"The Emerald City" is the tenth episode of the first season of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, which aired on HBO November 21, 2010. The episode was written by co-executive producer Lawrence Konner

Lawrence Konner

Lawrence Konner has had a long and distinguished career as an American screenwriter and television writer. In addition, he has produced a number of award winning documentaries.-Career:...

 and directed by Simon Cellan-Jones

Simon Cellan-Jones

Simon Cellan-Jones is a Welsh television director and film director, who began his career as a production assistant in the mid-1980s, working on series such as Edge of Darkness. By the late 1980s he had worked his way up to become a director, and he gained credits on some of the most acclaimed...

. The title is based on the fictional Emerald City

Emerald City

The Emerald City is the fictional capital city of the Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...

 from the Oz Books.

Nucky asks Margaret to toe the party line; Angela witnesses Jimmy's violent side; Capone faces a crossroads; Van Alden grapples with his emotions.

Plot

Continuing the plotline from the last episode, Richard Harrow is now staying at the Schroeder house, although his face injury is scaring the children. Agent Sebso is sent home to rest over the protests of Van Alden, for killing Billy Winslow supposedly in self-defense. Jimmy has taken up residence with his family and attempts to reconnect with Angela. Rothstein chides the D'Alessio brothers and Mickey for not doing enough research on Nucky's butler, Eddie, and for shooting a civilian during the failed assassination attempt.

At a meeting in Chicago, Torrio becomes angry with Al for interrupting his business meeting with a juvenile prank. Later in the episode, Al undergoes a change of heart and apologizes to Johnny, promising to act like an adult and take on more responsibility. Torrio gives him an assignment to fix the distribution problems at a friendly brewery.

While passing the photography shop on the boardwalk, Tommy points to a picture of Robert Dittrich and his wife Mary and calls one of them Angela's "kissing friend." Jimmy snaps and beats up Robert, prompting a tearful Angela to promise Mary she will leave Jimmy and move with Tommy and her to Paris.

Margaret is torn between her happiness at the newly won right to vote and Nucky's pressure to use her influence to rally the League of Women Voters to support Republican mayoral candidate Edward Bader. She finally gives in and makes a rousing speech in favor of his candidacy, but sours when she sees Nucky gladhanding with other powerful men. Margaret also invites Richard to sit while she reads the children The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a children's novel written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. Originally published by the George M. Hill Company in Chicago on May 17, 1900, it has since been reprinted numerous times, most often under the name The Wizard of Oz, which is the name of...

, and later admits that she was a bit frightened herself at his disfigurement.

Meanwhile, Van Alden makes another visit to Margaret and warns her she will burn in hell for her lifestyle choices. When she rejects his advances, he visits a bordello, where he takes shots of whiskey and later has rough sex with Lucy, who appears to be working as a prostitute.

Worried he will soon be killed for his incompetence, Mickey betrays the D'Alessio brothers and Lansky, revealing the conspiracy to an enraged Nucky. Nucky enlists Chalky to pretend to accept Lansky's offer to buy premium whiskey to sell to the rich, hoping to lure enough of Rothstein's men to the drop point to wipe out the threat to Atlantic City. When one of the D'Alessio brothers lets slip a piece of information that makes Chalky realize they were responsible for the death of his employee, Chalky takes two of the brothers and Lansky prisoner. Jimmy and Chalky each kill one of the brothers. Seeing that the plan is now impossible, Nucky releases Lansky to tell Rothstein what has happened.

The episode ends with Margaret looking in the mirror; contemplating the decisions she has made.

Critical reception

IGN gave the episode a score of 8.5 calling it "Great" and said ""I don't control anyone, Margaret," Nucky says. "I'm an overseer." If "Emerald City" is any indication, how Nucky observes and participates in the events of Season One's final two episodes will involve more changes and more strategic bloodshed." The A.V. Club gave the episode a "B", describing it "For the first nine episodes of Boardwalk Empire, we've been getting a lot of introduction and backstory and a lot of exploration of the world of 1920, but only a little bit of forward movement on the plot that was set into motion back in episode one. Yes, we've seen Margaret blossom from an abused immigrant peasant to am increasingly assured political player and Jimmy go from being a small-time crook to a shrewd mobster, and we've seen a number of folks get shot. But we began this adventure with Nucky Thompson, Arnold Rothstein, and the agents of the United States government all at odds over the future of the booze biz, and their respective advantages haven't changed much since then. And not to be an alarmist, but after tonight's "The Emerald City", there are only two episodes remaining in the first season." Expanding on that, they said "As mentioned, "The Emerald City" features a lot of scenes of powerful men dealing with underlings who may or may not be up to the responsibilities of their respective organizations. Even Arnold Rothstein has a rough time of it, trying to explain "the age of information" to a bunch of goons whose idea of sound business practice is to shoot a man in the street. But then that's what Boardwalk Empire is all about, isn't it? Or at least it's what keeps me fascinated by the show even when it occasionally annoys me. What is it that all these characters are engaged in: Is this business or crime? Or is it something in between—like politics."

Ratings

"The Emerald City" gained a tenth of a point in to a 1.3 adults 18–49 rating and added a handful of viewers, just topping 3 million and had an overall of 3.049 million viewers.