Nelson Van Alden was shot dead while helping an undercover G-man an Irishman! Nevertheless, there was much to like in this final season. It was colder and more methodical than season four, but just as elegantly designed: an eight-paneled jigsaw puzzle. Every major plotline in this season — indeed, every season — came down to junctures in individual lives where a character made the wrong choice due to greed, vengeance, lust, or some other deadly sin and embarked down a road to karmic ruin.
Nucky seems to be on a sort of farewell tour in this final hour. It seems that way. Nucky seems sad and resigned, and strangely at peace with his sudden impotence as a mob figure. The closest thing to a mission statement for the season occurs in this episode, in the scene where Nucky visits Eli and delivers a monologue explaining that opening image which replaces the traditional opening credits, interestingly of his swim into the ocean. Then, it steadily lost ratings power from season to season, and the launch of its final season almost feels like an afterthought.
But Boardwalk Empire , even if it's rarely touched true greatness, has usually been a very good, very solid sort of drama, the kind of handsomely mounted show that would have felt revelatory last decade but now feels ever so slightly tired in this age of hyper-crazed storytelling.
Each season of this show has felt satisfying both in and of itself and as part of a larger whole. And if this final season can make that larger whole make sense, this will be a real treat for those who stumble upon it in the decades to come. Here's hoping it can manage that trick. Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment: to empower through understanding.
Financial contributions from our readers are a critical part of supporting our resource-intensive work and help us keep our journalism free for all. Please consider making a contribution to Vox today to help us keep our work free for all. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Why Boardwalk Empire just jumped from to Reddit Pocket Flipboard Email. HBO HBO's Boardwalk Empire began its fifth and final season last night, and it did so in a fashion that may have you asking more than a few questions.
Did this show seriously just jump from to ? Did the show skip over anything historically significant? The Atlantic City conference: The first major gathering of organized crime figures in the United States, this always seemed like it would be a major focus of one of the show's seasons. Indeed, Winter has talked in prior interviews about how important the conference was to the characters depicted on the show and how he couldn't wait to show it.
Instead, the decision to end the show after five seasons means we won't get to see this conference, unless there's a flashback. The death of Arnold Rothstein: As played by Michael Stuhlbarg, Rothstein was always one of the show's most unexpectedly amusing characters.
But the series has simply skipped right over his death in , which means that Rothstein — who seemed like he was being set up for a major arc in the fourth season finale — is now a non-entity. The crash of To be sure, the characters are all dealing with the after-effects of the crash in even if it's easy to feel as if the event hasn't impacted most of the main characters — who have plenty of money — at all.
But it's easy to imagine a season that featured the one-two punch of the crime conference and the financial crash. That could have been a very good season indeed. Was this forced on the show by HBO? On the other hand, Winters and Co. Contact us at letters time. By Eric Dodds. Note: There will also be history-related spoilers below. Related Stories.
America Needs to Get Back to Facts.
0コメント