HBO's Boardwalk Empire

[Thundercrack85]

I don't see her killing him.

Hell, I don't think anyone is dumb enough to pick a fight with Richard.

Nucky's reaction was pretty funny. Gyp would have gone down if he had done nothing.

 

[Kane52630]

Just caught up with the last episode. Richard F***in Harrow. nuff said.

 

[Kane52630]

Also that gangster montage in the beginning was brilliant. Not many movies today (let alone TV) could pull that off. I would love to see Tim Van Patten direct a movie on a big scale budget.

 

[DACrowe]

I do hope Nucky can convince Richard to start working for him again after seeing his handiwork at Gillian's place.

I am surprised so many people think Gillian died. Last we saw her, she was alive. Did you see a death scene and/or body? No? Then she's alive.

I will agree with some who complain about this being a great, climactic finale, but not being entirely satisfying. Probably because unlike last year, Nucky's life is up in the air. In the last two seasons, he took a strong step into the unknown (a real relationship with Margaret, killing Jimmy and leaving politics behind for being a full-fledged gangster). This season his life is in the air. His business, while saved, is badly damaged. He's lost his public standing in Atlantic City. And he lost Margaret--who really should leave the show at this point.

Richard is the only character that really took positive control of his story in this episode.

 

[Thundercrack85]

Well, really, they could have wrapped up a lot of plot arcs.

Gillian, Margaret... no closure on Van Alden. A few other things lingering.

Plus the whole Gyp thing felt anti-climatic to me.

Richard going Terminator was great, don't get me wrong, but it had very little to do with the Nucky-Gyp conflict. Just a hilarious coincidence. Instead of a showdown, Gyp just runs away, and then getting stabbed in the back by his own henchman... Eh.

The second last episode was so much better.

 

[Bruce Malone]

Someone on another forum made a pretty decent point of why would Harrow want to work for nucky as a hitman?

He killed people for jimmy because he was a good friend, he killed for angela out of revenge for her, he killed to rescue tommy and of course he killed for his country we can assume out of patriotism but would he really just become the kill for pay kind of guy nucky would want?

 

[Solidus]

Good ending, I still think this season was slightly a step down in some areas but overall still great.

The one thing that irked me the most was just the absence of Van Alden and his story. I felt they just kinda put him in there for a few small stories then really did not follow through with anything. I'm hoping with season 4 they really give more to his character, I feel like his story is far from over, but season 3 did not do much to move it forward.

 

[kedrell]

Someone on another forum made a pretty decent point of why would Harrow want to work for nucky as a hitman?

He killed people for jimmy because he was a good friend, he killed for angela out of revenge for her, he killed to rescue tommy and of course he killed for his country we can assume out of patriotism but would he really just become the kill for pay kind of guy nucky would want?

To provide for Tommy. Julia too, I guess. I don't see him taking Owen/Jimmy's place as Nucky's right hand man really. But I could see him making his services available to Nucky on a freelance basis.

 

[Crockett]

It's going to be interesting to see if Nucky's plans to be pulling the strings behind the curtains a la Gaston will pay off, and goddamn Richard, waiting for a scene like the one we've got was definitely worth it, I don't give a **** if it's straight up fan-service, I loved every single minute of it. Seeing as S4 will take place in 1924, I'm pleased as hell that we'll get more Capone. Btw I hope this will be the last we see of Margaret, I just feel like the character has run its course.

 

[runawayboulder]

I loved the exchange between Richard and Julia's father. Him telling Richard he needs to clean himself up was a turning of the tables from where they both were on Easter Sunday.

 

[Matt]

Someone on another forum made a pretty decent point of why would Harrow want to work for nucky as a hitman?

He killed people for jimmy because he was a good friend, he killed for angela out of revenge for her, he killed to rescue tommy and of course he killed for his country we can assume out of patriotism but would he really just become the kill for pay kind of guy nucky would want?

I agree. Everyone seems to be waiting for Harrow to start working for Nucky. I've heard theories of Harrow killing every villain on the show, "Richard will turn on Jimmy!" "Richard will kill Gillian!" "Richard is gonna kill Gyp!" and now "Richard will be the one who offs Rothstein!" It's almost as if fans are trying to convince themselves of it, but that isn't Richard's role on the show.

 

[TheFuture]

I liked the finale, but it didn't provide all the resolution I was hoping for. I thought Richard going solo into the brothel was awesome, but was disappointed that he decided to back away from Julia after delivering Tommy to her.

I think Richard backed away because for all he knows, people are coming for him and he didn't want Julia and Tommy in the crossfire. But what he doesn't realise is that when he took out Gyp's men at the mansion, he took all of them out and that basically, he is free.

As for possibly working for Nucky...I don't know, I think he'll only help Nucky out when they share a common problem such as Gyp (even though in this case, Richard didn't even realise he was doing Nucky a favour).

 

[kedrell]

Does Nucky even know it was Richard who did that? Tonino may have told him off screen but that's about the only way he could know, I think.

 

[Kane52630]

I wish they did let Gyp live for another season though. He was a fun villain that you don't see anymore.

 

[kedrell]

Cannavale really acted the hell out of his character. Love his breakdown at the end.

 

[James]

I will agree with some who complain about this being a great, climactic finale, but not being entirely satisfying. Probably because unlike last year, Nucky's life is up in the air. In the last two seasons, he took a strong step into the unknown (a real relationship with Margaret, killing Jimmy and leaving politics behind for being a full-fledged gangster). This season his life is in the air. His business, while saved, is badly damaged. He's lost his public standing in Atlantic City. And he lost Margaret--who really should leave the show at this point.

This time I felt that, if anything, Nucky became even more of a full time gangster. After he put politics aside he was nothing more than a king pin, but he still maintained some level of publicity, throwing parties, dealing directly with almost everyone, smiling at the public, etc. When he tossed the rose (was it a rose?) to the ground and walked away all in black, that said to me he's done with all that crap completely, now he's more like Rothstein or Matsarria, absolutely no-question-about-it criminal figurehead.

It wasn't quite as obvious a leap as he took from seasons 2 to 3, but if I'm right in my interpretation then it's still pretty significant. The final scene coupled with his words to Eli about keeping their circle tight tell me Nucky's in a kind of "**** just got real" mode, no more illusions about keeping one foot in and one foot out, it's gangster time.

 

[kedrell]

It was a carnation.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I loved the exchange between Richard and Julia's father. Him telling Richard he needs to clean himself up was a turning of the tables from where they both were on Easter Sunday.

The father is completely different when he's drunk.

and I question Richard's judgement leaving the kid with a drunk who almost physically attacked the child before.

 

[DACrowe]

I wish they did let Gyp live for another season though. He was a fun villain that you don't see anymore.

I'm glad he's gone myself. He was well played, but was written far too cartoonishly for my taste. The scene on the beach with the guy buried is what sent me over the edge. I hope the writers show more restraint next year.

 

[DACrowe]

This time I felt that, if anything, Nucky became even more of a full time gangster. After he put politics aside he was nothing more than a king pin, but he still maintained some level of publicity, throwing parties, dealing directly with almost everyone, smiling at the public, etc. When he tossed the rose (was it a rose?) to the ground and walked away all in black, that said to me he's done with all that crap completely, now he's more like Rothstein or Matsarria, absolutely no-question-about-it criminal figurehead.

It wasn't quite as obvious a leap as he took from seasons 2 to 3, but if I'm right in my interpretation then it's still pretty significant. The final scene coupled with his words to Eli about keeping their circle tight tell me Nucky's in a kind of "**** just got real" mode, no more illusions about keeping one foot in and one foot out, it's gangster time.

I caught that. But it is more an action out of bitterness, while in season 2 it was done solely as a power play. He is in a much darker place now.

 

[Kane52630]

I'm glad he's gone myself. He was well played, but was written far too cartoonishly for my taste. The scene on the beach with the guy buried is what sent me over the edge. I hope the writers show more restraint next year.

Call it "cartoonishly" but he was far more interesting than everyone else that's not Nucky, Chalky, Al, or Richard. I can't count the number of times where he was just talking to someone and I was expecting the worst. The guy buried in the beach was brutal, It reminded me a lot from Goodfellas.

 

[Poeman]

I think we are going to get a serious time jump now...like a 2-3 years or something

 

[DACrowe]

Call it "cartoonishly" but he was far more interesting than everyone else that's not Nucky, Chalky, Al, or Richard. I can't count the number of times where he was just talking to someone and I was expecting the worst. The guy buried in the beach was brutal, It reminded me a lot from Goodfellas.

I think Rothstein in Season 1 and the treacherous trinity of Jimmy, the Commodore and Eli in Season 2 were much better heavies. He obviously was modeled after Joe Pesci in Goodfellas when in his first scene he brutally murders the motorist who only stopped to help. But in that movie, you actually only see Tommy blow his **** twice and the rest of the movie is the fear he might do it again. But after seeing Gyp do it in his first scene, then again at Nucky in the same episode, then again at the gas station in the third episode, then again with the new sheriff of Tabor Heights a few episodes later an then again with this guy who just happened to say something about waves that made him feel inferior...it just became comical. When he said to his underling, "I'm doing this for you!" and picks up a shovel who thought he was really going to let this guy go? Hitting him on the head with the shovel felt obvious and almost to the point of caricature. I get they want to have frequent violence for the ratings, but that was just lulz worthy for me.

But to ach their own. I think that kind of character is being done much better with Al Capone on the show. I also think they did a good job of portraying Jimmy as a guy with a short-temper and hair trigger when in power in S2 better. But I was tired of a guy so clearly insecure and nuts that it was a wonder he had so much power before being taken out. Just my opinion.

 

[Thundercrack85]

To be fair, it's not like people don't do that stuff in real life.

I just thought it was kind of dumb, because you don't kill an Italian dude's cousin like that (especially over something so trivial). Not without killing him too, cause you know he was going to get Gyp for that.

The moment Gyp turned his back on Tonino, you knew he was dead.

But you know, given how unstable Gyp was, it's surprising he lasted this long.

 

[marvelman2006]

I think we are going to get a serious time jump now...like a 2-3 years or something

I wouldnt be against that at all, the only thing though is there is too much immediate loose ends not tied up that couldnt be avoided for 2-3 years like:


- Margaret and the kids on there own with little money
- Van Alden and his whole story
- Rothstien most likely being arrested
- Lucky and his cohort now on there own
- Masseria's reaction and possible retaliation to nucky
- Gillian still alive and if shell go looking for tommy
- Where does richard go