Boardwalk Empire's Pilot was pretty disappointing to me, simply because it felt over-stuffed and moved too rapidly to engage us with it's story lines. However, fortunately, the 2nd episode The Ivory Tower was an improvement.
The episode still had some flaws, it still focuses sometimes way too much on the style of the period without being engaging, but for the most part, the 2nd episode was much more enjoyable, and a much rounder episode as a whole. I think that Michael Pitt's storyline will become more and more engaging, and I think both Stuhlbarg and Shannon are also the best performers. Those three cast members have so far been the most compelling. Kelly Macdonald is a great actress, but her accent is too heavy, but again, she was better in this than the Pilot. Steve Buscemi, the star of the show, is still interesting, but he is becoming overshadowed by Pitt. I think Buscemi is again a great actor, but his portrayal is not compelling enough to warrant me to love this show just yet. However, after this strong episode, the series will become better with time, which is what I predicted for another great new show, Rubicon.
The episode still had some flaws, it still focuses sometimes way too much on the style of the period without being engaging, but for the most part, the 2nd episode was much more enjoyable, and a much rounder episode as a whole. I think that Michael Pitt's storyline will become more and more engaging, and I think both Stuhlbarg and Shannon are also the best performers. Those three cast members have so far been the most compelling. Kelly Macdonald is a great actress, but her accent is too heavy, but again, she was better in this than the Pilot. Steve Buscemi, the star of the show, is still interesting, but he is becoming overshadowed by Pitt. I think Buscemi is again a great actor, but his portrayal is not compelling enough to warrant me to love this show just yet. However, after this strong episode, the series will become better with time, which is what I predicted for another great new show, Rubicon.