Boardwalk Empire thread

[PNWbrit]

The central problem is the peripheral characters - Rothstein, Lansky, Capone, Masseria, Luciano, Waxy Gordon, secretary mellon, gaston means, the new coldblooded hick FBI agent - have always been more interesting and better acted than the central characters so you sit through the dreck of Jimmy or Nucky or worse Van Alden to find a few bit performances on the side. Every show doesn't have to have a great central anti-hero, this one would have perhaps been better with an ensemble orientation

Still good production values and better than 90% of the shit out there.

Agreed. 100%.

Interested in nd analysis on Richard. Fascinating character

Why the fuck did writers have to come up with such an unnecessarily bizarre and frankly unbelievable character? He adds nothing to the narrative other than moments of a weird d00d with creepy mask shoots people while detracting from the brilliant scripting & portrayal of far better/real/believable/compelling characters are deprived of screen time.

[Hugh Conway]

why would they.

Simple - it'd play with the acting talent they have on the show. Richard can be a compelling character but he's beyond the limits of Huston's acting talent so Richard ends up an overacted gargoyle. Jimmy failed because Michael Pitt just couldn't fill the role. Somewhat come to that view of Nucky - Busciemi's a good actor but he's just wrong for the role and doesn't have presence - when he says he was just a corrupt politician it's not believable. Busciemi could be a corrupt accountant or some lackey maybe. Not the man, because a central anti-hero requires someone to own that role - Tony Soprano, Walter White, Don Draper - were/are owned by the actors who played them and their presence overwhelms. (some of this is also who was cast alongside them, no one overwhelms them, unlike say Ray Donovan where Liev Schreiber is solid but he can't compare to the volcanic presence of Jon Voight or James Woods)

[neckdeep]

Anyone stick with this through the final season? Shame about that 4th season, just a narrative train wreck, imho. I am, however, pleasantly surprised by how the 5th season returned back to exploring Nucky's character, his humble origins and how his desperate need to get ahead led him into a very dark deal with the Commodore. In revealing the early, decent Nucky domesticated by his progressive, kind-hearted wife, we can now see how profoundly warped and unhappy he became. His embittered life was an emotional bottomless pit that no amount of money could ever fill, i.e. the higher he rose, the farther he fell. Loved that scene with Nucky as a boy, frantically diving for coins...an apt metaphor for his entire life. Now, he's finally had his "everything I touch turns to shit" epiphany and has slowly turned into a tragic character, which I totally did not expect. The historical Enoch Johnson held on to his influence until WWII. More important, he was not at war with the Lucianno, Lansky, Torre gang. To the contrary, the first meeting of what would become the infamous mafia "Commission" was actually held in Atlantic City (because it was neutral territory between the New York, Chicago and Philadelphia gangs and Johnson could guarantee no hassles from the police). Made me assume that somehow Nucky held on to his empire. One more ep to go.

[PNWbrit]

This season is best since the first.

The guy playing young Nucky is outstanding.

However Micky Doyle getting shot in the throat maybe highpoint of whole series.

[Marshall Tucker]

^ They did do an outstanding job of making him irritating. They also IMO did maybe the best job ever with capone. Dude was nuts.

[neufox47]

Yea, ive kept watching and have been really intrigued with this season. No way they could have kept his demise historically accurate and still made it entertaining.

[Mike Pow]

Tremendous viewing

[fantastic_damage]

Great finale season so far. I cant believe Doyle lasted almost the entire length of the series. The backstory on young Nucky has added a lot of substance and filled in a lot of things so far.

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[joetron]

Dude.

Heavy.

[neckdeep]

If you haven't seen the last ep, stop reading now.


So Tommy Darmody was what, 6 years old by the end of season 4? But the actor playing Joe Harper/Tommy looked a lot older than 13-14, the oldest Tommy could have possibly been by 1931. Kinda made Nucky's end a bit contrived, imho. By which I mean, it was a workable idea to have him killed by Gillian's grandson standing in nearly the same place on the boardwalk where he sold her out to the Commodore... but to manufacture a "twist" by concealing Tommy right under Nucky's (and the audience's) nose? No, no...twist endings are for hacks like M. Night Shamalama...whatever...the show always had its dramatic flaws...why should the inevitable ending be any different? For starters, there's no real explanation for why Nucky would go to the trouble of bailing out Joe Harper and buying him a cup of coffee. Typical. Sure wasn't the first time a character's actions and motivations didn't really ring true except for the fact that it drove along a lurid plotline. Tommy's motive for returning sure was totally muddled too. Did he want to join Nucky's gang or did he return to AC for revenge? I have no idea, honestly. If he came to kill him, he could have done that easily at other times. Sure seemed like he wanted to be a gangster. Was he mad that the man who ruined his family didn't accept him? That sure is odd. Or contrived. If a younger looking Tommy (who visually echoed the young Gillian standing on the boardwalk) appeared unexpectedly and called Nucky out, it would have been more satisfying to me than the Joe Harper/Tommy twist.

Final verdict: A very good show that attempted too much, didn't always deliver on it's ambitions and is better than 99% of the other crap out there but yet also a distant runner-up when compared to its anti-hero predecessors. In other words, if you've already seen every episode of The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, The Wire and can't wait for Game of Thrones to start up again, you can always kill time rewatching Boardwalk. The production's period details, over the top violence and always dark tone keep it interesting. The negative is a sprawling and often unevenly paced story that cost the show its viewership and was then forced into a conclusion in only 8 episodes. The show wanted to be an ensemble cast story of time and place (like The Wire) but be a story anchored around a complex anti-hero gangster character (like The Sopranos). I think ultimately the two goals conflicted with each other and both stories were shortchanged. Better than Deadwood, at least.

Interesting fact for those who thought BW's Capone was too over the top. Capone's induction physical into federal prison revealed a deviated septum from chronic cocaine abuse and neurological decline from advanced stage syphillis. Yep, the guy really was going nuts with a bad mix of coke, booze and brain damage. Within a few years, Capone was reduced to practically a simpleton from the brain lesions and it seemed almost unbelievable that he had once risen so swiftly from a lowly doorman at a Southside mob whorehouse to an absolute kingpin of Chicago's underworld by age 26.

Hmmmm...the sort-of-good-but-not-really-honest mousy little abused Irish housewife from the pilot ends up the big winner. Inherits Nucky's stock play which would be worth around 50 mil in today's money...Well, at least someone ended up happy.

[otto parts]

^what he said, except the Deadwood part.

[TahoeJ]

Yeah, I thought the execution of the finale was contrived. It was close to being really good but just missed the mark. A good show overall, though.

Totally agree about the Al Capone performance *not* being over the top. Read a book about him and it seemed pretty spot on - he was a wild nut job.

[neufox47]

I liked the show overall but can't believe they couldnt produce more great content with the story lines they had.