An Appreciation of the Badass Ladies on the Sausage Fest That Is ‘Boardwalk Empire’

By Nadia Chaudhury | TV | September 8, 2014 |

By Nadia Chaudhury | TV | September 8, 2014 |

Even though Boardwalk Empire can sometimes look like a big ol’ sausage fest — a drunken bloody mess of a sausage fest — we shouldn’t forget about the women who really shine on the show, including one in last night’s final season premiere.

1. Sally Wheet
Sally is Nucky’s right hand (wo)man, especially now that Eli is out of the Thompson picture and in Chicago (for now). She thinks and speaks and drinks and wheels and deals as hard as any man in the boyhood empire, and she’s as important to the Bacardi deal as Nucky. As well she should be.

2. Sigrid Mueller
Sigrid started out as a nanny for Nelson Van Alden before eventually becoming his wife. She’s the one that knows how to work with the former government revenue agent, nudging him to be the crazy man he was always meant to be. She’s willing to go as far as making Norwegian vodka for Alden and help cover up the death of yet another FBI agent.

3. Margaret Rohan
If Margaret hadn’t handled herself better after divorcing Nucky, she might’ve ended up like Gillian Darmody (who, needless to say, does not make an appearance on this list). But she managed got herself on her own feet, and became a valuable commodity at a high-profile job. True, she might not have it for much longer, but even the mighty Margaret can’t slay the Great Depression. Plus, we have a feeling that she’ll be fine…

4. Esther Randolph
The woman in what was then just a man’s profession, the United States attorney attempted to take Nucky down in season two for election rigging and corruption, and got awfully close. Esther gets bonus points for being played by Julianne Nicholson, who is marvelous on Masters of Sex.