December 10, 2012
As my readers know, this blog is all about the melding of
history and entertainment. Fortunately, there is never any shortage of material
that fits into that category. One of my favorite history as entertainment
programs is HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. For
those who are unaware of the show, Boardwalk
Empire is the creation of Martin Scorsese, Mark Wahlberg, Terence Winter,
Tim Van Patten and other very talented filmmakers. It chronicles the exploits
of Enoch (Nucky) Thompson (played by Steve Buscemi) as he uses largely illegal
means to control Prohibition-era Atlantic City, New Jersey. Nucky Thompson is technically a fictional
character, but he is based largely on corrupt politician/racketeer Enoch L.
Johnson (Nucky Johnson), who controlled Atlantic City from the 1910s until his
imprisonment in 1941. In Boardwalk
Empire, the fictional Nucky Thompson cavorts with an assortment of
real-life historical figures ranging from prominent members of President Warren
G. Harding’s cabinet to gangsters like Al Capone, Lucky Luciano and Arnold
Rothstein. The African American character Albert “Chalky” White seems to be
loosely based on a real-life boxer from that time named Chalky Wright, though
the character on Boardwalk Empire is
a bootlegger, not a boxer and the real Chalky Wright actually spent very little
time in Atlantic City in the 1920s.
The season two finale of Boardwalk
Empire aired a little over a week ago (Sunday December 2, 2012). It was
good and left me longing for more, but it wasn’t as surprising as the finale for
season one, and it wasn’t as exciting as the previous episode promised it
would be. The season one finale brought viewers the death of James Darmody, one
of the most complex and pivotal characters in the series. The episode prior to
the season two finale brought Al Capone and Chalky White to Nucky’s aid and
promised an unsteady alliance for the final episode. I was a little
disappointed by the conclusion of season two because, based on the ending of season
one, I was expecting to be hit with something totally unpredictable.
Unfortunately, the season concluded the way I expected it might with villain Gyp
Rosetti meeting his Maker and Nucky regaining his empire with his brother Eli
Thompson by his side. I would have preferred to see something a little bit more
by the way of a cliffhanger for the main character. I also would have liked to
have seen more of the plight of former Prohibition Agent Nelson Van Alden.
Those of you who watch the show know who I’m talking about. Former agent Van
Alden is one of the show’s most dynamic characters who, at the end of season
two, is in the midst of a transformation from incorruptible do-gooder to
gangster. It is a great journey for the character and one I would love to see further developed.
I think I was expecting more from the finale of the second
season because the actors and filmmakers of this series have consistently done
an incredible job of sucking me into the drama and giving me characters I
legitimately care about (even the really bad ones). Viewers of Boardwalk Empire have a lingering sense
of inevitable catastrophe as we watch the series unfold. We seem to be forever
waiting for the volatile characters to explode and take much of humanity down
with them. It’s an excitement we relish…unpredictable, simmering just below the
surface, ready to surprise us at any moment. That is why I was mildly disappointed
by the last episode of season two. It promised the volcanic detonation I had
come to expect, but delivered the equivalent of a few sticks of dynamite
exploding in an abandoned distillery.
Don’t get me wrong, I still love the show, recommend it
highly and can’t wait for the start of season three. I just want a payoff in my
finales that is not what I expect…like when Nucky Thompson killed Jimmy Darmody
at the end of season one. Now that was a finale!
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