Before I started to write this article I texted my friend that it’d be hard for me to restrain from just repeatedly going, “OMG, how cool was that moment?!” in my analysis. I’ll do my best, though, lest I let you fine folks down and devolve into a teenage boy who has just come out of a James Bond film and is all excited about the violence and cleavage.

If you’re a fan of attractive men with Irish accents, then tonight was a bad night for you.

Boardwalk Empire has ratings competition and stiff competition at that: The Walking Dead. Both shows air at 9 PM on Sundays: Boardwalk Empire on HBO and The Walking Dead on AMC. I watch The Walking Dead and do enjoy it but Boardwalk Empire is clearly the superior show (at least from where I’m sitting). Yet The Walking Dead gets almost three times the number of viewers that Boardwalk gets. Why?

Michael Shannon is a terrifying looking man. I’ve read interviews with him and he’s clearly a nice guy but, boy, is he one scary looking dude. His character has been crazy in the past but this episode’s freak out was one for the books. After putting up with the idiots at his office for a little too long, Van Alden (or should we call him George Mueller now?) smashes a hot iron into one of his fellow employee’s faces and trashes the room, throwing typewriters to the floor and paper into the wind. It was a satisfying moment because the humiliation his peers enjoyed putting him through was depressing to see and it also sees the return of Michael Shannon’s crazy face. What, pray tell, does his crazy face involve? Well, how about a pair of eyes that look like they’re about to pop out? Seriously, how those eyes didn’t end up falling onto the floor I’ll never know.