User Reviews

Wow, what a stunning finale fitting for such an incredible season. We lose some amazing and awful characters and no matter how many times I've watched, it's still hard.

34 - 37mins probably the best scene I've seen on any TV show in my entire life. Masterpiece

The fourth season of the show comes in with an approach very similar to that of the previous ones, which is that it is very events driven. The upside of this approach is that it tells a good story and has a lot going on, but this does come with a downside which is, for me anyway, the characters are perhaps more defined by their events rather than very well written and telling character moments. To start with the good though, season 4 has done a good job of connecting all the threads of the different characters so it does hang together in a convincing and engaging way with all the characters working well together.

Action is never far away and the intensity of the violence adds weight to the drama – it never feels like we are being given gore or shock for the sake of it, just that it is a real part of this story. Some of the (many) deaths do feel a bit excessive though and in particular the impact of White's daughter being caught up was not something allowed to really soak in (although hopefully in the next season) There is also a certain amount of cleaning house with the characters and this also meant that at times some of their threads felt a bit too tidy. The only one that didn't really work particularly well for me though was Gillian's; not so much the flow as it goes because it is connected, but rather the resolution of it since this felt very unlikely and left me unconvinced of everything before it as a result.

As before, the production standards are very high with everything looking great and directed with great detail and style. The cast continue to be very good with what they have although, as I said, the events driven nature of it doesn't give them too much room for their characters to grow. And this is a downside – although not one that holds it back too much – but the show does lack heart to a certain extent. There is no moral grey area being explored and the sidelining of Margaret means that the Carmela Soprano aspect of the show is missing, there are also very few examples of innocents caught up and consumed – pretty much everyone here is very clear on their morals and there is no floating to be done in that area. Although the plots drive us forward and make this less important, it is an aspect I miss here.

Despite this though, the fourth season is still engagingly tough and violent in a way that adds impact to the plots and events. It is a very well told story with plenty going on and lots of twists and turns to enjoy. I would like it to have had a bit more outside of the events and within the characters, but the gap is not large and the events are engaging enough to do a good job.

Boardwalk Empire is at its best when it adheres to the formula of introducing a new antagonist at the start to be honest. Replacing Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rosetti is the charismatic Jeffrey Wright as the black nationalist Dr. Valentine Narcise. I think much can be scrutinized regarding the painting of well intentioned radical in a negative light but Narcise's involvement gives Chalky White and racial tension in 20s America the spotlight they deserve. The untimely death of Michael K. Williams is what got me into this show to be honest, after having put it off for 4 years. Anyway, I loved seeing William's Chalky finally given more screen time, more chances of showing his acting range. He had subplots before yes but they feel more like afterthoughts until this season. Here, he gets entangled with Daughter Maitland and this forbidden romance becomes the source of much of the season's tragedy.

Jack Huston, who plays veteran Richard Harrow, is another standout this season. He is the heart of the show really. Among all the multitudes of criminals and morally dubious people, he is the most likeable. I buy his struggle to become a good man which to be hair other characters and their actors do a good job in presenting. But only one of them can be as badass as they are broken.

The rest of the cast is always great of course. Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Gretchen Mol, Brian Geraghty (as the other main antagonist in FBI Agent Tolliver), Stephen Graham, Morgan Spector (in a brief but memorable role as Frank Capone). As a TV critic once said, the show is truly great when it features the ensemble cast equally. No offense to Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson but there are more entertaining characters.

By the end, things take a turn bleaker than previous seasons. Season 2 is the closest but I never really cared for Jimmy Darmody's shenanigans. And this time around, I think a good third of the main characters have been humiliated or faced with a great, life changing tragedy. The closing scenes were so devastating that if this were cancelled after I think they ended on a high note quality wise.