An Introduction:
Going on for five seasons, Boardwalk Empire has been more than a historic gangster drama, but an artsy, philosophical, and romanticized look at the real life Enoch "Nucky" Johnson and the turmoil of Atlantic City through the series fictionalized character Enoch "Nucky" Thompson during the Prohibition Era.
It's first two seasons envisioned a vibrant tourist attraction of a coastal U.S. city in the mist of many, but often stereotyped cultural revivals, aspiring night-time wonders and innovations, while being contrasted by a realistic and the behind-closed-doors truth about politics, friends, family and the things people are willing to do to seek wealth, power, and fame.
With Nucky we see him shift from getting on with an uneducated prostitute girl friend, Lucy, to see the rise of the poor and abused, but smart Irish wife Margaret along with her two children, whom Nucky rescues by hiring someone to murder her nearly always drunk and over controlling husband, and explore other seemingly important relationships such as with the City's king pin The Commodore, and Nucky's protege and son-like figure, James "Jimmy" Darmony, along with Nucky's biological family such as his younger brother Eli and his father Ethan.
The second season comes to a dramatic climax when James Darmody and Eli conspire with the Commodore to not only ruin, but kill Nucky, although in James' case, it's almost rightfully so, and where in a last minute plea for redemption, where in some off screen compromise is made resulting in James Darmody willingly to die at the hand of Nucky and in front of the other gangsters or racketeers that James failed to follow through with.
Although I'm a viewer who was stunned by James' death, it wasn't out of the death itself, but more over the specific circumstances of the death in relation to James acceptance ("No One Goes Quietly!"), being, in my opinion, out of character and against a soldier that seemed like a great survivor, --a shade of Nucky Thompson, but setting my feelings and theories (dream/alternate reality, trick gun) about this matter aside, Boardwalk Empire continued to beautifully march on in it's next seasons and where the loss of this character marked a change in Boardwalk's presentation of it's reality that continues to have a ripple effect in the entire series...
Season three became a blend of theatrical with exaggerated dialogues and unique characters like wanna-be actress Billy Kent and with whimsical over the top Gyp Rossetti in which these characters were also contrasted with dreamy surrealism through ghost of Jimmy, massive Jimmy allusions including coming back to Jimmy-related situations and Jimmy look-a-likes, and episodes that featured temporal effects relating to Nucky's lack of sense of self, being almost out of sync in time, and/or being in states of delirium. Additionally the season also presented characters constantly in debate, often in tangled speech, and playing devil's advocate. Even switching sides of arguments from episode to episode.
Nucky too goes from being somewhat argumentative and vocal in the previous season to someone more passive aggressive and mysterious in season four, as we see more of other characters burn their bridges with each other, especially Chalky White, while Nucky tries to find a new gig in Florida. The season also gave us horrific, but beautiful and monumental deaths of Eddie Kessler and Richard Harrow, along with exploring a new kind of woman in Nucky's life, one who's not afraid to give Nucky a taste of his own medicine (Sally Wheat), and where again, at least for the audience, there's a show down with Eli and Nucky that resolves the water is not thicker than blood argument, in which if it hadn't been for Eli's eldest son, Nucky sure enough was going to kill him for yet another round of his disloyalty and, where like seasons one and two James Darmony, Eli finds himself helpless and on his way to Chicago.
Review:
Season five, the final season, jumps ahead of time by nearly seven years landing in 1931 at the beginning of the Depression Era, but uniquely the show continues with it's temporal aspects now playing with time and space in a new way, as we get in touch with Nucky's Atlantic City roots in flashbacks set in 1884.
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After all he starts the first flashback by finishing last with the gold coins and later even being told he wouldn't be rewarded for honesty when he not only returns the hat and fifty dollar bill, but also later instead is payed for a job of sweeping the sand off of the Corner Hotel just after fighting another boy on the shore just below the Hotel's boardwalk steps. I also loved the name of the Corner Hotel. Not only did it visually remind me of a dressed up Harrow farm house, but something about the name "corner" makes me think of being caught or pinned down, a time out, or like a pieces of a pie, being able to have your own little corner or wedge of the world!Lucky vs Nucky?
Viewers come to see that Charlie Luciano also seems to be a man with a plan. He bates Joe Masseria into a restaurant, only to have his men, including Benny Seigal, take him out, as Charlie exists to the bathroom after just reciting a man can't be pinned for something he doesn't know or didn't see. What's unclear is if he also behind the hit on Nucky in Havana, especially when Meyer Lansky also appears with a story he tells Nucky that's at the very least a partial lie. It's probably no secret that 1931 is the time The Commission is created where some Mob families across America will no longer recognize "The Boss of All Bosses" and the fundamentals of how the Mob families will conduct their business will forever change. And so it seems likely that Nucky was nearly taken out by Charlie's hit man. The exterior scenes with the blood oath ritual was also interesting reminding me more of 1970's gangster films, but also Divine Secretes of the Yaya Sisterhood.
Bonnie And Clyde:One of the things I'm really glad about is that Patricia Arquette is reprising her role as Sally Wheat. It's true it's not the most flattering or elegant role, but it's a role one would never expect of the Medium and soon to be CSI: Cyber actress. It's curious to think that Sally has been with Nucky for nearly seven years of his life, more than any of the other female love interests in the series (except perhaps for his first wife Mable) and also seems to be a rather savvy business partner. It's perfect that she continues to be a representation of tropical new enterprises, such as this hopeful deal with Bacardi Rum, as Havana, Cuba, more than Florida or previous 1920's New Jersey, is Boardwalks most vibrant scenes to date. It will be interesting to see if she'll survive the series. but I'm not counting on it. I always thought it was interesting that Lilian "Billie" Kent dyed her hair blond and had it done up short and curly right before she was murdered and then season four introduces viewers to an opposing character who's a more masculine and able character with blonde semi-curly hair! Boardwalk just has this way of being eerily surreal. Additionally, is Lansky's fake wife also an allusion to Billie Kent with her blonde done up hair and the way the scene fixates on the light at the end of her tobacco rod. ( Note: Fire is a big theme. Not just because of Gyp Rosette, but really going back to when Nucly burns his father's house down, which in turn stems from a memory of Nucky being burned by his father with a hot fireplace poker as a child.)
Why Is The
We also catch up to Margret and the animals and insects of Wall Street. Margret's boss, Mr. Bennett, was under investigation and in another brilliantly bizarre dialogue relating to taking time off and going to see a Mickey Mouse Pirate picture, where Micky inevitably escapes with the help of sea turtles (something Disney re-references in their first Pirates of the Caribbean flick), does he disarm them all with a cartoon fantasy before he just shoots himself! Someone higher up begins to interrogate Margret and asks her where the key to her former boss's file cabinet is. She lies about several things including knowing where the key is, but later she is nearly caught when she attempts to pull Arnold Rothstein's (Abe Redstone) file. I knew once it was announced that Boardwalk's fifth season would primarily take place in 1931 that we would no longer have the wonderfully talented Michael Stuhlbarg with us, as historically Rothstein was killed a few years earlier (and history is sketchy on the murderer, but some historians point to a gambler named Alvin Clarence Thomas or "Titanic Thompson" --Boardwalk could easily twist this into our Thompson given the gambling scene from last season). His absence I think will be felt, being one of the most intellectual, charming, and self controlled characters in the series. Historically, Rothstein's death also marks a decay in Mob/crime industry, as street gangs start to reemerge on the streets of New York...
***POTENTIAL SPOILER AHEAD -However, I do have a theory thanks to a SpoilerTV member called Ben (Thank you Ben!) providing a link to an interview that suggests, one way or another, Abe Redstone could resurface. Curiously, back in season four episode seven, when Margret is reacquainted with Rothstein, it's the same episode Willy Thompson is reading about the meaning about a protagonist of the story killing his doppelganger in class...END SPOILER
The Great Escape:
The Golden Days of Boys & Girls:
The episode title is the name of the news paper story-serial for children that started in the late 1800's. There was a gender specific story for each sex. The episode beautifully starts and ends with an unknown, but cautionary female voice reciting what is more like a poem from the second hand paper, courtesy of his mother, that Nucky reads towards the end of the flashback scenes, which sites that honest and true boys will have a bright future as long as they remain so. By starting and finishing the episode with the voice over of the poem, it gives the viewers a sense that Nucky's story is meant to come full circle some how. Additionally Nucky remembers this time through out the episode, but makes it known to Sally towards the end of the episode and says a verse out loud. She warns him nothing good ever came out of looking back at the past.
"Be honest and true, boys. Whatever you do, boys. Let this be your model through life. Both now and forever, be this your endeavor, when wrong with the right is at strife. The best and the truest alas the fewest, but be one of these if you can..."
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Other Observations & Musings:
- Suits. Boardwalk Empire has always been beautifully fashionable, but one of the most iconic pieces of clothing in the series is a blue suit. It's made iconic by James Darmody. Really nobody else in the series has ever had a suit quite as detailed as his, but certain characters (Charlie Luciano, Gyp Rossetti, Dunn Pernsley, Frank Capone,Tommy Darmody) have dawned solid shades of it, especially a royal or midnight blue. Charlie is seen wearing it again--and probably calling back to his story in season three, but I also saw a lot more of it through out the episode on minor characters/extras too!
And speaking of suits, we also see Nucky really let go of his darker colors for Ivory and light gray in the episode, in fact I would say that shades of white and/or off white colors along with black are visually stringing all the different kinds of scenes together. (Note: Season one episode title: The Ivory Tower)
-Jimmy's presence can also be felt in this episode through the flashback, as seeing the Commodore, Jimmy's father is one obvious connection, but another may be seeing Nucky begin to get caught between his seemingly abusive father and the Commodore, a juxtaposition to Jimmy with Nucky and Commodore in season two. And just a quick note, the concept of finishing last was also highlighted in the penultimate episode of season two (Under God She Flourishes) in a Jimmy flashback at Princeton. There English class was reading The White Devil by John Webster. Their professor asks, after Jimmy reads a specific passage, what the author is really saying. Each of them takes a turn and the scene is written in such a way where each student down to Jimmy gets more and more specific. The boy before Jimmy says that it's about the fact that everyone in society becomes corrupt, because society is in fact a corrupt society (which has also stuck with me in terms of one of things Boardwalk is about or may make a good case for), but Jimmy homes in on the idea that main character can't get ahead (finishes last) because his mother never taught him anything useful. There's an obvious parallel to Jimmy and Gillian in that scene, but I also think it's reflecting Nucky Thomson (especially in this episode) and perhaps many of characters on the series.
-There is also a minor character on the wagon in the 1884 flashback scene named James.
-I believe one of the boys that Nucky is fighting with is young Jim Neary.
-Ethan Thomson is revealed to be an abusive father, as Nucky had suggested, but also is reconfirmed as a fisherman and may juxtapose and explain/connect back with another reason why Nucky felt compelled to kill Hans Schroeder and use him as a patsy. Margret's living conditions in season one were also similar to the Thompson's, -and is it any wonder that Hans was found with the catch of the day?!
- There are also a couple of other interesting juxtapositions. The Commodore teaches young Nucky it's good business to pay Nucky first before he does the job. Right before Nucky is attacked near a cigarette vendor in Havana, he teaches a young boy that it is good business to give him the goods first and then someone/he will pay (which may be sign from the writers that he has it backwards and thus he has near death experience). Another is also in contrast an event in episode 4.03 Acres of Diamonds In that episode Nucky goes to Florida seeking a land deal. He had already told Bill McCoy that he was definitely interested, but when he went to meet McCoy's associate and land baron, August Tucker (after hearing some disturbing news about the land), he told them both he was no longer interested. This led to McCoy being near killed by Tucker, but McCoy manged (in a scene off screen) to kill Tucker with a machete (There us a Machete used in this scene as well). The next morning after sleeping on it, Nucky changed his mind and said the deal is on. In this episode it appears that Nucky is now relying on the word of US Senator Loyd, with an understanding that he believed the Volstead Act would soon be repealed, but when the senator and Nucky meet with a Bacardi Rum distributor that Nucky wants to [eventually] legally buy from, Loyd seems to be all wishy-washy and nearly refuses to acknowledge what he allegedly told Nucky Thompson. Later in the episode Nucky is attacked and nearly killed by potentially Luciano's and Lansky's hit man!
-I also like the tropical setting of Havana, Cuba not just because it's like a personified "Golden" Florida from last season, but more over it thematically strings the flashbacks together through the Commodore, as we know his 1920's home seemed to have a bit of a jungle/hunter theme with palms and taxidermy exotic animals posed throughout the sitting room. (Lucy also pretends to be a tiger during love-making and Gyp Rossetti had been compared twice to a big ape!)
- Themes of Coin Toss continue: The coin toss is something that goes back to the end of season two, where Nucky makes his decision between James Darmody and Manny Horowitz. When he talks to Arnold on the phone for his concerns, Arnold tells him he often tosses a coin---this my be a reference to Hamlet or Rosencrants and Guildenstern Are Dead. Interestingly a coin toss came up again last year when Chalky turns to his now blind protege on the run from Narcisise --and yet here again, the season begins in a ceremonial gold coin toss...and speaking of gold, last season during a poker game, Rothstein was called "Goldstein" by a rather impatient player, who hated Arnold's need for psychological analysis over Nucky Thompson--which supports the idea that series may have not answered who Thompson really is, when even Rothstein can not predict Nucky's behavior.
- Joe Masseria/Luciano Restaurant/Bathroom Murder Scene: It reminded me of both of scenes from season one where Jimmy has Richard Harrow take out Liam in a restaurant near Chicago and also the final scenes of The Sopranos, but juxtaposed, since it was recently revealed by David Chase that Tony lives and because Tony is with his family and other people, where Joe is not, although argumentatively one could argue that both characters of Boardwalk could be in their own "members only" club...
- The Sheriff in 1884 is named Jacob -another Biblical name like Enoch and Elijah.
-Gillian, Willy, Narcisse, Capone, Van Alden, and Eli do not appear.
My Favorite Scenes:
Opening Underwater Diving for Gold Coins scene.
The transition between the opening scene and Havana 1931.
Hat Blowing in the Field Scene.
Nucky being Attacked.
Ultimately, Boardwalk Empire has a tall order to either convince the audience that Nucky is an anti-hero or more typical of gangster tropes, a tragic hero. Let alone proving to the audience that Nucky and Atlantic City is a legend-making tale worthy of all of his strife, even perhaps defying the genre by having Nucky simply get away with all somehow or actually seek redemption after this upcoming war, but there are several ways in my mind that these things could be accomplished. I think the series is trying very hard with this first installment back to pull on Nucky-sympathizing heart strings and I anxiously await seeing the final seven episodes to get to whatever Boardwalk's golden bottom line is going to be.
Did you enjoy the first episode of the final season? Any favorite scenes or pieces of dialogue? Any theories about the ending? Please feel free to share in the comments below!
