Boardwalk Empire - Season 3 (Discussion, Spoilers)

[Count Zero]

I think that in some weird way Gillian will have a pivotal role in Rosetti's downfall. She's already annoyed by his henchmen's behaviour and his taking over what she regards as her business.

[Warped9]

Rosetti has it comin' and it's gonna be sweet to see it happen. Gillian has it comin' as well and that, too, will be sweet to see.

[Capt. Vulcan]

The season finale was meh.

[Warped9]

Capt. Vulcan wrote:

---

The season finale was meh.

Yeah, it felt a bit compressed. Rosetti's end was indeed "meh." Gillian was getting hers though we're not sure she's dead. Richard really cleaned house.

I'm assuming Chalky got his night club. Margaret does have a decision to make. And Rothstein is going to have a mess on his hands.

[Icemizer]

I thought there were some brilliant moments in the final but overall not a great ending. My favorite shot was Al with stogie behind machine gun, a great shot. Also excellent was Richard just wasting a house full of guys. Goes back to the line from Unforgiven about how a cool headed man will like as not kill you even if you can draw faster. I am sure Gillian is still alive, but in what state I dont know. And finally poor Gyp, now I am singing the Barney Google song all night, thanks.

[Beagleman]

I really liked the finale.
And the reason Germany lost WWI: Richard Harrow.

[Owain Taggart]

Capt. Vulcan wrote:

---

The season finale was meh.

I'm glad to hear it's not just me that was disappointed with it. I felt it really lacked impact. Everything was so good leading up to it, that it's like they didn't know how to actually answer to that. So, I think the show is great at building up situations, but not so great when it comes to resolution.

[Count Zero]

I really liked it for the way how so many storylines converged at the brothel and how that was a tragic case of bad timing for some (Gillian in particular) and good timing for others (Richard who might not have survived his assault on the house if Massaria's people had still been around). I was surprised that Nucky's plan was much more elaborate than I would have thought (also playing Rothstein).
The scene between Nucky and Margaret was quite tense and interesting. I guess she got her period and wasn't actually pregnant after all? Or did she have an abortion? She was really scared of Nucky in the beginning and I'm not sure what will happen between the two of them next season. Nucky seems to be quite unhappy with his fate, too.
Rosetti's end was awesome and quite fitting regarding his craziness. For a moment, I thought the writers would let him get away to California or something.

[137th Gebirg]

Count Zero wrote:

---

The scene between Nucky and Margaret was quite tense and interesting. I guess she got her period and wasn't actually pregnant after all? Or did she have an abortion?

My take was that it might have been a miscarriage. I got the impression that some time had passed when she was supposed to get her last period and the time she was shown bleeding and that it was still relatively early in the first trimester, a dangerous time where miscarriages are generally the highest, even by today's standards. If she was simply "late" then it appeared to me as if she was REALLY late. She seemed genuinely surprised by the blood.

[Count Zero]

A miscarriage is a bit more drastic than just some blood and it requires medical assistance but we saw Margaret just getting back into the room, to sleep afterwards. That doesn't strike me as the sort of behaviour you'd show in that situation.

[137th Gebirg]

True - a miscarriage is definitely a more traumatic occurrence. Then again, her personal experiences she's had during the show's run were also extremely traumatic for her, and she may already have been numbed by those experiences leading up to this point. Difficult to tell with the time-frame involved.

[DarKush]

I liked the finale, but it didn't provide all the resolution I was hoping for. I thought Richard going solo into the brothel was awesome, but was disappointed that he decided to back away from Julia after delivering Tommy to her. I also wish that Gillian had bought it. Right now both stories are a little too unresolved for my taste.

I am fine with how things ended with Margaret and Nucky and thought it would be a good jumping off point for her character.

I enjoyed Chalky v. Capone and how they came to respect each other at the end.

I was a little confused by all of the betrayals and counter-betrayals. I'm going to run through them. Anyone who understands this better than me, please let me know if I'm right.

-Lucky and Meyer buy heroin from Masseria and owe him big time. They do it behind Arnold's back, correct? Lucky, impatient, gets arrested and then strikes a deal with the cops. These cops work for Arnold. Now, Arnold owns the heroin. He decides to offer a partnership with Masseria to split the profits from the heroin, the clincher being Masseria withdraw his support from Gyp. Okay, if that is correct, then why isn't the heroin still Masseria's? Masseria hasn't been paid off yet for his fronting the drugs, so why isn't he within his 'rights' to reclaim the drugs?

-With Nucky and Arnold. After Mickey calls, Nucky and tells him they are sitting on a gold mine, I'm assuming that Nucky later tells Mickey to call Arnold? Anticipating that Arnold's greed will get the best of him, Arnold calls Nucky to deal and Nucky obliges to take care of the immediate problem of Gyp. Nucky also contacts Mellon so that he can take care of Arnold. But why would Mellon want to take care of Arnold? I thought his only concern was making sure he got paid from his distillery? And what's the difference between Arnold and Nucky? The only one I can see is that Arnold appears to be more stable than Nucky is.

[Tom]

Lucky and Meyer did not buy heroin from Masseria, they were trying to convice him to start selling Heroin with them. They were asking Massaria to help buy a lot of Heroin from there source overseas, i believe (have to rewatch that part again)

[T'Bonz]

Gillian. Still alive, DAMN IT.

Rosetti. Who didn't see the beach scene coming?

Margaret. I'm guessing she had the abortion. If not, they may have given her something to bring on an abortion (remember that woman and the raw milk?)

I think she's a fool for turning down Nucky. How will she support herself with 2 kids? The problem with Margaret, she wants to be good and virtuous, but she gets herself in trouble every time. She gets hot for a guy and *wham!* goodbye good intentions. She was pregnant coming over from Ireland, she went after Nucky and she went after Owen too.

She can't make up her own mind. Good girl or bad girl. Problem is, she is both but she can't seem to live with the bad girl part of herself. Which makes her a pain in the ass to everyone else around her.

[TheGodBen]

The episode was definitely rushed, as I feared last week, but it was still entertaining. There was more plot crammed into this episode than the entire first season, and some of it was hard to follow for that reason. For example, what sort of deal did Nucky make with Capone? And why is Secretary Mellon doing Nucky's business? This episode could easily have been stretched out to two or three episodes and would have been better for it.

That being said, the sequence where Richard stormed the building was incredible. It's sad to see that this might be an end to his relationship with Julia, but we might get to see more of him being a badass in the future, so I'm torn.