Boardwalk Empire on HBO (pt2)

Continued from here:

Boardwalk Empire on HBO

 

I don't remember, have Van Alden & Eli met before?

 

That is my question. When Nucky found out that Van Alden had fathered a child with Nucky's old lover and had killed his Treasury agent partner, was Eli in cahoots with Jimmy and the Commodore against Nucky then? Was Eli out of the loop of information that Nucky would be receiving? Maybe Van Alden is a stranger to Eli now that Eli is in Chicago.

 

He had a pretty disgusted look on his face when he picked Eli up but that may have been his normal face.

 

Eli pretty definitely knows who Van Alden was, VA busted the St Patrick's Day party Eli and Nucky were at. Will he remember and how they'll work it out is for next season.

Harrow took a walk in the woods and was ready to blow his own head off a couple seasons back, so he got more happiness than he'd planned for in the end. But at the end he was done. He was blameless in the shooting of Chalky's daughter - his one eye was looking through the scope and he had no peripheral vision and no way to know she was even in the room let alone ready to bend over and take the bullet. But if he'd survived he'd have been a broken man, anyway.

 

I read a nice essay on the death of Richard Harrow (can't remember where or I'd post the link), but it basically said because Richard was now married and in love, this affected his ability to be a cold-hearted killer, so his aim was off. I think that's somewhat true, plus the daughter was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

The next season is gonna be a huge mess. I was hoping they'd wrap up the whole "Dr. Narcisse" thing, because it's getting real tedious to me. I'm much more into what Nucky is going to have to deal with, between the NY mob and now Al Capone gaining power in Chicago.

 

Agree, Dr Narcisse has to go, quickly and bloody would be preferred.

 

Probably already mentioned in the thread, but I just discovered that the actress playing "Daughter Maitland" is Margot Bingham and she sang the closing song on the finally. "Farewell Daddy Blues." I suspect much more. There's a copy from the TV show with background noise on You Tube.

 

For those that were asking or just not sure, there was another woman shot. She was blonde, and was fleeing behind Richard on the balcony. A guy on the ground floor was firing at Richard and hit her. From her reaction, it looked like she was shot in the head, although you didn't see any blood.

 

The Complete Third Season Blu Ray set is $16.99 on Amazon right now.

 

I agree with this - I finally got to watch the season finale last night.

I thought it was a good finale, but emotionally unsatisfying. Even when Eli turned into a meat-grinder on the FBI agent's face, I wasn't as ecstatic as I should have been. I wanted him to die PAINFULLY since Eddie's final episode, and although the agent bit the dust and went out really, really well (on paper), I still wanted ELI to be the one to die (also).

Any guarantee he didn't?

He's "out West" theoretically - or at least that's what we are told. But who's to say Nucky didn't get Capone to tell Eli he's getting safe passage so he got in Van Alden's car.... never to be seen again? A favor from Capone, Nucky doesn't get his hands dirty, and no more backstabbing from Eli. If not, what's to come of Eli? If he remains in the family business, Nucky will just come off as an idiot at this point. I wouldn't trust him to get me a glass of water after what Eli's done to Nucky.

And now that Will knows his dad is a traitor to his brother.... well, I look forward to more Nucky and Will in the future. That moment of Nucky having trouble opening his cigarette case, and then Will opening his same case and offering the cig to Nucky was a brilliant, sublte connection. I see Will and Nucky bonding big time. I see nothing but mutual respect - and it's obvious, though Nucky tells Will something like "I'm not who you think I am", that Will wants to be with, and ultimately be, Nucky.

Although I love Eli, what can possibly be done with him unless he works for Capone in Chicago and never sees Nucky again? If it were me, I wouldn't even want someone who harbored a death wish on me having the ear of a wildly dangerous criminal that I'm partnered with such as Capone. Eli knows too much about Nucky's business - and now he'll be with Capone? If I were Nucky, I'd get rid of Eli once and for all. Even Eli inferred his death was justified before Will walked in.

And you can never forgive him for not running to Nucky when the agent first approached him about "give up everyone or your son goes to prison for life" bit. He could have avoided all these problems. Nucky and Eli could have fed the agent what they wanted while delivering the "ugly" elements Nucky no longer wants (like Narcisse) to the agent. My feeling, anyway. Time for Fredo to go.

Other thoughts:

1. Felt worse about Chalky's daughter getting killed than Richard. And for Chalky to hear from Narcisse "there will be no wedding" when Chalky doesn't even know it? And THEN she's accidentally killed? Tragedy. Really well done. I loved Richard, we'll all miss him, but his storyline was great and he saved the little boy's life in every way the past two seasons - I feel bad for his wife who is about to lose her father (probably for the best) but then she raises the boy alone. And she doesn't even know her love is dead yet.

2. Not enough Rothstein, but at least they buttoned up the part about him delivering Margaret what he promised.

3. What the heck was the whole Gaston Means thing from the second to last episode? What was the information he was trying to sell?

Jeff

 

You mean the "rooster in the hen house" comment? He somehow found out that Nucky's brother was giving information to the FBI, and knew this would undermine Nucky's operation. But Means got caught before he could give Nucky the information.

 

After the cartoon-like third season, with Cannavale chewing up scenery, this season was a return-to-form for me, with an awesome ending. Shame about Harrow, though.

 

Upcoming season will be the last....

All my favorite shows are ending...

 

I am behind the times. I've just watched the finale of Season 4. The death of Richard Harrow was very sad. He was my favourite character.

 

Even though Harrow was an accomplished, dead-eyed murderer, he was also probably the most sympathetic character on the show, and it was indeed a very sad death. Can't wait for the new season!

 

Harrow was true soldier. The people he killed were other soldiers or people who deserved it. He wasn't a psycho like Gyp Rosetti. And Harrow died like a soldier. I was disappointing that he didn't kill Dr Narcisse and tragic that he hit Baby Doll instead. But I guess Dr Narcisse is needed for Season Five!

 

Don't think it's been mentioned here, the fifth and final season will jump ahead in time seven years, to 1931 and the depths of that Depression.

 

Teaser for Season 5.

 

This show has gone the way of Game of Thrones. All the interesting characters are dead.

 

That teaser's been out for a month.

Here's the official HBO trailer:



Jeff

 

I have the season four BD on pre-order. It comes out next Tuesday. I'll be back to discuss the show after I finish it!

 

Since Amazon Prime Instant Video added HBO, I sold the first 3 seasons on Blu ray, and will watch Season 4 there.

Blu-ray.com is holding a drawing to win Season 4 : http://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=14719

 

As I did last year since I no longer subscribe to HBO, looking forward to the free preview September 5-8. On September 6, all 10 episodes from last year will be shown before the final season premiere September 7. Getting ready for 11 hours of Broadwalk Empire on my DVR!

 

Very excited!