it more than that he could have had harrow up there sniping and turned the tables on them. He literally committed suicide by Nucky. Itd be boom Ely is down then "dont move nuckie".
personally... the character annoyed tf out of me first half of the series. By season 3 on I couldn't stop laughing at him. Great performance by him nonetheless
The season of Gyp starts with them talking about the comic strip "Gasoline Alley" and ends with Gyp singing the "Barney Google" song which was another popular strip of that era.
Michael Pitt is actually a friend of mine..we met while I was working security on the set of Boardwalk Empire..then later we ran into each other again when I was working the door in a bar in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn where Pitt lives..& he is a pretty crazy as far as partying but extremely loyal & generous as a friend He told me a few war stories about working on Boardwalk..& how & why they killed him off..they pretty much nailed it on this video
It's because he was hard to work with. Of course you're only going to get his side of the story when talking to him. But I spoke with a lower level costume designer for the show and she said that Michael kept getting in "creative spats" with the director. The director would give him direction, saying things like "I don't feel Jimmy would be so somber when saying 'And to the victor, goes the spoils!' I feel you should give it more", and Michael disagreed. Anyways, I wasn't there myself but I'm just highlighting that there are always two sides.
Gillian Darmody, Jimmy's moms, was a complex character. Abused as a child, she herself became an abuser. Some call child abuse the 'vampire disease' those afflicted with it will afflict others. And Gillian's relationship with her son was that of protecting mother while at the same time being abusive sexually. She even had eyes for her grandchild. Brilliant writing on how someone we can despise as being evil and manipulative, we can also feel sorry for as in the scene in season 3 where she's found in a heroin induced haze, sitting on the floor reliving her child rape scene, muttering words along the lines of "...I was a good girl, I did everything he wanted, I was good...". Heart breaking. Once again a complex character we can both hate and pity.
Her greed & deceitfulness clouded her judgement, u saw where she ended up! She manipulated jimmy into getting close to his father knowing where that would lead, then manipulated him into killing him. She got the commodores house in a ill-gotten way, & u saw how she lost it. She didn't care a/b Jimmy's death until it was beneficial to her. NTM I believe she told Tommy who killed Jimmy.....ruined his life!
@@ReverendSam1 , true all that. Shows the cycle of evil that began for her when she was raped as a child. Much as I hated her and was disgusted with her manipulations and perversions, that moment in season 3 mentioned above had my heart breaking for her. Once again, show the brilliance of the BE's writing.
@@ndogg20 The writing was brilliant & Gillian was a sympathetic figure but she fell into the"someone did it to me so I'll do it to someone else"syndrome. The characters I had the most empathy for were the Thompson Bros. I know, but if u watch their story Nucky was trying to escape his upcoming but ran into & learned from even more vicious ppl than his father. Then there's Elias who tried to mimic Nucky's moves but wasn't groomed like he was so he wasn't successful & ended up resenting his brother. Nucky was torn between helping ppl & the nature he learned as a user & manipulator...... TRAGIC!!!
It was just too much. Didn’t want to see that shit. They should have focused on the gangster stuff more and dropped the not that subtle at all Oedipus Complex stuff.
As a veteran myself I really identified with Jimmy and I was pissed when they killed him off. I almost didn't want to continue watching the show after that but Richard Haro was a very compelling character so I just got interested in his story arc instead.
I think the point of Jimmy's character was that even though he gave zero shits and thought he was gangsta, the real gangstas made him look like a choirboy. He was in way over his head. Sure he could kill, but he was not really evil. The other guys were nasty, evil bastards and Jimmy was just not like that. In fact, I would suggest Jimmy coming to the meet was a type of curse initiated by Jimmy, but fulfilled by Nucky. Nucky up until then was "half a gangster," but once he killed a man he thought of as a son that was it. Jimmy may have lost his life, but Nucky lost his soul. The real loser in that encounter was Nucky.
I agree completely. Even if he was fictional, to me Jimmy was the most real character on that show. He was the most compelling, the most interesting, and honestly nothing after season 2 really compares to those first episodes where we see Jimmy's arc. Every few years, my wife and I try to watch all of boardwalk empire, and after season 2, after Jimmy's death she says she's just lost interest. I don't blame her
Jack Huston who played another beloved character Richard Harrow on the show. He once said " a tragic character never walks away into the sunset with everything he ever wanted. a tragic character always has to end tragically". Boardwalk Empire is easily one of my all time favorite tv series. And if I'm honest it's my #1 favorite TV series. The show actually got me in that whole Mafia thing and made me research it a lot more by reading many books. It made me fascinated by that time in history. Darmody was a truly beautiful character that I think many of us could also relate to because as we are young we all make foolish mistakes and he learns us how important it is to learn from them. I think having Nucky kill Jimmy was one of the most important moments in the show that really had to happen. It was incredibly sad to see him go but I think it was good that it happened as well. Even 10/11 years later this show remains something special to me I still rewatch it ever year.
@@bigtats76 Those were not hobos. They looked like hobos but if you listen to the conversation it becomes clear they are locals hanging out in the woods pulling a Thoreau.
As if sopranos wasn't enough, being from Jersey I ate this show up. So well done!!! From the costumes to the set design this show is raw and delivers. Non biased.
I worked security on the set of Boardwalk..& NO scenes of the show were EVER filmed in Jersey..the actual Boardwalk was a set built in my neighborhood of Greenpoint Brooklyn..& the majority of the show was filmed there & in other converted churches & bas Brooklyn & parts of Manhattan
Season two is where the show fell apart for me; It’s one thing for Jimmy to go against Nucky for arranging the rape of his mother, but then aligning himself with the man who actually committed the rape is mind boggling - it’s not logical at all and the first season, Jimmy seemed pretty logical. There should have been a season or two developing the souring of the Jimmy and Nucky relationship before they became enemies at war, IMO. Season 2 jumped the shark for me. Felt very forced and rushed.
Well now you know why it jumped the shark with Coleman getting cancer. The writers had to scramble and adjust. But I still liked the show up until the last episode. But I do get your point. It was different after 2.
I felt the first two seasons were the peak of the show. Season 3 began a downward spiral that ended with a kind of ridiculous finish for a couple of the major characters (Nucky and Chalky). Gyp Rosetti, while entertaining, was basically a cartoon character and to me it was clear by then that the show kind of wanted to prioritize that kind of brash over substance. Don't get me wrong, it was still good but just didn't live up to the great potential it showed the first 2 seasons. Regarding Jimmy, I can completely see how he would fall under the Commodore's spell. One, he was his biological father and Jimmy was always looking for a father figure. Even in that flashback episode of him in college, he took that professor as a mentor almost immediately. Plus, his own mother rationalized her own victim hood to him plenty of times in their conversations. Two, the Commodore knew and understood how to manipulate people which is how he got to be who he was. With Jimmy he had the added advantage of being his father so he had the emotional and mental angles. Logic has nothing to do with emotions and Jimmy was a highly emotional guy even when he was applying logic to a situation. The minute Jimmy green lit the hit on Nucky, he couldn't survive as a character in order for Nucky's character to make any sense...and I said that exact same thing to a friend of mine at the time it happened when he was upset that they killed Jimmy off. I was surprised they did it because of how the scene played out but it had to be done.
It's a shame they had to wrap the show up early. From what I've heard they were going to get cancelled but they begged for one more season, hence the time jump.
Jimmy knew he was going to get killed. He didn’t bring a gun so he knew he wasn’t killing Manny, he gave his son goodbye gifts and didn’t bring Richard. Jimmy was my favourite character - though he did some despicable things - and I was sad to see him die
Jimmy's son whacking Nuck was a great ending. I too was pissed that Jimmy was killed so soon. He should've been to at least last season. Gyp,Richard,and Jimmy were best characters
I thought the flashback where he slept with his mother was the episode right before he was killed off? I could be wrong about that, but by that late stage in the season, Jimmy's character was already headed towards being killed off. He was never coming back from trying to kill Nucky, throwing Mickey Doyle off a balcony at Manny, or his wife being killed. Having sex with his own mother was just the final nail in the coffin, and felt a bit like the writers trying to quickly explain why he fought in WW1 before they killed him off, a storyline one can safely assume was going to be given more time if Season 2 and Coleman's illness had played out differently.
It’s weird but I believe that another reason why they killed off Jimmy was to not repeat the dynamic between Tony and Christopher in The Sopranos. (Nucky being the boss and Jimmy his prodigy.) If you remember in Season 5 of The Sopranos when Christopher is almost whacked by Tony and (I can’t even say his name 😡) that animal Blundetto there is a rainy night and the scenery is similar to the night Jimmy was whacked.
Except to main differences. Jimmy was highly competent when controlled by Nucky. Christopher was almost always a lose cannon and not very competent. Jimmy went to his death willingly, like a man and in turn his death would result in Nucky's own death. Christopher when faced with death (the two Russians) shit himself. He did a bit better when Tony & the crew were gonna whack him but he did not show up like a man, nor did he act like a man.
By having Nucky kill him they actually replicated the Tony and Christopher dynamic. They should’ve kept him on and either had him leave the life of crime or have him killed by an enemy of Nuckys. That would’ve broken the sopranos comparison of the two relationships
That was Nucky Johnson. The fictional Nucky Thompson does not have to follow the history of the man they based him on, which is why they changed his name.
Really good show wish they didn’t do the time jump for the last season....would’ve been a great show if they would’ve Focused on lucky and Meyer...the way jimmy passed the Baton to Thompson...Thompson Could’ve passed the baton to the Commission
Also, I don’t think Jimmy wanted what happened between him and his mother to happen. He was extremely intoxicated and incapable of controlling himself. That and he always resented his mother for it.
I think Jimmy died inside the day he killed that German soldier that was trapped in the barbed wire and calling out for his mom. He ended being nothing more than a triggerman. Horrible at business decisions and his fate was sealed when Manny survived being attacked by Alfred.
Season 3 of this show was so good. Overall very underrated considering it had the best ever on screen depiction of Al capone, lucky luchiano, and arnold rothstein. And Steve Buscemi just brought such life to the character of nucky 👌🏻
@@georgegreig8054 Nah, he played "this version" of Al Capone, perfectly. I even understand why you see that, but the non-fictional characters in this show...... They came across to me as original and well written, like re-imagined versions of their real life counterparts. So I enjoyed watching this "short-sighted" Capone, who's an unpredictable psychopath that relied on his reactions far more than his own thoughts or conscience.
@@georgegreig8054 that's fair, I'm sure..... It's been years since I've re-watched any of it. So I'm remembering mostly highlights, but hey...... A short-sighted and psychopathic, Dwarf Al Capone should probably have his own show anyway lol
@@wc2998 Wearing a monocle and a top hat would be ideal. Tap-dancing while spraying bullets from his Tommy gun as well. All in the name of authenticity of course ha ha
I was one of those people who got to the show late and I really love it. I didn't mind Jimmy going out like he did. But I did feel it fell into a trope where in an effort to avoid the "everything works out in the end" trope they basically killed everyone, there were no happy endings for anyone. To me a show really has to have a complicated mix of endings like the Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, etc. But Boardwalk just killed off everyone and the few who survived are incredibly scarred mentally and emotionally or in a lotta trouble come the end of the show. It killed the rewatchability for me and it was only made 10x worse by the way HBO forced them to cut the final 2-3 seasons down to 1. Those last few seasons which would've included the infamous Atlantic City Conference and the rise or deaths of key characters we'd followed all along could've been where the show really achieved greatness despite it killing everyone and it's strange way of telling us things about the past.
Love scene when old man smacks Jimmy in face with cane. Jimmy comes back and scalps the bastard. That got old guys respect. Loved Jimmy and his best friend Richard
I thought the show really lost a lot when Jimmy was killed. The story then focused on much weaker characters like Margaret and Chalky to pickup the slack, their stories went nowhere and were substantially worse. The show really suffered because of it.
My two biggest complaints with this show are that it felt rushed at times (although generally the pacing was fantastic) and the fact that the last season focused so much on young Nucky. I could never fully pin down why those long flashbacks bothered me, but you finally nailed it- by then, the show had eveolved into a more generalized bootlegger organized crime show. The flashbacks felt so removed, and ultimately only severed to work as buildup to the event final "shot" of the show. Really, Boardwalk Empire deserved much more time to build up to its ultimate conclusions, but remains and excellent experience none the less. RIP Richard Harrow
Man speaking of the young Nucky character, they absolutely nailed the casting with that actor! He looks exactly like what I would imagine a young Steve Buscemi would have looked like. They both have peculiar features.
Terry Winter is a talented writer but I question how it made logical sense for Nucky to kill Jimmy for betraying him but not Eli. I know they’re brothers but Nucky was not a man encumbered by sentiment. Eli was just as guilty as Jimmy and his betrayal was even worse considering they are brothers. Plus Jimmy saved Nucky from facing a trial which surely would have put him away for life, if not the electric char. I mean, Jimmy reached out to Nucky, explained the Commodore’s manipulation, told Nucky that Eli wanted him killed, which Jimmy himself opposed. I don’t know. I felt there was enough wiggle room to keep Jimmy around.
I'm a boardwalk empire junkie. I pay for hbo solely for it because I play it while I sleep. I know every line and scene. I love how they wrote for Jimmy to die like a man, he didn't beg or appear weak or defeated. As sad as it was to watch his life as a character end, I will always be impressed with his grace and bravery❤️
To me, that wasn't the most surprising death, but rather Jimmy's son taking revenge on Nucky for his fathers murder. Having said that, Richard Harrow was the greatest TV series character I have ever seen in 59 yrs, and Van Alden isn't far behind. Fabulous Show!!!
Kudos for covering this series. I loved this show & it was just by chance that I began watching. Had a little slow of a start - but the character arcs were so well written, that I kept watching more and more to learn about everyone’s past and how they are connected. Kudos :)
Jimmy is an interesting character I find it fascinating the role of veterans in crime. It's PTSD versus greed of the long play gangster also minority groups get a boust from the violence if returned soldiers.
Love me some Boardwalk Empire. Jimmy was one of my favorite characters on that show. Whenever Jimmy and Al Capone were up to their shenanigans, they stole the show. Jimmy had some of the best scenes in the whole series. That last scene of Jimmy crossing the top of the trench was as compelling as any interpretation of the Great War in any show.
And was Jimmy's wife also killed because of the actress's misbehaving?😂 I ask it because her death was even more unlogical than Jimmy's. 1. Jimmy didn't even succeed to take revenge. 2. It was obvious that Richard liked her, and it seemed mutual. There could be another storyline. But Jimmy's wife was unreasonably killed off the show. There was absolutely no reason to kill her.
I was so mad when they killed off Jimmy I stopped watching the show. He was the only character I could identify with. He was an actual person with a story. Most of the others were gangster stereotypes that used historical names but didn't faithfully represent those people. I did like Manny and Chalky though. RIP.
I thought I'd share a different theory. What if the reason why Jimmy was killed at the end of season 2 was due to the lead being jealous of Michael Pitt? Jimmy was a bigger fan favorite than Nucky. More people were wanting him to win the war, instead of the main protagonist. I heard that Steve Buscemi didn't want the main focus to be on Pitt. I also heard that they butted heads on set.
Steve Buscemi is a great character actor plus he is a firefighter. He has no problem working as part of a team. Think Pitt has had issues before Boardwalk and after Boardwalk on Hannibal
@@pheresy1367 - Michael Pitt gave an interview when all of this went down and he was asked why he was leaving the show and he said he was, admittedly, difficult to work with. Other members of the show backed this up...even the show runner.
@@rudypujenkins6890 Huh. I wonder why they back-peddled on that reason later on? I heard that also years ago, but now they are saying it's not the case. The writer said right here that he already knew at the beginning of season 2 that Darmody would be dead by the end of the season. So, they continued working with him for the entire season, regardless of him being difficult to work with.
I never watched this show but had friends that absolutely loved it. Once he killed Jimmy those same friends told me they stopped watching it when Jimmy was killed off.
This is the best show HBO ever did I've watched the entire series five times. Every actor did such a great job. I do wish they'd done a season six Arnold Rothstein should have had his death scene.
I believe Terrance Winter at a certain point decided to end the show prematurely due to a decision of wanting to move into the Film industry. e.g. Wolf of wall street. Very disappointing, as the show had the potential to be up there with the Sopranos for me
The ending was a bit rushed and obvious I thought, Stephen Graham is a Master of accents. He's a great actor in both a bad die and a goodie. A Scouser who can play a geezer, an Irishman, Yorkshire Man and a Brooklyn Man. Humblr Genius
strangely enough my son met Michael Pitt and asked him about this and he said he was always gonna be killed off but they did it a year early but didn't explain why,. He said that Jimmy's son was always gonna kill Nucky and that was for revenge for his father and grandmother ,Nucky was always gonna die at Jimmy's kid's hand. ,That was the way it was pitched to HBO,. and It was why the 3rd season was kind of disjointed, by the way,Jimmy,Richard,and Gillian were by far the most interesting characters in the show.
Yea they killed jimmy way too early. But imo it doesnt make sense that jimmys kid kills nuck bc they had moved to a different place when he was young in reality there is no way he could of found nucky out and even if he did hes lucky enough to infiltrate the organization through mickey? Really far fetched. Great series anyways loved it
1 year later and this still rings true. Jimmy and richard deserved their own storyline. Who gives a shit about Margaret? Show went downhill from there.
The show lost its touch after Jimmies death and also Richards death was for no reason they could’ve let my man live the life he always wants and live in the name of Jimmy 🙏
The show transitioned from an Atlantic City gangster story to a more general one with just a villain a season. The show tried to be too much, lost its center, and fizzled out. I think that is why by season 4 HBO knew it was on borrowed time. I don't mind characters getting killed off in gangster shows, because that is what happens to them. It is just a shame when there is not a clear plan for where the show going forward after doing so.
I'm one who likes shock deaths of main characters in TV shows, so this was an awesome moment for me. Still, it was head scratching because it felt like they were building him up for bigger things. Personally, I'd still take the shock factor of his death over a long drawn out storyline, but that's just me /sips tea.
Killing the 2nd main character at the end of season 2 was a huge move. I was so skeptical about season 3 but quickly realized it was awesome after meeting Gyp Rossetti. Then season 4 ended up being the best of the series.
Me too ✋ and lucky in love him & Asia Argento! Lol plus their baby! but i still smittenly deteriorate like melted lipstick gloss when I fall into that trance paying close attn to him onscreen!
It was bad writing imo, it seemed rushed af, Jimmy's whole story arch was rushed in season 2. It felt off. They could have stretched it out til the end of season 3 and Jimmy's arch wouldnt have felt so rushed.
The most episodes directed in the show was by Tim van patten who directed a lot of and wrote a couple of the best episodes too….including the Ralph’s demise episode
I think they should have just replaced the actor playing commodore if the actor’s health was all the reason to fast track jimmy’s death. Replacing him after s1 wouldn’t have mattered a lot, he was just a side character we rarely saw.
Maybe not up to the level of the Sopranos or other Mob movies, but this was still an excellent series that I binge watched from beginning to end. I definitely would like to see more videos about this series.
Honestly, how many times could they have him show up, team with nucky, get disgruntled, turn on nucky and try to take over, get over matched in embarrassing fashion, and then go back to nucky and start the cycle all over. They kinda had to kill him.
Jimmy was a threat to Nucky. The cause of Jimmy's very existence, if brought to public, was also a threat to Thompson. Plus Jimmy stole the shipment of booze that was destined from Thompson to Arnold Rothstein. Something Thompson never forgot or forgave.
Thats what I was thinking too, I really liked the stuff with Jimmy in Chicago, and I think he could’ve taken part in some things in New York eventually, too. I think the focus of the show should’ve been more on the rise of Jimmy, Capone, and Luciano. Two real characters and a fictional character.
Just finished the show and loved it. One thing I can say is scorsese started the show off with bang directing the pilot. By far one of my fav episodes and I wish Scorsese would’ve directed more episodes but it was a great show nonetheless
*Why did Butch betray Phil? | The Sopranos Explained:*
ruclips.net/video/ZyKWUKmNxTc/видео.html
Well done Boychik
props to you for protecting spoilers bro
it more than that he could have had harrow up there sniping and turned the tables on them. He literally committed suicide by Nucky. Itd be boom Ely is down then "dont move nuckie".
Jimmy was technically base on a real person to a degree. Jimmy Darmondy was base on Jimmy Boyd. The real Jimmy lived alot longer in life
The greatest character arc of this show was Nelson Van Alden…Michael Shannon stole every scene he was in and had by far the most complex character!
A great character indeed
personally... the character annoyed tf out of me first half of the series. By season 3 on I couldn't stop laughing at him. Great performance by him nonetheless
@@clockwork2620 I loved the scene were he *"Ironed"* out his differences with his co-workers in season 3.
Watching his decent into madness and into the mob was great
Needed more scenes with him and nucky's brother
Jimmy’s death was a major blow to the series but it also made the barn burning gyp Rossetti storyline possible.
Gyp was a monster.....loved Bobby... imagine his take on the Joker
Gyp was an amazing bad guy.
Yeah he was my fav character season 1 and 2 I still can’t look at his death I have to turn away
Yeah Jimmy death was a blow to the show probably stopped it from truly being a GOAT show
The season of Gyp starts with them talking about the comic strip "Gasoline Alley" and ends with Gyp singing the "Barney Google" song which was another popular strip of that era.
Gyp Rossetti calling Lucky Luciano “short pants” is one of my favorite Boardwalk Empire moments.
He also called Nucky a breadstick in a bow tie.
You think a man can’t experience a for worse than Gyp Rosetti…then he gets Valentin Narcisse!
Bible camps cancelled
@@johnsabini3049 stilll chuckle to this day
Gyp was brilliant.
Michael Pitt is actually a friend of mine..we met while I was working security on the set of Boardwalk Empire..then later we ran into each other again when I was working the door in a bar in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn where Pitt lives..& he is a pretty crazy as far as partying but extremely loyal & generous as a friend
He told me a few war stories about working on Boardwalk..& how & why they killed him off..they pretty much nailed it on this video
It's because he was hard to work with. Of course you're only going to get his side of the story when talking to him. But I spoke with a lower level costume designer for the show and she said that Michael kept getting in "creative spats" with the director. The director would give him direction, saying things like "I don't feel Jimmy would be so somber when saying 'And to the victor, goes the spoils!' I feel you should give it more", and Michael disagreed. Anyways, I wasn't there myself but I'm just highlighting that there are always two sides.
Yea right 🖕🏽
Fake comment
@@richardarnez4932well Michael was right…it wasn’t in his character that to be screaming like Al Capone
@@DSPHistoricalSocietyprove it kid
Gillian Darmody, Jimmy's moms, was a complex character. Abused as a child, she herself became an abuser.
Some call child abuse the 'vampire disease' those afflicted with it will afflict others. And Gillian's relationship with her son was that of protecting mother while at the same time being abusive sexually. She even had eyes for her grandchild. Brilliant writing on how someone we can despise as being evil and manipulative, we can also feel sorry for as in the scene in season 3 where she's found in a heroin induced haze, sitting on the floor reliving her child rape scene, muttering words along the lines of "...I was a good girl, I did everything he wanted, I was good...". Heart breaking. Once again a complex character we can both hate and pity.
Her greed & deceitfulness clouded her judgement, u saw where she ended up! She manipulated jimmy into getting close to his father knowing where that would lead, then manipulated him into killing him. She got the commodores house in a ill-gotten way, & u saw how she lost it. She didn't care a/b Jimmy's death until it was beneficial to her. NTM I believe she told Tommy who killed Jimmy.....ruined his life!
@@ReverendSam1 , true all that. Shows the cycle of evil that began for her when she was raped as a child. Much as I hated her and was disgusted with her manipulations and perversions, that moment in season 3 mentioned above had my heart breaking for her.
Once again, show the brilliance of the BE's writing.
@@ndogg20 The writing was brilliant & Gillian was a sympathetic figure but she fell into the"someone did it to me so I'll do it to someone else"syndrome. The characters I had the most empathy for were the Thompson Bros. I know, but if u watch their story Nucky was trying to escape his upcoming but ran into & learned from even more vicious ppl than his father. Then there's Elias who tried to mimic Nucky's moves but wasn't groomed like he was so he wasn't successful & ended up resenting his brother. Nucky was torn between helping ppl & the nature he learned as a user & manipulator...... TRAGIC!!!
YES 100%
It was just too much. Didn’t want to see that shit. They should have focused on the gangster stuff more and dropped the not that subtle at all Oedipus Complex stuff.
As a veteran myself I really identified with Jimmy and I was pissed when they killed him off. I almost didn't want to continue watching the show after that but Richard Haro was a very compelling character so I just got interested in his story arc instead.
Richard WAS THAT DUDE.
I think the point of Jimmy's character was that even though he gave zero shits and thought he was gangsta, the real gangstas made him look like a choirboy. He was in way over his head. Sure he could kill, but he was not really evil. The other guys were nasty, evil bastards and Jimmy was just not like that. In fact, I would suggest Jimmy coming to the meet was a type of curse initiated by Jimmy, but fulfilled by Nucky. Nucky up until then was "half a gangster," but once he killed a man he thought of as a son that was it. Jimmy may have lost his life, but Nucky lost his soul. The real loser in that encounter was Nucky.
@Harupert Beagleton aye me too man, took me ages to be able to watch that show
I agree completely. Even if he was fictional, to me Jimmy was the most real character on that show. He was the most compelling, the most interesting, and honestly nothing after season 2 really compares to those first episodes where we see Jimmy's arc.
Every few years, my wife and I try to watch all of boardwalk empire, and after season 2, after Jimmy's death she says she's just lost interest. I don't blame her
SAME!!!!
Jack Huston who played another beloved character Richard Harrow on the show. He once said " a tragic character never walks away into the sunset with everything he ever wanted. a tragic character always has to end tragically". Boardwalk Empire is easily one of my all time favorite tv series. And if I'm honest it's my #1 favorite TV series. The show actually got me in that whole Mafia thing and made me research it a lot more by reading many books. It made me fascinated by that time in history. Darmody was a truly beautiful character that I think many of us could also relate to because as we are young we all make foolish mistakes and he learns us how important it is to learn from them. I think having Nucky kill Jimmy was one of the most important moments in the show that really had to happen. It was incredibly sad to see him go but I think it was good that it happened as well. Even 10/11 years later this show remains something special to me I still rewatch it ever year.
Harrow was my favorite character out of many great ones. The scene in the woods with the hobos gives me chills every time I watch it
@@bigtats76 Those were not hobos. They looked like hobos but if you listen to the conversation it becomes clear they are locals hanging out in the woods pulling a Thoreau.
Yup no one layered characters here
My favorite character
Richard harrow was easily my favorite character
As if sopranos wasn't enough, being from Jersey I ate this show up. So well done!!! From the costumes to the set design this show is raw and delivers. Non biased.
@@firstnamelastname8332 troll trash
@@firstnamelastname8332 Your comment is trash
I worked security on the set of Boardwalk..&
NO scenes of the show were EVER filmed in Jersey..the actual Boardwalk was a set built in my neighborhood of Greenpoint Brooklyn..& the majority of the show was filmed there & in other converted churches & bas Brooklyn & parts of Manhattan
@@firstnamelastname8332 i live in NYC you clown..
Jersey in the house and I feel the same @Mark Francis
Season two is where the show fell apart for me;
It’s one thing for Jimmy to go against Nucky for arranging the rape of his mother, but then aligning himself with the man who actually committed the rape is mind boggling - it’s not logical at all and the first season, Jimmy seemed pretty logical.
There should have been a season or two developing the souring of the Jimmy and Nucky relationship before they became enemies at war, IMO.
Season 2 jumped the shark for me. Felt very forced and rushed.
For me two. The final season was unwatchable.
Well now you know why it jumped the shark with Coleman getting cancer. The writers had to scramble and adjust. But I still liked the show up until the last episode. But I do get your point. It was different after 2.
I felt the first two seasons were the peak of the show. Season 3 began a downward spiral that ended with a kind of ridiculous finish for a couple of the major characters (Nucky and Chalky). Gyp Rosetti, while entertaining, was basically a cartoon character and to me it was clear by then that the show kind of wanted to prioritize that kind of brash over substance. Don't get me wrong, it was still good but just didn't live up to the great potential it showed the first 2 seasons.
Regarding Jimmy, I can completely see how he would fall under the Commodore's spell. One, he was his biological father and Jimmy was always looking for a father figure. Even in that flashback episode of him in college, he took that professor as a mentor almost immediately. Plus, his own mother rationalized her own victim hood to him plenty of times in their conversations. Two, the Commodore knew and understood how to manipulate people which is how he got to be who he was. With Jimmy he had the added advantage of being his father so he had the emotional and mental angles. Logic has nothing to do with emotions and Jimmy was a highly emotional guy even when he was applying logic to a situation. The minute Jimmy green lit the hit on Nucky, he couldn't survive as a character in order for Nucky's character to make any sense...and I said that exact same thing to a friend of mine at the time it happened when he was upset that they killed Jimmy off. I was surprised they did it because of how the scene played out but it had to be done.
It was his father! WTF man?
@Hal Jordan Thank you! I thought I was the only one annoyed by Gyp Rossetti.
This was an underrated series I feel.
It's a shame they had to wrap the show up early. From what I've heard they were going to get cancelled but they begged for one more season, hence the time jump.
💯
You could tell that last season was rushed for some reason. I still haven't re-watched that season, just remember thinking it was obvious at the time
started off good and then went downhill.
@@joggyjames hbo took a phat shit over the boardwalk empire crew in season five
Jimmy knew he was going to get killed. He didn’t bring a gun so he knew he wasn’t killing Manny, he gave his son goodbye gifts and didn’t bring Richard. Jimmy was my favourite character - though he did some despicable things - and I was sad to see him die
I would indeed like to see Boardwalk Empire stories.
Killing darmody was huge mistake! Great character in my opinion
almost all of my friends stop watching Boardwalk Empire after Jimmy was killed.
Yes it was
I liked Jimmy, but I wouldn't have taken the show seriously if he hadn't been killed then.
Hated jimmy, he was boring and annoying.
@@muslim7608 I stopped too
I definitely think Jimmy's death was justified but at the same time, he was the heart of the show.
Itll be like killing off jesse pinkman
Was he? Not to me.
@@juanitajones6900just started watching it, he was by far the heart of the show
@@RandomShowerThoughts He never was to me.
Jimmy's son whacking Nuck was a great ending. I too was pissed that Jimmy was killed so soon. He should've been to at least last season. Gyp,Richard,and Jimmy were best characters
Once we found out he had slept with his mother, Gillian, he was on borrowed time. We knew he was damaged from the war but this was heartbreaking
Didn’t she say he kissed his Winkie too if I’m not mistaken she was a sick woman
@@1891kmk Well she was raped as a child.
I thought the flashback where he slept with his mother was the episode right before he was killed off?
I could be wrong about that, but by that late stage in the season, Jimmy's character was already headed towards being killed off. He was never coming back from trying to kill Nucky, throwing Mickey Doyle off a balcony at Manny, or his wife being killed.
Having sex with his own mother was just the final nail in the coffin, and felt a bit like the writers trying to quickly explain why he fought in WW1 before they killed him off, a storyline one can safely assume was going to be given more time if Season 2 and Coleman's illness had played out differently.
@@VitZ9his mother came onto him when they were both drunk. She was the real predator to him, even kissed his willie when he was a baby
Yes she did! When she said that I fucking knew something sexual was going to happen between them and I was right! @@1891kmk
It’s weird but I believe that another reason why they killed off Jimmy was to not repeat the dynamic between Tony and Christopher in The Sopranos. (Nucky being the boss and Jimmy his prodigy.)
If you remember in Season 5 of The Sopranos when Christopher is almost whacked by Tony and (I can’t even say his name 😡) that animal Blundetto there is a rainy night and the scenery is similar to the night Jimmy was whacked.
makes sense i never thought of that lol
That animal Blundetto..🤣🤣
Except to main differences. Jimmy was highly competent when controlled by Nucky. Christopher was almost always a lose cannon and not very competent. Jimmy went to his death willingly, like a man and in turn his death would result in Nucky's own death. Christopher when faced with death (the two Russians) shit himself. He did a bit better when Tony & the crew were gonna whack him but he did not show up like a man, nor did he act like a man.
By having Nucky kill him they actually replicated the Tony and Christopher dynamic. They should’ve kept him on and either had him leave the life of crime or have him killed by an enemy of Nuckys. That would’ve broken the sopranos comparison of the two relationships
Jimmy as alot more likeable and badass than Christopher every would be
I wish that they would have kept the ending authentic to history. Nucky only spent 2 years in jail at the end, and lived a long, wealthy life.
Exactly
But nothing else in the show was like the real Nucky, so why adhere now?
That was Nucky Johnson. The fictional Nucky Thompson does not have to follow the history of the man they based him on, which is why they changed his name.
@@CJGrae exactly. This argument is so fucking tiring
Really good show wish they didn’t do the time jump for the last season....would’ve been a great show if they would’ve Focused on lucky and Meyer...the way jimmy passed the Baton to Thompson...Thompson Could’ve passed the baton to the Commission
1st Four Seasons were perfect. Then they screwed up with 5 season time jump
Also, I don’t think Jimmy wanted what happened between him and his mother to happen. He was extremely intoxicated and incapable of controlling himself. That and he always resented his mother for it.
On the commentary the writer says "neither of them are being forced into anything. This is a shoe that's been waiting to drop for a long time "
Boardwalk was so damn good !
🔥🔥🔥
I think Jimmy died inside the day he killed that German soldier that was trapped in the barbed wire and calling out for his mom. He ended being nothing more than a triggerman. Horrible at business decisions and his fate was sealed when Manny survived being attacked by Alfred.
yeah i felt jimmy really died in the war
Season 3 of this show was so good. Overall very underrated considering it had the best ever on screen depiction of Al capone, lucky luchiano, and arnold rothstein.
And Steve Buscemi just brought such life to the character of nucky 👌🏻
This version of Al Capone was awful. He was wasn't a dwarf.
@@georgegreig8054 Nah, he played "this version" of Al Capone, perfectly.
I even understand why you see that, but the non-fictional characters in this show...... They came across to me as original and well written, like re-imagined versions of their real life counterparts.
So I enjoyed watching this "short-sighted" Capone, who's an unpredictable psychopath that relied on his reactions far more than his own thoughts or conscience.
@@wc2998 He wasnt really a short-sighted psycopath either.
@@georgegreig8054 that's fair, I'm sure..... It's been years since I've re-watched any of it. So I'm remembering mostly highlights, but hey...... A short-sighted and psychopathic, Dwarf Al Capone should probably have his own show anyway lol
@@wc2998 Wearing a monocle and a top hat would be ideal. Tap-dancing while spraying bullets from his Tommy gun as well. All in the name of authenticity of course ha ha
Michael Pitt performance as Mason Verger in the Hannibal tv show is underrated af.
How can it be underrated if everybody who's seen it says the same thing?
I was one of those people who got to the show late and I really love it. I didn't mind Jimmy going out like he did.
But I did feel it fell into a trope where in an effort to avoid the "everything works out in the end" trope they basically killed everyone, there were no happy endings for anyone.
To me a show really has to have a complicated mix of endings like the Sopranos, Oz, The Wire, etc. But Boardwalk just killed off everyone and the few who survived are incredibly scarred mentally and emotionally or in a lotta trouble come the end of the show. It killed the rewatchability for me and it was only made 10x worse by the way HBO forced them to cut the final 2-3 seasons down to 1. Those last few seasons which would've included the infamous Atlantic City Conference and the rise or deaths of key characters we'd followed all along could've been where the show really achieved greatness despite it killing everyone and it's strange way of telling us things about the past.
I also think they got shook by Game of Thrones at that time and they felt they needed to kill off damn near everybody
HBO makes such great crime dramas. Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, The Wire, DeadWood, OZ. Literally hundreds of hours of awesome stuff.
Love scene when old man smacks Jimmy in face with cane. Jimmy comes back and scalps the bastard. That got old guys respect. Loved Jimmy and his best friend Richard
The show never recovered from losing Jimmy. It still had great moments, but never lived up to its standard.
I thought the show really lost a lot when Jimmy was killed. The story then focused on much weaker characters like Margaret and Chalky to pickup the slack, their stories went nowhere and were substantially worse. The show really suffered because of it.
My two biggest complaints with this show are that it felt rushed at times (although generally the pacing was fantastic) and the fact that the last season focused so much on young Nucky. I could never fully pin down why those long flashbacks bothered me, but you finally nailed it- by then, the show had eveolved into a more generalized bootlegger organized crime show. The flashbacks felt so removed, and ultimately only severed to work as buildup to the event final "shot" of the show. Really, Boardwalk Empire deserved much more time to build up to its ultimate conclusions, but remains and excellent experience none the less. RIP Richard Harrow
Man speaking of the young Nucky character, they absolutely nailed the casting with that actor! He looks exactly like what I would imagine a young Steve Buscemi would have looked like. They both have peculiar features.
Terry Winter is a talented writer but I question how it made logical sense for Nucky to kill Jimmy for betraying him but not Eli. I know they’re brothers but Nucky was not a man encumbered by sentiment. Eli was just as guilty as Jimmy and his betrayal was even worse considering they are brothers. Plus Jimmy saved Nucky from facing a trial which surely would have put him away for life, if not the electric char. I mean, Jimmy reached out to Nucky, explained the Commodore’s manipulation, told Nucky that Eli wanted him killed, which Jimmy himself opposed. I don’t know. I felt there was enough wiggle room to keep Jimmy around.
This was one of the best summarizations of a character that I have heard! Nicely done
I'm a boardwalk empire junkie. I pay for hbo solely for it because I play it while I sleep. I know every line and scene. I love how they wrote for Jimmy to die like a man, he didn't beg or appear weak or defeated. As sad as it was to watch his life as a character end, I will always be impressed with his grace and bravery❤️
Favorite show after The wire. I just wish season 5 hadn't jumped too many events that happened.
To me, that wasn't the most surprising death, but rather Jimmy's son taking revenge on Nucky for his fathers murder. Having said that, Richard Harrow was the greatest TV series character I have ever seen in 59 yrs, and Van Alden isn't far behind. Fabulous Show!!!
Kudos for covering this series. I loved this show & it was just by chance that I began watching. Had a little slow of a start - but the character arcs were so well written, that I kept watching more and more to learn about everyone’s past and how they are connected.
Kudos :)
Jimmy is an interesting character I find it fascinating the role of veterans in crime. It's PTSD versus greed of the long play gangster also minority groups get a boust from the violence if returned soldiers.
Love me some Boardwalk Empire. Jimmy was one of my favorite characters on that show. Whenever Jimmy and Al Capone were up to their shenanigans, they stole the show. Jimmy had some of the best scenes in the whole series. That last scene of Jimmy crossing the top of the trench was as compelling as any interpretation of the Great War in any show.
Definitely would love to see more Boardwalk Empire analysis! BWE gets no love on RUclips. It is much needed.
Jimmy was the best Character in the show.
1) Jimmy
2) Richard Harrow
3) Nelson Van Alden
4) Capone
5) Roy Phillips
6) Meyer Lansky
And all this time I thought Michael Pitt got fired
I always heard that Micheal Pitt was extremely difficult to work with and that why they killed Jimmy off so quickly.
And I was thought the scene in the final season where Al Capone doesn’t even remember Jimmy, was a last screw you to the Pitt.
And was Jimmy's wife also killed because of the actress's misbehaving?😂 I ask it because her death was even more unlogical than Jimmy's. 1. Jimmy didn't even succeed to take revenge. 2. It was obvious that Richard liked her, and it seemed mutual. There could be another storyline. But Jimmy's wife was unreasonably killed off the show. There was absolutely no reason to kill her.
I was so mad when they killed off Jimmy I stopped watching the show. He was the only character I could identify with. He was an actual person with a story. Most of the others were gangster stereotypes that used historical names but didn't faithfully represent those people. I did like Manny and Chalky though. RIP.
I thought I'd share a different theory. What if the reason why Jimmy was killed at the end of season 2 was due to the lead being jealous of Michael Pitt? Jimmy was a bigger fan favorite than Nucky. More people were wanting him to win the war, instead of the main protagonist. I heard that Steve Buscemi didn't want the main focus to be on Pitt. I also heard that they butted heads on set.
Steve Buscemi is a great character actor plus he is a firefighter. He has no problem working as part of a team. Think Pitt has had issues before Boardwalk and after Boardwalk on Hannibal
I thought that the reason he was written out was Michael Pitt was a REAL pain to work with on top of him wanting more money.
That was debunked in this video.
@@pheresy1367 - Not really.
@@rudypujenkins6890 Do you know something that specific that is not rumor?
@@pheresy1367 - Michael Pitt gave an interview when all of this went down and he was asked why he was leaving the show and he said he was, admittedly, difficult to work with. Other members of the show backed this up...even the show runner.
@@rudypujenkins6890 Huh. I wonder why they back-peddled on that reason later on? I heard that also years ago, but now they are saying it's not the case. The writer said right here that he already knew at the beginning of season 2 that Darmody would be dead by the end of the season. So, they continued working with him for the entire season, regardless of him being difficult to work with.
Please! Easily one of the best show I have ever watched. Most under appreciated crime show ever.
💯🔥
As rar as i am concerned it s up there with the Sopranos.
I never watched this show but had friends that absolutely loved it. Once he killed Jimmy those same friends told me they stopped watching it when Jimmy was killed off.
I almost stopped too, but was hoping Chalky would get a bigger role and his arc was underwhelming as well
I’ve watched this series at least three times, and it’s just an amazing history piece to me.
This is the best show HBO ever did I've watched the entire series five times. Every actor did such a great job. I do wish they'd done a season six Arnold Rothstein should have had his death scene.
Watched all 5 seasons during the lockdown this series is on par with GAME OF THRONES THR SOPRANOS THE WIRE ! One of the best series ever!
Yes, it was every bit AS GOOD. I even thought it got better as it wrapped up. An amazing piece of storytelling. :)
I loved Boardwalk Empire! I’d love it if you kept analysis videos of this show coming!
The one redeeming thing about the later seasons was the story of Luciano. Loved that storyline.
It's Richard Harrow for me, the character was portrayed so hauntingly well by Jack Huston.
Really nice analysis, makes a lot of sense, and nice choice of shots, brought back so much from the complex beauty of the show.
I watched it when it first ran on HBO-I loved it!!!
I kinda tuned out after darmody died. He was my favorite character and I identified with him the most.
I believe Terrance Winter at a certain point decided to end the show prematurely due to a decision of wanting to move into the Film industry. e.g. Wolf of wall street. Very disappointing, as the show had the potential to be up there with the Sopranos for me
Very refreshing. Please continue. Thanks.
The ending was a bit rushed and obvious I thought, Stephen Graham is a Master of accents. He's a great actor in both a bad die and a goodie. A Scouser who can play a geezer, an Irishman, Yorkshire Man and a Brooklyn Man. Humblr Genius
strangely enough my son met Michael Pitt and asked him about this and he said he was always gonna be killed off but they did it a year early but didn't explain why,.
He said that Jimmy's son was always gonna kill Nucky and that was for revenge for his father and grandmother ,Nucky was always gonna die at Jimmy's kid's hand.
,That was the way it was pitched to HBO,. and It was why the 3rd season was kind of disjointed, by the way,Jimmy,Richard,and Gillian were by far the most interesting characters in the show.
Yea they killed jimmy way too early. But imo it doesnt make sense that jimmys kid kills nuck bc they had moved to a different place when he was young in reality there is no way he could of found nucky out and even if he did hes lucky enough to infiltrate the organization through mickey? Really far fetched. Great series anyways loved it
Now Chalky White went out with a bang but for a terrible reason imo.
I'm not sure I've been as pissed at a show as when Jimmy was killed. The show went off the rails after he was killed.
1 year later and this still rings true. Jimmy and richard deserved their own storyline. Who gives a shit about Margaret? Show went downhill from there.
No..... Still kills.
Definitely more! You have great insights on what you review
That end scene with him coming out of tbe trench left my jaw on the floor
The show lost its touch after Jimmies death and also Richards death was for no reason they could’ve let my man live the life he always wants and live in the name of Jimmy 🙏
The show transitioned from an Atlantic City gangster story to a more general one with just a villain a season. The show tried to be too much, lost its center, and fizzled out. I think that is why by season 4 HBO knew it was on borrowed time. I don't mind characters getting killed off in gangster shows, because that is what happens to them. It is just a shame when there is not a clear plan for where the show going forward after doing so.
I could do some indef on boardwalk Empire, I think it's a pretty underrated show.
Why does Steve Buscemi look like Don Knotts?
Jimmy was a real person they just changed his story. but i get what you mean
Loved ' Boardwalk Empire ' . . . would really enjoy a deep character analysis of the main players.
I would love to see an analysis on many of these characters. Especially Harrow. Ghostface is fucking awesome
I rememver Richard saying something like "Jimmy was a soldier, and he lost", when asked about if he would avenge him.
I'm one who likes shock deaths of main characters in TV shows, so this was an awesome moment for me. Still, it was head scratching because it felt like they were building him up for bigger things. Personally, I'd still take the shock factor of his death over a long drawn out storyline, but that's just me /sips tea.
Well thought out analysis by CineRanter.
Killing the 2nd main character at the end of season 2 was a huge move. I was so skeptical about season 3 but quickly realized it was awesome after meeting Gyp Rossetti. Then season 4 ended up being the best of the series.
I like season 2 the best
Great video. Please make more on boardwalk empire. Such an underrated show.
Jimmy was my favorite character.
Me too ✋ and lucky in love him & Asia Argento! Lol plus their baby! but i still smittenly deteriorate like melted lipstick gloss when I fall into that trance paying close attn to him onscreen!
I had a problem with the last season as there was of a story to tell at the end of season 4
It was bad writing imo, it seemed rushed af, Jimmy's whole story arch was rushed in season 2. It felt off.
They could have stretched it out til the end of season 3 and Jimmy's arch wouldnt have felt so rushed.
It's like the Sopranos killing Christopher Moltisanti at the end of the second season... this show is really good but could've been GREAT.
The most episodes directed in the show was by Tim van patten who directed a lot of and wrote a couple of the best episodes too….including the Ralph’s demise episode
I think they should have just replaced the actor playing commodore if the actor’s health was all the reason to fast track jimmy’s death. Replacing him after s1 wouldn’t have mattered a lot, he was just a side character we rarely saw.
Loved the show !! Do more content please!!! Great content 👌
Technically Jimmy was a character based off two people lol.
Great content
Still salty we didn’t get to see the Rothstein hit
Nobody stands in the pouring rain like that
Maybe not up to the level of the Sopranos or other Mob movies, but this was still an excellent series that I binge watched from beginning to end. I definitely would like to see more videos about this series.
I loved Boardwalk Empire. Beautifully made.
Honestly, how many times could they have him show up, team with nucky, get disgruntled, turn on nucky and try to take over, get over matched in embarrassing fashion, and then go back to nucky and start the cycle all over.
They kinda had to kill him.
They spent all that time building the character then killed him and no more Jimmy.
3rd Greatest show of all time, only behind OZ, n THE GREATEST SHOW OF ALL TIME THE SOPRANOS
Jimmy was a threat to Nucky. The cause of Jimmy's very existence, if brought to public, was also a threat to Thompson. Plus Jimmy stole the shipment of booze that was destined from Thompson to Arnold Rothstein. Something Thompson never forgot or forgave.
You realize they shoehorned fictional characters into real life events all the time on this shoe?
Thats what I was thinking too, I really liked the stuff with Jimmy in Chicago, and I think he could’ve taken part in some things in New York eventually, too. I think the focus of the show should’ve been more on the rise of Jimmy, Capone, and Luciano. Two real characters and a fictional character.
Jimmy said Thompson was like a father figure to him through his own words. So the listeners deduction is An absolute unnecessary waste
Just finished the show and loved it. One thing I can say is scorsese started the show off with bang directing the pilot. By far one of my fav episodes and I wish Scorsese would’ve directed more episodes but it was a great show nonetheless
You can ALWAYS discuss spoilers. You are on the internet.
And Jimmy's mother wasn't a showgirl. She was an orphaned child that wandered into town..
I love the friendship between Jimmy and Richard so much.
Jimmy's death was when the show went down, it just wasn't the same no matter how much they tried to provide characters like Gyp Rosetti.