Boardwalk Empire

[llipgh2]

people actually liked this week's? i thought the convention stuff with nucky was insufferable.

I liked it more for how the stage is now set. Really looking forward to the final few weeks. How many are left? Seems like it should be winding up but previews look like 3-4 anyway.

There are 12 episodes this season. I think last night was show 8.

[llipgh2]

I liked tonight's episode (11/21)

Ok, was it wrong for me

Spoiler:

To cheer Chalky on as he was choking a man to death with his bare hands?

"How'd you know I drive a Packard?"

And it looks like the fed has gone off the deep end...

[meecrofilm]

I, like everyone else, feels there needs to be more Chalky.

Harrow needs to start gettin' into the action again as well. I'm worried for some reason he won't make it past this season -- hope I'm wrong.

[shmenguin]

the acting with the jimmy and nucky characters is really the achilles heel of this show.

10 episodes in and i don't know whether they're supposed to be that awkward, or it's just bad acting. the setting and the secondary characters are great, but jeez did they screw up the 2 most important characters.

[AlexPKeaton]

Last night's episode was really really awesome.

[cheesesteakwithegg]

Last night's episode was really really awesome.

Yeah, it was. Chalky White FTW

[tifosi77]

"Well, I wasn't going to... but you sorta talked me into it."



And then Chalky......

[the wicked child]

that agent is a scary dude.

[llipgh2]

that agent is a scary dude.

That is an understatement.

I guessed who Jimmy's dad was a while ago. The surprise tonight was Jimmy's mom...

[tifosi77]

The discussion in my house is whether Mrs. Jimmy's Mom is acting on her own or if she is under orders...............................

[shmenguin]

meh

after that finale, i think i'm out

[Kraftster]

Surprisingly fireworkless finale. I was very disappointed with how much was resolved.

I think it needs to either move away from a Nucky-centric show or it should have been 1/2 to 2/3 the episodes and been a mini-series.

[tifosi77]

I thought the writing was pretty lazy in the finale. The resolution of the whole arsenic thing was weak sauce, as was the 'oh-I-found-the-rag-in-my-cake-so-I'll-go-back' thing.

Altho I did think Van Alden had a fun end to his first season story.

[Hockeynut!]

I enjoyed it. Boardwalk Empire isn't a Sopranos type show and I think a lot of people are wanting it to be more like that. It's a slow burn, long arc series. While it might be more exciting to be a "villain of the week/season" series, it just isn't.

[the wicked child]

I enjoyed the godfatheresque sequence with the press conference.

[tifosi77]

Yeah, that had a very Corleone baptism feel, didn't it?

Richard Harrow remains my favorite character.

[the wicked child]

Spoiler:

when Capone shot the dude and took the apple out of his shopping bag... I lolled.

[tifosi77]

Hahaha..... "Leave the gun. Take the cannolis."

[Draftnik]

Good 1st season but weak finale IMO.

[the wicked child]

Naturally, this is back on a night when dem Stillers play.

[cheesesteakwithegg]

Looking forward o this season. Hopefully the steelers game is a blowout so I can watch this before I go to bed

[Draftnik]

I'm looking forward to the 2nd season as well. With Curb ending another short season there aren't many series on TV worth watching.

Cinemax has a new action series named Strike Back that has been very good IMO.

[tifosi77]

My wife and I were talking about Boardwalk last night...... who of the returning characters do you think will not make it out of season 2 alive? Much as I like him, I don't think Chalky is long for Atlantic City. Mrs Tif thinks Eli (Nucky's brother) is gonna get it.

[largegarlic]

I watched 3-4 episodes when it aired originally last year, but didn't get into it enough to see the rest. However, I'm now house-sitting for a couple months at a place where the ONLY TV channels are the 5 or 6 channels of HBO, so I've caught up with this (and most other HBO shows over the past couple weeks).

My general assessment is that Boardwalk Empire is a good show, but not a great one. I think Nucky is another one of those well-drawn, morally ambiguous HBO protagonists. I also like Margaret's character and didn't really have a problem with her return in the season finale. She really embodies the difficulties of being a woman in that era even with the seeming liberation of getting the vote. The federal agent (I forget his name) is pretty good too.

My biggest problem is Jimmy. At the start of the show, they made a big deal of setting him up as this smart, upstanding guy who was going to Princeton, but got caught up in WWI and came back a different, morally-broken guy. However, as the show played out, I didn't find his character to be appreciably more intelligent or interesting than the various generic mob henchmen that pop up. At this point, he doesn't even exhibit the potential to get to Nucky's level of political savvy or Nucky's ability to recognize and reflect upon the morally conflicted path he is on. Whether he is ultimately going to be a Nucky protege or Nucky nemesis, he doesn't seem to have the ability to really pull it off.

[shmenguin]

The main characters are the least compelling. There's your problem.