Boardwalk Empire: Complete Episode Guide
Boardwalk Empire – Sunday Best
Season Three: Episode Seven
Directed by: Allen Coulter
Written by: Howard Korder
The Spin: Is there a more tortured and twisted character on television right now than Gillian Darmody? And is there a more heartbreaking and fascinating character to watch than Richard Harrow? Gretchen Mol and Jack Huston sealed the deal tonight…and if there is any justice in this cruel world, their Emmys are being mailed to them right now. Oh, the peformances…the looks on their (half) faces! The two thespians shined again tonight in this Korder penned episode that proves the trend on the boardwalk that all the best episodes focus on family. On Easter Sunday, Harrow and little Tommy venture off to the Sagorsky house (for some of the best dinner table talk you’ll find all year) while Gillian stays at the empty Commodore Manor to perpetrate the most heinous act any character on this show has ever committed (and that’s saying a lot for a show full of murderous and sometimes perverted gangsters). Harrow’s unshakable committment to protecting Jimmy’s son while trying earnestly to start a romance with the lovely Julia Sagorsky (who carries her own baggage) foiled against Gillian’s demented obsession with Jimmy and his death while running a whore house is by far the most interesting plot thread running through this misshapen season. Meanwhile, the Thompson brood reunites at Eli’s house where Nucky and Eli (Shea Whigham) make up and Margaret bonds with the super sweet June. Up in NYC, Gyp (Bobby Cannavale) is hilariously put in his place at the Easter table by his overbearing female relatives, beats up a priest, and is almost killed by Boss Joe’s gang – saved only by his offer to bring them the heads of Nucky and Rothstein.
Weirdest Predicament of the Week: Ummm, how is Harrow supposed to react to the fake Jimmy dead in the bathtub?
Wait Until Next Week: Looks like the war is finally going to start…and Gyp and Gillian might begin a twisted union?
Commentary by David H. Schleicher
To my readers and Boardwalk strollers: Thoughts, reactions, comments?
The Schleicher Spin 
“all the best episodes focus on family” – minor correction here, all the best episodes focus on Richard Harrow.
I’m recovering lost ground with classical mythology right now, giving context to the psychological interpretations made by Freud and others in the 20th century. Gillian would be right at home in Aeschylus’ house of Atreus, or in Sophocles’ Thebes. Her daddy issues becoming Jimmy’s mommy issues and soullessness, and it seems the curse on the house of Darmody hasn’t ended yet.
You are right…Harrow is the heart and soul of the show right now. And Gillian is like something right out of a Greek tragedy (the marble death bath not so subtle) – I’m not sure we’ve ever seen anything like her on television.