"Anastasia" is the fourth episode of the first season of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, which premiered October 10, 2010. It 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 supervising producer Margaret Nagle

Margaret Nagle

Margaret Nagle is a screenwriter and television producer who has been nominated for two Emmy Awards and won two Writer's Guild of America Awards. Her very first script HBO's "Warm Springs" won the 2005 Emmy Award for Best Television Movie. It also won Nagle the 2006 Writers Guild of America Award...

 and was directed by Jeremy Podeswa

Jeremy Podeswa

Jeremy Podeswa is a Canadian/American film and television director. He is best known for directing the films The Five Senses and Fugitive Pieces . He has also worked as Director on the television shows Six Feet Under, Nip/Tuck, The Tudors, Queer as Folk, and the HBO World War II miniseries The...

. The episode received generally favourable reviews from television critics.

The episode centres around Nucky celebrating his birthday and Jimmy getting settled into his new home, Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

.

Plot

Jimmy Darmody now works for Al Capone

Al Capone

Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...

's Chicago boss, Johnny Torrio

Johnny Torrio

John "Papa Johnny" Torrio , also known as "The Fox", was an Italian-American mobster who helped build the criminal empire known as the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s that was later inherited by his protege, Al Capone...

, and lives in a brothel Torrio runs. Capone and Darmody attempt to strongarm a bar owner manager to buy his liquor from Torrio; when he is uncooperative, Capone beats him. They meet with Torrio's rival, Sheridan, and compromise on business arrangements. Torrio is more impressed by Darmody's negotiation than by Capone's brutality. One of Sheridan's men retaliates, attacking and disfiguring Jimmy's current girlfriend Pearl, a prostitute in Torrio's brothel.

In Atlantic City, as Nucky plans his "surprise" birthday party, he worries about the political impact of the murder of Chalky White's driver. Eli delivers the leader of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan

Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...

 to White, who tortures him until he is satisfied that the Klan was not involved in the killing. At Nucky's party, Senator Edge

Walter Evans Edge

Walter Evans Edge was an American politician. A Republican, he was twice the Governor of New Jersey, from 1917 to 1919 and again from 1944 to 1947, serving as governor during both World War I and World War II...

 tells Nucky he will not receive expected roadbuilding funds needed to complete Atlantic City's development, which will go instead to Frank Hague

Frank Hague

Frank Hague was an American Democratic Party politician who served as the mayor of Jersey City, New Jersey from 1917 to 1947, Democratic National Committeeman from New Jersey from 1922 until 1949, and Vice-Chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 1924 until 1949.Hague has a widely-known...

.

Lucky Luciano

Lucky Luciano

Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...

finds Darmody's mother at his house and tells her he is looking for "James". She sees through his cover story and throws him out. Luciano follows her around for several days; she spots him, and initiates a physical relationship.

Margaret then goes to work and is directed to deliver a dress to Lucy at Nucky's party, where Nucky asks her to dance, elating her. After returning to the shop, she sees Nucky and Lucy heading for a night on the town. Upset, she then steals a dress from "Belle Femme" and goes home.

Critical reception

The episode received positive reviews from critics. IGN gave the episode their highest rating up to that point with an 8.5 and said "It's amazing that the writers found a way to commit so much good storytelling into one hour of television." They also said ""Anastasia", Boardwalk's fourth episode, is so far its best, turning its criminals into sympathetic characters despite their vices and secrets, and doing so without resorting to forced or saccharine ways." TV Fanatic gave the episode 4.5/5.0 and enjoyed the transformation of Margaret. "My favorite moment of the night was Margaret's brilliant transformation into a well-spoken and intelligent character. Her change from a quiet wallflower with small ambitions came at the best time, during Nucky's party. As the Commodore repeated his enraging "test" of female intelligence and political acumen on Lucy ("You're assuming they have minds at all"), Margaret voices an informed opinion about Women's Suffrage by stating, "In most civilized countries, women are afforded that privilege."

Ratings

The episode plunged to a 1.1 adults 18–49 rating this week from a 1.4 last week, and lost over 800,000 average viewers from last week.