"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" Season Five (2014) Episode Ranking

[seldonp38]

Due to Season Five of "BOARDWALK EMPIRE" being limited to only eight episodes, I decided to rank those episodes from favorite to least favorite. Created by Terence Winter, the series starred Steve Buscemi:


"BOARDWALK EMPIRE" SEASON FIVE (2014) Episode Ranking



1. (5.03) "What Jesus Said" - Escaped convict Albert "Chalky" White and his unstable companion Milton hold a mother and daughter hostage, while seeking refuge from the law in this tense episode. Margaret Thompson is forced to deal with Arnold Rothstein's widow over funds from a past deal.





2. (5.01) "Golden Days for Boys and Girls" - This colorful season premiere finds Enoch "Nucky" Thompson in 1931 Havana, Cuba with occasional girlfriend Sally Wheat, making a deal with the Bacardi Rum Company and dodging a gangland hit. Meanwhile, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano begins his attempts to take control of the New York mob.





3. (5.05) "King of Norway" - Eli Thompson and Nelson Van Alden, now working as collectors for Al Capone in Chicago, hit a snag in their business relationship when Eli's affair with Van Alden's wife is exposed during June Thompson's trip to the city. Chalky arrives in Atlantic City to seek help from Nucky regarding the location of mobster Dr. Valentin Narcisse.





4. (5.04) "Cuanto" - Sally Wheat has a troubling encounter with a Cuban federal patrol. Nucky helps Margaret deal with Mrs. Rothstein's threats of blackmail and Van Alden is exposed as a former Federal agent, when Lucky Luciano visits Chicago.





5. (5.06) "The Devil You Know" - Chalky and Narcisse have their final showdown over Daughter Maitland and her child in Harlem. Van Alden finally faces Capone over the exposure of his past as a Treasury agent.





6. (5.07) "Friendless Child" - Flashbacks reveal what led the younger Nucky to introduce the adolescent Gillian Darmody to Commodore Louis Kaestner in the 1890s. And the much older Nucky has a disastrous showdown with Luciano and Meyer Lansky.





7. (5.02) "The Good Listener" - This episode reveals the strained state of Van Alden's marriage to Ingrid. Gillian hopes to find a way to escape from the women's sanitarium, to while she has been confined. And Nucky discusses the attempt on his life in Cuba, with Johnny Torrio.





8. (5.08) "Eldorado" - Luciano seals his position as boss of the Mob Commission. Capone faces trial for tax evasion, thanks to the Treasury Department. And a surprise for Nucky and a tragedy is revealed in the episode's last minutes in this somewhat unsatisfying series finale.

Comments

[anjel-kitty.livejournal.com]

Aww thanks for posting this. It was good to read the synopsis of the final season. I see you ranked the last episode at the bottom and say that it was unsatisfying. Why did you feel so?
I found the ending to be rather abrupt but it made sense to me. Nucky had sold Gillian into a life of prostitution and dependence while she was still a child, and in the end he was killed by the one person he never expected to kill him: Gillian's Grandson, Tommy. I think the look of recognition on Nucky's face was also acceptance for his sins against Gillian family, from his murder of Jimmy to his betrayal of Gillain and refusal to help her. He had build a generations long amount of bad karma in regards to that family and in the end it was what brought him down.
I may at some point re watch the entire series starting from Season 1. So much of Season 5 referenced back to Season 1. All the same thank you for sharing this and reminding me of my appreciation for this awesome work of art from HBO.

[seldonp38.livejournal.com]

I may at some point re watch the entire series starting from Season 1. So much of Season 5 referenced back to Season 1.

I'm aware of this. I've been watching this show since it first premiered.

However . . . the whole scenario of Tommy Darmody killing Nucky not only made little sense, it was badly setup. I realize that Terence Winter wanted to surprise the audience with the identity of Nucky's killer. But . . . he never explained how Tommy learned what Nucky had done to Gillian and Jimmy. Winter never explained the details surrounding Tommy's departure from Wisconsin (where he was living with Richard's ex-girlfriend, Julia). The whole situation played out with a vagueness that bordered on sloppy writing.

But I guess that not only did Nucky pay for what he had done to Gillian and Jimmy, they also paid the price. Jimmy paid the price for trying to take over Atlantic City and his attempted murder of Nucky. Gillian paid the price for how she messed up Jimmy's life and encouraging him to murder Nucky. And Nucky paid the price for his actions, as well.

Now, it's Tommy's turn to pay the price for murder.