# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/161 "2010-12-10T17:38:18Z")
> [@phungi](#): > > However, in this case, Nucky does not appear to be the slightest bit guilty Good point. Wow–a character with less moral integrity than Tony Soprano! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/162 "2010-12-10T19:08:34Z")
Nucky , if Jimmy goes along with the plotters, will have almost no friends. It might be his girlfriend, who is real smart, may figure it all out before he does. Jimmy was quite happy to be back. So will he turn on the Commodore? Will he be wooed into taking Nucky down? Of course not, they have several years of HBO planned and need Nucky. Nucky’s brother is not smart enough to take over. The Coomodore is too old and only has 64 k on his disc. I think Nucky and Jimmy will come together. ---
**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:** [December 10, 2010, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/163 "2010-12-10T19:59:45Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Staying in college to avoid WWI was a coward’s way out. Coward’s way out of what? In my view, his volunteering was a coward’s way out of his life and family. Angela really owes him nothing, but he keeps coming and going as he pleases. > [@](#): > > From a relationship perspective, her cheating on him while he was away at war And what has he been doing with his dick? There’s nothing despicable about finding someone else to love you when your partner abandons you. Jimmy’s joining the Army for no good reason was tantamount to abandonment. People who enlist in the military have no right to expect that their partners are going to wait it out for them, especially in Angela’s case, when she had to assume Jimmy had been killed. > [@](#): > > and then trying to steal his son and take him to another country was beyond despicable. It’s no less than he deserves. He’s a psychopathic killer. The man has killed in cold blood on many occasions. He shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near a child and because of the state of law and society, leaving the country was Angela’s best option to protect her son. > [@](#): > > And then she’s going to punish him by cutting her hair? Way to pin the “immature brat” needle in the red. She’s not punishing him. She’s sending him a message: “I’m here because I have no choice. But you don’t get my heart and soul.” ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/164 "2010-12-10T20:00:02Z")
> [@Pantani](#): > > She’s showing that she is independant of him and in her own way punishing him. Its very hard to impossible for women in presocial security days to leave abusive husbands or unhappy marriages, she’s stuck with him, especially as in 1920’s America he’ll get custody their son and she’ll never see him again. They aren’t married. > [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Question–did the maid really do it, then? (The arsenic poisoning.) I thought maybe Nucky was trying to put the blame on her…that would explain why he allowed her to go and even paid her. Or did she genuinely do it? I don’t know. I also didn’t want to believe she did it. I really liked her. The maid was paid off to take the fall for Jimmy’s Mom. She is set up enough now to get out of town and leave the Commodore who treated her like shit. This whole season seemed like a set-up for Season 2. They’re just getting their legs and I think that this will be a great series for a few years. I heard an interview with the creator and he hopes to be able to keep it going until the early 1930s which were the heyday years of Enoch Johnson upon whom the Nucky character is based. (The red carnation in the lapel was Johnson’s trademark.) Johnson was imprisoned for a while but died a free man in the 1960’s. It would be really cool if they ended the series with Nucky meeting a young Johnny Boy Soprano. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/165 "2011-01-04T16:55:52Z")
[QUOTE=hajario] Johnson was imprisoned for a while but died a free man in the 1960’s. It would be really cool if they ended the series with Nucky meeting a young Johnny Boy Soprano. [/QUOTE] Since Johnson was a major enemy of William Randolph Hearst it would also connect it- sorta kinda- to _Deadwood_ (in which, for anyone unfamiliar, the supervillain was Hearst’s father George [played by Gerald McRaney]). Jonathan Frakes or Alan Ruck would be a decent ~60ish W.R. Hearst. I just finished watch the series over the holidays. The Sebso-Van Alden plotline seem eerily reminiscent of _Carnivale_. I might be naive, but surely even in 1920 an entire black church group with no reason to be anti-Revenuer witnessing the drowning of Sebso would have gotten some credence against a man like Van Alden who people have already noticed was a bit psycho anyway. Personally I don’t feel the Van Alden character adds enough to bring him back- he’s too creepy and ineffectual; I say let him buy into his uncle’s business and bring in a new federal agent to hound Nucky. This show _almost_ has it- it’s close enough it could get there in the second season, or be a major thud. I think it definitely needs more action and intrigue and Michael Pitt nudity and hopefully the next season will provide all of that. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/166 "2011-01-04T19:51:54Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > This show _almost_ has it- it’s close enough it could get there in the second season, or be a major thud. I think it definitely needs more action and intrigue and Michael Pitt nudity and hopefully the next season will provide all of that. I totally agree with this, except for the Pitt nudity about which I have no opinion. I really think that they have the makings of a great multi-season series. ---
**Author:** ![mckall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mckall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mckall)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/167 "2011-01-04T20:23:36Z")
> [@](#): > > People who enlist in the military have no right to expect that their partners are going to wait it out for them, especially in Angela’s case, when she had to assume Jimmy had been killed. That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard all day. Enlisting is tantamount to abandonment? That’s a bit of a stretch isn’t it? Jimmy being in Princeton had nothing to do with his eligability under the Selective Service Act of 1918: [Selective Service Act of 1917 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_Service_Act_of_1917#The_World_War_I_Draft) He also wasn’t married to her, so while he had a dependent, I can imagine he assumed he would be drafted regardless. > [@](#): > > He’s a psychopathic killer. The man has killed in cold blood on many occasions. I think you’re missing the point here; the war made him into what he is now. It’s a PTSD commentary and they’ve also made a point to talk up how the war changed him, his nightmares, etc. If that wasn’t obvious enough, they added a second character who was scarred both inside and outside to illustrate the point. > [@](#): > > She’s not punishing him. She’s sending him a message: You must have missed the part where he said how he’d dream of feeling her hair next on his skin while he was in the trenches. One of the things that helped get him through his time there. And then she chopped it off. Jimmy is a damaged and very flawed person now who’s making decisions that appear to be best for his situation. He wants to make money to get his family out of there. ---
**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:** [January 4, 2011, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/168 "2011-01-04T20:33:49Z")
> [@mckall](#): > > I think you’re missing the point here; the war made him into what he is now. It’s a PTSD commentary and they’ve also made a point to talk up how the war changed him, his nightmares, etc. Yeah, that sucks for him. And it’s a commentary on the lack of knowledge on the part of the medical community and the neglect of the military institutions, which continues to this day. But, from the point of view of Angela and everyone else that has to interact with him, it doesn’t really matter _why_ he’s a cold-blooded psychopath, only that he is. > [@](#): > > You must have missed the part where he said how he’d dream of feeling her hair next on his skin while he was in the trenches. One of the things that helped get him through his time there. > > And then she chopped it off. I don’t think that contradicts anything I said. > [@](#): > > Jimmy is a damaged and very flawed person now who’s making decisions that appear to be best for his situation. He wants to make money to get his family out of there. The decisions that are best from his point of view are likely different from the decisions that are best from his family’s point of view, namely, to get away from him if they can find another way to survive. ---
**Author:** ![mckall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@mckall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mckall)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/169 "2011-01-04T20:49:46Z")
And he’s never laid a hand on her or, especially, his son. So why shouldn’t he be allowed around them? He’s hurt and killed people who know the game their playing. Your comment comes off as though he’s like Capone, just born that way. There’s a difference with Himmy. Cutting her hair off is punishing him. It was something he told her that gave him a good feeling, since he’s pretty much a shell of what he was, and she deliberately cut her hair off. She had an opportunity to get away from him, but was going to take his son. That’s where he had an issue. I’ve never seen her scared of him, I’ve seen her look pissed off because he’s alive. Or that he came back from Chicago to try and fix thing with their relationship. I still think she’s done far worse to Jimmy emotionally than he has to her. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2011, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/170 "2011-01-04T23:27:27Z")
I hadn’t really thought about it, but have to agree with those who say she’s worse to Jimmy than he’s been to her. The worst he’s done to her was not sending any money and that turned out to be Van Alden’s doings. I wonder why the two have never married. ---
**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:** [January 5, 2011, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/171 "2011-01-05T02:31:39Z")
Well, in fairness the worst he’s done to her is cheat on her with hookers, and then genuinely fall for said hooker. His wife is equally guilty on that front, though. Comparing their other transgressions against each other leaves the wife looking very bad. ---
**Author:** ![Hennessy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hennessy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hennessy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2011, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008/172 "2011-03-24T03:26:23Z")
I’ve just watched this whole series and I can’t wait for season 2, which starts? You got to feel bad for Nelson who was trying to do the right thing, the right way. Doing the right thing was his passion and it seemed the whole world was against him, just can’t blame him for going crazy. It seemed obvious that his boss was crooked like his partner but I don’t know if that is true. He said he wanted a sign from god if he were to stay in the business, next we see Nucky’s old female friend telling him shes pregnant, he will probably stick around as she has information plus dislike for Nuckys girlfriend and ultimately Nucky hmself. Jimmy is okay in my book due to his situation plus the facts that some people can’t see for some reason. His wife is a bitch but you can’t expect anything different. The whole plot setup for the second season was just a diversion and I hope it doesn’t last the whole second season, Jimmy, Eli, and old man trying to eliminate Nucky, since we all know that they wouldn’t be successful. The old man dies in the early 30s though so he will probably be around for the whole series. I really don’t see too much story for a whole 5 seasons but it would be awesome if they pulled it off… I’m going to bet the last season ends when Enoch goes to jail. BTW, is there a real life counterpart for Jimmy? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boardwalk-empire/555008.md?page=8)