Top cast60

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Steve Buscemi

Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson

Kelly Macdonald

Margaret Thompson

Michael Shannon

Nelson Van Alden

Shea Whigham

Elias 'Eli' Thompson

Michael Stuhlbarg

Arnold Rothstein

Stephen Graham

Al Capone

Vincent Piazza

Lucky Luciano

Michael Kenneth Williams

Chalky White

Anthony Laciura

Eddie Kessler

Paul Sparks

Mickey Doyle

Jack Huston

Richard Harrow

Charlie Cox

Owen Sleater

Bobby Cannavale

Gyp Rosetti

Gretchen Mol

Gillian Darmody
(credit only)

Stephen Root

Gaston Means

Christopher McDonald

Harry Daugherty

Anatol Yusef

Meyer Lansky

Ed Jewett

Jess Smith

Director
- Jeremy Podeswa
Writers
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

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Trivia
The title comes from the phrase "A man, a plan, a canal, Panama", a well-known palindrome (a phrase that reads the same forwards or backwards.) It refers to the many plans in this episode that "move backwards" and go awry (Nucky's plan to stage a hit on Joe Masseria, Margaret's plan to run away with Owen, Van Alden's plan to sell alcohol on the side).

Goofs
The characters talk about Tabor Heights as a village on the beachfront. Google Maps has a place of that name well inland.

Quotes
Agent Stan Sawicki: A man, a plan, a canal, panama.
Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: What are you yammering about?
Agent Stan Sawicki: It's a palindrome.
Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: A what?
Agent Stan Sawicki: A word or phrase spelled exactly the same backwards or forwards. Like "mom".
Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson: Or imbecile.

Soundtracks
All I Do Is Dream Of You
(1934)
Words by Nacio Herb Brown, Lyrics by Arthur Freed
[played with closing credits]

Ratchet up the tension to excruciating.

Prepare to get your heart broke, prepare to get really ticked off and prepare to look forward to the next episodes. If you haven't seen it yet: do so as soon as possible. This is tension creating at its best. If you have seen it: you know what I'm talking about, it's painful yet like a horrific car wreck you can't help but look and be terribly haunted and disturbed by what you see. This is the episode, filled with many shocking and decidedly unpleasant twists, that finally pushed this series into the "great" category (one I reserve for very few). I can now forgive its sometime contrived moments in the past. Enjoy, this is turning into a real barn burner.