Why Boardwalk Empire's Big Villain Can't Last

Last night's Boardwalk Empire was amazing, and that's what makes me fear for the show's survival. Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rosetti, as we know, is a captivating onscreen presence, all hulking malice and barely checked psychosis. He dominates every scene he's in and makes Nucky's puppy-love plot with chanteuse Billie Kent seem like small fries. It is: Once Nucky finds out that Rosetti prevented his whiskey shipment from traveling to New York, you can bet he'll come back from what Mad Men's Bert Cooper calls "love leave."

It's natural that Boardwalk would restructure after killing off one of its two main protagonists, but switching to a "Big Bad" format is asking for disaster (just ask Dexter, the fifth season of which felt dreary after it dispensed with John Lithgow's Trinity Killer, or Justified, which scrambled to make up for the Emmy-winning Margo Martindale's performance this year). The reason shows like Mad Men age so well is that they don't constantly try to top themselves by bringing on crazier characters. Instead, they let the existing cast evolve such that one person can be the antagonist of one story and the protagonist of another. Gyp Rosetti is too insane and at odds with Nucky to survive this season, so every time he orders a plate of meatballs or buys a gas station solely for the purpose of getting in Nucky's way, it makes me think how much I'll miss him next season, when he's buried in the Pine Barrens.


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