Boardwalk Empire Finale

[MadMaxNine]

{{{SPOILER]]} (If you haven't seen it, and will cry about a spoiler, fuck off from this thread...)









to all others, What'd you guys think?

I though it was pretty close to perfect, nice morale to the story, what goes around comes around,etc. Made things right in the end as far as Nucky could, but still can't escape the skeletons in your closet.

The only thing I thought was pretty far fetched is how Tommy Darmody turned out to be a fucking criminal mastermind in the way he just waited around for mickey come offering work and infiltrated himself in to Nucky's unit.

And also how he just coincidentally happened to arrange his bullshit robbery at the Ritz so that the guy in charge would call Nucky at the very precise moment of him getting his things, and thus could answer "the private line".. Just too fucking good for a pimp squeak looking for revenge.

Also didn't like how his brother Eli basically got to live scott free, with wads of cash, happily ever after, in spite of him being more of a fucking scumbag than Nucky himself since he did after all, try to have his own brother, him killed.

All in all, it was a great ending, but just left too many WTF holes to be a perfect 10 ending.. so I'd give it a 9.0 outta 10 if I was a lazy TV critic..

What did you guys think?

 

[Mises]

I forgot the little fucker even existed, so it surprised the shit out of me when he said his name.

Did Richard Harrow or the grandmother tell Tommy earlier that Nucky killed Jimmy? I missed that part.

 

[MadMaxNine]

I forgot the little fucker even existed, so it surprised the shit out of me when he said his name.

Did Richard Harrow or the grandmother tell Tommy earlier that Nucky killed Jimmy? I missed that part.

yeah me too. it was definitely the grandmother since he tells Nucky that's how he found out, from the grandma's stories. Nothing ever showed up on the show to that effect though, so yeah, that was the big plot twist/surprise.

 

[nighthaze]

I thought it was weak. I kind of liked how this last season brought things to an end, but the endless flashbacks were just annoying. And it seems that these were on purpose because the show got cancelled and they had to wrap up that shit up as fast as they could.

I mean 7 fucking years passed! And all you've got to show for it is Gillian as a child (great casting choice though!). What the fuck.

Not a word about Rothstein's demise. Jesus. The king of the jews who drinks milk, eats cake, fixes the World Series and owns half the 'cane trade. Nope. Let's put some flashbacks and kill van Alden instead.

 

[MadMaxNine]

I thought it was weak. I kind of liked how this last season brought things to an end, but the endless flashbacks were just annoying. And it seems that these were on purpose because the show got cancelled and they had to wrap up that shit up as fast as they could.

I mean 7 fucking years passed! And all you've got to show for it is Gillian as a child (great casting choice though!). What the fuck.

Not a word about Rothstein's demise. Jesus. The king of the jews who drinks milk, eats cake, fixes the World Series and owns half the 'cane trade. Nope. Let's put some flashbacks and kill van Alden instead.

Yeah the 7 years kinda sucked. I would've liked to see Rothstein get the axe too, but I meant that final episode, I thought it was pretty top notch considering.

 

[Fatbat]

OK, so I've been avoiding this thread until I got a chance to watch the finale which I just did.

To put things straight, this show wasn't cancelled in in the true sense of the word. No more than shows like Breaking Bad or The Sopranos were cancelled. It ran it's course and they told the story they wanted to tell. HBO, AMC, these channels don't run their stories forever.

Apparently Terrence Winter has a new project too, which some speculate as the reason for cutting the season short at only 8 episodes; he needs to get to work on the new show, which if true is bullshit.

As a result, the whole season felt terribly rushed to me. I really loved the flashback scenes. I thought they were really well done and helped flesh out some of the back story to the long running characters, and as said, the casting choices were superb. Unfortunately they stole from valuable story telling time in the present. This season, more than any other, could have really benefited from 12 episodes.

I felt Chalky's, Val Alden's and Doyle's deaths were so rushed and not befitting of such great characters. And you mention Rothstein! What a brilliant character, and just to dispose of him like they did was so weak. I can only imagine Stuhlbarg didn't want to come back for the final season or was demanding too much money or something for him just to be an afterthought like that after such a great performance. I could be wrong I guess; this show made it clear that no character was safe, but that was a terrible exit.

As for the finale, it was nice to see Narcisse get his. I would have liked to see Luciano and Lansky get theirs too, but I guess they go on to do their mafia ward boss thing.

I thought things might end happily ever after... money in the bank, things looking good with Margaret, some amends made with Eli, right up until the last scene with Nucky walking the boardwalk. But then it was all so foreboding that you just knew something was amiss. I have to say the Darmody kid was out of left field, I thought that story line died with Richard. Sneaky, and a nice twist.

As far as finales go, it was a pretty good one. I'm just really disappointed at how rushed everything was this season. For a show of such caliber, with such great acting and staging, it really doesn't feel like they did the series justice with only 8 episodes. It felt more like someone has something else better to do and so they just wrapped that shit up as fast as possible.

It's a shame it's over. This has been by far one of my all time favorite shows ever televised.

 

[Fatbat]

I should say, I wanted more, but I'm happy with what I got. Some comments are so annoying on other boards about Boardwalk's last season. I guess the age old saying of you can only make some of the people happy some of the time is true. People bitch and moan about everything. As far as story telling goes, this has been some of the most masterful on television, and people still aren't happy about it. I think this comment from this article sums things up better than any I've read...

‘Boardwalk Empire’ Ratings: Series Finale Pulls TK M For HBO | Deadline

The story that was told was much different than from what people wanted. But it was told masterfully and at its own pace and had the perfect ending for the story that was presented. Nucky had to die and it had to be Tommy – past is present, present is past. Not so much for the played out “revenge for my father” convention, but for the original sin that got the whole direction of Nucky’s life rolling – and the path he had chosen in life – money and power over everything sacred. If Nucky had not handed Gillian over to a pedophile (from whom he takes the Empire from eventually), the opportunity for a “better life” would never have happened – or at least not in the order of events in which they happened. He wouldn’t have gotten his Sheriff Badge back and the future political jobs and opportunities that came with it; Jimmy would never have been born – the very young man who helped transform Nucky from a corrupt political boss and racketeer – with his hands in everybody’s pockets – to a full-blown murderous gangster. Nucky wanted to help Gillian when she was a kid, but in the end didn’t have the empathy to do so; he wanted to help Jimmy, but in the end didn’t have the compassion and empathy there as well. It was his lack of empathy and penchant for solving all of life’s problems with the almighty dollar that did him in in the end – at the hands of the very grandson of his original sin, the son of the man who helped shape the latter half of Nucky’s life and who Nucky ends up killing. Jimmy got it in the cheek and so did Nucky. Full circle. Perfect ending. He paid for his original crime with all its cosmic irony, and for all the crimes he committed since.

Oh, and a point I meant to make in my first post... Margaret inherits all the monies

 

[super]

Over all great series, sad to see it gone.