Boardwalk Empire (episode)
Pilot episode of HBO's Prohibition-era crime drama.
The pilot episode of HBO’s *Boardwalk Empire* introduces Steve Buscemi as Nucky Thompson, the corrupt treasurer of Atlantic City who runs gambling and bootlegging operations in 1920. Series creator Terence Winter wrote the episode, Martin Scorsese directed it, and the production cost $18 million. It aired in the United States on September 19, 2010, and adapts Nelson Johnson’s book *Boardwalk Empire: The Birth, High Times, and Corruption of Atlantic City*.
The plot opens in January 1920 with two masked men ambushing bootleggers smuggling Canadian Club whisky. One day earlier, Nucky gives a keynote speech at a Women’s Temperance League rally on the eve of Prohibition (January 16, 1920), then leaves for a party at Babette’s Supper Club with elected officials, including his brother Sheriff Eli Thompson. Nucky appoints his driver, World War I veteran Jimmy Darmody, as an assistant to Sheriff Eli Thompson. When Prohibition begins at midnight, the party toasts the “death” of alcohol. Jimmy leaves, uncomfortable.
The next morning, Jimmy and his common-law wife Angela argue about his future; she wants him to return to Princeton, but he believes his path lies with Nucky. Nucky meets Margaret Schroeder, a pregnant Temperance League member, and gives her money instead of employing her alcoholic husband Hans. That night, Nucky and Jimmy visit Mickey Doyle’s funeral parlor, a front for distilling alcohol. Jimmy strikes Mickey for tricking him into drinking formaldehyde, nearly ruining the operation. Nucky scolds Jimmy, who demands a better job and implies the war has matured him. Nucky challenges him to make his own opportunities.
Nucky dines with mob figures Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Big Jim Colosimo, and Johnny Torrio. Rothstein and Torrio want to buy alcohol; Colosimo declines as too risky. Rothstein requests liquor for a wedding, and Nucky agrees to sell his latest shipment if Rothstein’s men pick it up. Rothstein asks to defer payment. Outside, Jimmy befriends Colosimo’s driver, Al Capone. The next day, Rothstein wins over $90,000 from Nucky’s casino, and Nucky realizes Rothstein won’t pay for the whiskey. He spots Hans gambling with the money he gave Margaret, beats him, and has him thrown out. That night, Hans beats Margaret, causing her to miscarry.
Jimmy, Capone, and an unknown accomplice plot to hijack Rothstein’s shipment.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Boardwalk Empire
- Season
- 1
- Director
- Martin Scorsese
- Writer
- Terence Winter
- Photographer
- Stuart Dryburgh
- Editor
- Sidney Wolinsky
- Airdate
- 2010-09-19
- Length
- 73 minutes
- Next
- The Ivory Tower
- Episode List
- List of Boardwalk Empire episodes
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The episode opens in January 1920 with a robbery of bootleggers, then flashes back one day to Nucky Thompson delivering a keynote address at a Women's Temperance League rally on the eve of Prohibition (January 16, 1920). Nucky leaves early to attend a celebration of the onset of Prohibition and the bootlegging opportunities it will bring. The plot follows Nucky's dealings with mob figures Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Big Jim Colosimo, Johnny Torrio, and Al Capone, as well as his driver Jimmy Darmody, who becomes involved in a hijacking of Rothstein's whiskey shipment. During the robbery, Jimmy kills Hans Schroeder in self-defense. The episode concludes with Nucky covering up Jimmy's role in the robbery and delivering flowers to a recovering Margaret Schroeder, whose husband Jimmy killed, not Nucky.
Reader's Guide
The pilot episode of Boardwalk Empire was notable for its high production values, including a specially constructed 300-foot-long boardwalk built in Brooklyn at a cost of five million dollars. It marked Martin Scorsese's first direction of a television episode since 1986. The episode received critical acclaim, with David Hinkley of the New York Daily News awarding five stars and Paige Wiser of the Chicago Sun-Times calling it 'an event not to be missed.' It garnered 4.81 million viewers, the highest rated premiere for an HBO series since the pilot of Deadwood in March 2004, leading to an immediate renewal for a second season.
Historical Roots and Fictional Framing
Boardwalk Empire weaves together a tapestry of real and invented figures to dramatize the Prohibition era in Atlantic City and the formative years of the American Mafia. While a significant portion of the cast consists of entirely fictional creations, numerous characters draw loose inspiration from actual historical personalities. The show employs two naming conventions: some figures retain the name of the person they are modeled after, while others receive altered identities for the screen. Nucky Thompson, for instance, is grounded in Enoch L. Johnson, and his brother Eli traces back to Alfred "Alf" Johnson. Jimmy Darmody echoes Jimmy Boyd, Margaret Thompson is shaped by Florence Osbeck, and Nelson Van Alden borrows from William Frank. Eddie Kessler and Mickey Doyle are similarly rooted in Louis Kessel and Mickey Duffy. At the top of the criminal hierarchy, the series places recognizable names—Arnold Rothstein, Al Capone, and Charles "Lucky" Luciano—directly on the page, anchoring the fictional Atlantic City world to the broader national underworld.
Nucky's Empire of Power and Loyalty
At the center of the series stands Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, the corrupt treasurer of Atlantic County and its dominant political force. His power is not solitary; it is sustained by a web of loyalists, rivals, and family ties. His younger brother Eli, a former sheriff of the county, serves as a constant supporting presence throughout the entire run. Nucky's German valet and personal assistant, Eddie Kessler, handles the intimate logistics of his daily life. In the black community of Atlantic City, Albert "Chalky" White operates as Nucky's counterpart, bridging the political and criminal worlds. Mickey Doyle functions as a local bootlegger within Nucky's orbit, while Commodore Louis Kaestner represents both a mentor and a predecessor in the city's power structure. Beyond Atlantic City, Nucky's ambitions pull him into business with New York gangster Arnold Rothstein, and his story intersects with the rising ambitions of Al Capone in Chicago and the Sicilian-American Charles "Lucky" Luciano, who moves from Rothstein's close associate to a principal antagonist by the series' final season.
The Darmody Family and Its Shattering
The Darmody storyline forms one of the show's most devastating arcs. Jimmy Darmody, a former Princeton student and World War I veteran, returns to Atlantic City and is hired as Nucky Thompson's driver. His wife Angela, also a Princeton art student, had begun their romance in 1916 before Jimmy was expelled for assaulting a professor who groped his mother, Gillian. He enlisted in the war, leaving Angela pregnant. In Season 1, Angela endures Jimmy's slide into organized crime and his growing violence. Feeling isolated, she rekindles a relationship with Mary Dittrich, and the two women plot to escape to Paris with their young son Tommy. Mary and her husband abruptly abandon Angela, and Jimmy discovers the affair. In Season 2, the couple attempts to rebuild in a beach house, where Angela forms a bond and romance with a novelist named Louise. Philadelphia gangster Manny Horvitz, seeking revenge against Jimmy, breaks into their home, shoots Louise in the shower, and kills Angela to silence her as a witness. The trauma drives Jimmy to murder his father, the Commodore, and ultimately leads to his own death. Tommy is raised by Gillian, and Richard Harrow later assassinates Manny Horvitz in Angela's name.
Nucky's Women and the Rival Hierarchy
The emotional and criminal landscape around Nucky is populated by women whose fates are shaped by his world and by the gangsters who orbit it. Lucy Danziger, a former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, begins as Nucky's demanding mistress. As his attention shifts to Margaret Schroeder—an Irish widow and mother who seeks his help and eventually becomes his wife—Lucy grows jealous and erratic, culminating in public confrontations. Nucky ends their relationship, leaving Lucy desperate. She seduces the married Prohibition agent Nelson Van Alden and becomes pregnant. In Season 2, she lives in miserable seclusion under his strict control, gives birth to a daughter, then abandons the infant and flees to pursue a role in the Broadway musical A Dangerous Maid. Her daughter Abigail is referenced years later, knowing only that her biological mother was "a dancer." Meanwhile, the criminal hierarchy beyond Atlantic City is defined by Arnold Rothstein, a powerful New York gangster who enters business with Nucky; Al Capone, a low-level Chicago figure with ambitions to lead the mob; and Charles "Lucky" Luciano, a Sicilian-American close associate of Rothstein who escalates to principal antagonist by Season 5.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who directed and wrote the Boardwalk Empire pilot episode?
Martin Scorsese directed the episode while series creator Terence Winter wrote the script. Their collaboration set the visual and narrative tone for the entire series from the opening scene.
When did the Boardwalk Empire pilot first air and on what network?
The episode premiered on HBO in the United States on September 19, 2010. It attracted roughly 4.81 million viewers during its initial broadcast.
What is the Boardwalk Empire pilot episode about?
Set in January 1920, the pilot introduces Nucky Thompson as the corrupt treasurer of Atlantic City who secretly oversees gambling and bootlegging operations during Prohibition. The story kicks off with a violent ambush on whisky smugglers, immediately establishing the show's crime-drama stakes.
Who plays the lead character in the Boardwalk Empire pilot?
Steve Buscemi stars as Nucky Thompson, a politically connected figure who wields enormous influence over Atlantic City's illegal liquor trade. His character serves as the central anchor for the entire series.
How much did it cost to produce the Boardwalk Empire pilot?
The pilot carried a production budget of $18 million, reflecting HBO's investment in a high-quality period crime drama. The episode adapts material from Nelson Johnson's nonfiction book about Atlantic City's Prohibition-era corruption.
More in Boardwalk Empire episodes 1-24
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced