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Season 1 Index: http://www.chud.com/26780/boardwalk-empire-season-one-tag-team-review-index/
They're happening again, and this time we'd be open to have a few good chewers involved that will be following the show as it airs. If you're interested, shoot me a load at rennbrown at gmail dot com.
They had me at Omar vs. the KKK.
Man, Jimmy's wife's new haircut is ugly.
Other than that, solid episode. Love the bedspring fakeout with Van Alden and wife.
Nucky Thompson: Step-parent of the Year!
Great episode. Lots of good set-up for the season! Looks like Nucky is gonna have a tough time this year.
Van Alden is a bad ass. The way he took down that restaurant was awesome. The stuff with the bedsprings right after was funny though.
Watching Nucky play both sides of the White vs. Black constituency was interesting too.
I also liked how Al Capone couldn't grasp why that one dude kept referring to himself in the third person. That was pretty funny.
And Nucky getting arrested for election tampering... jeesh. Think the Commodor set that up?
Over Under on Van Alden killing Lucy?
Over Under on Jimmy/Gillian incest angle?
That "winkie" comment has me cringing.
Over Under on Van Alden killing Lucy?
Over Under on Jimmy/Gillian incest angle?
That "winkie" comment has me cringing.
I don't think Van Alden would kill Lucy, unless she does something that blatantly violates his moral code, like his former partner did. I especially don't think he'll kill her while she's pregnant. If anything, he banishes Lucy for some righteous reason, and she tracks down his wife and causes all types of trouble by revealing his infidelity.
I highly doubt there will be any incest between Jimmy and Gillian. The "winkie" comment was creepy, but I think that was more about how Gillian loves that he's a boy and that "boys will be boys," not something that's meant to be sexual. Also, when Jimmy was a baby, she was like 15 wasn't she? Seems like something stupid and silly a fifteen year old mom might do back then.
I just have a feeling Van Alden's wife is going to find about his infidelity from Lucy, when she reveals to her that she is having his baby. I just could see him, in a fit of rage taking Lucy out. He's got that hair trigger to him.
Van Alden was the surprise VIP of this episode for me. It's interesting, I thought he was pretty overwrought last year, but coming back, I found I enjoyed what he was doing quite a bit. I hope he's better integrated into the Nucky vs Everyone story much more this season.
Best thing about this episode was the way it reacquainted me with the strange rhythms this show lives on. In the off season, it was easy to forget why BE was good, but then within ten minutes, there's that excellent opening montage followed by a Klan shootout with Chalky. Right back into it. The inaugural showy monologue goes to the Commodore with his bear stalking speech. The art design still is the best on TV (do they spend a LOT more on this than they do on Game of Thrones? Because it seems like it).
Of the plot threads teased thus far, I'm liking what Jimmy Darmody is dealing with. I think he's going to choose Nucky over his family, which will sort of run parallel to Eli going against his Nucky.
Loved this episode in general. Pitt being co-lead along with Buscemi is a genius idea from the show-runners.Out of everyone on this show he's been the most consistently impressive. Especially the way he seems to handle his wife's mutation into Winona Ryder. Eli added betrayal to his myriad other character deficiencies. The Commodore is a gigantic asshole, which is surprising for a pedophile. It is quite the menagerie of monsters that has been aligned against Nucky this year.
I only wish that Margaret would stop lying to herself about her and Nucky. She seemed to be swallowing her tongue pretty hardcore when the Sister was throwing her the "Your Mr. Thompson" jabs.
The art design still is the best on TV (do they spend a LOT more on this than they do on Game of Thrones? Because it seems like it).
It does seem much bigger and grander then Game of Thrones.
My totally uneducated guess is shooting on location eats up a lot of GoT's budget. Boardwalk doesn't have that production overhead.
Could very well be. I hope they really expand the scope of GOT next season. It was the only think that felt off, about an otherwise great great show.
I didn't read the season 1 thread, but what is everyone's opinion of the casting of Nucky Thompson?
I've read the opinions of many people, that think it was a miscast. Almost like they envisioned him as a Tony Soprano looking guy.
Wasn't the part written for Buscemi? I coulda sworn I read somewhere that it was developed with him in mind. That said, I think he's perfect for the role of Nucky. Nucky isn't a gangster, he's more of a thinking man's corrupt politician. The type who doesn't get his hands dirty and is a master manipulator. A Tony Soprano type would just be wrong in my opinion.
I'm really shocked at how little fanfare there's been surrounding the return of this show. It's really quite brilliant stuff, and I'm sure it'll be getting even better as it continues to find its legs this season. This episode laid some really nice thematic groundwork (jealously, fathers and sons, etc.) that should pan out nicely in the future.
And Buscemi is brilliant anti-casting -- in fact he exemplifies the driving philosophy behind every casting decision on the show. The ghostly Pitt as our audience identification character, the typically meek Stuhlbarg at the brutally efficient heavy, and above all, the disturbed Shannon as what would be any normal show's force of justice and restraint. Anybody who hasn't realized that almost every character on this show is cast (and written) against type is simply not paying attention.
I'm kind of shocked that this thread isn't getting more love right about now.....easily one of the best shows on television.
For some reason just by the actions of Nucky this episode I really want to see him go down...where as in the season finale I was still iffy on whether I like that they were planning a revolt against him.
I'm loving the character of Jimmy. To see him evolve from the first episode until now has been the best part about this show to me. I just think he's got the most to gain by getting rid of Nucky, but at the same time I think he's ultimately a pawn for the commodore. I'd kind of like to see him realize that but still have the full intention of taking control of Atlantic City.
Oh yeah, Eli is a bitch.
Sympathy for Jimmy Darmody continues to surprise me. He cuts a cool figure and all, but damn, what a fucking dick.
I think where your sympathies lie on this show also has a lot to do with your age. An older viewer would probably relate more to Nucky, viewing Jimmy as the brash and aggressive youth plotting to destabilize the system of power that's been established. His status as a protagonist would become muddied for them, whereas a younger viewer would see Nucky as a selfish, deceptive string-puller and wouldn't fully connect to the paternal motivations, inclinations towards family and the establishment of order, etc. that make him sympathetic.
I think the fascination with Jimmy lies in how much of a genuine (forgive the term) wildcard he is. I can see him ultimately striking out on his own and ending up on top, I can see him siding back with Nucky at an important moment, and I can see him stick with his father. I really don't know what he's going to do, I know what he's capable of, and all of that makes him frightening/interesting.
BTW, Tag-Teams still coming, and we have a cool line-up. Trying to make it so everyone has access to the show routinely and that's been tough, but when we do you'll be excited by who's joining us. I think we might run our ep1 reviews as a recap on Sunday (maybe), and then move into a regular rotation early in the week.
Sympathy for Jimmy Darmody continues to surprise me. He cuts a cool figure and all, but damn, what a fucking dick.
you come home from war, to find you wife carpet diving and wanting to take your son across the ocean, you try not to be a dick.
Harrow is an absolute wildcard. Infinitely more than Jimmy. Helped by Huston fucking killing it, scene after scene.
I've said it since last season. Harrow's loyalty to Jimmy, him remaining on his side when the chips come down, should not be taken for granted. He may have started with him but Jimmy's general malaise mixed with Harrow's jealousy may very well turn out to be pretty explosive. And should that happen, Jimmy will be the likeliest victim.
Harrow and Chalky are still the only characters I give a shit about. Maybe Capone a little. But the entire main cast, while acted well, are equally unlikable and boring.
Well, okay, Gretchen Mol sexually challenging her daughter-in-law wasn't boring, just horrifying.
It's odd for me to watch a show and recognize how technically well-made it is while simultaneously wondering if a website might have updated that I could read while I watch. I want to like BE more, but I don't care about any of the main characters, so I don't care about who wins or loses. Basically, I'm rooting for whoever's side Junior Soprano is on.
I'd watch a show about Two-Face the Hitman and Omar's badass gramps teaming up to rip out prejudice's throat any day though.
Harrow and Chalky are still the only characters I give a shit about. Maybe Capone a little. But the entire main cast, while acted well, are equally unlikable and boring.
you come home from war, to find you wife carpet diving and wanting to take your son across the ocean, you try not to be a dick.
It's going to take a little more than that. I'd like to hear just one single reason to like the guy, aside from he looks cool and kills people in a cool way. At least Capone is funny.
I don't buy the young/old thing either. I get disliking Nucky, but I'm just not sure what makes Jimmy anything but an entitled sociopath. I don't love Nucky either, but at least he's being played by a likeable actor. Jimmy, not so much. Besides, if you're a young person, what the fuck are you doing watching Boardwalk Empire?
I don't necessarily think this is a problem, though. I might not want to cheer Jimmy on, but he is cool, and Michael Pitt is a pretty damn good actor, and the writing is good for him. As long as the show doesn't expect me to sympathize with Jimmy, we all good.
Why did people like Tony Soprano? I think in a way, Jimmy represents the "pissed off" male, that we all have wanted to release in ourselves at one point or another. Jimmy more or less, represents the ID for much of White Middleclass America.
I consider myself a young person (27), and I watch this because I enjoy the mobster genre (Goodfellas and the Sopranos, not that Scarface SHIT), and I think the prohibition era is an extremely interesting and important time frame in American history, and it's great to see a show set in that era.
Why did people like Tony Soprano?
Clever dialogue. Loyalty to family and "family". Hatred towards those that prey on the innocent. Charisma.
Oh, was that rhetorical? :)
Tony Soprano was an antihero. Boardwalk Empire is full of villains. Dull villains.
you come home from war, to find you wife carpet diving and wanting to take your son across the ocean, you try not to be a dick.
Woah woah woah woah, hold on for a moment.
1. Seeing as that we only see Angela carpet diving after he leaves her again without any word, we can probably assume this affair started when he was away in the war, and even then, when she had no contact from him at all. (Never sent any letters, no notices. It seems just one day, after the war, he showed up)
2. Given Tommy's age, and that they were only formally married in this episode for the first time - it also looks like Jimmy knocked her up, and she had the baby while he was gone, or very early on.
3. Jimmy also came back a different person from the man she had a relationship with (We used to talk about books). Instead of a college student with the idealistic bent (going off to war), a thug, mobster, and general douchebag came home.
4. She wanted to leave after Jimmy beat the shit out of someone who he thought she slept with, in broad daylight, right in front of their son. Sounds like she had a damn sound reason to want to get out of there, for her sake as well as her child's. (She also didn't abandon Tommy when Gillian offered to take him off her hands.) We see more of this in this episode as well: She doesn't want her son exposed to guns and violence. As opposed to a school on the Seine where her son could receive a liberal education and not be shut up in a dank apartment.
This is the 1920's, and she took a huge step to get out and away from a life she deemed harmful to herself and her child. It failed. Spectacularly. Sure, the character has flaws, but maybe Jimmy shouldn't be a dick because, you know, you shouldn't be a dick to people you supposedly care for/take care of, and then maybe they won't go carpet diving and try to run as far away from you as they could. Maybe you shouldn't kill people for a living.
Just saying.
Wait, am I the only one who actually likes Nucky and wants him to succeed?
Clever dialogue. Loyalty to family and "family". Hatred towards those that prey on the innocent. Charisma.
Oh, was that rhetorical? :)
Tony Soprano was an antihero. Boardwalk Empire is full of villains. Dull villains.
I'd call Tony Soprano a villain... but that's just my opinion
I disliked the Harrow stuff this episode for exactly this reason. The fact that he's a disfigured outcast sitting at a table with a relatively "complete" family is more than enough to cement him as an outsider -- we can extrapolate his jealousy and longing from there. Him pasting cutouts of idealized family life into a book is simply way too on-the-nose.
But I suppose subtlety is not really an utmost priority for an epic crime melodrama, and it ain't a dealbreaker for me personally anyway.
Woah woah woah woah, hold on for a moment.
1. Seeing as that we only see Angela carpet diving after he leaves her again without any word, we can probably assume this affair started when he was away in the war, and even then, when she had no contact from him at all. (Never sent any letters, no notices. It seems just one day, after the war, he showed up)
2. Given Tommy's age, and that they were only formally married in this episode for the first time - it also looks like Jimmy knocked her up, and she had the baby while he was gone, or very early on.
3. Jimmy also came back a different person from the man she had a relationship with (We used to talk about books). Instead of a college student with the idealistic bent (going off to war), a thug, mobster, and general douchebag came home.
4. She wanted to leave after Jimmy beat the shit out of someone who he thought she slept with, in broad daylight, right in front of their son. Sounds like she had a damn sound reason to want to get out of there, for her sake as well as her child's. (She also didn't abandon Tommy when Gillian offered to take him off her hands.) We see more of this in this episode as well: She doesn't want her son exposed to guns and violence. As opposed to a school on the Seine where her son could receive a liberal education and not be shut up in a dank apartment.
This is the 1920's, and she took a huge step to get out and away from a life she deemed harmful to herself and her child. It failed. Spectacularly. Sure, the character has flaws, but maybe Jimmy shouldn't be a dick because, you know, you shouldn't be a dick to people you supposedly care for/take care of, and then maybe they won't go carpet diving and try to run as far away from you as they could. Maybe you shouldn't kill people for a living.
Just saying.
I hear you, and agree. But from the perspective of Jimmy, a guy who never knew his father well, was born to an "unbalanced" hooker, seemed to have a pretty rough unbringing, then for him only to go off to a brutal brutal ugly war. Of course he's going to come back a thug. Being a thug, was probably essential to staying alive as a child, as well as staying alive during the war. He may have been able to over come that thug persona when he was first with her, because falling in love probably felt like falling into a new life. But for him to come home, then "thinking" his wife was cheating on him with a guy, then finding out it was a woman (don't care what kind of man you are, to find out your wife if having an affair with a woman would be the most emasculating thing imaginable, especially during that time), then to see her ready not to just leave him, or the city... but to leave the entire COUNTRY to be rid of you. That's enough right there to turn the best of us into a total monster.
Jimmy had to of known that the affair his wife had, happened when he was away. And lets say he was a decent guy when he left. Knowing that she cheated on him, still thinking he was a decent guy.... whats the point of treating that person "well". She wasn't concerned with treating him well while he was away. In the end, Jimmy is probably terrified of losing both of them, and the only way he knows to control the situation is to treat it the same way he treats everything. Ruthlessly and aggressively.
Not trying to condone his behavior, but I understand where he is as a person. It would be great to see him as a person leave his ego behind and become a good guy, treat his wife well, and be a great role model for his child.... but I got a feeling Jimmy is headed for something much darker then anything he has seen before.
That I can deal with. I agree he's terrified of losing both of them, I agree that the circumstances are pretty extreme.
Just saying that the tone of your post came off as kind of dickish. Misogynistically dickish. Now that you've explained where you're coming from, the tone feels a lot less hostile and accusatory. Two sides to every story, yeah? Big picture, yadda, yadda, yadda.
I was trying to match the tone of Jimmy in that post. like "You expect me to be happy that I come home to find my wife sleeping with a woman, and ready to take my son off to Pari..."
Jimmy is just a tragic character through and through. I think that is why people can somewhat "like" his character, even though he is a bad guy. They see that he is done taking shit, and ready to kick ass and take names... and I think we all can admit that sometime in our lives, we wished we would have done that. His character is like a roller coaster to the viewers. In a way that we can experience all the thrills of "not caring" without taking any of the risk. I for one, clenched my fist in enjoyment a little when I saw Jimmy lose it after that meeting and shoot everyone down with Al Capone.
Does anyone find Lucy attractive? I just find her repulsive in every which way.
I hear you, and agree. But from the perspective of Jimmy, a guy who never knew his father well, was born to an "unbalanced" hooker, seemed to have a pretty rough unbringing, then for him only to go off to a brutal brutal ugly war. Of course he's going to come back a thug. Being a thug, was probably essential to staying alive as a child, as well as staying alive during the war. He may have been able to over come that thug persona when he was first with her, because falling in love probably felt like falling into a new life.
Quick question; in what year is this season taking place? If I'm not mistaken (and I haven't seen all of Season 1 or any of Season 2 thus far) the first was set in 1920. Does this show pick up exactly where last left off (i.e. in the same year) or do they skip ahead at all, like Mad Men? It'd be interesting to see the series cover most of the decade, if not some of 1930s, especially since a lot of the characters on the show based on real people have lives that extend well into those years.
My brief impressions of the series: Jimmy and Rothstein are the VIPs. Nucky is a steady if rather bland anchor. Looks great but I'm not totally sucked in. And I would go VAN ALDEN all over Lucy / De La Puerta.
I was under the impression his upbringing was pretty rough....
How did ya'll interpret his putting away Nucky's wedding present at the end of the first episode? I saw the present, on Nucky's part, to be incredibly manipulative and self serving. 'Remember all the fun times we used to have?/Remember how I'm your daddy surrogate?" and Jimmy's putting it up to be a complete dismissal of what Nucky was trying to say. It's just a piece of junk to him. Incredibly tacky in form and execution on Nucky's part.
Wait, am I the only one who actually likes Nucky and wants him to succeed?
Nope. I think Al Swearengen is a much better comparison for Nucky than Tony Soprano, as well. While a lot of what he does is done to benefit himself, the side effects of what he does are hugely beneficial to his community: buying up land and manipulating the Senate to get roads built in Atlantic County, even the bootlegging is to the benefit of local businesses. He just comes off like a bigger bastard than Al does because of his surroundings. Al's in Deadwood, an undeveloped frontier town, so of course he's going to be rough, and murdering people. That's what we expect of that environment. Nucky's on the east coast, in a pretty well developed city. Killing and underhanded dealing rubs us the wrong way and feels more criminal in that setting.
There are reasons to like Nucky. He's a hard-nosed fucker without any of the Tony Soprano swagger that made him fun to watch when he was being a big selfish asshole, but he's good at managing power, which is fun to watch (like the Republican primary episode with Chris McDonald). He also gets to be really smart, which isn't the most common trait in your TV antihero. And I like his indignant irritation with other people's bullshit. I'd really like to see him do some heavy power plays this year, and I think we will.
Jimmy is not helped by being allied with the whiniest conspiracy ever, in Eli and the Commodore.
I didn't mind Harrow's creepy book. He's such a dramatic character visually that I kind of expect some high gothic personality details there. He's on a show with Van Alden and Lucy and he looks like a Universal Monster, so I can see why they're writing him large.
Just to be engaging with this show again one episode in, I'd say people forgot how good it was. I certainly did. All I remembered was that it was no Breaking Bad. It's still one of the best shows going right now.
Wait, am I the only one who actually likes Nucky and wants him to succeed?
No you are not. He keeps his pretty heavy shit to himself instead of wearing them like a giant cape made out of self pity, is smart as fuck
and is into all this for the right reasons. Making money. While not being a pushover, he'll only resort to violence when it is absolutely called for. A Meyer Lansky rather than a Capone.
Gotta love that all The Commodore had to do was dye his hair and perform feats of strength to get Nucky's lackeys to turn. Also how bad ass is Chalky? Didn't even have to give an order to mess up that guy. Just had to say "hi" to the fellas. After a somewhat clumsy start, I'm back in for the season. Can't wait to see how this all turns out.
Gotta love that all The Commodore had to do was dye his hair and perform feats of strength to get Nucky's lackeys to turn. Also how bad ass is Chalky? Didn't even have to give an order to mess up that guy. Just had to say "hi" to the fellas. After a somewhat clumsy start, I'm back in for the season. Can't wait to see how this all turns out.
Your forgetting Jimmy's double homicide. That guy is the fucking Batman of the 1920s. lol.
Margaret Schroder, fuck yeah!
Her and Nucky are going to chew those fuckers alive.
I love that meek nod Nucky gives when she tells him to burn the ledger and just remember everything.
But I think McGarigal's man is going to be trouble. He's obviously already smitten with Margaret.
Margaret Schroder, fuck yeah!
Her and Nucky are going to chew those fuckers alive.
I agree.
What with all the ricin-based excitements going on elsewhere, it's easy to miss that this season is off to a nice start, and it seems to have corrected its biggest problem from last year. Where that narrative was loose and unformed, this season jumped right in with both feet with a cool godfather-ish political gang war, which seems engineered to push Nucky and others to their limits.
Personally, I think Boardwalk Empire has a lot less in common with the more philosophical HBO shows like Sopranos or Deadwood than it does with a well-handled period Hollywood crime flick like The Untouchables or even the aforementioned Godfather series. They'll be playing to their strengths if they stop trying to be Great Art and indulge in some down and dirty plotting, and what I've seen so far this season suggests that's exactly what they're doing.
Also, this episode was really fun even without my two favorite characters, Harrow and Van Alden. Although it did have more Chalky than ever before, so that helped.
And another thing: I'm on record here as not being the biggest Jimmy fan, but don't let that extend to Michael Pitt. He's fucking great on this show.
I forgot to add the feelgood part of the episode. The loudmouth in the jail cell getting his ass beat. Chalky is the man. Another formidable guy in Nucky's corner.
