Hold Me in Paradise
"Hold Me in Paradise" is the eighth episode of the first season of the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, which premiered on November 7, 2010. It was written by staff writer Meg Jackson and directed by Brian Kirk. Nucky attends the Republican National Convention in Chicago, while Eli fills in for him in Atlantic City.
| "Hold Me in Paradise" | |
|---|---|
| Boardwalk Empire episode | |
 Angela receives nothing from Jimmy | |
| Episode no. | Season 1 Episode 8 |
| Directed by | Brian Kirk |
| Written by | Meg Jackson |
| Original air date | November 7, 2010 |
| Running time | 50 minutes |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
Plot
Nucky visits Chicago for the 1920 Republican National Convention, where he finds himself intrigued by the candidacy of Warren G. Harding over more established candidates. Nucky meets Harding's mistress, Nan Britton, and promises his campaign manager the votes of the New Jersey delegation in exchange for blocking Senator Walter Evans Edge's nomination for the vice-presidency, knowing that his former ally has secretly sided against him in funding new roads for Jersey City rather than Nucky's own Atlantic City.
Nucky stops by Torrio's brothel to find more information on Harding. As Nucky talks to Torrio and a judge from Ohio, Jimmy comes downstairs and runs into his old patron. Nucky behaves coldly towards Jimmy, criticizing him for never writing to his family, unaware that Van Alden, working out of Atlantic City's post office, has been intercepting the steady stream of money and letters Jimmy sends to Angela. Back home, while collecting money at Nucky's casino, Eli walks into an armed robbery. He is shot and wounded by the D'Alessio gang, who planned the heist with Luciano and Lansky.
When Nucky learns of Eli's injury, he returns to Torrio's brothel and asks Jimmy to come back to Atlantic City, reminding him that, as an Irishman among Italians, Jimmy will always be an outsider in Torrio's crew. Nucky stresses that he needs Jimmy's help in the intensifying turf war against Rothstein and the Italians, offering a percentage share in his smuggling operations and help in dealing with Van Alden's investigation of Jimmy's heist. Jimmy is noncommittal, although later he looks on wistfully as Torrio and his men laugh and joke in Italian.
Van Alden's wife, desiring a child even though she is infertile, pressures him to provide money for an operation he cannot afford. He gathers all the money he has intercepted from Jimmy, then mails an envelope to his wife. However, it is soon revealed that he has actually passed the money along to Angela; Van Alden's wife breaks down in tears as she reads the letter confirming his decision to trust in God's will rather than get her an operation. Rothstein prepares for legal trouble over his role in the Black Sox Scandal. Margaret finds herself entangled in Nucky's affairs when he calls from Chicago and asks her to watch over his office and, without opening them, hide certain documents in the chaotic aftermath of the casino robbery. Margaret spends the entire night sitting at Nucky's desk, reading a ledger that details his profits from bootlegging.
Reception
Critical reception
IGN gave the episode a score of 7.5 describing it as "a calm before the storm episode, [it] also succeeds at settling Nucky's political ties by establishing new ones, this time tethered to Warren Harding's Presidential campaign. The sky may be the limit on Nucky's political capital, but all he wants are his roads to Atlantic City. And he'll need them, as the war threatens to bring both allies and enemies to Nucky's town."[1]
The A.V. Club gave it a B rating.[2]
Ratings
"Hold Me in Paradise" boosted its adults 18–49 rating 0.3 points to a 1.5 rating. The episode had a total of 3.213 million viewers.[3]
