Everything You Need to Know to Watch Season 4 of "Boardwalk Empire"

Recapping the first three seasons of the adventures of Nucky Thompson, king of Atlantic City

September 7, 2013

Image via Complex Original

"I didn't ask for trouble," Nucky Thompson explains in the promo trailer for Boardwalk Empire's fourth season. "What was brought to my doorstep, I returned." He's got a point. But if the past three seasons of Terence Winter's Prohibition-themed crime-drama tell us anything, it's that the bloodshed in Atlantic City is likely to continue into the hit show's fourth season, which premieres on HBO this Sunday night at 9 p.m.

While the show's higher-ups—including executive producers Martin Scorsese and Mark Wahlberg—have kept mum on what to expect in the new season, here's what the promos tell us:

1. Nucky's got a new young lady in his life,

2. Jeffrey Wright will try damn hard to outdo Bobby Cannavale's run as Nucky's third season nemesis.

3. And, according to executive producer Timothy Van Patten in a recent interview with Kodak's InCamera Magazine, "There's going to be a heavy body count."

Let's hope so!

For now, here's Everything You Need to Know to Watch Season 4 of Boardwalk Empire.

Meet Nucky Thompson.

He's the Treasurer of Atlantic City who, on the eve of Prohibition, stands united with the Women's Temperance League in making sure that this filthy beverage called liquor will no longer find its way into the hands of the upstanding citizens of this community.

Now meet the real Nucky Thompson.

One of the nation's most successful bootleggers. Nucky's a man who is about as upstanding as the drunks he plies with whiskey in his thriving, interstate alcohol business.

Nucky is a much-loved figure in Atlantic City.

Particularly by the ladies. And he loves them right back—at least for as long as it suits him. That doesn't always sit well with his woman-du-jour, especially showgirl Lucy Danziger.

But one woman in particular has caught his eye.

She's a poor, Irish immigrant named Margaret Schroeder. She's married with two children and another one on the way. It's at meeting of the Women's Temperance League that she is first introduced to Nucky, then boldly tracks him down to ask if he might help her husband find work. He's intrigued, and gives her a handful of cash.

Unfortunately, Mr. Schroeder isn't thrilled about the windfall. He beats his wife for shaming him, causing her to miscarry. Nucky won't be very happy when he hears about this.

Nucky's also got a brother named Eli.

Initially, Eli appears to be the more upstanding of the Thompson brothers. He holds the title of town Sheriff and takes the job seriously. But corruption runs rampant in Atlantic City, and one doesn't need to take a huge step to stray from the path of the straight and narrow.

Like most siblings, Nucky and Eli have their disagreements. But in the Thompson family, sibling rivalry goes a bit beyond the occasional loud argument or fistfight. Eventually, Eli will feel underappreciated enough by his brother that he'll become part of a conspiracy to kill him. Not a smart idea.

Nucky's closest ally is a young man named Jimmy Darmody.

Abandoned by his father, a man of great local power known as the Commodore, and (creepily) doted upon by his mother Gillian, who works at the local brothel, Jimmy has got a chip on his shoulder. And understandably so. But Nucky has always treated him like a son—even paying for him to attend Yale so that he could escape the temptations of AC's criminal underworld.

But Jimmy doesn't want to be a scholar. He wants to be a gangster, and he doesn't want to wait around forever. So he takes a lot of stupid risks, including intercepting one of Nucky's whiskey shipments, which was intended for notorious mobster Arnold Rothstein (with the help of other wannabe gangster Al Capone).

Nucky is at the top of the gangster food chain.

Which means his colleagues include such big-time mobsters as Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Big Jim Colosimo and Johnny Torrio. It also means that Nucky can't allow for foolish behavior from his underlings. In Nucky's world, today's business partners can easily become tomorrow's mortal enemies with even a single wrong word, so Nucky's got some thinking to do about how to right this wrong.

One guy who is not a fan of Nucky is Nelson Van Alden.

Van Alden is a seemingly by-the-book Prohibition agent who knows exactly what Nucky is and what he's out to prove it. But Nucky's got plenty of friends in the political world, which makes Van Alden's job all the more challenging.

But Nucky won't have to worry about Van Alden for too long, as the agent is about to embark on a legendary downward spiral that includes murdering his own partner, impregnating Nucky's ex-girlfriend, and eventually having to change his identity and go on the run (where he ends up under getting into trouble with Al Capone).

While Van Alden's character could have easily been done away with after the first season, Michael Shannon's typically spot-on performance of a guy who is batshit crazy keeps his storyline immensely watchable.

At least Nucky's got Margaret to comfort him.

Or he will have Margaret to comfort him—right after he forces Eli to kill her abusive husband and pin the whiskey hold-up on him instead of Jimmy. Nucky makes his move when he visits the newly widowed Mrs. Schroeder with a handful of flowers, and eventually proposes to take care of her and her children. Not by marrying her, of course, but having them move into a home that he pays for (the same home he has stashed a few of his other ladies of the moment).

Though he loves him like a son, Nucky knows that he can no longer protect Jimmy.

It's too much of a risk, even after he's pinned that armed robbery on the dearly departed Mr. Schroeder. So he packs Jimmy off to Chicago to work and play with Windy City mob boss Johnny Torrio and his underling (and soon-to-be-successor) Al Capone.

But Jimmy's mother, Gillian, is none too pleased with her son's new zip code.

She hates that Jimmy has left his young son, Tommy, behind. But she's even more annoyed that Jimmy's abandoned wife, Angela, is the one who gets to care for young Tommy. She blames it all on Nucky, really, and wants to get revenge.

Jimmy's making lots of new friends in Chicago, including a man named Richard Harrow.

Like Jimmy, Richard is a veteran. He's a former Army marksman whose face was disfigured in the war and is now forced to wear a mask to cover half of his face. Eventually, Jimmy brings Richard back to Atlantic City with him, where he envies the life that Jimmy has there: a beautiful wife, a great son, a beautiful wife... Oops, did we already say that? Yeah, well Richard takes a serious shine to Angela.

Too bad for Richard that she's more into female companionship. But Richard remains a loyal friend to Jimmy and risks his own life to avenge/protect all that Jimmy held dear—even when Jimmy’s no longer around to do so.

Speaking of Jimmy no longer being around...

Spoiler alert: Jimmy doesn't make it past season one, and his demise comes at the hands of Nucky. But he really, really had it coming. He didn't try to run away from the punishment he had due for the many times he double-crossed, back-stabbed, conspired against, and attempted to kill Nucky, even going so far as to get Eli involved in the plot.

Jimmy paid the ultimate price for trying to usurp Nucky's power and initiating a turf war in Atlantic City—one that Nucky would continue fighting even after he shot Jimmy, telling him, "I am not seeking forgiveness," before putting the final bullet in his head.

The one person Nucky can always count on? Chalky White.

When it comes to the politics of criminal activity, Chalky White knows how to play the game. He's smart, calculating, and loyal to those who knows will wield the power that can help him get ahead. Throughout the show's three seasons, Nucky and Chalky have hit a few bumps in the road, but he's been one of the few players whose word Nucky knows he can trust, even if it's not the word he wants to hear.

Nucky adds one more confidante to the mix when he marries Margaret.

Is it a union of passionate love? Not really, though Nucky does confide in Margaret often, in both personal and business matters. But when he's forced to call on her to help him out of a jam—knowing that Agent Van Alden is sniffing around her for information—they decide that a marital union can only weaken the witness list against Nucky when it comes time for him to pay for his crimes. A wife also makes a convenient hiding place for items of value like, say, the deed to a tract of land that would allow Nucky to build a road from Atlantic City and Philadelphia that could expand his bootlegging operation.

But then Owen Slater enters the picture.

Another Irish immigrant, Owen has a solid reputation in the business back in Ireland, but is looking to move up the ranks in Atlantic City. With Jimmy out of the picture, Nucky brings Owen aboard as his new right-hand man. But Owen doesn't realize that his duties stop at the door to Nucky's bedroom, and he pursues a romantic relationship with the new Mrs. Thompson. Who could say no to that brogue?

And here comes Gyp Rosetti.

Nucky's most formidable opponent arrives on New Year's Eve 1922: New York City mobster Gyp Rosetti, who is as entertaining as he is frightening. He wants to do business with Nucky, but Nucky only sells to Arnold Rothstein. This doesn't make Gyp happy. So, he makes his way to the tiny town of Tabor Heights, New Jersey—the last place Nucky's men can gas up to transport liquor to New York—and makes sure that Nucky's fleet won't make it out of the Garden State in spectacularly violent fashion.

There's a new woman in Nucky's life, too.

She's a young actress from New York named Billie Kent. And Margaret? Oh, sure, she's still around. She and Nucky are still married, but he's not so pleased with her decision to sign away the rights to his AC-to-Philly land to the Church. Now, instead of a money-making entrepreneur, he's become a philanthropist. The best way to get back at her? Flaunt his new young lady around Atlantic City.

Unfortunately for Nucky—and, more importantly, Billie—the lovebirds are forced to say goodbye forever when Gyp (with the help of Gillian) blows up the Boardwalk at the exact moment Nucky and Billie are walking. The latter does not survive the blast.

Back at the brothel...

Gillian's regretting her decision to cozy up to Gyp, who has now taken over the place. He's got some odd little fetishes that not all the ladies are cool with.

Richard Harrow is living there, too, helping to take care of Tommy. But he and Gillian aren't the best of friends, and when Richard tells Tommy stories about his parents—especially his mother (who was brutally murdered)—Gillian gets pissed. She is particularly incensed when Richard starts spending time with a pretty young lady and bringing Tommy on their outings.

Eventually, their head-butting gets to be too much and Gillian throws Richard out. But he'll be back...

Nucky is doing his best to forgive.

But he's having trouble with the forgetting part. As hard as he's trying, he just can't seem to get past his brother conspiring against him or his wife selling off his life savings. But he's trying!

Nucky's also getting the sense that Owen is moving in on his territory.

And we mean in a professional sense. Owen is a salesman and seems to command respect from all those whom he encounters, which is a good thing, but not when you're as paranoid as Nucky.

What he should be worried about is the fact that Owen and Margaret have been carrying on a passionate affair, and that Margaret is now pregnant with his child. The two of them have been stashing away money so that they can run away together, but Owen has been diligent about not shirking any of his work duties while the plan is in motion.

As the war with Gyp escalates, Owen won't be a problem much longer. He leaves on a trip to New York to try and call a truce, and comes back in a wooden box, hand-delivered to Nucky's doorstep. Margaret's reaction tells Nucky everything he needs to know.

But Gyp Rosetti is still the real problem.

With the blessing of the New York mob, Gyp runs Nucky right out of Atlantic City and into hiding. Margaret and the kids, too.

Nucky is no stranger to dealing with problems.

With the help of always-reliable Chalky White, Nucky fights back. The body count is rising, but Nucky and Arnold Rothstein eventually make a deal to take Gyp down.

Richard gets in on the massacring fun, too.

Gunplay is clearly one of Richard's strong suits. And he gets in on the fatal fun when he storms Gillian's brothel—his former home—in order to rescue Tommy. In the process, he takes out most of Gyp's army of strongmen in truly bloody fashion. He almost gets Gyp, too. But that's not who he's after.

Gyp escapes, but he doesn't get far.

With Nucky on the rise back to power, he's got some allies on the inside again. Including one of Gyp's few remaining henchmen—who stabs him to death while he stops to take a leak on the beach. Which is somehow poetic.

Nucky's the man again.

But he doesn't seem too happy about it. Sure, people on the Boardwalk are fawning over him, but Margaret has made it clear that their relationship is over. And half of the town has been brutally murdered. But anything can change in season four...