# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/41 "2010-10-26T15:58:16Z")
> [@Stoid](#): > > 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… My impression was he was punishing himself for lust. In fact, when he propped up the picture on the night stand I thought it was going to be a masturbation scene. (Which is what I think the writers wanted us to think.) ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/42 "2010-10-26T16:46:53Z")
> [@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. Probably because Gretchen Mol is only like 9 years older than Michael Pitt and looks it. Although I guess from the last episode, Lucy Luciano thought she was Jimmy’s wife too. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/43 "2010-10-26T16:53:04Z")
Plausibility issues aside, I’m finding Gretchen Mol unbelievably hot in this show. I’m liking the portrayal of Al Capone as basically a brainless thug with no impulse control. That’s pretty much what he really was. ---
**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, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/44 "2010-10-26T16:53:59Z")
I noticed that unlike the other cast members Kelly MacDonald used a body double, and one that drinktely didn’t fit Luc’s description. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/45 "2010-10-26T17:12:37Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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. I don’t think he’s that bad in the show, but he’s getting more bizarre-looking as he ages: like a freakishly overgrown fetus. ---
**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 26, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/46 "2010-10-26T18:23:08Z")
> [@Gangster\_Octopus](#): > > I assume that she had him when she was 15 or 16, which would make her not even 40. I have no problem at all imagining Gretchen Mol (who I agree with **DtC** is smokin’ hot) having a 22 year old son. It’s that Michael Pitt looks every bit of his 29 years. I can’t suspend my disbelief on him being a day younger than 28, which would make Gretchen 10 years old when she gave birth to him. This is a very minor issue for me, though, as unlike many in the thread I actually like Michael Pitt, plus I’m really digging the show. It’s nothing more than a minor reality jolt any time they share a scene, plus occasionally when a scene with one jumps to a scene with the other. ---
**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, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/47 "2010-10-26T18:25:34Z")
I think the fact that Pitt’s character was in the war aged him, or at least that is the premise. I can buy it, some folks just look older. ---
**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 26, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/48 "2010-10-26T18:34:14Z")
Agreed, but Michael Pitt is not one of those people. He looked much younger in Bully and The Dreamers when he actually was the age he’s playing here. ---
**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, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/49 "2010-10-26T18:43:37Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Agreed, but Michael Pitt is not one of those people. He looked much younger in Bully and The Dreamers when he actually was the age he’s playing here. It probably helps my perception that I have not seen those movies. ---
**Author:** ![What\_the](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f4b2a3/32.png) [@What\_the](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_the)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 12:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/50 "2010-10-27T12:19:08Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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’ve got a feeling that, in those days and under these particular circumstances, abortion (and not necessarily by choice) is the standard method of birth control. Something I didn’t follow… what exactly did the Fed learn from the immigration records? Just that she was young and pregnant (although she lost the baby) when she came over? And finally… certainly the men didn’t groom their nether regions at all in those days. Do actors ever get pube enhancements? (Prompted by Lucky’s full frontal scene.) ---
**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 27, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/51 "2010-10-27T13:13:14Z")
I would think that most male actors wouldn’t need merkins. Public trimming is still largely a female thing. Even if they did, it wouldn’t take much time to grow out something believable. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/52 "2010-10-27T14:08:53Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Public trimming is still largely a female thing Where do you live and save me a seat!😃 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/53 "2010-10-27T17:22:12Z")
Gretchen Mol is supposed to look too young to be Michael Pitt’s mom, that was the whole point of making lucky think he was banging his wife and refusing to be called a grand 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 27, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/54 "2010-10-27T20:47:27Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > 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. Really? I’ve found him fascinating and totally believable as a seriously conflicted man who wants to be good and loves deeply, but is also utterly ruthless. > [@](#): > > Frankly, for a man his age, I’m impressed by the amount of sex Nucky is having. Really? Men his age with his bank account always have loads of sex. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/55 "2010-10-27T20:55:34Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > Frankly, for a man his age, I’m impressed by the amount of sex Nucky is having. What’s the point of having wealth and power if it doesn’t get you the sex? That’s right, he did it all for the Nucky. ---
**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 27, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/56 "2010-10-27T21:09:08Z")
Apparently, I didn’t express myself clearly: I’m impressed that a man his age is _physically able_ to have sex as often as he does. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2010, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/57 "2010-10-27T21:33:54Z")
I’m pretty sure they have body doubles perform the actual penetration. But still, your point is well taken. He looks damn good for 127, and all the more so for having died 42 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![MLS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/919ad9/32.png) [@MLS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MLS)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2010, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/58 "2010-11-01T18:01:53Z")
So nobody watched this week? Is Margaret a poor little widow, or just the whore her former neighbor thinks she is? Then again, what real options did she have? At least nobody’s beating her up. ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/59 "2010-11-01T18:08:09Z")
I watched. It’s taking Van Alden and Luciano/Rothstein and awful long time to get things moving. I think I might have missed something. Did Nucky offer his father’s house both to Margaret as well as to that other dude with the 8-month-old baby? ---
**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:** [November 1, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/60 "2010-11-01T18:13:55Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > I watched. It’s taking Van Alden and Luciano/Rothstein and awful long time to get things moving. > > I think I might have missed something. Did Nucky offer his father’s house both to Margaret as well as to that other dude with the 8-month-old baby? He never offered the house to Margaret. I really liked this episode, thought it was one of the best so far. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008.md?page=4)