# Boardwalk Empire **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008 "2010-09-25T14:53:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/21 "2010-10-20T20:48:51Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Actually, I’ve heard that Capone actually came off as charming with most people, while in this series, he’s really a sociopath. He came off as charming to civilians. Jimmy would have seen the other side of him, which was approaching sociopath. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/22 "2010-10-20T21:29:08Z")
I randomly watched a movie a couple weeks ago that had been sitting in my Netflix Instant Queue for more than a year. It was called _This Is England_. A couple days later, I finally got around to watching the first 3 episodes of Boardwalk Empire. Imagine my surprise when the main villan from _This Is England_ showed up, and he was Al Capone! So now Capone is my favorite character, just because I share some sort of _connection_ with the actor. heh The guy plays a sociopath in both things, btw. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/23 "2010-10-20T21:30:52Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > He came off as charming to civilians. Jimmy would have seen the other side of him, which was approaching sociopath. The Greek bartender wasn’t a civilian? ---
**Author:** ![Liz\_Marie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Liz\_Marie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liz_Marie)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/24 "2010-10-20T21:53:40Z")
I’m enjoying it so far and hope it gets even better. Nucky may not be Tony Soprano or Al Swearengen ( I think those men had more sex appeal), but he has something else. I don’t know how to describe it yet, but I like it and I think Steve Buscemi has the potential to make a great character out of Nucky. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/25 "2010-10-20T22:05:10Z")
I’m definitely enjoying it. Just don’t have too much to say… ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/26 "2010-10-20T22:28:53Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The Greek bartender wasn’t a civilian? Nope, not to Capone. For one thing the Greek was in the liquor business- no matter how low level, he was a fair target to Capone as he was engaged in an illegal enterprise in a field Capone was seeking to dominate. For another he was beating up the Greek less for the sake of beating up the Greek than to send a message to his supplier/protector- basically slaughtering a recon squad. Civilians are those like reporters, neighbors, bellmen at the Lexington, opera singers he liked, people on the street, etc.- those who had nothing to do with his “business interests”- those people generally liked him and knew he could be extraordinarily generous. Some of the reporters who knew both him and Elliot Ness said they liked Capone better (including one who Capone had beaten up once for saying something negative about him- he said at least he wasn’t a prima donna publicity whore like Ness). To the little old lady who sold flowers at the street corner he’d like as not buy a dime carnation and give her a twenty dollar bill and tell her ‘keep the change’; her nephew who sold dime homemade beer out of his back door Capone wouldn’t think twice of decapitating while his kids were in the room. Those who worked with him, for him, and particularly those who stood in between him and what he wanted (such as the Greek bartender) knew a cold blooded psycho who out Joe-Pesci-charactered a Joe Pesci character. (In the movie _The Untouchables_ the scenes of him crying at an opera and later hosting a reception for the singer AND the scene of him killing a man with a baseball bat are _both_ based on true stories- in reality he killed _two_ men, tied back to back in their chairs, with a bat.) In the novel _The Godfather_ it makes it clear that Vito is different in temperament from Capone. Vito courted the friendship of politicians and respectable people and preferred diplomacy to violence when possible, but when Capone sent two hoods to NYC to demand tribute from Corleone he ordered them tortured to death (he had Luca beat one to death while the other choked to death on a towel that was being used to gag him) because he knew Capone only respected brutality. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/27 "2010-10-20T22:33:10Z")
Michael Pitt has the strangest looks: I’ve seen him when I thought he was beautiful (more than handsome), angelically erotic almost, and other times he has next to no sex appeal. Depends on what he’s wearing and what the role is and the lighting and what he had for lunch that day I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2010, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/28 "2010-10-20T23:08:34Z")
I am utterly in love with Kelly MacDonald all over again. It is like the mid-nineties over here. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/29 "2010-10-22T17:37:10Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > The interaction between Jimmy and his mommy is really squicky. Especially when we first met her. She was in a sheer top with falsies and she jumps on the guy and starts kissing him. Then we find out that’s his mom! Icky. What I find so jarring about it is that Michael Pitt is 29 and Gretchen Mol is 37. The episodes stacked up on my DVR until last week, when I finally buckled down and just did a marathon viewing to catch up. I like it, but every time Gretchen Mol was on the screen I kept thinking “isn’t she only a few years older than Michael Pitt? How is she his mom?” It was extremely distracting. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/30 "2010-10-22T17:40:31Z")
So far, this is no Sopranos or Wire, but it is keeping our interest. I like the period piece aspect- the costumes, customs, dialog and sets - and the story is compelling so far. Plus, the characters are starting to grow on me - getting to care a bit more than in the beginning. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/31 "2010-10-22T17:55:55Z")
I’m enjoying it, but it feels like it is taking longer than I had hoped to really develop into a enthralling and/or engagingstoryline. However, I think we are going to see it grow as the organized crime racket grows with the rise of Capone and the Federal response. The main premise of the show is going to be Nucky trying to cope with a changing landscape where corrupt politicans are forced to become full blown cirminals. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/32 "2010-10-22T18:00:56Z")
I watched the first 3 episodes. I have downloaded the fourth but haven’t watched it yet, so expect I have lost interest and will never bother watching it again. The naked women are nice but the storytelling is just so slow. ---
**Author:** ![jrepka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@jrepka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jrepka)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/33 "2010-10-24T03:37:19Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > What I find so jarring about it is that Michael Pitt is 29 and Gretchen Mol is 37. > > The episodes stacked up on my DVR until last week, when I finally buckled down and just did a marathon viewing to catch up. I like it, but every time Gretchen Mol was on the screen I kept thinking “isn’t she only a few years older than Michael Pitt? How is she his mom?” It was extremely distracting. She’s playing her age, he’s not. He left Princeton in his first year to join the army. Don’t know how long he was over there (sorry) but I put his character in his early 20s. She had him very young (maybe 15 or 16) and I expect Nucky is his father. Nucky’s not Tony Soprano or Al Swearingen. He’s crooked and is not above violence when necessary, but he’s where he is because he’s a brilliant politician. Whether he’s racist or sexist doesn’t matter, blacks have the vote and women will have the vote by the November election in 1920, so he courts those votes (and tries to advise other politicians that they should as well)… ---
**Author:** ![palacheck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a88e57/32.png) [@palacheck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/palacheck)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/34 "2010-10-24T03:59:04Z")
I decided to add this show to my dwindling tv schedule. I’m liking it so far. I dig that they haven’t gone too deep into the gangster side of things this early in the series. I don’t see why people have such a dislike for Michael Pitt. He seems to be a decent actor but I’m not really familiar with his work. The relationship between Michael’s character and the mother seems a bit odd. Did Gretchen Mol’s character offer to raise her grandson if her daughter-in-law felt like she might want to just, ya know, abandon her kid? Gramma’s a little creepy… ---
**Author:** ![MattProle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@MattProle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MattProle)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/35 "2010-10-25T03:23:56Z")
The show is really getting good. I appreciate that the writers let the characters grow before the inevitable action occurs. ---
**Author:** ![kevja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/aeb1de/32.png) [@kevja](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kevja)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/36 "2010-10-25T23:16:07Z")
I thought last night’s episode (10/24/10) was the best so far. Things are starting to come together. But the actor who plays Al Capone is too old for the part and it shows. Capone was born in 1899, making him 21 years old in 1920. Stephan Graham who portrays Capone is 37 years old. Michael Pitt can pull off early 20s, but it bugs me that Capone looks so old. Just a nitpick. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2010, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/37 "2010-10-25T23:20:50Z")
I don’t think Michael Pitt pulls off early 20s, mainly because I remember him in his early 20s (Bully, The Dreamers) and he looks much older now. That’s why I have such trouble with Gretchen Mol playing his mother. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/38 "2010-10-26T01:12:19Z")
So any bets on where Margaret’s going to go with her distress at being housed with the concubines? She knew what she was signing up for, it would be kind of odd for her to go all batshit over it. LOVED her line to Lucy. oh SNAP! And what’s the consensus on Van Alden’s self-flegellation while gazing at a picture of Margaret? Is it some kind of guilt he feels for in some way facilitating her downfall as a kept woman, or does he have a crush, or what? Pretty odd all around… ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/39 "2010-10-26T15:27:58Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I don’t think Michael Pitt pulls off early 20s, mainly because I remember him in his early 20s (Bully, The Dreamers) and he looks much older now. > > That’s why I have such trouble with Gretchen Mol playing his mother. I assume that she had him when she was 15 or 16, which would make her not even 40. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/40 "2010-10-26T15:39:42Z")
I find Michael Pitt to be a drag on the cast. He’s really not engaging at all, his puffy face just lying there like a lump on the screen. Everyone else, even the minor characters, are very well portrayed. Gretchen Mol and Paz de la Huerta are just … stunning. This latest episode was an interesting turn of events, with Margaret starting out by walking open-eyed into the life of a concubine, but by the end seemed to be surprised by the word “concubine.” Lysol contraceptive douche … I actually looked it up. Turns out it wasn’t very effective as a contraceptive and tended to encourage bacterial infections by killing off the “good” bacteria. Margaret is desperate not to get pregnant again, but for some reason seems to want to hide that from Nucky. Why? Presumably, Lucy is also using some sort of contraception … otherwise, why would she offer to get pregnant? Does Margaret think Nucky wants her to get pregnant? I’m not sure at what point Nucky and Mayor Hague dispensed with the idea of going to see Houdini’s brother and just decided to spend the evening in a brothel. Frankly, for a man his age, I’m impressed by the amount of sex Nucky is having. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008.md?page=3)