"Boardwalk Empire," Season 1, Episode 5

• Courtesy of HBO
• I HATE ST. PATRICK'S DAY: Steve Buscemi in "Boardwalk Empire"

Between the “leprechaun” subplot of last night’s St. Patrick’s-themed “Boardwalk Empire,” and the $50 million opening grosses for Jackass 3-D, co-starring Wee Man, it was a big weekend for the little people.

“Nights in Ballygran” features a memorable locker-room scene of the diminutive boxers from earlier this season. St. Patrick’s Day is coming up, including a big Celtic Night banquet and not surprisingly, the midget performers have little enthusiasm for dressing up as Lucky Charms mascots for the amusement of drunks: “Fuck this, no more leprechauns, no more Cupids, no more goddamn elf costumes!” one declares. Their spokesman suggests he can get a raise from $5 a night to $10 and takes the idea to Nucky. Nucky dismisses their small-talk (no pun intended), shoots down the $10 request and offers the spokesman $12 to bring a $7 counteroffer to his fellows. Nucky’s ability to negotiate and make instant calculations prove almost uncanny.

He badly misjudges Margaret Schroeder, providing the narrative motor this week. The episode begins when an illegal neighborhood beer delivery at the “Hiawatha Garage” awakens Margaret, who busies herself by baking. Later that morning, she finds Nucky and Eli in the hotel lobby, and she offers him soda bread as a birthday present. After their warm dance at the birthday ball (from last week’s episode), Nucky gives her a surprisingly cold shoulder, and rather than give the bread to the bellhop, she throws it away. You can hear echoes of Glenn Close saying “I’m not going to be ignored” in Fatal Attraction.