Chalky White, head of the Atlantic City African American community, with the confidence from his close criminal relationship with Atlantic City County Treasurer Enoch “Nucky” Thompson, butts heads with the Klu Klux Klan. This struggle leaves off in Season 1 with unfinished business.
Nucky came to power under the wing of Commodore, the old mob boss of Atlantic City. The treasurer of the county “is as corrupt as the day is long,” says agent Nelson Van Alden of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Commodore went away to prison for a few years before the show aired. The transition of power came during this period when Nucky began running operations. Commodore essentially was forced into early “retirement”, although season one does little to explain why.
Agent Van Alden is the head of Federal Investigation on the very infant black-market of “boot-legging.” He firmly believes he is doing the work of God, and he further believes that he can do no wrong as he works to banish all liquor from Atlantic City. He knows Jimmy Darmody and Nucky Thompson are both at the source of liquor boot-legging in Atlantic City. He can do everything, except prove the fact he is most certain of. Through his frustrations he strays from the Lord, most likely on account of self defeat and self pity, and commits perhaps the worst crimes of all through the series. An interesting story, touched upon teasingly but never developed through the first season, was Agent Van Alden's obsession with Nucky's mistress, Margaret Schroeder.
Jimmy Darmody was taken under Nucky’s wing, in much the same way Nucky was taken under Commodore’s. Jimmy was set for greatness, attending Princeton for a time before America’s involvement in the First World War. In some eyes, very honorably, and in other eyes, foolishly, Jimmy fights in the War. He comes back with immaterial wounds physically, but mentally he is a changed man. He sees the wealth and power that can be had from bootlegging, and his family and surrounding network of people dictate that he ends up bootlegging with them.
All these stories develop through the first Season and climax with whispers of mutiny, and the Commodores return to power. Behind Commodore is the Sheriff of police, who happens to be Nucky’s brother Elias Thompson. With the sheriff of police in Nucky’s pocket, his power and influence in the city is very large, and he knows how to wield it. Commodore, at one point during the first season, looked to be on his death bed, but he regains his health, and with it his confidence in being able to run the city again. Convincing Eli, and working on Jimmy as well, he believes he can do it. Commodore is very, very old fashioned, and he will not work with Chalky. The last twist to this story is that Commodore is actually Jimmy’s father.
Another thing to look for is Al Capone's rise in Chicago. He was the a pawn in the first season, a loose canon really, but the first season showed him slowly rise the ranks to the equivalent of a Sargent by the end of the season.
The first episode aired last weekend, and I am anxiously awaiting the second episode tomorrow night on HBO. This was supposed to recap the first episode, but I will make that another post, as recapping the first season proved to be a post in itself!
Kevin
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