Michael Shannon Movies Blog

  This season ended up, as most have so far, with some stories resolved and others just hatching. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the three previous seasons and I got the impression that the writers had painted themselves into a corner somewhat. Nucky keeps doing his deals and looking somewhat constipated, whilst once again his brother Eli plots against him. I think they are going for a Kane and Abel dynamic here but it doesn’t make sense that a savvy business man like Nucky would allow himself to be betrayed once again. To be fair Eli was motivated by helping his son who was being threatened with the jail, quite correctly, by FBI man Knox. Nucky seems a bit asleep at the wheel having been enchanted by the busty Patricia Arquette who is now running his Florida interests. Nucky is keen to get out but keeps getting drawn back in due to his many commitments and previous actions. The main thread throughout the season concerns Chalky and Narcisse. Chalky now runs the main nightclu...

  Season 4 of Boardwalk Empire has a more cinematic feel and it’s environs expand south to Florida, where Nucky looks to seal a land deal which will enable him to import his booze with impunity. With Margaret out of the picture, apart from a fleeting appearance in Episode 6, a new love interest in the shape of backwater bar manager Patricia Arquette comes into Nucky’s life. With a few main characters departing from last season, they are replaced with Ron Livingston’s hapless businessman who falls into the orbit of the manipulative Gillian, and Jeffrey Wright’s enigmatic preacher Narcisse who is a foil for Chalky. There is also a storyline for one of Eli’s kids who clearly has inherited the family’s traits for recklessness and misfortune, when he needs Nucky’s help after poisoning a room-mate when his prank goes wrong. Most of the plot thread are somewhat light with Nucky’s especially being somewhat derivative. He is again batting politicians and making shady deals. I guess...