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."