Boardwalk Empire - The Final Season

It starts tomorrow, Sunday, September 7th.

So looking forward to seeing this. Too bad that this is the Final season!

Looking forward to it. I saw that Michael Stuhlbarg is part of the cast for the season, however as it takes place in 1931 and Arnold Rothstein was killed in 1928 I wonder what they will do with his character. I wouldn't like it if they ignore history and keep him alive in 1931.

To shoot only 10 episode's is LUNACY ... BUT I'M GONNA WATCH

According to this, the final season is 8 episodes. Geez, you wait months for a season and get only 8 episodes.

http://hbowatch.com/boardwalk-empire-season-5-premiere-date/



TIS

Maybe if we are lucky they will be 2 hour long episodes!

Bravo!!!

Did anyone catch last nights episode?

Was that a making ceremony or something else were they all cut their hands with a knife and then shake hands?

I don't think it was a "making" ceremony per se, but rather a show of allegiance to each other.

I wasn't too thrilled that the episode started in 1931, skipping about eight years since the last episode. That skipped a lot of good stuff in mob history, but it looks like they may be covering some of it in flashbacks (this season). They did mention Arnold Rothstein's funeral (in 1928) when Meyer Lansky was talking to Nucky in Cuba. And of course the 1931 killing of Joe Masseria was shown.

The Chalky White stuff was a bit confusing but it leaves it open for a good storyline this year. And shit, that whole scene with the financier killing himself came out of left field!!

I liked the biopic about Nucky as a kid and I'm glad to see that Chalky will be back in the mix. Starting out with a suicide really illustrates how devastating was the Depression. However, as SC points out, nearly a decade passed, but noone seems to have aged.

I wish I would have re-watched the last season. Anyway,not too bad, tho a bit confusing. I'll likely re-watch this episode. I liked the flashback scenes with Nucky and Eli.



TIS

I didn't put 2 + 2 together with the Depression. That did come out of left field. So if it was some form allegiance I hate to see what these guys palms look like. There had to be 20 people in that room. Marone!

And what was with that black body guard choping off that guys ear? And why did he go after Nucky?

Thank you all.

Oh yea, how disgusting was that. I was wondering too what that was about.

TIS

TIS, I'm sure we are going to be seeing some ruthless stuff from that guy again.

It looks like Meyer Lansky might have sent that guy after Nucky. Looks like Nucky has a lot going on in Cuba and Meyer and Lucky might try to make a move on him, cause as we all know the mob had a significant presence there by the 40s/50s

That would make sense. It was strange that Meyer said that he and Lucky didn't "talk too often" when Nucky asked him to send Lucky his best.

That's POSSIBLE. Nucky is down in Cuba getting ready for the end of Prohibition (that's why he is "in" with the senator - he's trying to get inside information about Prohibition ending). Nucky runs into Meyer Lansky who tells Nucky that he was married. (This was true in real life - he married shortly after Arnold Rothstein was killed, and according to the show that was the last time Nucky saw Meyer - at Rothstein's funeral). BUT, Nucky saw Meyer and his wife talking and later, after the attempt on Nucky's life he stopped to talk to Meyer's "wife" only to find out she was a Cuban prostitute. SOMETHING is up with that and Nucky suspects it.

I have to watch the show again. There was a statement made about some group in Cuba that was attacking people (reminded me a bit of Godfather II when they were talking about the rebels). THey were some sort of politically motivated anarchists and that MIGHT explain why Nucky's bodyguard chopped of the assassins ear.

I agree, the assasin was probably sent by Lansky,but I suspect the ear chopper was sent by Bacardi, who thinks that healthy competition is in his best interest.

The Cochise hand shake scene is no doubt intended to be the inaugural meeting of the five families.

The series started to lose it's way last season.

I am sad they jumped to '31. All of the Chicago stuff is wasted. We missed St valentines day and Capone is about to go to prison.

Unless VanAlder has changed his name to Nitti or Ness, they could have killed him off in Jersey.

Basically yes. I took it as a "sign" that Luciano (who had previously been an enemy of Marranzano) was wiling to forget his allegiance to Masseria and was now ready to align himself with Marranzano and his men. Marranzano's men were now ready to show friendship to Charlie Lucky.



Me too but the show isn't about Capone. Still, Big Al figures in this final season. It's now around May, 1931 (after last night's episode) and Capone didn't go to prison until late 1932. Plus, the coming attractions showed scenes with Capone.

Machado hung onto power after his term as President ended and the protestors were in opposition to him. The timelines are somewhat out of whack, but Cuba was saturated with pro and anti-Machado violence. By then the US would have been on its way to withdrawing from Cuba. Machado's people may have viewed Nucky as simply another form of US domination of Cuba so they tried to kill him. On the other hand, revolutionaries might have viewed Nucky as allied with Machado.

Thanks for the explanation, oli.

Ditto Oli.

Something was up with Lansky. His "wife" turned out to be a cuban prostitute. Looked to me like Nucky was putting it together in his head in that last scene in Cuba. Also Lansky claimed he hasn't seen Charlie since Rothstein's funeral. I don't buy it.

Arrivederci Joe Masseria.

Did you all watch the previews for the season? It seemed that guy is now Nuckys bodyguard and that the war is between nucky and meyer and lucky...... ia m guessing that nucky gets whacked in the last episode although that is not how hhe ends up his life.

Who was narrating teh story book in the flashbacks, was that gillian darmody reading it....?

wish they didnt skip all that time and would have liked it to last longer seems like a big hit, does anyone know why they are ending it?

Do we know when Lucky Luciano was "made?"

I'm not happy with the skip either. This is especially compounded by the fact that I expected the Masseria hit to be a little more dramatic.

I was a little disappointed, too, especially considering the hit on Masseria was one of the biggest hits of the 20th century. But it's important to remember that the show is about an Atlantic City gangster and while his dealings with other gangsters is important it is not the center of the show.

I liked how they showed the Masseria hit without dramatising it but simply what it was - couple of guys walking in and blowing a man away.

I hope for flashbacks depicting Rothstein's death, St Valentine's Day massacre and Lucky's severe beating.

The skip happened because the show was ending. They needed to tie up a lot of character arcs (Lucky's rise to power, Capone's arrest on tax evasion, etc.) and skipping years was the only way they were going to do it effectively without becoming completely haphazard.

Disagree. They don't have to include a full history of the beginning of the Mafia. There is no set "end" period. The show is about a mobster in Atlantic City, not about New York or Chicago. Sure, they figure big in the storylines and they are exciting to read about and watch (for me, personally) BUT they are secondary to the show.

It doesn't pay to get too literal about history in "Boardwalk Empire," but for the record:

Gerardo Machado attempted to steer Cuba toward an independent-of-Uncle Sam position in the early Thirties. He was deposed in a US-sponsored coup.

Meyer Lansky's interest in Cuba was in gambling, not booze. He did get into a booze-related business with his father in law after Repeal, but it failed.

As for not talking to Lucky too often: Lansky arranged the assassination of Masseria at Lucky's behest. Maybe that line showed him trying not to be associated too closely with Lucky, and thus be identified with the crime. Notice that Lucky acquired a droopy eye: That was inflicted by Maranzano's thugs after Lucky initially resisted betraying Masseria.

I don't know if that hand-cutting ceremony happened in real life, but Maranzano rewarded Lucky by putting him in charge of Masseria's family. In fact, Maranzano appointed the heads of all the five families at that Bronx meeting. But he made a fatal mistake: he declared himself capo di tutti capi at that meeting and demanded a monthly tribute from all the Mafiosi present. That didn't go over too well. Luciano reached for Lansky again. Lansky arranged for Maranzano's assassination in his office. Coincidentally: while Lanksy's killers were shooting and stabbing Maranzano to death, a hired assassin, Vincent (Mad Dog) Coll, was on his way to Maranzano's office to receive his final instructions for assassinating Luciano. The close timing is one of the reasons he was known as "Lucky."

I hate that they cut out some historical mobsters such as Albert Anastasia or Vito Genovese, even though I know why they had to do it.

Same here, wanted the real bugs Moran in this season , not hbo val Holden version,

What are you trying to say they set Coll up for the murder

So, who was the guy in the restaurant with whom Nucky spoke?

THat was Tonino. Remember him? He was the guy who killed Gyp Rosetti. That was also him at the end of the episode with the postcard stuck to him.

Thanks I was wondering both. I wasn't sure who the dead guy at the end was.

Why exactly didn't Nucky's nephew want to distance himself from him during the job interview. Was it strictly cause of Nucky's reputation?

I like they we are getting a glimpse into what young Nucky was like.

I'm not sure I understand your question. Wilie, Nucky's nephew who wants to work for the Atorney's Office, is a little wheeler-dealer himself.


Looks like the battle lines are drawn now. The Lansky/Luciano team vs Nucky.

Interesting to see Joe Kennedy here. Also, seeing Gillian was unnerving.

What was that tete a tete between Gillian and the other woman?

Still not 100% sure (even after watching the episode again). The other woman appears to be a warden of the prison hospital in which Gillian is an inmate. They made some sort of deal to trade a dress for a pen and paper.

A question for the Capone experts - was Big Al really behind the assassination attempt on Torrio's life? The attempt that almost killed Torrio and made him decide to retire.

OK, watched the episode AGAIN. A third time

Caught these items this time:

The federal agent who raided Capone's warehouse (the one run by Van Alden and Nucky's brother) was Elliott Ness.

Totino (the guy who's body was delivered to the whorehouse at the end of the episode) had his ear cut off. That's Nucky's bodyguard's signature (no surprise, I just didn't notice that the ear was cut off before).

Didn't notice it before but the guy playing the Commodore in Nucky's flashback scenes really looks like a young Dabney Coleman who played the Commodore in Seasons 1 and 2.

SC, there's been alot of speculation that Capone hit Torrio to motivate him to move on.

In the restaurant, some of what Nucky told Totino had an insincere quality to it. So, I think Nucky had Totino murdered because he considered him a liability. Also, I didn't get the look they gave to the picture on the wall.

And yes, that guy was a Dabney Coleman look alike.

The picture on the wall in the restaurant was Nucky's actress girlfriend who was killed in the explosion in Atlantic City a couple of seasons ago.

That drawing on the wall was of the actress that Nucky had an affair with. She was the one who was killed when the nightclub in Atlantic City blew up. Nucky was supposed to be the target of that bomb but he was delayed for a minute outside of the club. I THINK Gyp Rossetti was behind that and Tonino was working for him then so maybe Nucky believed Tonino caused the death of the actress. (It's been awhile and I haven't seen that season of the show in a few years).

So it was Lansky that was behind the attempted hit on Nucky in Cuba. I had a feeling it was.

I like Nucky's new bodyguard, he kind of reminds me of The Skull in Scarface. He was the guy that blew away Tony Montana with the shotgun. Both are pretty silent but extremely deadly.

So now Joe Kennedy is on the show. Should be interesting to see how they play him and if the Kennedy family objects to his portrayal, especially if they say he was a bootlegger during prohibition.

It's a pretty well known fact that Kennedy was involved with bootleggers. It would be pointless for his family to object.

Thanks SC. That's what I figured because Nucky's side of the Torino conversation plus the look he gave his bodyguard when he left seemed strange. Also, the waiter: didn't he give the picture a strange look?

It was ALMOST comical because Tonino was expecting to get it in the back from Luciano and Lansky. Instead, he got it in the back from Nucky.

I agree with you SC, i have always thought and read that Kennedy was. But i've read a couple historians say he wasn't. But maybe they're on the Kennedy payroll, i really don't know.

David Nasaw who wrote the book "The Patriarch: The Remarkable Life and Turbulent Times of Joseph P. Kennedy" is one of the guys who claims he wasn't.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/johntamny/20...ilys-patriarch/

Former Public Editor for the NY Times Daniel Okrent is another one who says it isn't true about Joe Kennedy being a bootlegger.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/viewpoints/...ger-148064.html

As i said i think Kennedy was involved in bootlegging but i just thought i'd mention that some people think otherwise.

i ain't a capone expert but i highly doubt it

the northside kept trying to kill capone after the torrio hit

the valentines day massacre didn't happen until two years after torrio

The attempted hit on Torrio was engineered by Hymie Weiss, who succeeded Dion O'Banion as head of the Northsiders, in revenge for O'Banion's assassination.

That's pretty much what I thought. The show made it sound that Torrio thought that Al Capone was behind the attempt on his life. Unless, Torrio was just saying that as a ploy to get Nucky to feel close to him. Hmmmmm.

I just watched episode one and I liked it a lot. ONly slight problem was that it was sloppy of Meyer Lansky to use a non-English speaking woman to impersonate his wife in Cuba. If Nucky had gone over and tried to speak to her he would have caught on immediately that she was a fake. Seeing Nucky's silent bodyguard shadowing him reminded me of Al Pacino's bodyguard in Godfather 2.

Who were the guys who shot up the brothel?

I think they were just some low level goons sent to give Narcisse some "incentive" to reconsider the proposal to ally with Maranzano.
The scene went by pretty quick,but they didn't look familiar.

Lucky Luciano's guys. One was Bugsy Siegel. They were (obviously) telling Narcisse that he needed the protection of Marranzano.

Good episode tonight.

Good eye SC.

Since I was watching the game, I missed how and if Chalky got out of that house.

I may have missed it, but how did Chalky end up in prison to begin with?

Good question! I don't think they've said why he was in jail (other than his own admission that he "got caught"). I have a feeling he'll align himself with Nucky again.

Although they don't tell you we have to assume Nacisse cooperation with the feds sent Chalky to prison.

Probably. Chalky lost everything thanks to Narcisse. I hope to see him get payback this final season (I like the character of Chalky).

I do too SC. My guess is Narcisse is going to unleash some heavy duty violence in Harlem on Luciano and Seigel that is going to be very bloody. Chalky will rise again and kill Narcisse when he joins forces with Luciano and Seigel. Whatever happens, this is a really good show too bad it is ending,

Im wondering where chalky plays into these final episodes and gillian as well. We are down to the end. What is the significance of Nucky's flashbacks?

THEORY----MAY contain SPOILERS???










Who will Gillian write to? Tommy? Maybe tell him the whole truth?
Is chalkys only purpose to exact revenge on Narcisse? We all know the basic story for Luciano, Capone, Lansky etc. But this is about Nuckys story getting closure. Whats the f**kin story with Van Alden. Basically where do all these tie into Nuckys story.
is it going to be Nucky goes straight and thats the end and we get closure on these other plots. or
This may be a weak ending for the series but it would bring it around full circle: Gillian contacts tommy darmody and tells him the whole story we have seen. Death of his father and all that crap with nucky setting her up with the commodore to basically get raped and obvs nucks involvement with his father Jimmy`s death. SO the flashbacks keep occuring and moving along with the action... Nucky fails to secure his legitimacy, Chalky gets revenge on narcisse, Maybe even saves Daughter(Narcisse`s singer slave or whatever) from him, if shes even still around, Luciano embarks on his modernization and rule over organized crime, capone gets capowned, and nucky flashes back to memories of young gillian and how he leads her to the Commodore in the past and nucky s greeted by some scrappy looking teen pointing a gun to his face all like. THIS IS FOR MY FATHER FOOL !!!!!! POPPED by tommy. Will Eli ever meet back up with his family, or wil margaret get screwed over these and van aldens are a bit harder to speculate but what would you guys think if that ended like that ... this is just some of the crap I have been thinking of as I watch this show, I always end up speculating a shows ending esp in the final season... Let me know what you think and hey..
Who was that scrappy lookin kid mickey doyle recruited to load trucks

I think Eli might get caught up in some federal prosecution and get saved by his son who is working for the federal government.

SC, since you are the BEIinC (Boardwalk Empire Interpreter in Chief), could you please explain what the hell was going on between Nucky and Joe Kennedy at the end, when Nucky got drunk?

TB, I was confused by a few things in that episode. One of the things was trying to figure out what Joe Kennedy was getting at with questioning Nucky about his motivations for being in the booze business. I can only guess it was a mind-fuck game by Kennedy and when Nucky took the bait and gave Joe an answer (about his motivation) Kennedy was pleased and went on his way to screw around with the singer.

That envelope that Nucky got (near the beginning of the episode when he was talking to Sally in Cuba on the phone) bothers me. I really have to watch it again but it looked like the envelope was addressed in pencil making me think it came from Gillian (who got stationery and pencil in the prior episode). Or, could it have come from "Mabel", the young girl on the beach in the flashback episodes?

The season is already over? How many episodes were there? I have HBO didn't watch any, guess they didn't really advertise it as much as they use too or I just stopped caring

Mabel is nuckys first wife who is dead as explained in the first seasons at SC

Oh, OK. Thanks!

Im waiting for it to end fully and one day I'll sit down and watch the last season

I wonder when they'll cover Capone's demise and Maranzano's murder.

I also thought that the murder by Capone of one of his men was totally unnecessary and was just plain gratuitous.

By the way, someone was looking through some criminal files with pictures. Whose was doing the looking and whose pictures were they?

The guy in the hall outside Capone's suite that Van Alden told that he cr@pped his pants, was doing the looking.
He is apparently an undercover fed.
The wanted poster he was looking for (and found) was Van Alden's.

OMG, the guy Capone beat to death in the end (forgot his name). Holy crap. Did that "really" happen in real life AND was Capone really that gruesome? A slasher?




TIS

TIS, I'm not aware of his doing that, but, yes, he was that gruesome.

Loved the throwbacks to previous seasons in this episode. Did anybody else notice though that Capone had no recollection of Jimmy Darmody at all? I found that interesting.

Yeah I noticed that too. I know Capone did a hell of a lot between those years but him and jimmy were fairly friendly, put a lot of work in together, he'll it was jimmy who discovered that capones son was deaf. Maybe if lucky had called him 'jimmy Irish' it would have rung a bell lol.

The real-life Capone was nowhere near that violent.

He killed two people in NYC before arriving in Chicago ca. 1920. Once there, the only man he killed with his own hands was the guy who slapped around Jack Guzik (seen in an episode a couple of years ago). He baseball-batted Scalise, Anselm and Giunta, who betrayed him, but they were still breathing when he finished. The coup de grace was delivered by one of his bodyguards--some say it was Tony Accardo.

Al CAPONE killed as many as 15 to 20 men in his time they killed loads of guys with baseball bats as well as guns capone and tony Accardo

What is your source of information on this claim?

from books i have read few the years and on the net they killed a lot we will never know how many but i think that a close number

Not sure exactly when Capone's mind started slipping due to the syphilis but maybe this was to show the early stages?

Watching now. The young adult Nucky. LOL. Nucky right down to the teeth. ha ha.




TIS

Agreed.The casting was a work of genius. The only thing that amused me more was the dorky uniform that the deputies wore in those days. Don't know why,but I couldn't help thinking about Pilgrims every time I saw it.

It really was uncanny how much that actor reminded me of Steve Buscemi. That aside, the rest of the episode was a bit confusing. What the hell is with the storyline on Gillian and the quack doctor performing crazy surgeries?

Hadda laugh when Van Alden was telling Eli that he refused to live in fear but jumped up like he was bitten in the ass when his wife called him to the dinner table.

And Chalky finding his daughter in Narcisse's house. Uh oh, I think he's gonna go postal on Narcisse (and I want a front-row seat to watch).

SC,

It ended up being a good (but I agree confusing)episode. Read this summary story and it'll help fill in the blanks.

Oh, and OMG what the hell kind of mental hospital is Jillian in? I would be looking for a way out as well.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/1...s&_r=1&


TIS


For those in the area: A few paragraphs down, in the article I posted, mentions Nucky's dinner with his boss at Dock's Oyster House on Atlantic Ave. They said it still exists. You guys been there?

It's interesting that Nucky is set to take on Luciano just as Luciano is about to reach the pinnacle of underworld power.

I wonder what was Torrio's benefit when it came to trying to wipe out Maranzano/Thompson.

I believe the girl in Narcisse's house wasn't Chalky's daughter,but rather Daughter Maitland,the singer that Chalky was involved with and that Narcisse beat the hell out of.

That's what I thought but I thought Daughter was killed???



TIS

Thanks for the link but it didn't clear up anything for me. If anything, I'm more confused now.

I did not consider that Marranzano was killed in the episode. I think the show's writers have been fairly accurate with real life events being portrayed. Marranzano was killed in his office in September of the year they are now portraying (1931). OK, one thing made me think it might have been September - when Johnny Torrio was sitting next to the fan and talking with Nucky it was mentioned how unusually hot it was for that time of year. That would mean it was not summer. Now, we know that Nucky traveled back from Havana since the prior episode but did the whole summer pass in the interim?? Anyway, I didn't even consider that Marranzano was dead and this link's author suggests he MAY be dead (more confusing now).

I still laugh every time I see Van Alden's face - he always looks like he is smelling something unpleasant.

Ooops, you're right. She was not Nucky's daughter.

Everytime I see Van Alden I can't help but see him as Zod, trying to face down Superman.

However, I didn't pick up that Maranzano was murdered in the restaurant. Are we concluding that he was and what was Torrio's reason for involvement?

I'm also not clear as to what the deal is that Margaret made with Rothstein's wife?



TIS

I'm not making that assumption at all (that Marranzano was killed). I believe that hit is still months in the future.

Margaret got Rothstein's wife to agree to accept a small portion of the total amount that Margaret stole from Arnold Rothstein's account as payment in full. (This is what Nucky told Margaret to do).

Chalky's daughter was accidentally killed by Richard Harrow right before he died.
Daughter Maitland was last seen singing at some hole-in-the wall club.

Maranzano is definitely not dead yet, they show his face alive in the restaurant after the shooting ends.

REMINDER - SPOILER MATERIAL IS DISCUSSED HERE -

This was a WTF episode, and I think part of it frustrated me more than any other episode in the show's history.

OK, I expected that Van Alden wouldn't survive the series although the way he died (trying to strangle Capone) surprised me.

I was sorry to see Chalky check out, too. He was one of my favorite characters but his stock went down in my book as soon as he agreed to partner with Narcisse.

What was all that crap with Gillian (in the flashbacks) as the thief? She HAS TO figure in the show's ending now; I just can't guess how.

Also, what was with the two hookers and Nucky?? They seemed to have wasted a lot of time on that storyline.

Only two more episodes and the show is done.

The recurring theme of the final season seems to be Nucky's reflection on the path he chose to achieve "success".
Remember the earlier scene in which the young Nucky witnessed the Commodore being "introduced" to a young girl while her mother stands off to the side with a resigned,pained look on her face? At that moment,Nucky discovered an entree into the Commodore's world and the fame and fortune that could be his.

As we find out in the earlier episodes,Nucky brought the young Gillian to the Commodore. Instead of helping this poor kid out as a decent lawman (or even regular human being) would have done,Nucky delivers her to a life of statutory rape and debauchery.

This betrayal of the young Gilliam is haunting him now. Not only did he hand her over,but he also killed her son.

I have two theories on how the Gillian subplot plays out.
1) Nucky,torn by guilt,uses his influence to get Gillian pardoned and released.
2)The young boy who just started to work for Mickey (the boy who found Nucky unconscious in the alley)turns out to be Jimmy Darmody's son Tommy,who kills Nucky in the final episode.

The boy would be about the right age. Interesting take.

Could be.

But why in the world did Chalky walk into that trap?

Chalky's only interest at that point was trying to help Daughter Maitland and her daughter(who I believe is Chalky's) get free of Narcisse,and for Daughter to get her music career back. Once he felt that he had accomplished that,he knew that he was out of road.
Chalky was on the run ,wanted for the murder of a fellow escapee,as well as the prison guard. His daughter was dead,he had no crew left,no place to hide,and he knew that he would never win the battle against Narcisse.
Once Daughter was taken care of (in his mind) he resigned himself to his fate.
I believe that the minute he agreed to Narcisse's proposal,he knew that he wasn't leaving alive.

The kid that works for nucky that found him after he was robbed could that be james darmody son

See several posts above.

Thanks

I was thinking same thing but how would he ever know that Nucky killed his Dad? Because his Dad and mom were dead and grandmother went to the looney bin.....the nucky thing I just dont get and like stated above the hookers and nucky out alone was a long time for nothing except maybe to make the alleged darmody son and nucky buddies....only 2 left that kind of stinks

I can think of three ways.
1, Richard Harrow might have told the full story to his sister or girlfriend who raised Tommy.

2 Tommy knows who his father was and Nucky spills the beans about the murder in a fit of self loathing.

Or 3, Gillian gets out, seduces the kid (to continue her incest extravaganza)and tells him she didn't kill Jimmy, Nucky did.

If they end with the #3 one then you win best ending ever....that is awesome.......

Damn. I just watched Sundays episode, sad to see Chalky go but what an amazing way to die. I love the way the series has played out, even though they gloss over a lot of history it is understandable because it would be impossible to maintain the story line. I just assumed Nucky would live but you guys got me guessing

That was also my take and man what a powerful turn of events. Brilliant stuff really

Excellent analyses, Lou.

Looks like they're dropping off the players in anticipation of the end. The real Nucky went to prison for four years for tax evasion (1941 - 45) and died broke.

It's going to be interesting to see the fate that awaits Nucky. I'm hoping that they don't opt for a revisionist slant and have him killed,possibly by Tommy Darmody,or the Torrio/Lansky/Luciano troika.

If they stay close to the truth,the fun for us will be speculating on who gives Nucky up to the IRS. In a show of this caliber(no pun intended)it can't just be the Feds making a case by themselves. There almost has to be the "Traitor That No One Sees Coming" to deal the final blow.

So,guys and gals,who will it be and why?

I believe they were trying to show how Nucky was still a cut below Kennedy power wise. Kennedy made him grovel by telling him he had to reveal what he wanted in life, then did not give him what he had groveled for.

somehow I don't believe he died broke. bet he still had a small fortune hidden somewhere

Now you know how it feels

I Felt Sad for Nucky lol but that the game they Play in its for Keeps for Sure What a Great Show

Best line of the episode..

This week's episode has to be one of the best ever up next to when jimmy was killed, sad next week is the end, what a great series, can't wait to see what HBO has coming up next, hope they can get some new type of gangster series, there are tons to go with. Love the capone character in the series Boardwalk

A part of the Boardwalk fan in me died when i saw Nucky completely out of control of the situation, Lucky shooting both Mickey and Archie and Nucky being completely helpless. Him getting on his knees was the icing on the cake. Felt pretty bad but i still love Lucky, Bugsy and Meyer. Bugsy stole the show this ep imo and i never thought i'd have as much sympathy for Gillian as i have now. This season feels a bit rushed but the writing is great despite that.

I think Nucky was trying to get his nephew back. Otherwise, he might have shot it out.

Yeah that's the reason but still it was weird seeing Nucky in such a desperate position like that.

Ya he gave away everything to them and really didnt get his nephew back and with the nephew getting punched by bugsy back into the hands of lucky.......there are so many angles they could continue this show and even take nucky out and then show the rise of the mafia with lucky and meyer and have a show off of that and then what goes on from there. Love the old time tenament housing and then the AC storyline and how after the bootlegging era AC shuts down and then gets the new casinos and now is back in the dumps.....oh well one more

You guys watching series finale? I can't believe it's the last one. How many were on this season 5?

Anyway, it just started. I'm telling you, the guy playing young Nucky must have studied Bescemi's acting/facial expressions, cause he looks JUST like a young him.



TIS

Good call on the darmondy son coming back to take out nucky.....thought the final episode kinda stunk

Does anyone know why the season was so short and why they ended the series? It had to be a money thing, again didnt like the final episode and I do/did like the final sopranos

There was little choice. The real Nucky ended up in jail and we all know about the rise of the Mafia. It was too predictable and would have placed the writers in a straight jacket. There was no drama left

I could only watch it for a few minutes some jerkoff reading from a book what a disgrace that show had potential

I could see the Tommy Darmody angle coming from a mile. A bit disappointed in the finale but like olivant said they were in a strightjacket. I knew it'd be too late for Gillian as well. My favorite scenes were probably Narcisse's death which was perfect lol and the scene with Capone and his son and him going to court. I thought the commission scene wasn't bad neither. But yeah Richard pretty much died in vain the ending could've been better. I preferred the endings of The Sopranos and Breaking Bad.

Feeble ending to a great series. IMO: the producers were so enthralled with their brilliant, lavish scenes and storylines that they neglected to move the plot along in a well-paced, rational way. I kept saying to myself, "Yeah, great episode, but where's this series going?"

They needed to end the series, so they rushed things along. Too rushed, not logical at all.

For the record: Luciano did form the Commission and refused to claim the title of Capo di Tutti Capi. He didn't have to: all the Mob guys knew he was Number One. He appointed Capone "chairman" of the Commission, and Joe Bonnano as "secretary." Clever move: He wanted to bring the Chicago Outfit--a bunch of cowboys--into the fold; and he wanted the old-time Sicilians (the so-called "Men of Honor") to cooperate with non-Sicilians and non-Italians.

AND: Nucky Johnson went to prison on a tax-evasion rap in 1941 for four years. Died broke.

I was glad to see Nucky make his peace with Margaret and Eli,and I thoroughly enjoyed Narcisse's demise. A longer final season would have been great.

Even though in real life,Nucky went to prison,I think most of us expected him to be killed in the last episode. It was kind of an open secret,both on this board and others,that the new kid was really Tommy Darmody. IMHO,it was a mistake to bring him into the show before the final episode.

I would have liked it better if the kid walked up to Nucky and said something like "Mr. Thompson? You don't know me,but my Dad used to work for you.
Nucky: "What was his name?"
Tommy:"Jimmy Darmody"
Then the gun comes out.

All in all,we had a great run watching the show,and of course seeing Nucky lose everything as part of some Karmic destiny for all of the heinous stuff he did.
Watching him become totally powerless at the hands of the real gangsters was great.
With apologies to The Godfather,Nucky went in like Michael,and went out like Fredo.

Just perfect

What was going on at the asylum that gillian was at what did they just do experimental operations on all the women? Were they giving them all hysterectomies?

One other thing was that Federal agents that were following Nucky at the end that pulled their badges out or were they the pinkertons as well?

I don't think they were hysterectomies but Dr Cotton is based on an actual doctor who ran an asylum. He believed that insanity stemmed from untreated infections in the body so he'd remove organs. When he died in 1933 he was praised by The New York Times and other publications. And i think that those were Bureau agents, i think they were gonna take Nuck in for tax evasion. Might be a little reference to what happened to the real Nucky down the line.

Pretty sure they were IRS agents, really just there to show the audience that one way or another, Nucky was going down.

IRS agents for sure; they said it to him at the end.

I think that the asylum doctor was doing Hystorectomies on those women to take out the "Girl parts", which were making them act out. It's like that show "the Knick"; experimental surgery. Weird shit had to happen for us to evolve 100 years ago. Thank god we live in a civilized society today, where the only problems are ebola, rampant murder, etc. Evolution works.

Here's a little insight into the final episode:

Like to see showtime or HBO do some sort of thing on Capone or actually any mob drama, liked the guy who played capone, loved the relationship he had with his son,

Tho it was a pretty good episode, I kind of agree with Turnbull, it seemed like a "rushed" ending. I didn't see that ending coming. Had no idea who that kid was until he said.




TIS

The ending was expected but disappointing.

However, while discussing it over dinner before the show, I came up with an alternate ending that would have been much more satisfying.

Nucky lives, but continues to be hounded by the IRS. Eventually they throw him in jail. He gets out in '45 and goes to live with Eli.

We jump forward a couple of years to a well appointed living room where a middle aged Bugsy Siegel sits on a couch, regaling Allen Smiley with the story of his kidnapping.
His narrative continues as the scene changes to Eli, smoking a cigarette behind the wheel of a running car in front of a Beverly Hills mansion. The camera zooms past the car to a shadowy figure in the garden and we realize it is an aging Nucky.
Bugsy starts singing "My girl's pussy" and we see Nucky raise an M1 carbine to his shoulder.

Fade to credits with Bugsy's song in the background.

The show was very expensive to produce and though popular not close to shows like breaking bad or thrones so the numbers financialy just couldn't work long term so with that said I think they did the best thing by trying to bring everything together in this last season I thought the flashbacks were great it showed that hard choice nucky made to move up in the world and that choice to give up a little girl to be sexually abused, a girl that trusted him and he pledged to always look after always haunted him.the sheriff before him a family man with children couldn't do it any more nucky made a choice that ultimately on the show got him killed. It wasn't the ny mob who put a hit out on him it was Julian once he refused to get her out she had her grandson tommy do the hit. Better ending then a black screen.

love it

The symbolism was excellent in my opinion. The attraction with the early TV set, and Nucky looking into a future he will have no part of. Greatness. Or the Princeton students reciting the spell of the Yukon right before his demise.

In the flashback scene when Nucky is turning Gillian over to the Commodore,he holds out his hand to her.

That single gesture results in the end of Gillian's innocence and the beginning of Nucky's deal with the devil.

When he visits Gillian in the lockup,Nucky has one final chance to try and atone for what he did.

Instead, he once again takes her hand,and once again,leaves her alone and doomed to a hellish existence.

Hit it on the head

I like how bugsy asks luciano, what about our friend, and everyone assumes its nucky, but then they take out narcisse in an awesome hit, couldnt stand that weirdo on the show and then how narcisse killed chalky.....ol michael k williams got rubbed out 2 times in 2 excellent hbo series

Same for Steve Buscemi.

Although predictable I felt that the Tommy Darmody storyline was pushed upon us without thought of what it did to the previous storyline. In the first episode Tommy is eating mush and sleeping in a crib yet ten years later he kills Nucky, so it does not work from a continuity stand point.

Pointed out earlier in the thread but worth repeating, it tarnishes the heroics and efforts of Richard who buy far was one of the most interesting characters and storylines. Richard saved Tommy and left him with a family that not only take care of him and steer him down the right path, but would not share his father’s past even if Richard told them.

Gillian could not give Tommy any information about Jimmy and Nucky when Tommy came of age. It took the women seven years to bargain for a piece of paper, an envelope and a stamp. You can also understand the reasoning for mail not permitted to leave the asylum.

It would have been move fitting to end with a 1941 flash of a broke, penniless, lonely and broken Nucky being apprehended by a young hot shot IRS agent Tommy Darmody. This would be a testament to the valiant efforts of Richard.

A short season, but some of the series best scenes.

hahahah....yup awesome!!!.....

That would be really great and show that the cycle had changed and that despite everything that he came from he changed his future to help people...very good idea...bet the writers could have used you in their war room

The Tommy Darmody storyline was definitely under-developed. Although I'm sure a lot of folks assume that somehow Gillian was behind Nucky's killing,I'm not one of them.

Even though Tommy says his grandmother talked about Nucky a lot and he couldn't tell if it was love or hate,that in itself doesn't indicate involvement by anyone but Tommy.

The scenes where Gillian is trying to see young Tommy during the custody battle show Tommy as being almost afraid of her,and as we know,he was soon taken away by Richard's sister.

So the question for me is: How did Tommy find out for sure that Nucky killed his father.? Terrance Winter could have cleared that up,even if it came right before Nucky's killing.

By no means does this take away from one of the best shows ever made,but it would have been nice to know.

Much like Tony Soprano after he killed Christopher, Nucky's stock went down in my book when I realized how he gave up Gillian (to the Colonel) when they were young.

It was a great series and I'm gonna miss it.

Yup.

Here's some irony:
On the Sopranos (which Terrance Winter worked on),Steve Buscemi's character was killed by a shotgun blast to the face. In Boardwalk Empire, the last shot (to the face) is the one that kills him.

In both shows he dies on wood. (Sopranos-firewood pile,Boardwalk Empire-the actual boardwalk.)

Think I have way too much time on my hands?

See any oranges in that last scene?

"Jimmy Darmody says hello".

Was kind of let down that they did not get into the AR murder @ the Park Sheraton ( Same Location as the AA Murder in 1957) and the rise of Frank Costello who had inherited much of AR connections and influence after AR was killed.

Why?? THe show was about Nucky Thompson, not Arnold Rothstein!

AR's murder needed to be shown not just mentioned. His character was there since season #1 and his murder should have been depicted much like Maranzano or Masseria's murder. Frank Costello became a poltical fixer/powerhouse after AR was killed, and was a Partner to Luciano and never was mentioned in 5 years ?

Here is Wikipedia article on the actual Dr. Cotton portrayed in Boardwalk Empire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Cotton_(doctor)