Boardwalk Empire

[username]

No, it wasn't random, it was just surprising. They strung it out the whole time and finally dropped the other foot on somebody who by all rights always had it coming. You almost feel sad for her, until you realize it's Gillian we're talking about. 

 

I stick with random.  The guy went through a bunch of random work for no real reason (getting her off drugs, etc.) so that she would happen to confess at that one time when he happened to have people around in a few months long period of time as opposed to any previous point, such as when she was detoxing and likely could have said all sorts of things.  It really makes little sense and I don't think there is a single earlier point in the season where you can look back and go "a-ha, in retrospect that was clever or a nice bit of foreshadowing."

 

I still like the show and this season, I just think this particular bit was nearly hack-ish.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

 

No, it wasn't random, it was just surprising. They strung it out the whole time and finally dropped the other foot on somebody who by all rights always had it coming. You almost feel sad for her, until you realize it's Gillian we're talking about. 

 

I stick with random.  The guy went through a bunch of random work for no real reason (getting her off drugs, etc.) so that she would happen to confess at that one time when he happened to have people around in a few months long period of time as opposed to any previous point, such as when she was detoxing and likely could have said all sorts of things.  It really makes little sense and I don't think there is a single earlier point in the season where you can look back and go "a-ha, in retrospect that was clever or a nice bit of foreshadowing."

 

I still like the show and this season, I just think this particular bit was nearly hack-ish.

 

Sober confession is probably easier to use than drug addled babbling?

[tigertooth]

Also, they planned the "shooting" in the garage to set up the conversation.  So it makes sense that they had other folks ready to hear the confession right at that moment.  That was the plan.

[username]

I don't want to linger on this but yeah the shooting was obviously to set up the confession, I think we'd all agree with that.  The thing is what if she doesn't confess there?  Does he run halfway around the world with her or turn himself in and call it a day?  What if she claims she was so terrified that the last person in her life was gonna leave her that she made up a silly lie so that he wouldn't?  What if she whispered it very softly.  What if she trusted him a lot and confessed months back?  What if she didn't like him at all in the first place?  My basic rule for twists is that you look back and what happened before and if things make more sense or at least a different kind of sense, it works.  If all of a sudden a ton of questions are raised that otherwise never would have been there... it probably wasn't that good.

 

To contrast, while placing Daughter with Chalky could have not worked for Narcisse (and in fact it may have backfired) when looking back it all adds up in a fairly sensible way.  I just don't think the same can be said here.

 

Anyways I see that obviously others disagree on this and I don't like hammering on the one part of a show I like that I didn't care for, so agree to disagree and back to counting down the five or so days to the finale.

[tigertooth]

I liked the way they managed to bring up the Commodore in the Chalky scenes.  Totally made sense in that conversation, but also got him on your mind so his "revenge" had more impact.

[Curt McGirt]

From this: http://www.fangoria.com/new/michael-shannon-and-winona-ryder-talk-the-iceman/

 

Michael Shannon talks about Van Alden. 

 

"This isn’t Shannon’s first time playing a man whose dangerous behavior is at odds with his family life (see his terrific turn in Jeff Nichols’ TAKE SHELTER), or being involved with onscreen gangsters. He won praise and a new level of visibility as Nelson Van Alden, the puritanical Prohibition agent who falls under the sway of the corruption he’s supposed to punish in HBO’s hit series BOARDWALK EMPIRE. Shannon sees similarities between Kuklinski and Van Alden, but also significant differences. “They’re both full of self-loathing, basically,” he says. “They have that in common, although Richard doesn’t self-flagellate. I think that in order to be able to desensitize yourself enough to do things like that, you have to have a low opinion of yourself, because one thing that would stop any of us—or most people—from doing those things, beyond just the thought of inflicting harm on another human being, is the idea of the repercussions it would have on your own life. It’s like, ‘What I’m doing right now could ruin my life. I could end up in jail, and everything could be taken away from me.’ And if you don’t care much about yourself, that doesn’t bother you.

 

“But other than that, I think they’re pretty different people,” he continues. “Van Alden is not a killer. People tend to talk about him like he’s the villain of the show, and I always think, ‘Hmm. Let me see—how many people has Van Alden killed? Two, maybe? How many people has Harrow killed? 50? 60?’ So I don’t really understand it—Van Alden is not, like, a mass murderer. The baptism [in which he drowns a fellow agent] was unfortunate—he just got carried away. And the other thing was his wife’s fault, he just had to finish him off. I never understand when people are like, ‘I hate you so much on BOARDWALK EMPIRE—I mean, you’re a great actor, but you’re so evil!’ I’m like, ‘Well, I hate you too!’ ”

"He just got carried away"?! ...

[ultimoDANK]

The Ron Livingston reveal was well done even if they telegraphed it with him getting a mysterious phone call the week before. His acting was still terrible though.

I'm more interested to see how Nucky handles Eli. It's pretty clear he's figured out that Knox has got Eli. I would guess somehow this leads to Narcisse being the fall guy.

[Pete]

What a finale. Honestly, if the series ended with that final sequence I'd have nothing to complain about. So many lost souls and broken hearts.

[Curt McGirt]

Yeah, tragedy all around. Nucky gets away once again (unless there's some twist with the feds). Otherwise everyone gets touched. Even though I despise Narcisse there is a tiny, itsy-bitsy part of me that felt bad for his fate, though it ended up really being the ultimate one he deserved -- one worse than death in his eyes I'm sure. Then again him going ahead and compromising his principles like that just makes him worse in my eyes. Knox got what he deserved at least.  

 

This is an episode about nothing but betrayal. Richard's trigger finger even betrayed him.

[Curt McGirt]

So what went down with the feds, any ideas? I think Nucky gave them Narcisse in exchange for Eli.

[nofuture]

So what went down with the feds, any ideas? I think Nucky gave them Narcisse in exchange for Eli.

 

Hoover never really bought the whole organized crime syndicate Knox was trying to sell.  So either they didn't want to show their hand with the info they got from Eli, or they figured Eli was lying to them to try to get his kid off.  Either way, pretty appropriate for Eli to end up on the lamb with Van Alden of all people.

[Curt McGirt]

That sounds more reasonable. In that case Nuck probably pointed the finger at Narcisse, who had already gotten arrested. The feds would have had to tell him about the club murder and the Knox murder so maybe he just played them. Or there is something we don't know, or they will ignore the plothole in future episodes.

[nofuture]

That sounds more reasonable. In that case Nuck probably pointed the finger at Narcisse, who had already gotten arrested. The feds would have had to tell him about the club murder and the Knox murder so maybe he just played them. Or there is something we don't know, or they will ignore the plothole in future episodes.

 

I think it was the last episode where Hoover is going after a radical that he wants Narcisse to become an informant on.  I think this was more Hoover knowing about Narcisse and seizing the opportunity to use him, rather than Nucky pointing them that way.

[Curt McGirt]

It's not like Narcisse won't want revenge either way. He's gonna stick around and be a thorn in Nucky's side for sure. That is one devious motherfucker right there and I can't see him letting up on a grudge, especially when he's forced to compromise his supposed values just because he got involved with some honky from Atlantic City. Plus he has to deal with Masseria, who is going to probably be the go-to guy for a main villain next season unless they introduce someone new. 

[stiffshots]

Seems like, all the back to THE SOPRANOS, Home Box has been adhering to Joe Bob Briggs' First Rule of the Drive-In:

 

"Anyone can die at any time."

 

And how symmetrical that, two seasons in a row, both Nucky and Chalky lost someone they loved in a speakeasy tragedy.  (As well as the second time this year that HBO has ended an episode featuring unexpected corpses with silence (or at least, no music) over the end credits - the better to hear the sounds of our bitter tears and our hearts breaking...)

[elizium]

Man, fuck that ending. Richard deserved better than to die alone, under a pier.

 

Knox's death was pretty anti-climatic as well, sometimes I feel like this show leans too hard on murder as a way to solve all problems (unless you're Gillian).

[Petey]

Dammit Boardwalk. You killed Richard?! Boardwalk, you die. You go to hell and you die

[Curt McGirt]

It all falls together after you watch it a second time. Hoover never gave a fuck about Knox. He not only didn't care, he hated him for being insubordinate and a jealous smart-ass. If he could could put somebody else's ass in the sling for the murder and also use Narcisse for his own purposes, why not let Eli go? For Hoover, it's just killing two birds with one stone. 

 

Chalky is another matter. I can see Narcisse eating the bullet and a huge chase setting off with his daughter probably dying anyway. Who knows what happens next season with those two.

 

As far as Richard's concerned his story, sadly, was pretty much at an end. Would you have liked him to stay on for another season or two as a hired assassin just because? Would you have liked to find him at peace in Milwaukee or Minnesota or wherever with a new family? Morally it wouldn't have worked out either way. He needed closure, and he got it. 

[Curt McGirt]

Another thing. I tried to catch it a couple times now: what was the apparent Bible quote that Narcisse muttered before he agreed to cooperate with Hoover?

[username]

I'm sad to see the characters go but the ones that were primarily attached to Jimmy have had no real reason to be on the show anymore for a while now.  They were great characters so it's not like it was this big negative but Richard has more or less been floating at the periphery for two seasons now with no real purpose to the larger whole and Gillian, while worth following up up on for at least a bit in season 3 to see how she'd react, coulda OD'd at the end of last season and nothing would be lost.  The show is probably spread out a bit too far as is across at least 5 states and god knows how many different storylines this season alone and would benefit from narrowing its focus just a bit, and this group of characters are the least essential to the central narrative.  I'll miss them, but it was likely the right thing to do.

[Fat Spanish Waiter]

Another thing. I tried to catch it a couple times now: what was the apparent Bible quote that Narcisse muttered before he agreed to cooperate with Hoover?

Matthew 6:34

 

Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

[stiffshots]

And what does it say about us as a species that there's a bigger outcry on the Intertubez because the goddamn dog on FAMILY GUY was knocked off the same night as Richard?

[Curt McGirt]

Those two characters aren't comparable in any way shape or form. 

[Petey]

Is there really an outcry about Brian dying? With most of the people I've talked to, it's just been briefly mentioned and then we talk about how we haven't watched the show in years and that's that.

[Reed]

Can a self-admitted mass murderer ever have a happy ending? Yeah, Harrow wasn't nearly as evil or sick as some of the people on this show, but he's still killed 70 odd people. That's not something you can just sweep under the rug and go live a quiet life in the suburbs.