Category: 1930s

1930s, 20th Century, Boardwalk Empire, Recap, Series

Boardwalk Empire: Hostage Situation

Boardwalk Empire What Jesus SaidPreviously on Boardwalk Empire: Nucky set about trying to find out who wants to have him killed while also making connections with Joseph Kennedy. Margaret’s boss shot himself, prompting her to pull Rothstein’s file, Chalky escaped from the chain gang with a Dunn Purnsley-esque companion, and we got a few forays back to the 1880s so we could learn absolutely nothing about Nucky that we hadn’t already found out over the past few seasons.

Chalky and his new buddy break into a home and immediately start raiding the kitchen. They must be super hungry, because Chalky actually cracks some eggs into a glass and drinks them down. Ick. They wander around, checking the place out (it’s a nice house) and Chalky asks Milton if this is the right house. Chalky wants to leave, but a young woman appears and they ask her for cash, promising to leave as soon as they have it. They all say that in these scenarios, don’t they? She claims not to have any, and lets slip that someone else is in the house with her. After a few moments, her mother comes down the stairs and seems startled by the sight of two strange black men in her home.

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1930s, 20th Century, Boardwalk Empire, Recap, Series

Boardwalk Empire: Never Forget

boardwalk14_13_article_story_largePreviously on Boardwalk Empire: Nucky almost got his head cleaved in Cuba, but overcame that to secure the exclusive rights to Bacardi rum. Eli was shipped off to Chicago after murdering a federal agent in his own living room, and the agent formerly known as Nelson Van Alden (now George Mueller) joined the Capone gang.

Eli wakes in an alcohol haze to the sound of federal agents raiding the enormous warehouse he’s working in. Or, you know, ‘working’ in. He pulls it together enough to realise he needs to get out of there. The feds have commandeered a huge pile of money, as well as a lot of liquor.

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1930s, 20th Century, Boardwalk Empire, Recap, Series

Boardwalk Empire: Golden Days

cdn.indiewire.comPreviously on Boardwalk Empire: Hoo boy. Well, Chalky got into a tangle with Valentin Narcisse which wound up with Chalky on the lam and his daughter accidentally getting shot to death by Richard Harrow, who died shortly after, making new bride Julia a widow. Margaret started a new life in New York, working for some sort of scam, by the sound of it, and crossing paths with Rothstein. Eli was blackmailed into helping out a creepy federal agent, and then had to go on the run after killing the guy, and Nucky explored new business opportunities in Florida.

I have to confess, I actually wasn’t planning on recapping Boardwalk anymore after last season. It’s not that the season was really bad it’s just…I dunno, I didn’t really love it. Watching every episode was starting to feel like a chore, and once they killed off Harrow I felt like I was just done. I didn’t really care about anyone anymore. But then they announced this was going to be the final season, and I figured I might as well stick it out to the end. So, here we are.

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1930s, 20th Century, Roaring 20's

First in Flight

At 7:52 a.m. on May 20, 1927, Charles Lindbergh took off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island. When he landed at Le Bourget Field in Paris the next day, he’d completed the world’s first solo non-stop flight from New York to Paris. Lindbergh’s reason for making the flight was money—specifically, the $25,000 prize offered by hotelier Raymond Orteig to the first pilot to fly non-stop … Continue reading First in Flight

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1930s, History

Rescue 999

On 30 June 1937, the world’s oldest emergency call service, 999, went into effect in London. The introduction of the emergency number was prompted by a fire in November 1935, in which five women died. A neighbour tried to phone the fire brigade, but was made to wait in a queue by the Welbeck telephone exchange. He wrote an outraged letter to The Times, probably … Continue reading Rescue 999

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1930s, 20th Century, Miniseries

Review: Dancing on the Edge

Right in the midst of the early 2013 recapping, the BBC starting seriously ramping up its promotion of Stephen Poliakoff’s five-part miniseries, Dancing on the Edge. And even though I was juggling three shows already, not to mention an actual job and a life, I put it on my schedule and made a mental note to tune in when it aired in early February. After … Continue reading Review: Dancing on the Edge

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1930s, 20th Century, Recap

A Young Doctor’s Notebook: Saving the World One Peasant At a Time

daniel-radcliffe-jon-hamm-a-young-doctors-notebookPreviously on A Young Doctor’s Noteboook: Daniel arrived at a very remote hospital to start the business of being a doctor, aided by Jon, his older self.

We begin in medias res in 1934. One of the soviet soldiers/policemen is quizzing Jon about some prescriptions he wrote. Jon claims not to remember them. Soldier has the notebook too, but Jon says it’s just nonsense written when he was a boy.

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1930s, 20th Century, Recap

Upstairs Downstairs: Family Ties

Image: BBC

Previously on Upstairs Downstairs: Hallam knew that appeasement was a really, really bad policy, but his bosses were a bit slower to realize that. Agnes recovered slowly from the difficult birth of her second child, managed her difficult aunt-in-law, and got the household servants to stop hazing Pritchard for having been a conscientious objector during the first world war. Look how she’s stepping up!

Agnes is being examined by the doctor, who tells her she’s in good shape, all things considered, but it’s time to “close up shop.” There will be no more babies in the Holland household. I’m sure Hallam won’t be too happy to hear that. Agnes looks fairly devastated by the news. The doctor tells her she should tell her husband, whom he’s sure will take care of everything. What’s that supposed to mean?

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1930s, 20th Century, Recap

Upstairs Downstairs Recap: The Newcomers

Image: BBC

As luck (and the BBC and Masterpiece programmers) would have it, series two of Downton Abbey took its bows in the US the very same night series two of Upstairs Downstairs premiered in the UK. Now, I made my thoughts on the first series of Upstairs Downstairs quite clear when it aired over here last spring, and after recent rumors of a desperate-sounding lesbian storyline, I wasn’t expecting much. I tracked down episode one, fully expecting to let my snark flag fly. There was just one problem:

It didn’t suck. Not at all. I was actually more satisfied with this episode than I was with most episodes of my beloved Downton. Is there hope? Could Upstairs Downstairs actually bust the sophomore slump and turn out to be good, even without Eileen Atkins? We’ll just have to see.

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1930s, 20th Century, Recap

Upstairs Downstairs Recap: No Going Back

Previously on Upstairs Downstairs: Hallam tumbled fast and probably irretrievably down the douchebag rabbithole by jumping into bed with his sister-in-law, who seems to be a Nazi spy, in addition to an all-around gross human being. Pritchard got a crush, which was then, well, crushed when his lady love realized he didn’t fight in the last war, and Spargo and Beryl decided it was about time to hit the road and head to America.

A bell rings belowstairs, where the detritus from the previous night’s party are laid out on the table. Said detritus includes, oddly, a shoe. What were they all up to after that party? Spargo gently wakes Beryl, who’s asleep in his bed, and gives her some OJ. Aww.

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