhood was easily as fucked up, and his relationship with his dad is much more fraught.

Mol is not "the happy hooker" nor is she a vain and desperate showgirl who hates her son as a reminder of lost youth. She seems very pragmatic and even kind. You can see where Jimmy got some of the nuanced understanding of other people from her which enables him to empathize with a complicated man like Harrow.

I never got the sense that Jimmy and his mother have an inappropriate relationship--perhaps a little unorthodox, but nothing perverse. Jimmy just seems like a momma's boy who spent much of his childhood as a cute little boy being fawned over by his mother and the other showgirls, so he's understandably very fond of his mom.
The scene where they first introduce Gillian as Jimmy's mom is a little misleading because of the overly familiar way in which she greeted him, but I think that familiarity is more a product of the environment he was raised in than any incestuous relationship between them.

I agree with Jessie's and Daria's assessments of Jimmy's relationship with his mom as far as that seeming incestuous dynamic goes.

Mol looks young for her real age of 38. I can buy that as her character's age (or a couple years older), because she is actually 38. The striking part for me was Darmody. Pitt is 29 in real life, and he might even look a little older. I believe Darmody is supposed to be 22 or so, which would make her a teenage mother. I have gotten over the whole thing, and my brain just accepts it at this point.

It works partially owing to the fact that she has been scamming Luciano for Jimmy. That makes her seem even more like the young, hip mom. That was a cool reveal. Also, I had suspected she was the one pocketing the money that Jimmy sent home prior to this episode; it was nice to find out that she's completely on his side.

I screamed a little bit because I actually have a copy of that porn film, antiquities collector that I am.

I think they must be using Martha Stewart products for a lot of the design stuff; I'd swear that particular blue on the walls is from her collection.

@Nisi

"everyone looked older when they were younger back then!"

Great book title.