Boardwalk Empire Season 4

[Mark Antony]

Holy fuck, did anyone see next weeks promo? Insane stuff, I can't wait!

:drool:

[red snow]

So Richard deals with a stressful day by cleaning his guns and carefully displaying them. Good to know. I just wish they would connect him to the main plot somehow

Exactly what I thought. I love how Richard is going to be instrumental in Nucky getting out of all this, when all Richard wants to do is clear out the whorehouse and save his son (that's how I think of the kid now). I was half expecting him to make short work of the two goons just to make a point but he's saving up his anger for more fun. It's great how the show handles various violent men differently. We have Rosetti, Capone, Van Alden and Richard. All 4 of them are people you would not want to anger but they all have different ways of reaching bioling point and unleashing.

I'm also wondering about the fact the last time we saw Van Alden was with Capone and now we have Capone in Atlantic City with an army. Makes one wonder if we'll have all the main characters in one place for the finale. Capone surely recognised VA is a fellow man of violence.

With this and walking Dead I'm on for some action packed finales next week :)

[The BlackBear]

I'm also wondering about the fact the last time we saw Van Alden was with Capone and now we have Capone in Atlantic City with an army. Makes one wonder if we'll have all the main characters in one place for the finale. Capone surely recognised VA is a fellow man of violence.

Hmmm maybe, but how closely would he work with VA. Most gangs were at that time held together by shared ethnicity. Luciano is a very notable exception, it's seen as questionable how closely he works with Jews. Would the Chicago Italians be ok with a non-italian?

[Wun Drop]

Van Alden would have to be very brave (or stupid) to go back to Atlantic City where he'd surely be recognized.

More likely, *if* we see him again this season, it will be in the context of O'Bannion making a move while Capone is out of town.

[Francis Buck]

Van Alden would have to be very brave (or stupid) to go back to Atlantic City where he'd surely be recognized.

More likely, *if* we see him again this season, it will be in the context of O'Bannion making a move while Capone is out of town.

That's what I'm thinking. I figure we'll have to have some kind of quick bookend for the Van Alden story, and I can't see him just popping up with Capone in Atlantic City -- both for the obvious reason of being a fugitive, and it because it would be odd for Capone to bring him along on something like that so quickly. That being said, I wouldn't be surprised if at some point next season Van Alden ends up working for Capone more than O'Banion, as I seem to remember someone mentioning that Capone was pretty open to dealing and working with non-Italians.

[The Monkey]

Really terrific episode, the final scene with Capone was amazing, might be the best scene in the whole series:

My inner fanboy screamed with joy when Richard packed up his weapons, that whore house's walls are about to be painted red.

As others have noted, this episode's greatness has much to do with Margaret's absence. Her plotline this season has been a bigger snoozefest than Revolution.

[Francis Buck]

I think there's a double-edged sword with certain characters like Harrow, Van Alden, Rothstein, etc., in that they would lose some of their allure if they were on the show all the time. That being said, I do think other characters could be given more time without it ruining their mystique, particularly Capone, Chalky, and Lucky/Meyer.

I feel like the larger "point" of this season will be to establish Nucky's standing, both in the show and as a gangster...IE, the boss of Atlantic City. He's learning who his real friends are, and seems to be creating stronger bonds with them (Chalky, Eddie, Eli) while also having more of an internal, emotional arc than in previous seasons. My hope is that they're doing this in order to expand the screentime of other characters next season, especially Chalky and Capone. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of the amount of screentime the individual main cast members received. I think people might be surprised about how much time Harrow had this season compared to other characters. Him and Gyp seemed to have the most prominent sub-plots (Harrow had a lot more to do in the second half of the season than he did in the first).

[delete this account pls]

Yeah, best episode of the season for sure. Loved the look of fear that briefly flashed across Gillian's face as she realised she'd maybe pushed Richard too far, and he was more than capable of gunning down Rosetti's two goons and her if he wanted too

One of the best things about the show's long term prospects that I saw in this episode was Nucky's gradual realisation that, hey, maybe treating everyone around him like irritating pieces of shit isn't a terribly good idea. That's bothered me since season 1 - for a politician, Nucky really does a horrible job of maintaining his personal relationships, and I think his behaviour in that respect was pretty directly responsible for turning Eli against him (and nearly cost him Chalky's help) As a long term character arc it works, but it's sure made Nucky a hard character to like so far, so it's a good sign to see that might be changing.

[PetyrPunkinhead]

Yeah, best episode of the season for sure. Loved the look of fear that briefly flashed across Gillian's face as she realised she'd maybe pushed Richard too far, and he was more than capable of gunning down Rosetti's two goons and her if he wanted too

One of the best things about the show's long term prospects that I saw in this episode was Nucky's gradual realisation that, hey, maybe treating everyone around him like irritating pieces of shit isn't a terribly good idea. That's bothered me since season 1 - for a politician, Nucky really does a horrible job of maintaining his personal relationships, and I think his behaviour in that respect was pretty directly responsible for turning Eli against him (and nearly cost him Chalky's help) As a long term character arc it works, but it's sure made Nucky a hard character to like so far, so it's a good sign to see that might be changing.

Excellent summation on Nucky. I couldn't agree more.

As for next week's episode, Capone showing up is gonna get interesting, but really I've only two words for what I'm looking forward to the most: Harrow unleashed.

[ghost23]

I hope that Margaret as a character is finished. With Owen dead and her relationship with Nucky completely ended, there's no real place for her on this show anymore. I hope the writers realised that her storyline was extremely lackluster this season and not continue on with it.

[red snow]

I hope that Margaret as a character is finished. With Owen dead and her relationship with Nucky completely ended, there's no real place for her on this show anymore. I hope the writers realised that her storyline was extremely lackluster this season and not continue on with it.

Well the good news is that based on the wiki account the real life Nucky was never married to a Margaret and while there is a character from the book that resembles Margaret's character she was never married to Nucky. Hopefully the writers will realise her character is deadwood and wish the actress well (the exposure from the show seems to have boosted her career already). considering they killed off Jimmy for the good of the show, they should be able to do the same with characters that aren't working.

[Wun Drop]

What if Richard Harrow actually isn't that badass (no depth perception, blind to attacks from the left) and the writers are setting up a giant "fuck you" to the audience expectations? :)

[The BlackBear]

What if Richard Harrow actually isn't that badass (no depth perception, blind to attacks from the left) and the writers are setting up a giant "fuck you" to the audience expectations? :)

Well he can't be any worse than Rosetti's guys who couldn't hit a car that was 10 metres away from them.

[Wun Drop]

How badass would it be if Richard wears his German sniper mask for the rampage? :)

[elmis]

That was an awesome episode. Chalky has really been underused this season. I was afraid that Gillian had more of a hold on Richard when she put him down early in the episode, very glad to see that was not the case. Hopefully we'll see some awesome sniper action!

[Lord Tyrion]

That was an awesome episode. Chalky has really been underused this season. I was afraid that Gillian had more of a hold on Richard when she put him down early in the episode, very glad to see that was not the case. Hopefully we'll see some awesome sniper action!

Chalkie has been underused every season so far, which pisses me off because I love him and Capone a lot.

[red snow]

What if Richard Harrow actually isn't that badass (no depth perception, blind to attacks from the left) and the writers are setting up a giant "fuck you" to the audience expectations? :)

This is something I have considered too but they've shown him to be an excellent sniper in season 1 and he came to a stand-off with Owen (who had been established as a pretty good close-combat fighter). I figure the element of surprise and the fact he probably has the entire brothel mapped out. I just hope nothing happens to the kid during all of this. He also knows how to dance! Plus he's the show's Omar in that he just seems to be larger than life.

It would be a massive fuck you to the audience if they did go with your suggestion. If they take that route I'd urge them to go all the way and have Gillian stab him in the back from his blind spot - after he kills a bunch of mobsters.

An even bigger fuck you may just be that Richard was just cleaning his gun collection :)

[Wun Drop]

By the way, where was Richard in the final scene when he was cleaning his guns? Didn't he live at Gillian's, or does he have his own room somewhere?

He is a very patient killer (waited 3 days then shot the German under the eye) so he's not going to go in guns blazing and put Tommy at risk. Rescuing Tommy is his mission objective, not war with Rosetti-gang like every other character on the show. And I don't think he will kill his pal Jimmy's mom; he'll just tell her "Tommy's coming with me now" in that special tone of voice he has used on Drunk Paul a couple of times.

[Francis Buck]

I think killing Richard this early would just be dumb. It would feel like a tragic, shocker ending for the sake of a tragic, shocker ending. They already had the "holy shit" character death with Jimmy last year, so I don't really think they need to kill off any more of the main cast to make a point again -- at least not this season. That being said, I don't really expect Harrow to make it all the way through the show. But I definitely think it serves the show's best interests to keep one of their most popular, if not their most popular, character on the show for a little while longer. There's still a hell of a lot they can do with Harrow.

[The BlackBear]

By the way, where was Richard in the final scene when he was cleaning his guns? Didn't he live at Gillian's, or does he have his own room somewhere?

He is a very patient killer (waited 3 days then shot the German under the eye) so he's not going to go in guns blazing and put Tommy at risk. Rescuing Tommy is his mission objective, not war with Rosetti-gang like every other character on the show. And I don't think he will kill his pal Jimmy's mom; he'll just tell her "Tommy's coming with me now" in that special tone of voice he has used on Drunk Paul a couple of times.

The episode trailer shows him walking round what looks like a corner in the mansion in full all-guns-blazing mode.