‘Boardwalk Empire’ season 4, episode 6 preview: Video peek; words from Patricia Arquette

Typically when you see a love interest for a character appear a few seasons in, there is typically a word we use to describe them: Uninspired. They are mostly filler characters that fail to live up to their potential, mostly because it’s basically the equivalent of having a really fun party for three hours, and then someone turning up three hours late and demanding to be a part of every single inside joke that you have been part of in the time that they were away.

But Patricia Arquette on “Boardwalk Empire” is no ordinary love interest. It’s an actress first of all getting to do something completely new after spending many years on “Medium,” and she’s a character who is not going to take any you-know-what from Nucky Thompson. She’s a survivalist, knows parts of the country way more than he does, and she doesn’t need Nucky for anything. It’s a relationship that has nothing to do with convenience or social pressure, and that is something almost revolutionary both to Steve Buscemi’s character and also the period of the HBO hit.

Rather than try to flesh this character out more ourselves, why not allow Arquette to do some of the talking instead? Speaking to TV Guide, she says the following when describing this role:

“The women who’ve been with Nucky so far are desperately needy or in peril or they want something from him — and that’s so not Sally … Sally is her own person, a real dame, a businesswoman who can survive in the harshest of swamps. In a way she and Nucky are equals and that will be a whole new experience for the guy! Sally can take Nucky or leave him, and he finds that very intriguing.” 

While the sneak peek that we have for you below does not contain Arquette, it does contain Remus! Not only that, but it may be the best inclusion of breakfast that we’ve seen on a show since Walter Jr. first partook in the classic meal on “Breaking Bad.”

If you are not watching this show we have one suggestion for you: Go binge-watch everything that’s happened so far. This year in our mind is a major jump up from season 3, and just what the show needed to establish itself again as something worth watching. For whatever reason, it fell off the radar last fall, but Nucky and company are climbing their way back to the top.

Photo: HBO