Recap: 'Boardwalk Empire' Season 5, Episode 3 ‘What Jesus Said’

“There's forgiveness for everyone. That's what Jesus said," an innocent girl held at gunpoint says to on-the-run convict Chalky White (Michael Kenneth Williams) trying to appeal to his sense of goodness. “Baby girl," Chalky solemnly purrs, "Jesus was wrong.” It's come to this for Chalky, the former Atlantic City club owner, family man and gangster: in trying to seek refuge he’s been forced to hold a family hostage while he and Milton, his jailbird partner, are on the lam. But as much as Chalky is beyond redemption—he's responsible for the death of his daughter Maybelle and he'll never forgive himself—and as much as he's a former shadow of himself, the former gangster's got a code and a humanity within himself. Perhaps some kind of absolution will be Chalky's salvation in this final season of "Boardwalk Empire."

It becomes clear early on that Chalky's young buck partner Milton is angry, volatile and unpredictable. As much as Chalky thinks they're alike,...