It's the end of an era for Boardwalk Empire and it was fantastic. Totally gripping. But who the hell shot Nucky? And who was Tommy, the teenager who was introduced five minutes before the end of the episode? I had to use t'internet to find out - it was Jimmy's son, Gillian's grandson who we saw as a toddler in season 2. Of course Nucky killed Jimmy about 15 years ago when he got his hands dirty for the first time.
There must have been about 100 characters in all and I was starting to get lost, who was which gangster running which city, who was a prohibition agent or FBI, who was planning to execute whom, who was wife, hooker, dancer or all three. I had to just enjoy the ride instead of following all the plots.
I really think they could have ended it after the last season where half of them were dead, half were in prison and half were on the run. In the final (short) season I thought they were running out of ideas and spent a lot of time in flash backs showing how Nucky rose from nothing to sherif and how he introduced Gillian to the rapist commodore who fathered Jimmy. A real shame they killed off Richard in season 4, the WW1 sniper who only had half a face, hidden behind a mask painted to look like cheeks, eye and glasses. Brilliant.
Congrats to Martin Scorsese and whoever did that stunning cinematography and the excellent opening titles and tune. Of course Steve Buscemi was in top form as Nucky, but best of all was Marc Pickering playing Nucky as a young man. They actually managed to find an actor who is the double of Buscemi who is a truly strange-looking chap anyway. He was acting as Steve Buscemi acting as Nucky - all tics and everything. Uncanny.
Well, looking forward to Walking Dead tomorrow. That's almost as good. Check out Rick, the hero - he's English playing American. There's a lot of that in Broadwalk Empire if you look at the cast. We must be good actors. Or cheap.
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Who shot Nucky? new