Tonight an all new season of my favorite show and one of the best shows on television, HBO’s BOARDWALK EMPIRE, returns for season 5 with “Golden Days for Boys and Girls.” Tonight’s premiere episode opens in 1931 with Nucky in Cuba, where he presses a U.S. senator on the likelihood of Prohibition’s repeal and eyes a future business deal with a rum magnate.
On the last episode, in the season 4 finale, Eli was going to brace for the worst as Agent Knox launched his plan to bring Nucky down. Capone and Torrio reached an agreement in Cicero. Chalky looked to settle scores. Richard (Jack Huston) stepped forward to save Tommy (Brady Noon), at Gillian’s expense. The episode was written by Terence Winter and Howard Korder, and it was directed by Tim Van Patten. Did you watch the last season’s finale? If you missed it and want to get caught up before tonight, we recapped it all right here for you.
On tonight’s show Nucky (Steve Buscemi) is awash in memories from pier-boy days growing up in 1884 Atlantic City, when the young Nucky (Nolan Lyons) caught the eye of the Commodore (John Elllison Conlee). In 1931 Cuba, Nucky joins Sally Wheet (Patricia Arquette) and, with a U.S. Senator in tow, forges ties with Bacardi Rum in hopes of Prohibition’s repeal in the U.S. Working on Wall Street, Margaret (Kelly Macdonald) finds herself in the hot seat when her boss, facing an internal investigation, decides his own future. Down but never out, Chalky (Michael Kenneth Williams) seizes an opportunity to extricate himself from a difficult situation. In New York, Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza) sets in motion a bold plan that reverberates all the way to Nucky in Cuba.
Tonight’s episode is going to be another action packed one, which you won’t want to miss. So be sure to tune in for our live coverage of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire Season 5 Premiere — tonight at 9PM EST! While you wait for our recap, if you cannot wait for tonight, check out a sneak peek video of tonight’s episode below!
LIVE RECAP:
The show opens with coins being dropped into the water. Next, boys jump in and dive for the coins. They work fast to catch them. They pop up for air in Atlantic City 1884. There are people cheering on the boardwalk.
We flash forward to Cuba 1931. Nucky watches some boys jump into the water, perhaps reminiscing about the scene we just saw.
Sally comes out to the balcony for him and they return into the dance club. As they’re dancing, Nucky says that he just wants “the deal to be nailed down.”
A few minutes later, Nucky sees Wendall across the room.
Prisoners are being transported in a carriage. Chalky is among the prisoners.
Nucky converses with the senator about their recent partnership. The senator admits that he has some reservations about working with Nucky, as his hands aren’t “the cleanest.”
Mr. Bennet has a talk in the office and then shoots himself in the head.
Two little boys enter a house to visit their sick sister. This is Nucky when he was a small boy. His father returns home and they eat dinner — bread and molasses. The father asks if he caught any of the “gold being thrown into the sea.” Nucky says no — he wasn’t quick enough. The father slaps him and says, “You are the son of a fisherman and what do you try to catch?”
Nucky and Sally have coffee in Cuba.
There’s a riot going on across the street when Nucky runs into Meyer. They make arrangements for a future meeting. Meyer says that he is a “man on vacation.” He relays this news to Sally, who says slyly, “Oh, just like you.”
Flashback: The boys are waiting in the wheat fields. They wait for the rich folk’s carriage to stroll buy. The winds blow off their hats, which the boys quickly collect to return to the people in exchange for money. Nucky finds a hat as the carriage is being pulled away. Inside, he finds a $50 bill.
Meanwhile, the prisoners are hard at work chopping wood.
Flashback: Nucky goes into visit his sick sibling, Sue. Later, we see him playing with the fifty dollar bill, perhaps wondering what to do with it.
Margaret meets with Mr. Connors. He asks her if she’s all right after witnessing Mr. B’s suicide. She says that she is fine — just a bit shaken. Mr. Connors says that they need to get into Mr B’s cabinet. However, it’s locked, so Mr. Connor’s asks her to call a locksmith.
Next, the prisoners start a riot. Nucky gets away with another prisoner, who makes a deal with him after pulling a gun on him.
Sally, the senator, and Nucky meet with the man in charge of Bacardi. Nucky is looking to strike up a deal with him, saying that he’d like to be the exclusive distributor of the rum once the appeal passes in the states making it LEGAL to do so.
FLASHBACK: Nucky returns to the boardwalk along with the man’s money. He returns the man’s hat with the money still inside. One of the man’s friends asks Nucky why he didn’t take the money. Nucky answers honestly, “To get myself ahead.”
In present time, the senator chews out Nucky, telling him that he won’t be his “whipping boy.” He won’t guarantee legislation outcomes to anyone in the future. Meanwhile, Nucky is attacked, and nearly killed, before a man comes at and kills his attacker. His rescuer cuts the assailants ear off before making a graceful, silent exit.
An officer is talking with Nucky after the incident. Sally translates. The officer says that it will cost him “200” to keep this all quiet.
FLASHBACK: Young Nucky gets in a fight with another poor boy. The sheriff brings him up to the man who asked him WHY he didn’t take the fifty dollar bill. The man offers him a job — a sweeping job — and gives him a one dollar gold coin.
“Be honest and true boys, let this be your motto through life,” narrates Nucky’s mother before the show ends.
