The official subreddit of HBO's Boardwalk Empire, starring Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Jack Huston, Michael Shannon, Stephen Graham, Michael Kenneth Williams, and Gretchen Mol. Spoilers are an inevitable part of any TV Show subreddit, so be sure to be all caught up before venturing in!
Season 5
My husband and I were very very late to watching Boardwalk Empire, but just finished this series last night. What a show! We genuinely loved it, had a great time watching. Just curious about some people who had watched it in real time and had a really long wait between seasons. When we finished S4, and Richard accidentally shot Chalky's daughter Maybell when she walked in front of Narcisse, we were shocked.... it was late but we thought well we have to watch the first episode of S5 now because Chalky is gonna annihilate that guy... and then we turned it on and it was like Surprise! It's 1931 now! And then not much of anything is ever brought up about Chalky's daughters death again... and then eventually he basically just tells Narcisse ok you can kill me, but take care of Daughter, and Narcisse basically says "maybe I will maybe I won't" and Chalky is just like, ok, ready to die now.....Also - maybe missed something, but when Chalky does find Daughter again, is her child supposed to be Chalky's child? It seemed implied that it was his kid, but I don't remember there being any definite mention of being Chalky's kid. I am really not sure why the show decided to jump 7 years from S4-S5, but it was kind of annoying to have S4 end on what seemed like a huge and major event that would be a big part of S5, then nothing. Did any of you guys that had to wait a year or more from S4 or S5 get annoyed by dropped storylines and offscreen deaths? I mean I know it was following with history for when some real life people died, like Arnold Rothstein, but he was such a major character too and then we get to S5 and a few people mention in conversation that "AR" died and its like oh.... that's why we haven't seen him yet. Sorry if this is kinda all over the place, just curious if anyone else was confused or annoyed by the jump from S4 to S5.
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I thought the jump from 1924 to 1931 might’ve worked a bit better if they’d cut back on or even entirely eliminated the flashbacks. It felt like so much was packed into the 1931 storyline and it was moving so quickly, none of the conflicts or development really had room to breathe and everything just got rushed through. I did kind of like how they fleshed out the backstories of Nucky/Gillian/the Commodore/Eli and they did pay off in the final episode, but I’m not sure devoting about 20 minutes of each episode to rehashing information the audience pretty much already knows was the best use of time in an already shortened final season.
Just my two cents, but I think S5 should've at least been extended. I would've made the season 16 episodes. Have the first 8 episodes be a direct continuation from season 4 and wrap up the Rothstein character. Maybe as well show the other characters' fates, such as how Luciano got that eye injury and such. Maybe fit in the Valentine's day massacre. Then, do the time jump and have the last 8 episodes be what we saw in S5.
I really love that idea, I think that would have flowed a lot better. Would have loved to seen the fallout from Maybells death, how Chalky ended up in prison, and the other wrap ups you mention like Rothstein and Lucky. Even if they just made the final season the same as the rest with 12 episodes they could have done a lot more with it.
Yeah, ideally I would've liked 6 or 7 seasons, but the S5 extension would be my compromise. I still liked what we got though.
Yeah even doing like 2 time jumps and splitting the time would have been better! It felt like a lot of character development got skipped over and a bunch of characters came back in season 5 came back with like completely new personalities and it would have been better/more satisfying to see at least some of that transformation. They def needed more episodes no matter what but I think HBO said 8 only and it suffered for that.
I second this. This is actually such a great idea 😀
Yea I did like the flashbacks and seeing young Nucky and stuff (they did fantastic with casting the younger versions of him) but agree they did take up a lot of the final season. I gotta admit seeing young Gillian and how she was when Nucky found her and she trusted him and then he just sacrificed her to the Commodore for his own gain… that was rough flashbacks but did allow some more empathy for Gillian even though she was pretty horrible throughout. It’s one thing to hear her history but when you actually see her as a child and know what horrors are coming for her, it’s easier to be empathetic and understand why she turned out the way she did. Also sucked it was only 8 episodes, if they stuck with 12 like the rest they could have done more in the final season
Yeah the stuff with Nucky and Gillian was def the most important. I felt the same as you- like we already knew what he did to her was horrible but actually seeing it and seeing that she was a homeless orphan who trusted him and he already knew for a fact that the commodore was a pedophile when he handed her over made it so much worse. I probably could have lived without some of the child Nucky stuff.
Anything to get rid of young adult Nucky. Dude has a more punchable face than Buscemi’s, that’s saying something.
Those dentures were such a choice. Added a nice dose of unintentional comedy at least lol
It seemed like hbo told the show runners “finish up your show this costs too much”.
Its better than deadwood, where they make a film 17 years later after the show ended
lol that actually is probably what happened, all about saving money not wrapping up the season properly
It's definitely implied that it's his child.
Personally I felt annoyed that they skipped over so much history and wrapped everything up so quickly, but even so, the flashbacks to Nucky's rise were very interesting to me and the overall story was still well done, even if it didn't reach the heights of past seasons.
I thought it was implied, that’s what I got but didn’t remember if there was an actual confirmation. I did really enjoy seeing super young and middle aged Nucky, they did fantastic with the casting, the actors really nailed his mannerisms and stuff. Younger Eli’s too did really good matching how he speaks and stuff
Yeah to me, seasons 1-3 are gold, 4 and 5 you don’t really need to watch. Love Jeffrey Wright, but Narcisse bored me
I def loved the first 3 seasons, 4 was good but dragged pretty often and felt really slow moving. And then 5 just seemed out of nowhere. I also love Jeffrey Wright but man I hated Narcisse so much lol
See and I just didn’t really care about Narcisse. I thought Gyp and The Commodore were soooo much better characters in terms of their villain personas. Narcisse had confusing motives and not in any interesting way
I thought Narcisse wasnt too bad, he had some interesting moments but really I just wanted to see him get beat up or killed the entire season, lol. He was very well acted, but I feel there was something missing with him I can't put my finger on. I've only seen S4 once so maybe it'll grow on me, but I mostly enjoyed the Chicago parts and Harrow's parts the most. The Chalky and Daughter Maitland drama I felt slowed the season down too much. I liked the idea but maybe it could've been paced better.
The pacing on the Chalky and Daughter storyline was so bizarre, I thought. I also didn’t hate the idea of that storyline but it was somehow simultaneously too slow and too fast. They basically spent the entire season gazing just longingly at each other and then at the end they’re like “I am ready to risk it all for my love for you” and it was like ok where is this coming from. But maybe it was meant to be like that, since she seemed to decide she’d made a mistake and bounced pretty much the second they left town together.
He was more watchable than that cartoon character Gyp Rosetti
I really enjoyed Gyps death lol
Yes, it was finally over 😆
I loved season 4 for Richard finding family and love. Then you know what happened.
Seems you missed that Richard dies in the last episode of season 4 (edit - my misunderstanding of OPs words)
It’s not directly stated, but it’s heavily implied that Daughter’s child is Chalky’s.
And while there was no certainty that Narcisse wouldn’t mess with Daughter afterwards, Chalky switched his only goal from trying to kill Narcisse at all costs to ensuring that Daughter and daughter left that room unharmed. He wanted to avoid his new plan ending similarly to his earlier assassination attempt on Narcisse where Maybelle is killed.
If Chalky enacted his current plan in season 5, the Daughters would’ve likely been shot as Narcisse’s men rushed the room and opened fire.
Either way, Chalky wasn’t leaving that place alive. He chose to save the women
I didn’t miss it, Richard became one of my favorite characters of all time, but since he did die in the end of S4, I wasn’t expect any kind of new stuff for him in S5. The main point of my post was about the time jump 7 years in the last season, major characters like Rothstein dying off screen and Narcisse cuz I really thought S5 would be a lot of Chalky going after him, not being in prison and ultimately dying at Narcisse hands. But as you and others pointed out he just gave up to save Daughter and her daughter so they wouldn’t be hurt even though Narcisse won’t give him his word to leave Daughter unharmed. I guess I was just shocked by Narcisse walking away from Chalky unharmed because of the way they fleshed Chalky out through the rest of the seasons, the death of his oldest daughter seemed like it was gonna be a major plot point. Anyways I just finished the series 2 nights ago and was curious mostly how people felt about the time jump and if they were as caught off guard by it as we were. Not meaning to offend or upset anyone.
Ok - apparently I misunderstood. Thought you anticipated Chalky seeking revenge on Richard, whereas you must have meant on Narcisse
I don’t think you offended or upset anyone - and if someone reacted that way, that’d be Their irrational issue.
I’m sure others addressed the time jump. Most were surprised and disappointed - yet you may now have learned the reasons that the series was given a shorter, quicker, abrupt ending with interest and finances dwindling.
Oh no worries! Sometimes I don’t write things out properly and it gets a little all over the place. I definitely meant Narcisse lol I didn’t think Chalky would have blamed Richard because it truly wasn’t his fault, but then we lost Richard so even if Chalky did blame Richard and want revenge, he wouldn’t be able to get it. When Richard started walking back to the house with his wife and Tommy waiting I was all 🥰🥰🥰🥰 then the coloring started to change and be “dream-like” and I switched to 😢😢🤬🤬😨😨😢😢😢😢😢. I wanted Richard to have a happy ending, probably more than anyone else in the series. Some people get very very serious about shows and I think I did annoy some people but really never meant to lol
Most of us loved Richard and were rooting for him.
Yet this show and this era didn’t bring happy endings.
Richard’s arc elevated him to the “classic tragic character” with his hesitation and error and ultimate failure of all those he was hoping to help.
Instead of continuing his new legal life and rejection of violence, he returned to it once more as a shortcut to securing custody of Tommy. Wrong move obviously as he could have eventually won that as Gillian imploded or at least he’d be nearby to lend some help and advice to the kid.
Richard succumbed to his tragic flaw.
Even though it felt rushed. The sudden change in Meyer and Luciano was really cool I thought. They were incredibly intimidating toward the end
Yes they were! My husband said that too and mentioned how we’re seeing the really “bad” Luciano that’s often referenced in history, not so much his younger days
Chalky's daughter Maybelle was brought up again in the house he and the other escaped prisoner invaded to rob the mother and daughter. Clearly her death weighed heavily on Chalky and haunted him. This was early in S5, so I'm not sure why you misrepresent the show by saying not much of anything is ever brought up again. He basically lost the will to live over it. You can plainly see he's devastated and shattered. The Maybelle story was not a big theme of the show. She was basically intro'ed and outro'ed in one season. So no, it did not bother me that her story ended there, and it is odd that you were bothered more by that than by Richard Harrow or Jimmy dying, as they were more significant characters, more painstakingly developed over more seasons.
I more meant closure for his family and repercussions for Maybells death, we never go back to Chalkys family and see Lenore finding out her daughter died. Or her brother Lester who they seemed to focus on a lot and his musical talents so I thought they’d be coming back. I liked Chalkys wife and his family. Yes he spoke about her again briefly to Milton, and it’s obvious he’s devastated but given the magnitude of what happened and S4 ending with that, I thought S5 would jump right back into Chalky on a mission to bring down Narcisse, not jump ahead 7 years. That’s what my post was primarily about, the time jump and was curious how people who had to wait for S5 in real time felt about the time jump and so much change from a crazy S4 finale. Richard Harrow became one of my favorite characters of TV history and I legit shed tears when he died. I loved that guy, and I loved his loyalty to Jimmy and Angela and making sure their son had the best chance at a good life and good upbringing. I didn’t bring much of anything up prior to the season 4 finale and time jump in S5 cuz that was literally the reason for the post to talk about the time jump and how other fans of the show felt about it. Maybe I am reading it wrong but you seem very offended and that was not my intention to upset you, just wanted to chat with people about the show cuz I just finished it 2 nights ago and came to this sub to discuss cuz I hadn’t been here at all while watching cuz I was worried about spoilers.
I know that's what you meant but wanting to see Chalky's wife and family reacting to Maybell's death makes less sense than wanting to see Eli and Margaret reacting to Nucky's death, Richard's sister and wife reacting to Richard's death, etc. And the show invests far more time and development in those characters and deaths than in Maybell's, which is a rather inconsequential subplot. Chalky could have lost control of the club and been run out of town for any reason. The show needed to focus on Nucky's story. Much of S5 was dedicated to his backstory, of how he became sheriff and sold out Gilian. This was crucial to tying it all together, and if you take time away from that story to revisit Chalky's family, which Chalky himself had abandoned, you lose narrative focus. And for what? You already know Chalky's family was devastated and moved to St. Louis.
As for the time jump, the intention was to show the end of Prohibition and the manipulation of the stock market instead of liquor. How crime was legitimized in the economic miracle of America itself and that story required a fastforward. It would allow time for the Darmody boy to come looking for Nucky, which was the key to the closing moments. I just think the show was pretty well thought through, and the decisions were made for logical reasons. The fact that you grew to care about certain characters is great, I'm not holding it against you. I think it's a testament to the success of the writing and acting.
Yea I’ve actually been reading a lot more about the show now that I’ve finished and you are right, it would have taken too much time to show everyone finding out others died. I did like that the series ended with Nuckys death and there was nothing after it (aside from that one final flashback of Young Nucky getting the coin). I just really liked Chalky and his family and I think that’s why I felt a little shorted on not seeing the fallout from Maybells death. I felt more closure with Richard I think because of the quick montage of him walking up to the house, I just imagined they kept waiting for him and eventually just knew he was never coming back. If I recall, Richard was under the boardwalk or a pier when he died so I didn’t think his body would even be identified for a while. And Apparently there were financial issues and that’s why the final season only got 8 episodes and maybe if they had more they would have shown more of the fallout of different things that happened at the end of S4. I was really just shocked at the time jump, I know shows use them all the time I just wasn’t expecting it here. I read somewhere they originally planned to show a lot more like Rothsteins death but they had some issues and ended up doing the time jump.
Rushed.
It should have been 2 more seasons, 12 episodes each. We all got cheated.
I think they always wanted to end the show with prohibition coming to an end. Ideally this would have been Season 7 or around there. But when they got cut off, they kinda just skipped to the end.
I think it would have been better to set it in 1928 so we could see Rothstein's death, and it would have been far enough into the future so they could bring in an older Tommy Darmody.