Boardwalk Empire returns for it's fifth and final season on September 7th with only 8 episodes to conclude the story of Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, which in my opinion, seems like a tall order, given the duplicitous nature of the character.
However, I was lucky enough to view the first few episodes early and I can tell you that, especially in the fifth season's first episode, a real effort has been made to begin to see where Nucky Thompson has been coming from all along.
The current story jumps seven years ahead to 1931 the beginning of the Depression Era, and where many hoped the Volstead Act was going to be immediately repealed, but Boardwalk is also flashing back to 1884 where the viewers are also treated to seeing the very young and seemingly honest Enoch begin to get swept up in struggle between his poor abusive father, a fisherman, and the wealthy commanding Commodore!
The episode's cinematography is breathtaking, but uniquely, as we shift from 1884 Atlantic City to Havana, Cuba 1931, and across to various parts of New York, it's almost like watching four different films being told in relation to each other in which each has their own unique color scheme. The contrast between 1884 Atlantic City and 1931 Havana are in particular contrast, which 1884 being pale and washed out and with Havana being the most vibrant that Boardwalk has ever been, but yet both seem to share in vast amounts of white! It makes it one of my favorite episodes to date! The episode also opens and ends with a great monologue being spoken by a female voice that's a story from the Golden Boys & Girls story-paper for children and is basically a poem siting that a bright future relies on being honest and true...
I don't want to give too much away since I will also be writing reviews each episode, so I will leave you with teasers: One character that the viewers know from all previous seasons has died off screen, another pair are about to rise to great power and change the way the Mob Families across the country fundamentally work, another character is attacked, another has been imprisoned, one character will loose their hat, one will have the key to a file. There will be dancing, there will be swimming, there will be talk of Bacardi Rum, and there will be a fight in the woods. Additionally not all of the main cast appears in the first episode, but we are introduced to new faces, most of which are secondary or in the past.
