Boardwalk Empire's first season ended last night. I start watching the show because a regular dose of Steve Buscemi and Michael Shannon sounded pretty good to me (something about the way Shannon said of Buscemi, "He's the country treasurer, but he lives like a pharaoh," got me). If you're waiting for a full season to get caught up, allow me to tell you that although slow, it's a solidly built period piece with shocking bursts of violence and a star making turn from Michael Pitt.

But that's not what I'm here to talk to you about. I'm here to say goodbye (for the season) to who I consider my favourite new character on this or any other show this year (yes, even above monstrously delightful Franklin). I'm talking about Richard "Half-Face" Harrow, Jimmy's (that's Pitt) fellow WWI vet as portrayed by Jack Huston. Half-Face, as my viewing companion and I affectionately refer to him, was a sniper in the war who lost, literally, half his face. He wears a bizarre, tragic wooden mask painted with the rest of his face, including moustache. We met him sad, sweet, virginal. He'll spend the rest of his life missing out because of the way he looks. But there's also something deeply scary not about how he looks but in how he operates. Tasked with tracking down the D'Alessio brothers after they take a shot at Nucky (Buscemi), he finds only their family (the sole brother who's not a gangster went into dentistry). When Jimmy muses about what to do, Half-Face is matter of fact, "I would kill the mother. The sisters. And the dentist. That would make them stick their heads up."

Jimmy, perhaps as father and husband, doesn't take Half-Face up on this offer, but that's okay. Next episode they learn the D'Alessios locations, and the only Half-Face we get is Richard badassedly blowing one of the brothers in half. So here's to getting what you want, Half-Face! The new era was designed for men like you. Hope we see even more of you next fall.