Michael "Omar" Kenneth "Little" Williams, Steve Buscemi, and ehhhhh Michael Pitt in Martin Scorsese's BOARDWALK EMPIRE

the dropping of "bloviate" by the harding actor felt like another "we've done our pub quiz/wikipedia research for this week" moment

otm re general lack of humour.

Maybe I've missed the really great FX stuff then. Recommendations?

― No Good, Scrunty-Looking, Narf Herder (Gukbe), Tuesday, November 2, 2010 10:58 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this thread is kind of a handy guide, although it predates Terriers, which is pretty well loved around here: FX Network hourlong dramas

Aye, I've seen that thread. I like Justified, Terriers, and Sons of Anarchy, but I think BE holds its own against them. And runs circles around SoA.

Of course, I had big problems with The Shield so I recognize I'm going to be in the minority here.

I think it's a pretty funny show. I'd say most of the episodes have had some humor in them. Eli was funny in this episode, Harding's mistress's poem was funny, Nucky telling off Edge was funny (Buscemi's great whenever he gets to go into sarcastic dickhead mode, which is a lot), and the reveal of Van Alden sending the money to Angela made me laugh. Van Alden's relationship with his wife seems to get played for laughs a lot, maybe because it'd be too depressing otherwise, but the scene where he writes her a bloodless letter in the first episode was hilarious to me. Maybe none of this was funny to you, but it's still obvious that they TRY to inject plenty of humor into the show, so it's not fair for you to say that they don't.

Also, this kind of complaint:

the dropping of "bloviate" by the harding actor felt like another "we've done our pub quiz/wikipedia research for this week" moment

C'mon... I see what you're saying, but it's like you've already decided you're gonna take the cynical approach to any of this stuff on the show so everything gets filtered through that lens. Are funny historical details somehow worse if you actually recognize them? I don't get this at all!

My biggest problem with the show right now is probably Nucky and Margaret. They've hinted at some interesting nuances with both characters, but for the most part the characterization hasn't been there like it should. Buscemi's doing a great job with what he has, but it'd be a stronger show if we had a better feel for what Nucky WANTS. What are his goals right now besides just generally maintaining his power? He's already rich and powerful, so we just get this guy who's blase about everything and there's no drama or tension related to his goals. And Margaret just kinda... goes along with whatever happens. Fortunately the supporting cast is great. I have a feeling 'not enough Harrow' could become a common fanboy complaint, but he IS a great character.

Harrow's voice is amazing.

strongly disagree with Margaret and Nucky relationship xpost.

Oh, I think the Margaret and Nucky relationship is interesting and there's a lot of potential there, I was talking about the individual characters..

All the humor you cite is ironic. Not that ironic humor doesn't count, but it doesn't make the characters seem any less miserable.

Yeah, I guess I can see that.

C'mon... I see what you're saying, but it's like you've already decided you're gonna take the cynical approach to any of this stuff on the show so everything gets filtered through that lens. Are funny historical details somehow worse if you actually recognize them? I don't get this at all!

compare and contrast with mad men and deadwood where the period details that aren't in the far background are relevant.

Make me!

it doesn't really bother me that it's not funny, i don't find the episodes dragging or tedious or whatever so it doesn't matter that i'm not laughing. the only thing i do find with this show is there are quite a lot of characters and some have yet to be fleshed out v well, so you can be a bit like "who is this again" at times...

it'd be a stronger show if we had a better feel for what Nucky WANTS.

I would agree with this, he has a very ill-defined inner life for a central character. Can't tell if that's purposeful and we're due some big emotional reveal shit at the arse end of the season.

Show's starting to lose me again... all the gangster stuff is so boring, and it seems like it's gonna dominate the rest of the season. I guess they still have room to surprise me. Jimmy's a really unlikable character.

all the gangster stuff is so boring

You might be watching the wrong show, tbh.

Jimmy's a really unlikable character.

Yeah, and not in a fascinating way, unfortunately.

Agree that Nucky's a little two-dimensional. And it's not Buscemi's fault. The show just isn't filling him out.

I'm sort of curious about the gangster war aspect - just because I think there's room, given the cast/atmosphere, to build something different using the same old pieces. But if this descends into The Untouchables, it's over.

I like that the fed guy has turned out more incompetent than he seemed in the first episodes. At the same time, I don't like it.

I think Nucky is a very interesting character, and I think they're doing a good job with him.

I don't think Jimmy is terribly interesting, nor is he likable (though I don't think he's meant to be), but I like how he's turned into a cool crime operator, and then immediately thrown in jail.

The trick might be to appreciate that the blood on Margaret's dress is just about the level at which this show is pitched, and enjoy it.

Also more Harrow please.

I think Nucky is a very interesting character, and I think they're doing a good job with him.

I don't think Jimmy is terribly interesting, nor is he likable (though I don't think he's meant to be), but I like how he's turned into a cool crime operator, and then immediately thrown in jail.

The trick might be to appreciate that the blood on Margaret's dress is just about the level at which this show is pitched, and enjoy it.

Also more Harrow please.

― Gukbe, Monday, November 15, 2010 4:12 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yeah, I think I agree with most of this. Despite my complaints about Nucky's characterization, he's still the guy on the show I want to spend the most time with (as a viewer). And that's a good point about Jimmy getting thrown in jail.

German valet guy screaming "NEIN!!" and then gunning down a would-be assassin was a pretty awesome moment.

i bailed on this two episodes ago. i guess there's nothing said here that hasn't been said in this thread, but otm nonetheless:

http://gawker.com/5690370/boardwalk-empire-is-officially-a-let-down?skyline=true&s=i

Nucky just goes from one petty drama to the next, fixing things easily and covering up for his and his cohorts' mistakes. There's no great plan, there's no formidable adversary, there's little complex, behind-the-scenes politics. All there really seems to be is a big bunch of impressive sets and some excellent wardrobe choices.

Guy doesn't seem to have been watching the show. You can argue about the depth, which I'd agree isn't up to Mad Men, Deadwood, or Sopranos territory, but Nucky going from one petty drama to another is ridiculous. The show has been building and building an arc all season, and it's progressing nicely imo.

Yeah, I really don't follow that kind of complaint. I wholeheartedly love this show. Is it as "deep" or engrossing as some of the others this is being compared to? No. But I've found it to be one consistently entertaining hour each and every episode. And, no, it doesn't particularly look "real", but I find it gorgeous to look at.

it's a v slow moving story but it's a story. it isn't ostensibly as deep as some of the big shows yet but it's a bit more period drama than they are, a lot of it is just v pleasing time/place/music with quite a traditional story, and characters specific to that time/place. some of what i like most about the show is thinking about say the irishness of nucky and his family, or other characters, or similarly with the mob. it isn't packing a huge emotional punch yet in the way something like mad men does but it consistently is interesting to me.

oh and also...nelson van alden is prob the best character in this.

(except he reminds me a lot of rex banner in the simpsons!)

Touching on how likable (or, more accurately, unlikable) Jimmy is, I think that is one aspect of the show that really reminds me of Sopranos - none of these characters feel like they are supposed be liked. Even Maragaret is slipping way too easily into manipulation than we'd have expected early on.

My favorite character is still probably Arnold Rothstein though, really liking the way he commands every scene he is in.

what did people think of this week? nelson really is off the wall isn't he, great character. think it's developing nicely overall, some of the depth of character themes coming along are a little unsubtly introduced eg harrow "i don't recognise myself in the mirror" vs margaret's moral scruples, but largely it's good.

Yeah I'm really intrigued by where they're going with Nelson. The actor does a great job, he plays him with so much intensity.

Yeah, it's pretty unsubtle but if you tune into it on that level it works pretty well. I really love this show. My highlight of the week behind Terriers.xpost

I dug this ep a lot. I haven't really bought into how they're selling Jimmy as mr. hardass, but his line before shooting that one guy was great - "I wasn't gonna, but you talked me into it" or whatever. I didn't realize until this ep how much I enjoy Doyle and his crazy laugh.

They're kind of all over the map with Margaret, she can still be interesting but her characterization requires more focus or something I think. All those shots of her looking conflicted while Nucky does business are becoming wearying.

I liked the Capone Barmitzvah scene. I'm always happy when he shows up actually.

xpost - yes, I'm getting a bit annoyed with Margaret and her perfect grammar.

Oh yeah, Capone bar mitzvah ruled. I love that kind of stuff.

Capone is a brilliant character too actually. Is there a Harrow/Margaret thing going to come along or am I wrong to just go by the "two people exchange emotional words alone means they will begin a relationship" rule of TV?

So obv Nelson's gonna learn a lot about Nucky pretty soon...

Top five characters in no order: Harrow, Capone, Nucky, Rothstein, Van Alden

Is there a Harrow/Margaret thing going to come along or am I wrong to just go by the "two people exchange emotional words alone means they will begin a relationship" rule of TV?

That crossed my mind too, but I doubt they'll head in that direction. Who knows though.

I did not realize old guy was dabney coleman until just now when I read that it was. holy crap.

Haha yeah, knowing that makes his otherwise flat character much more enjoyable.

Btw, here's a cool article about Great War facial prostheses:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/mask.html

apart from the ever-reliable paz de la huerta, that was yet another boring hour of tv

deadwood and sopranos had compelling characters, so you forgave the fact that all the great crises they got into ended with only minor players getting killed; but in this it's a real snore. i'd much rather have had rothstein's guys fucking take nucky out. who'd miss him? or at least the terrible jimmy. hope the lesbian ladies escape to france and we never have to see them again. hope the chick from 'trainspotting' spends less than the rest of eternity figuring that nucky is a bad dude and leaves him and goes back to ireland. (not sure if women could vote in ireland in 1920.think only women over 30 could. but anyway.) wish al capone would get on with it and start machine-gunning people.

apart from the ever-reliable paz de la huerta, that was yet another boring hour of tv

you clearly like different things in this series than I do.

are you waiting for what margaret will do next? or looking forward to the next classic nucky one-liner? or on tenterhooks about jimmy's... situation, whatever it is?

yes, but without that smarmy attitude

u mad imo

wish i could quit it

killing jimmy would make a big difference

He's definitely my least favourite of the leads, though I don't strongly dislike him. The WWI PTSD thing could have been interesting, but now he seems to mope about the trenches every ten minutes and it gets a bit old.

I think they do a pretty good job with Nucky even as they have to shift to Margaret's perspective of him. Rothstein/Luciano machinations are fun and ever-present, and I loved Capone's coming-of-age thing. Harrow is, obv, awesome.

There's only 2 episodes left, right? It would seem silly to quit now.

It doesn't hold a candle to Deadwood (which was never really about who died) and Sopranos (which was, but was handled a lot better), but it's better than most things on TV at the moment. Also it seems so much better now that it's being paired with a rerun of last season's Big Love, which was so bad I gave up 4 episodes in. Considering picking that up again just to prepare for the final season.

I basically watched about 8 hours of this over the last two days. Now to read the thread. Just skimmed it and until this minute I had no idea that was Dabney C.!! Also, I really dislike de la Huerta woman.

I thought the Commodore was Bob Hoskins, no shit.

I really like jimmy, not to go against the grain.

Yeah I don't have much of a problem with him tbh even though I get that he's not incredibly likeable. I don't hate him or anything and I must say that he's welcome dude eye candy in a sea of T&A.

i am considering trying to emulate his haircut...is this a bad idea?

yes

That's one thing about him that's definitely NAGL in my opinion.