I retain mixed feelings for Eli, Nucky’s younger brother, the former sheriff who became one of Al Capone’s bag men on his way down to the gutter. At first I thought she was twisted and manipulative, which she was, but a full understanding of her backstory made her quite pitiful. Gillian was another person whose layers made her more sympathetic. But Life mocked his morals and led him completely off the straight and narrow, his flaws making him more interesting. There was a hopeless strength about him and his death reminded me of Sydney Carlton’s in A Tale of Two Cities.Īt first I didn’t like Nelson van Alden, the Prohibition agent who saw himself as a righteous crusader with rigid ethics. I cried when he died, though it was inevitable and poignant, his final refuge under the boardwalk as dawn was breaking.įellow gangster Chalky, who ruled the black part of Atlantic City was a complex person illiterate, yet intelligent, devoted to his family, yet unfaithful to his wife. He was my favorite character on the show, his loneliness and longing vivid and painful and his loyalty admirable. He was not a cold-blooded killer, he viewed his skill the same way a woodworker or bricklayer would, just something he was handy at. Richard Harrow, another veteran and Jimmy’s friend, used his sharpshooter skills in all sorts of capacities. Jimmy’s relationship with his real parents was positively Oedipal, it’s amazing that Jimmy was as normal as he was, considering. That’s why Nucky’s killing of Jimmy at the end of season 2 was illogical and out of character. He always reminded me of a sleek guard dog, which is part of what he served as for Nucky, along with being a surrogate son. ![]() The line was said by Jimmy Darmody, a young war veteran whose handsomeness masked restrained violence and a remoteness even from his wife and son. But that was just a lot of macho posturing, since anyone paying attention knew that Nucky was a reluctant gangster. Much was made of the phrase “You can’t be half a gangster.” uttered in the second season, which became a tagline for the show. And when their relationship finally catches fire, Loudon Wainwright’s “Carrickfergus” in the background, Steve Buscemi makes the surprising leap to romantic leading man. Meeting Margaret when she’s an abused and pregnant wife, brings out the softer side of him and after having her violent husband killed, he woos her. And no one proved this more than the central character, Nucky Thompson, the corrupt politician and businessman, who still seemed to have a good heart, at least most of the time. Yes, most of them operated outside of the law, but that didn’t necessarily make them bad people, or at least, not completely bad. Unlike the movies of my youth, good and bad characters were not sharply defined, but occupied that grey area. Into the masterful sets were the characters, and what an array of them. The music added to that, songs from the era done by modern musicians, so different from today’s music, often emphasized a theme and definitely cast a mood. The architecture, lighting and décor of the interiors made the viewer feel like they were in the room. The producers knew how to create an atmosphere of the times, not only with lavish parties at Babette’s and the Onyx Club worthy of the Fitzgeralds, but also in the everyday settings. ![]() (There was violence, yes, but except for 2 instances, my well-honed wimp antennae was warned with enough time to look away.) You wouldn’t think a show about bootleggers during 1920’s Prohibition in America would appeal to me, but it did. ![]() Not just the last episode, but the program as a whole. ![]() Lots and lots of spoilers.Īs I begin to write, it’s been several days since the finale of Boardwalk Empire and I am still preoccupied by it. DVD covers for first & second season This piece contains spoilers.
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