^ Ditto...b/t Boardwalk Empire and The Walking Dead, most Sunday nights have been spent on the edge of whatever seat I have been sitting on...and I, too, look forward to what appears to be Harrow's rampage in the next episode.

I don't know. This for me would incorporate wanting to see Nucky coming out ahead over Rosetti, but basically they're the same guy. In fact, Gyp is a bit of an underdog in the grand scheme of things. And a funnier underdog at that.

Harrow and Van Alden are the only guys in the whole series I'm rooting for at this point. Season Four was green-lighted a long time ago, so I have an "inkling" of who comes out on top here, but I'm mostly numb to all the characters on the boardwalk.

Their reinactment of Capone is really good though.

What I can appreciate about this show is that there is really not a single adult in the entire series that is good and moral and unselfish (with perhaps the possible exception of Eddie and Harrow's new love interest). It allows the viewer to root for whoever they want without guilt because they're all bastards. Any time Gyp, Rothstein, Nucky, Alden, Chalky, Harrow or Capone is getting screen time, I am happy. I don't have to pick a side even, I just sit back and watch it go down. That said, I'd say the director(s) have done an able job getting me to root for Nucky, if only because he's become the underdog (and Buscemi is such an unlikely hero model that it's fun to see him be a badass). I'm not opposed to enjoying some unadulterated ass-kicking and general mafioso bravado, so I am enjoying this season's build-up quite a bit.

I'd say Nucky has more ethics than the other like characters (Gyp, Rothstein) in the series but he's still pretty much fucked over anyone that's ever been close to him. It's a very pessimistic world-view for the series. You know, compared to The Sopranos, they were all scumbags, but the whole tradition of family and career (to the mob) was held in a higher ethic. You could understand why they were doing it ("pop and my uncle did this to support their families").

But, I guess you could say it was prohibition that initially built the mob, so maybe this isn't a valid criticism.

I can get behind Harrow and Van Alden though. I view them as being both extremely damaged, beyond their own volition and really, have they ever been assholes to anyone who didn't ever deserve it in their entire character arcs?

Well the dude Van Alden drowned....

Remember that guy killed the State's witness that they were going to have testify against Jimmy from the robbery in the very first episode. Nucky had him take that guy out on the way to the trial.

This is true, but I was still a little surprised at his homicidal fury...not anymore, mind you, but then.

The finale let me down. Mostly due to the amount of improbable double-crosses that went down. What wasn't there like a dozen of them? And did Harrow just randomly decide to save the little boy from Gyp's crew and Gillian? At the same exact time Masseria's crew were told to leave?

meh.

Well the last time we saw him, he was getting all "Taxi Driver" on us, it was unexpected, but not totally out of left field. (Speaking of Taxi Driver, I think I should go back and count the number of times that movie was visually referenced in the show)

I thought this season was fantastic, and I can't wait to see where the go. I imagine it's going to be a matter of time before we meet Vito Genovese, Frank Costello, Legs Diamond, Dutch Schultz and Thomas Dewey. Not to mention Van Alden getting a front row seat at Capone's eventual rise.

Going to miss Gyp though, fuck that was one great character.

Also, more Stephen Root please.

Re: Harrow

I assumed when we saw him spreading out the guns that his intention was exactly what went down. Perhaps we can assume that he was surveying the place and saw the mass exodus and took his moment...or perhaps it's hollywood convenience...but I had no doubt that he was going back for the boy.

The double crossing stuff worked for me too, except for the actual timing (seemed awfully fast to drop the dime on Rothstein, for example)...but the chronology was a bit vague so who knows.

Overall it felt a bit rushed, partially due to the beginning with it's montage of gangland violence...I would have preferred a two hour finale with a bit more of the action played out and the sequence of events a bit more clear, but c'est la vie...I am stoked for next season, curious to see where it goes from here for Nucky and co.

I was kind of split 50/50 on whether they were gonna kill Rossetti off. I liked the way they did it, albeit a bit obvious.

As far as Harrow goes, I don't really view it as "random" that Harrow would go all Travis Bickle (JxDx is right. Taxi Driver love fest.) I sort of saw it coming though so I didn't feel that thrown off by it. Maybe it's because it's the finale and I'm just expecting all of these things to come crashing down anyway, so any collision doesn't feel all that random. I'm a little disappointed that it was the only thing he did in the finale.

If I'm going to be completely honest, throwing Capone into the AC thing while entertaining did take us out of Chicago's turmoils and thus underplaying their (Torrio, Van Alden, the whole North-South war) significance to the show in general.

All in all, I enjoyed the finale. Meyer and Lucky are cut loose, Rothstein is on the outs and Nucky is still stuck (I guess) in Atlantic City. Chalky is going to get his club and probably have some interactions with some of the Harlem crew in NYC (if I were them, at least, that's what I'd do).

What do you want to bet next season we meet a ornery little punk named Arthur Flegenheimer?

The Lodger gets due credit for the Taxi Driver connection!

I am really hoping for several new faces next season, especially some of the historical figureheads.

I am wondering if they will skip ahead into the future a bit again or if it will pick up right where we left off...I'm guessing they will fast forward a bit at least.

Fuck that kid! He's a punk!

For van Alden fans:



yessssss

wow this deserves its own thread...I read the book a long time ago...can't recall if it resembles this movie very much, but honestly I don't really care...stoked for this one.

Good for Michael Shannon. He fucking deserves a role like this.

No discussion about this, but I thought Season Four = THE BEST! Of this serial at least.

The last episode was complete devastation! Apparently per Terrance Winter, Gillian is going to continue as an ongoing character (how?), but I took the last montage as Chalky as being "out of the game" (as Omar Little would have coined it)? Thoughts?

Harrow's arc ended up being pretty top-knotch. Eli in Chicago with Van Alden and Capone; also pretty damn great.

I kind of think that the producers of this show see themselves as being bullet-proof (the second and third seasons kept rolling while they were not at the same level of what AMC consistently produces, so HBO is starstruck with this team), so I could see this thing going until 1933 (end of Prohibition) or until Buscemi says it's over. Meaning another six or seven seasons or nearly a decade in real life. It seems to be the way it's going...

Just watched the first two seasons of this and thought it was great. Unfortunately, the following seasons of it aren't free on Amazon Prime Streaming, so that is it for me for a while. Sucks.

Thought Buscemi was the perfect actor for that character.

I thought season four was the best. The last season (five) felt really rushed and slipshod. I think HBO cut them down a couple episodes, like the did with The Wire. Ugh. Did not like the ending either. Too neat/contrived for a show with this much nuance. I hope I'm not spoiling it for you. It was still a pretty great show overall though.

Finished the last season a few weeks back and I must say that I relly dig this series. Incredibly well-made with great characters all around.