![]() And the flashbacks have done their job, particularly once we shifted to 1897 and got to watch Marc Pickering's remarkable Steve Buscemi impression (along with striking young versions of the Commodore and Gillian). The Nucky we've known all these years is actually absent for a good chunk of the finale, which opens with a visual wink at the title sequence: instead of a fully-dressed Nucky watching the surf pound against the shore, we see Nucky's clothes piled atop the sand as the man swims out to sea, going so far that it's unclear if he might ever come back.īut this season has given us more than one Nucky to follow, as part of an attempt to help us better understand the show's main character before we learned his final fate. And always there was Nucky Thompson: the still, mysterious center of the series, who at times deserved his first-among-equals position and at others made one wish we could just get back to Cicero or Manhattan or the north side of Atlantic City. ![]() Other prominent characters like Owen came and went without leaving a huge impression. Often, the show succeeded, as we saw at various points with Jimmy, Chalky, Richard and Narcisse. The challenge with “Boardwalk Empire” was always in trying to make the show's fictional criminals as vivid and compelling as the real ones. Capone has more than earned his fate – legally, he's getting off lightly, as tax evasion was the only charge the government could easily prove – but we've also gotten to know the man behind the scarface over these years, and seeing his private human side as he prepares for the end of his public reign of terror was incredibly moving. It's a perfect example of the patience and sense of its own history that “Boardwalk Empire” displayed throughout its run, and another heartbreaking moment from Stephen Graham, who has consistently managed to find the vulnerability beneath Al's monstrous, homicidal bluster. The most powerful scene in question: Al Capone telling his son about his impending prison sentence, and the boy not only offering to help his dad, but putting up his dukes as a reminder of the boxing lesson his dad tried to give him all those years before (in season 3's “Blue Bell Boy”). I spoke at length with creator Terence Winter, and I have a review of the finale coming up just as soon as I think about the things I want in life, then imagine myself in a dress…Īnd so “Boardwalk Empire” died as it lived: with a tightly-plotted installment that paid off many storylines from both the final season and the entire series, and one where the most memorable, powerful scene involved someone other than Nucky Thompson.Īlthough the Nucky material was pretty damn powerful and satisfying in its own right. In this list, I'll be ranking from worst to best, every person across the five seasons of Boardwalk Empire who was credited at some point as a main character.“Boardwalk Empire” came to an end tonight. And while they weren't some of the nicest chaps in history, there were little cheers when they came victorious over the law. And in doing so, gave audiences amazing and honourable performances that have to be seen to be believed.Įven though you were watching a show about immoral, criminal outlaws, it was hard not to root for most of the faces on screen. ![]() I'm talking of course about HBO's incredible prohibition era gangster series, Boardwalk Empire.įor five seasons, we watched the rise and fall of an Atlantic City bootlegger whose navigation through the era of bathtub gin, cigarette girls and pin-striped suits also brought him into regular contact with some of histories most prolific criminal figures. As we push forward with the roaring 2020's, there's a strange nostalgia for a critically acclaimed series set almost a hundred years ago.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |