Thoughts and opinions on boardwalk empire?

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CringeFest's Avatar
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12-17-21
If we're talking about the first few seasons, then the show draws you in with adventure, complexity, and intrigue, pretty typical of HBO's most reputable stuff. However, I found that somewhere within



WARNING: spoilers below

the protracted heroin war in season four, ryhme not intended, hahaha!



the show starts getting incredibly predictable and boring. I think the show should have ended after:


WARNING: spoilers below

rosetti gets murdered in a very strange and fitting manner on the beach. The killing of james darmody was also really fulfilling yet more sad/tragic in my opinion.



maybe with a long final episode.



John McClane's Avatar
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12-17-21
Boardwalk Empire is HBO’s best handled show. It does start to lack a little in S4 but it ain’t nearly as bad as most other HBO endeavors because S5 is actually pretty good. And the show’s ending is one of the best things HBO has ever done. And that says a lot since HBO usually drops the platter at the endings.



CringeFest's Avatar
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12-17-21
Originally Posted by John McClane
Boardwalk Empire is HBO’s best handled show. It does start to lack a little in S4 but it ain’t nearly as bad as most other HBO endeavors because S5 is actually pretty good. And the show’s ending is one of the best things HBO has ever done. And that says a lot since HBO usually drops the platter at the endings.

you see, part of the reason i like talking to people and using forums is that i start to come to a better opinion right before i speak.


But anyways, i intend to watch the whole season 5, but overrall i feel like a lot of the glammer that caused me to binge watch this (this is my second time doing this, but upon a rewatch i'm realizing there was a huge amount of stuff i didn't catch on to, simply on the merit i don't remember it at all.)


my main gripe is just that i feel like what happens becomes too predictable. I think "oh! someone is going to get punished for this exact reason very soon", and it happened more than my other series faves...see my other thread...an example:


WARNING: spoilers below



that scene where lucciano "salvatore" and meyer walk into the whorehouse owned by Narcisse: they are expecting to restart their heroin connection, you are kinda left with that sensation that narcisse is right and it's just an emptry threat, but you know some serious whoopass is coming, but it's not as funny and clever as i've seen in so many other mafioso movies when it happens. Just felt flat and uninteresting to me. Narcisse is an interersting political/religious fellow, but i felt that persona as a cult leader and intellectual overall just feels too obvious and pretentious...within the first few moments of him talking, i knew that in real life he was the type that if i saw in real life i would back the f*ck away from, but that's obviously the point with the FBI interview...not the real marcus garvey, typical cash grabber which is part of Nucky's tope..etc.



Also, al capone in season five, just lazy script writing. The moment i saw that empire that builing gift, my brain screamed "THAT is going up someone's ass!", but no just generic beatdown, "oh i'm pissed, i knew him since we were babies", next to "oh i was joking!" to shizoid mafioso beatings, tony soprano was much better for that play.




but to be generous to boardwalk empire, the whole thing screams "we put a whole lot of effort into this!", no it's not really the 1920's/30's, the dialogue screams this at certain moments, but they clearly invested a whole lot into the sets and character development. Dramatic fictionalization of real people, but see the spoiler for what i was actually irritated about.



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12-17-21
It's been a few years, but I remember really enjoying it. Unfortunately, I cannot remember any of the details except for the broad arcs in Season 1 and into Season 2. I remember how the series closed as that stood out the most for me. I will admit though, that while I was very pleased with the show over all at the time, I wonder now if part of my reaction might have just been that I was so excited HBO actually made the effort to close the show out proper. My experience, HBO show runs fizzle out or just end without a pickup for the next season, leaving story arcs wide open and incomplete. Boardwalk Empire closed doors and I felt a peace in that.

I do remember preaching the gospel of Boardwalk Empire for several months after finishing it, so there was something to it. All that said, for as much as I may have liked it I have not had a strong urge to revisit it and I do not know why that is. I did jump right over to Peaky Blinders for a few seasons so it absolutely influenced my viewing preferences.

I'm sorry that I can't offer more details or conversation to this.
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CringeFest's Avatar
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12-17-21
Originally Posted by ynwtf
It's been a few years, but I remember really enjoying it. Unfortunately, I cannot remember any of the details except for the broad arcs in Season 1 and into Season 2. I remember how the series closed as that stood out the most for me. I will admit though, that while I was very pleased with the show over all at the time, I wonder now if part of my reaction might have just been that I was so excited HBO actually made the effort to close the show out proper. My experience, HBO show runs fizzle out or just end without a pickup for the next season, leaving story arcs wide open and incomplete. Boardwalk Empire closed doors and I felt a peace in that.

I do remember preaching the gospel of Boardwalk Empire for several months after finishing it, so there was something to it. All that said, for as much as I may have liked it I have not had a strong urge to revisit it and I do not know why that is. I did jump right over to Peaky Blinders for a few seasons so it absolutely influenced my viewing preferences.

I'm sorry that I can't offer more details or conversation to this.

no need to apologize, this is the internet. The fact that you responded at all made me feel a little happy. Speaking of which, onto the next episode!



John McClane's Avatar
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12-17-21
@CringeFest: You are right that it’s binge ability goes down the tubes in S4, but it was still old world release model when it was on the air so can’t fault it too much.

It’s hard for any show to keep momentum ratcheted at 11, but I think the first 3 seasons of Boardwalk Empire is the best example we have of someone trying to keep it at 11. I’d go so far as to say you could stop at season 3 and it’d still be more complete than anything else from HBO.

I was knee deep in my drinking days when I watched it the first time, and I haven’t given it the sober treatment. But I stand by what I say regardless of what I remember or don’t.



Stirchley's Avatar
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12-17-21
Originally Posted by CringeFest
If we're talking about the first few seasons, then the show draws you in with adventure, complexity, and intrigue, pretty typical of HBO's most reputable stuff. However, I found that somewhere within



WARNING: spoilers below

the protracted heroin war in season four, ryhme not intended, hahaha!



the show starts getting incredibly predictable and boring. I think the show should have ended after:


WARNING: spoilers below

rosetti gets murdered in a very strange and fitting manner on the beach. The killing of james darmody was also really fulfilling yet more sad/tragic in my opinion.



maybe with a long final episode.
I watched it for quite a few seasons, but then got horribly bored with it & stopped.
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Thief's Avatar
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12-17-21
Overall, I love it. I think it's a really strong show on the strength of great performances. But I do think that a couple of characters overstay their welcome by a season, probably because of the popularity they developed. For example, Richard Darrow and Chalky, and to a certain extent, Gillian, although the payoff there at the end of season 4 makes it worth it. Anyway, despite those minor flaws, I really liked the core relationship they created between Nucky and Eli, especially during those last seasons, and I'm a huge fan of Shea Whigham so I really enjoyed that.
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CringeFest's Avatar
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12-17-21
Originally Posted by Thief
Overall, I love it. I think it's a really strong show on the strength of great performances. But I do think that a couple of characters overstay their welcome by a season, probably because of the popularity they developed. For example, Richard Darrow and Chalky, and to a certain extent, Gillian, although the payoff there at the end of season 4 makes it worth it. Anyway, despite those minor flaws, I really liked the core relationship they created between Nucky and Eli, especially during those last seasons, and I'm a huge fan of Shea Whigham so I really enjoyed that.

i just feel like more could be done with chalky, to me he's a very similar personality to nucky. The home burglary overall was great, but i agree that they didn't do terribly greatly (except with the suspenseful beginning) with the "colored part of town", and nucky takes a nosedive as well, even though it feels nice to see him talking with margaret again.



CringeFest's Avatar
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12-20-21
Originally Posted by Thief
Overall, I love it. I think it's a really strong show on the strength of great performances. But I do think that a couple of characters overstay their welcome by a season, probably because of the popularity they developed. For example, Richard Darrow and Chalky, and to a certain extent, Gillian, although the payoff there at the end of season 4 makes it worth it. Anyway, despite those minor flaws, I really liked the core relationship they created between Nucky and Eli, especially during those last seasons, and I'm a huge fan of Shea Whigham so I really enjoyed that.

IT'S RICHARD HARROW...


anyways...


thought that was a great character, but i just want to know why they just started repeating themes too much in season 4. The last two seasons was certainly one of the many things i've seen with extremely boring violence. I had to stop watching season 5 because i felt like it was contrived moral indictment of how nucky became such a "****ty" person.



Thief's Avatar
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Master of None
12-20-21
There were certainly a couple of things I didn't like in Season 4, but like I said, the core relationship they built around Nucky and Eli was great, and I think that plot/subplot flourished during that season and the previous one. As for Season 5, I have no issues with it, but I've always thought it works best as some sort of epilogue rather than a final season, if you know what I mean. Probably for the reasons you mention.



GulfportDoc's Avatar
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12-21-21
I really enjoyed the show at first: the premise, the actors, the settings and design. But after awhile HBO's penchant for kink and language wore me down. I recall one episode where there was a party, and all the women were bare-breasted. I guarantee you that wouldn't have happened in the 1920s.

Also I tired of the development of Kelly MacDonald's character. There again, hard to believe.

At any rate I stuck with it for 2-3 seasons, but eventually bailed. The show did have a great cast though.



StuSmallz's Avatar
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12-21-21
Originally Posted by GulfportDoc
I really enjoyed the show at first: the premise, the actors, the settings and design. But after awhile HBO's penchant for kink and language wore me down. I recall one episode where there was a party, and all the women were bare-breasted. I guarantee you that wouldn't have happened in the 1920s.

Also I tired of the development of Kelly MacDonald's character. There again, hard to believe.

At any rate I stuck with it for 2-3 seasons
Really? Because the third season of Boardwalk was actually the point that I felt the show was at its best...



CringeFest's Avatar
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12-21-21
Originally Posted by GulfportDoc
I really enjoyed the show at first: the premise, the actors, the settings and design. But after awhile HBO's penchant for kink and language wore me down. I recall one episode where there was a party, and all the women were bare-breasted. I guarantee you that wouldn't have happened in the 1920s.

I thought the dialogue appeared to modern at some points, but religious repression has a way of encouraging topless parties, plus I've heard that people in the colonial and medieval eras talked about sex more openly than we currently do...



CringeFest's Avatar
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12-21-21
Originally Posted by StuSmallz
Really? Because the third season of Boardwalk was actually the point that I felt the show was at its best...

I agree with you there, it was very exciting and the writers should have taken a break. Maybe they could have switched gears and done something about a speakeasy, the beach...james darmody comes back and starts a gang of pirates.