Boardwalk Empire - Thread #2 (apparently this evolved into a SPOILER thread behind my back)

[RaceBannon42]

Roger was fucking cool, but has progressed almost nowhere as a character at all.

I'm racking my brain.. who the hell is Roger?

[Lord O' Bones]

I'm racking my brain.. who the hell is Roger?

Don't hurt your brain. It's mine that is at fault. I meant Richard.

[drawkcabi]

Absolutely. I thought I made that clear. Everyone that was anything interesting at all is now dead on screen, effectively dead by the writing killing their character, or just hardly developing them at all.

...

Fairly good assessment and I mostly agree with all you've said, however I also agree with Nestor:

When Boardwalk Empire returns it will be after a time jump and will see the addition of multiple new characters. I hope that I find the new character and new conflicts as compelling as I found this season's characters and conflicts, but even if I don't, at the end of the day, I'd rather watch a show that's dynamic, takes risks, and has integrity, than a show which just recycles is main dramatic elements every year (coughDextercough).

I'm very interested in seeing where the show goes with the death of Harding and the facts of his corruption and rumors of his assassination. Nucky is the only main character that has had real involvement with the Harding administration and that involvement wasn't really that much, but this could effect most of the characters in some way and who knows how the new characters will be involved.

There's potential here for good storytelling, another chapter of the Boardwalk Empire mostly disparate from the saga of Jimmy. I know the show might not be as good, the death of Jimmy may have been jumping the shark, but I am enthusiastic to see what this new season may bring.

[lokisnow]

I kinda slogged through season one, good but never really great. Just starting to catch up to season two, just watched the second episode. Holy shit that was awesome. for the first time I'm excited for the show.

[Howdyphillip]

I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!!!!!!!

My younger brother Aaron Shriver was cast to play a recurring character in this show next season. He will be playing Dean O'Banion a real life adversary of Al Capone. He was an Irish mobster who played an essential role in bringing about the St. Valentine's Day massacre. He has been doing bit roles for years now, and his parts have been getting larger. This is a really good break for him.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1377287/

Now... If we can only get him on GoT next year

[delete this account pls]

Cool! Hope he does well. And yeah he definitely has a Game of Thronesy look to him, I could totally see him in that.

[Talleyrand]

I finally managed to catch up with this show. Its not my favourite HBO show but it still ranks very high. Nucky seemed uninteresting at times though he won it back for me at several points.

I was never sure how to feel about Jimmy. Whenever I wanted to hate him something would come along that would make me sympathetic or like him slightly. Then whenever I wanted him to succeed he'd do something that made me dislike him or he'd fuck up in whatever he was trying to do.

I wished they did more with Harrow and Chalky, they made two great characters but never seem to use them enough.

As a side note, how many of the Irish Characters are actually Irish? Owen's actor is English. His IRA boss in American IIRC and both Margret and her brother are Scottish.

[Caligula_K2]

I recently watched both seasons of this show. Half the time, it's very good- essentially, whenever it focused on Chalky White, Jimmy's war with Nucky, the Chicago and New York cast of characters, and Manny. Oh Manny. And the second season finale is definitely the best the show's best, even if a few details seem wrong (a poster above mentioned how contrived it was that they could get away with the fake suicide).

The other half of the time it ranges from bad to awful, IMO. The pacing is generally atrocious. The writers are terrible at writing female characters. Margaret was the only decent one, and at the end of season 2 she made me want to smash my head against a wall as the writers replayed her character arc from season 1. Lucy and Angela both made me want to give up on the show whenever they were on screen. A lot of the other characters have either completely gone off the rails (like Van Alden) or just aren't interesting or sympathetic at all (in Eli's and Nucky's cases). Season 2 overall, which looked like it was heading to interesting places, also kind of just fell apart, particularly in the Jimmy flashback episode, which is probably one of the worst episodes of TV I've seen in a long time. HEY GUYS IN CASE YOU DIDN'T GET ALL THE SUBTEXTY SUBTEXT HE'S JUST LIKE OEDIPUS, GET IT???

So, I think I'm kind of done with this show. Maybe it doesn't help that I just finished watching The Wire for the first time and that the dip in quality from the Wire to Boardwalk is so massive (I think there are maybe one or two episodes of Boardwalk that I would place on the same level as even the worst episode of the Wire). But even not comparing it to what's considered to be the greatest show of all time, this is definitely the weakest HBO show I've yet seen.

[Matt O'Sevens]

Is anyone else looking forward to this? I really enjoy the show, it's probably my 3rd favorite show on HBO, behind GoT (duh), and Curb Your Enthusiasm. I was flabbergasted when Nucky killed Jimmy in the S2 finale (hmm, an HBO show killing off one of the lead characters...sounds strangely familiar), and I am curious as to what direction the show is going to take as a result.

[jurble]

I was watching S2 last year, when I missed an ep. halfway through and never caught back up, so I stopped watching. Never felt comeplled to pick it back up. Dunno, I think that means it's boring.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

I liked season two quite a bit, and I'm currently about halfway through a rewatch, and enjoying the early episodes more the second time around.

But I feel like Boardwalk Empire has a bunch of characters that it doesn't quite know what to do with. Van Alden's arc hasn't work for me for a while, because they turned him into this crazy over-the-top figure in season one and there's nowhere left to go with that. And while I like the actors who play Rothstein, Lansky, Capone, et al., I think the show struggled in the second season to find something interesting for them to do. We know when Arnold Rothstein dies, and what he was getting up to until that point, and the show feels kind of shackled by that. In a way, I wish they had turned Arnold Rothstein into Arnold Rosenberg (or something), like they did with Nucky and the Commodore.

[Alisa]

I love it and the end of Season 2 was fantastic. I can't wait to see where they go from there.

[Matt O'Sevens]

I liked season two quite a bit, and I'm currently about halfway through a rewatch, and enjoying the early episodes more the second time around.

But I feel like Boardwalk Empire has a bunch of characters that it doesn't quite know what to do with. Van Alden's arc hasn't work for me for a while, because they turned him into this crazy over-the-top figure in season one and there's nowhere left to go with that. And while I like the actors who play Rothstein, Lansky, Capone, et al., I think the show struggled in the second season to find something interesting for them to do. We know when Arnold Rothstein dies, and what he was getting up to until that point, and the show feels kind of shackled by that. In a way, I wish they had turned Arnold Rothstein into Arnold Rosenberg (or something), like they did with Nucky and the Commodore.

I've been doing a rewatch, halfway through as well (I think it's on HBO Sig.), which is what prompted me to start this thread. I have to agree with you about Van Alden. Really, ever since he went psych-christian and drowned his partner in S1, his arc has been lacking.

On Rothstein, I get that 100%. It could have potentially been very interesting to see them expand on his character, mainly because Michael Stuhlbarg is a terrific actor (see the Cohen brother's A Serious Man) and really could have blossomed if given more to work with. I wonder if they will begin to focus more on Capone's rise to power in Chicago?

[Lady Olenna]

I am looking forward to the new season. I expected Jimmy to be killed off so Nucky taking him out wasn't too shocking. I found the love scene between Jimmy and his MOM much more shocking :ack: :ack: I hope that woman dies a brutal death.

I think I rank BE after GoT, The Walking Dead, Homeland & maybe True Blood (it's more a tie between the two). I love the period clothes and sets and the actors are great.

Glad you started the thread. It will be fun to post as the season progresses.

Oh and when is Curb on? I never see it on the line up anymore.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

On Rothstein, I get that 100%. It could have potentially been very interesting to see them expand on his character, mainly because Michael Stuhlbarg is a terrific actor (see the Cohen brother's A Serious Man) and really could have blossomed if given more to work with. I wonder if they will begin to focus more on Capone's rise to power in Chicago?

Van Alden was in Cicero, IL, Capone's old stomping grounds, so I imagine that we'll see a fair amount of him next season (although IIRC Capone didn't really get going there until 1924).

And to be clear, I meant Rothstein only as an example, since all the historical figures suffer from this to some degree. I think if the show wasn't so insistent about (1) retaining all those actors as series regulars even in seasons when they had little to do; and (2) sticking more or less faithfully to the historical record, they wouldn't have storylines like Luciano and Lansky toying with the idea of breaking away from Rothstein but then being taken in again at the end of the season. (And I don't recall offhand if Capone had a real arc in season two, even.)

[Matt O'Sevens]

I am looking forward to the new season. I expected Jimmy to be killed off so Nucky taking him out wasn't too shocking. I found the love scene between Jimmy and his MOM much more shocking :ack: :ack: I hope that woman dies a brutal death.

I think I rank BE after GoT, The Walking Dead, Homeland & maybe True Blood (it's more a tie between the two). I love the period clothes and sets and the actors are great.

Glad you started the thread. It will be fun to post as the season progresses.

Oh and when is Curb on? I never see it on the line up anymore.

You are SO right about the Mommy/Son sex scene...wow.

As for Curb, it all depends on Larry. He pretty much tells HBO when he is ready to make another season. You never know for sure. Here's a quote from Curb's wikipedia page:

"HBO has said that it is "cautiously optimistic" that David will do a ninth season. The network's president of programming, Michael Lombardo, commented, "For the first time ever after this season Larry didn't say 'I never want to do this again.'"

Hopefully it will happen.

[Matt O'Sevens]

Van Alden was in Cicero, IL, Capone's old stomping grounds, so I imagine that we'll see a fair amount of him next season (although IIRC Capone didn't really get going there until 1924).

IIRC, this season picks up on New Year's Eve 1922, so I guess it is possible to show Capone beginning to make the transition into what he will eventually become. But who knows. I guess we will find out Sunday.

[Anya, Vengeance Demon]

IIRC, this season picks up on New Year's Eve 1922, so I guess it is possible to show Capone beginning to make the transition into what he will eventually become. But who knows. I guess we will find out Sunday.

The interviews I've read say that the season picks up in 1923. For example, here's one that came up first when I googled it:

You mentioned jumping forward in time for season 3. How long will that be? [Note: Season 2 was set in 1921]

We’re thinking about 16 months and starting the [third] season around the beginning of 1923, then maybe run through the end of 1923. It was an exciting year. All the people who stockpiled liquor started to run out, so competition between bootleggers became really fierce.

[Crown]

I am definitely looking forward to this! But first Sons of Anarchy season five premier! I there any SoA thread?

[Tony Soprano]

This is probably my most anticipated premiere this year. The last Season finale was pretty shocking, so I can't wait to see how they pick up after that.

As for the characters, I really wish HBO expands on their stories, especially Rothstein's.