Boardwalk Empire
What Does the Bee Do?
TV Flash files “What Does the Bee Do?” as hour 16 of 56 in the TV Flash guide — Boardwalk Empire (2010–2014) on HBO, season 2, episode 4, aired 2011-10-16, 60 min.
From the desk
How this hour is filed
This leaf is S02E04: listed hour 16 of 56 in the Boardwalk Empire guide, hour 4 of 12 in season 2. It aired 2011-10-16 (60 min). The listed hour before it is “A Dangerous Maid” (S02E03). Next is “Gimcrack & Bunkum” (S02E05).

Catalog log
Broadcast listing — not a TV Flash recap.
Nucky's attorney has a legal brainstorm that could turn the tide in Nucky's election rigging case. Facing a local liquor surplus, Jimmy and Mickey head to Philadelphia in search of buyers, while Nucky strikes an unlikely deal to get booze into Atlantic City. Eli frets over the Commodore's ability to lead; Owen puts his munitions expertise to work.
Viewer FAQ
Where does What Does the Bee Do? sit in the Boardwalk Empire guide?
S02E04 is listed hour 16 of 56 — hour 4 of 12 in season 2, season 2 episode 4.
When did Boardwalk Empire S02E04 air?
What Does the Bee Do? aired 2011-10-16 and is listed at 60 minutes.
Do I need The Sopranos first?
Winter comes out of that world; this is Prohibition Atlantic City, not Jersey therapy. Gangster prestige with Scorsese sheen, standalone.
In the series
Why this series still plays
Terence Winter's Prohibition Atlantic City with Scorsese sheen: Steve Buscemi's Nucky running politics as just another racket, Chalky White, Rothstein, and production design that eats the frame. Early-HBO gangster prestige — sequins, mud, and the body count of a treasurer who thought the Boardwalk was forever.
The flash is sequins in mud. September **2010**, HBO, Martin Scorsese on the pilot, Steve Buscemi as Enoch "Nucky" Thompson — a corrupt treasurer running Atlantic City through Prohibition's opportunities and body count, politics as just another racket. Terence Winter's tentpole between *Sopranos* afterglow and later peaks. Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg's Rothstein, Michael Kenneth Williams's Chalky White, Shea Whigham. Production design eats the frame. The museum guard can catalog the period…
Filed against
- Steve Buscemi as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson
Steve Buscemi ran Boardwalk Empire as Enoch “Nucky” Thompson — Prohibition Atlantic City with Scorsese sheen, politics as just another racket, sequins, mud, a treasurer's body count. Terence Winter's early-HBO gangster prestige. TV Flash…
- Kelly Macdonald as Margaret Schroeder
Kelly Macdonald's Margaret Schroeder gave Boardwalk Empire a human ledger under the sequins — Terence Winter's Prohibition Atlantic City, Scorsese sheen, politics as just another racket. Mud and treasurer math. TV Flash files her as 2010s…
- Michael Shannon as Nelson Van Alden
Michael Shannon’s Nelson Van Alden turned Boardwalk Empire’s Prohibition piety into a sweating moral problem — Scorsese sheen, sequins and mud — then bearded up for Death by Lightning’s assassination-as-standom tragedy. Early-HBO gangster…
- Shea Whigham as Eli Thompson
Shea Whigham's Eli Thompson ran Boardwalk Empire as brother-and-treasurer mud — Terence Winter's Prohibition Atlantic City with Scorsese sheen, Steve Buscemi's Nucky treating politics as another racket, sequins, a body count. Early-HBO…
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Arnold Rothstein
Michael Stuhlbarg’s Arnold Rothstein counted Boardwalk Empire’s Atlantic City like a treasurer who thought the sequins were his — Terence Winter, Scorsese sheen, Nucky, Chalky, mud, 2010s early-HBO gangster prestige. TV Flash files him as…
- Michael Kenneth Williams as Chalky White
Michael Kenneth Williams’s Chalky White walked Boardwalk Empire like Prohibition Atlantic City needed a rival weather system — Terence Winter, Scorsese sheen, Steve Buscemi’s Nucky, sequins, mud, a treasurer’s body count. TV Flash files…