The struggles of season V
1. The Ticking Clock
Although the season was only 8 episodes long, any more would've been bordering on tiresome. The 7 year jump between seasons when the past four seasons had each represented successive years seemed to be a pretty inexplicable move; perhaps a sign that Scorcese, Winter et al where waving the white flag and saying we know we're getting stale, we're cashing in our chips while we can. I get the impression 1931 was always going to be where the story ended, but Terence Winter has said he wanted to 'leave the stage while the audience are wanting more' and I think he feared (and rightly so) that he'd be pushing his luck to go further than he did.
2. Deaths at the end of IV
No Arnold Rothstein, no Richard Harrow. This last season of Boardwalk Empire could feel really long without them; at least Masseria died.
— Graham Abbott (@gsa219) September 15, 2014With two of the most compelling characters departing at the end of the fourth series, both without any real follow up at the start of the fifth; it meant not only was there a lack of resounding denouement, but much of the reason for watching was fading. The idiosyncratic supporting cast that enriched the show was thinning, without anyone emerging to fill the gaps. This brings up another death from the end of season IV which I'd overturn: I would've killed Eli instead of Agent Knox. Eli had pretty much run his course and there wasn't much more to develop, whereas the intrigue built up around Knox throughout the series, was sacrificed. On the other hand how he would fit in to a story seven years on is a good question and in hindsight Eli was certainly easier to make relevant.
3. Narrowing focus
In place of the broader scope of characters, we saw the writers double down on Nucky; anyone introduced was one dimensional and existed to further him. Because of the recycling of the Nucky vs. Eli storyline (that wasn't too interesting first time around) via flashback, the show no longer had the variety it once boasted. The flashbacks I take as another key piece of evidence for the 'creators running out of ideas' case, with the focus being taken away from 1931 perhaps because there just wasn't enough happening to fill an hour-long episode. By the same token, Mark Pickering's portrayal of young Nucky is absolutely golden, his imitation of Steve Buscemi's mannerisms and tone is uncanny.
4. Death throes produce gratuitous, well, death
Game of Thrones has a reputation for copious deaths (as if no other series has characters dying on a frequent basis), and the last few episodes took the cake. It could be the case that there weren't many deaths initially and they were inserted later for the sake of impact.
4a. Van Alden: perhaps the least unnecessary of these deaths, a happy ending was never likely, however it was fairly unrewarding to see him buy it, particularly given that Eli bewilderingly got away, his conclusion became (excuse the pun) a dead end. It accomplished little seeing as it was to be expected that Capone would be sent down in the end. After seeing him threatened with death for being flakey time after time it made it worthless seeing him come so far, only to be murdered because he couldn't be trusted.
4b. Chalky: seemingly accepted his death very passively, which was unfitting given how ardently he fighted for influence and freedom throughout the series.
4c. Mickey: asks to carry on running the Onyx club, promptly gets shot in the throat. A fairly unnecessary escalation. It said a lot about the amount of deaths in the series (particularly seeing as I wanted him dead just about every week of the first four series) when I thought: 'well at least Mickey Doyle will land on his feet'. Alas that got 86ed quickly.
4d. Dr. Narcisse: hardly a factor in the final series, only appearing in three of the eight episodes. Turns up in the final episode just to be shot by Bugsy.
The saving graces
1. Having said all these things, the death of Nucky made the whole journey worthwhile. I was expecting him to die in the final episode going into the series but it was a brilliant and unexpected piece of retribution on behalf of Jimmy and Richard to see Tommy come from out of nowhere to avenge his father's death. The golden part of this is Nucky was out of the game, he'd lost and his death was personal rather than being a part of his shortcoming in the business war. The fact he was a person (and an emotionally damaged one at that), not just a criminal was what the show tried to sell you on, and ultimately, the fact he couldn't be 'half a gangster' (as Jimmy told him in the very first episode) cost him everything; a death that wasn't from the sphere of his own personal responsibility would've undercut the whole point of the show.
2. Luciano wins Boardwalk Empire: after watching him as a fiery upstart and seeing him develop into a kingpin, it's a nice conclusion to see him inherit the empire. On the contrary there's only himself and Doyle who could've really come out on top, but even at that, it was inevitable that AC would eventually lose to NY.
3. It was nice to know that Margaret finished better off, being rescued from her abusive marriage by Nucky, then escaping the criminal life Nucky led for a legitimate job that she more than survived at. She was pretty irrelevant after the end of the third series, nonetheless her progress was enjoyable to watch when she was around.
So there we have it, Boardwalk Empire is all over. It's sad for me because after the third series I genuinely thought I would be calling this the best TV drama of all, after the final series it's still in my top 5, but I think Oz and Deadwood might have snook ahead; looks like I'll have to do a blog ranking them all one of these days...
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