Headscratchers / Boardwalk Empire

Thompsons in the Artemis Club

• So in the season 3 finale Eli and Nucky show up armed at Rosetti's headquarters, seemingly alone (Chalky and Capone are elsewhere)... what were they bloody thinking, two intelligent guys -but not exactly elite killers- come up with that half-assed plan? One guy with a small revolver and the other with a shotgun... If Richard didn't happen to clean the house on his own initiative and by coincidence, the Thompsons would be facing about a dozen of professional muscle and Rosetti himself, who is not a slouch either, even if they are baffled by the retreat of Masseria's men. The odds are terrible.
  • This one only makes sense as an error in the transition between script and direction (another one in the same episode is the discrepancy in the number of Gyp's men). Maybe we are supposed to assume that they brought more men but left them all in the ground floor when they found all the bodies, with only Nucky and Eli going upstairs.
  • It could be conservation of detail. Presumably, the Thompsons brothers brought some men to the Artemis Club, were fairly confused by the lack of surprise, sent a couple of redshirts to investigate and when they came back and told them what was inside, decided to go in by themselves.

Why does Nucky feel the need to kill Joe Masseria?

• He's having enough trouble at the beginning of the season with Gyp Rosetti, who doesn't have an army. Why he decides to risk the ire of the most powerful boss in New York if his hit fails (which it did and he does) to deal with the comparative nuisance that is Gyp Rosetti is beyond mind-boggling. Why not just try to form an alliance (the way he does this is odd in and of itself considering he had to have known the odds of getting all those that he called to help him, most of whom he has no regular interaction with, was a long shot) and take Gyp head on?
  • Imagine that Masseria never got tipped off about the hit and Owen thus wasn't killed. The idea behind killing the boss is that it's the quickest way to end a war or stop one before it starts. It's a Game Changer, and the only viable option for Nucky who is at a big disadvantage taking on Masseria's army. The death of Masseria would have caused the remaining factions within the Masseria family to sit down and choose a new boss. The soldiers who'd loaned to Gyp would have been forced to return to Manhattan with their capos (since the capos would need them on hand in case any disagreements came up). This would've left Gyp with only his own men to back him up, putting him at a severe disadvantage to Nucky. Nucky may have also been borrowing from past experience, since much like the D'Alessio brothers of season 1, Gyp needed another boss's backing to be a threat against Nucky; and like the D'Alessio brothers, Gyp would be relatively powerless without Masseria's support. Especially if whoever replaced Masseria as boss was someone who did not really like Gyp.
  • Also, Nucky's plan is a nod to what ultimately happened to Joe Masseria in 1931 (as depicted in season 5), when he was killed by his own men to end the Castellamare War. Furthermore, Luciano and company then went on to have Salvatore Maranzano killed to prevent a new war from breaking out between the Americanized Mafia and the traditional Mafia groups.
  • The decision to assassinate Masseria came after Gyp's reoccupation of Tabor Heights and the bombing of Babette's. There is no ire to risk, as Joe Masseria and his troops were backing Gyp's takeover of Atlantic City and have been since Easter Sunday. Nucky's decision to have Masseria killed is not mind boggling, but the correct move in order to break up the Masseria-Rosetti alliance.
  • Additionally the bootlegger's alliance would be a backup plan in case the Masseria hit failed, as well as a deterrent for future groups wanting to muscle in on a territory.
  • There was nothing particularly odd about how Nucky formed the alliance either. He called together the successful bootlegging operations, precisely the guys who would be interested in an alliance. The lack of regular interaction would have applied only to Peg Leg Lonergan and Bill Lovett. The rest of the bootleggers called to that meeting were guys Nucky had worked with before. It was Rothstein's meddling that ensured the alliance proposal failed. By the way, this alliance Nucky proposed is practically the same one that was formed in Atlantic City during the infamous Bootlegger's Conference of 1929. That conference laid the groundwork for a national alliance of organized crime groups made up of Italian, Jewish, and Irish crews. It was the birth of The Syndicate.

Gillian and the house

• So, Gillian says she is selling the Commodore's house, which she describes as "hers", to provide for Tommy. The house was inherited by Jimmy after destroying the document willing it to the maid, and since Jimmy didn't make a will it passed down to Tommy (or so was his intention in the episode he was killed in). So, how come does Gillian own and live in that house, which should be owned by Tommy, but is not Tommy's guardian right now? Shouldn't the two "items" go together?
  • Considering Tommy is still just a kid, it would probably be very easy for Gillian to hold the house in "stewardship" until he comes of age.
  • Plus he's most likely in hiding now after Harrow rescued him.
  • Later episodes explain this. She is currently in a legal battle over custody of Tommy.

That ending

• Alright, I understand that the ending—with Tommy Darmody being the one to take Nucky out as the ultimate consequence of his Startof Darkness—was intended to be poetic, but it really doesn't make any sense to me. Wouldn't he have been far too young the last time he saw Gillian to remember her? He barely remembered her the last time we saw her and chose Julia over her. Even if he did have some memories of her, would he really care enough to dedicate that much time to avenging her? How did he discover the full story (I'm presuming she didn't really tell him everything as a child, though I'd be surprised if he remembered that much, either)? What happened to Julia, anyway? She seemed to be a very sensible and kind person, so it's hard to see her either abandoning him or raising him in such a way that he would be capable of anything like this. Finally, if his endgame was to kill Nucky, why didn't he take any of his other opportunities? The one on the boardwalk was literally his worst chance, as he had at least one chance to kill Nucky without any witnesses whatsoever. I certainly don't mind seeing Nucky face justice at the end of the series, but there are so many questions here that the landing didn't stick for me at all.
  • My take is this: Tommy was mentally and emotionally troubled, on probably quite a few levels. After the hellish, turbulent childhood he endured, this is not entirely shocking. That would certainly explain his reckless willfulness in gunning down a pillar of the community in broad daylight. And Tommy undoubtedly had some continued contact with grandmother Gillian, as he kills Nucky right after Nucky refuses to free Gillian from the asylum.
  • Gillian had probably been sneaking letters to Tommy letting him know she was trapped in the asylum and wanted out.

The Bombing of Babette's

• It appears that Gyp and Tonino only had couple of hours to set up this massive explosion after they got the information from Gillian (which probably involved planting some TNT combined with opening up the gas stoves). Something like this would take some time and planning. I know Baxter seriously did save Nucky, Luciano and Rothstein there (by stalling them so they ended up farther from the center of the blast), but wouldn't Gyp have been more careful to ensure all three men actually died? Like, have a few men with pistols to come out and shoot them if the explosion failed to kill them?
  • No one could've accounted for George Baxter to stall Nucky, Luciano and Rothstein, meaning they were out of range from the worst of the blast. It's clear the bomb was probably set on a timer (that certainly sounds like a timer running out when we see the slow-mo shot of Billie Kent being enveloped by the fireball).

Richard's priorities on vengeance

• Richard tells Nucky that killing Manny was to avenge Angela's death. Yet, he wouldn't avenge Jimmy's death (because Nucky treated him well); considering that earlier we see Jimmy promising to fight for Richard, "..right down to the last bullet"?
  • Not only did Nucky treat Richard well, he and Jimmy made Richard's life have a semblance of normalcy. When Jimmy befriended Richard, Richard was completely isolated. He desires relationships because he finds the isolation (a lot of which results from his injuries) hard to deal with. Richard would never think of himself as someone who plays with little children. That's what normal people do. Richard was a brother to Jimmy, but Nucky was a father and mentor to Jimmy. Richard would kill anybody, but he wouldn't kill Nucky, and Jimmy wouldn't ask him to because he appreciated the conflict it could create within Richard. Once Jimmy knew he was a dead man, he quickly was resigned to his fate. So he told Richard to stand down, because he didn't want to put Richard in that position. Jimmy had realized that he had been puppeted by both of his parents (his mother's puppeting being what led to Angela's death, while being puppeted by the Commodore was what led to the rift between him and Nucky). Facing his fate alone was one thing that Jimmy took upon himself to do, something he needed to do to feel like a man. Therefore, he went out like a soldier. He made the wrong decision, and he took his medicine to atone for that bad decision. Richard understood.
  • Richard explained why Nucky and family have nothing to fear: Nucky and Margaret were always nice to him. He also explained that Jimmy was a soldier and he went to battle (with Nucky) and he lost. Richard accepted that Nucky killed Jimmy because that's an acceptable loss one must tolerate in war. Not only that, but Jimmy went to the fatal meeting with Nucky unarmed. He knew his time was up and he accepted his fate. All this damage had led to Jimmy developing suicidal thoughts which he accomplished by giving everything over to Nucky. He left Harrow behind when he went to the meeting with Nucky because he wanted to die and Harrow understands this truth. Remember, this show takes place in the 1920s when men didn't much open up about emotions in general, let alone something as traumatizing as suicide. So the fact none of the characters outright says, "Jimmy wanted to die" is one of the show's redeeming bits of writing.
  • Or more simply, Richard and Jimmy don’t consider fighting “for someone” who is still alive to be the same as killing to avenge someone already dead. The former is defense, the latter not so much.

What if Owen had survived the Masseria hit?

• Seeing as Owen managed to get Margaret knocked up, surely he would've faced consequences for that if he'd returned from the Masseria hit alive, right?
  • Death was like the easy way out for Owen. It meant he didn't have to face the potential repercussions of sleeping with his boss's wife, and more importantly, getting her pregnant. Sleeping with the boss's wife is a pretty disrespectful act on Owen's part. Bear in mind, it wasn't a matter of if the affair was found out about, but when. Owen had knocked up Margaret, so if her reaction to seeing his body in the box hadn't clued Nucky in, the fact that she had become pregnant despite her not having had sex with Nucky in several months would have (remember that in season 2, Nucky had previously memorized the date on which he parted with Lucy to keep her from pulling a baby trap on him). It's also important to consider that Owen had already feared once getting caught for sleeping with Margaret, in "Two Boats and a Lifeguard," when Nucky asked him what he was doing at a time when he was supposed to be on duty. Owen only got away that time because his disappearance could be explained by his assassination of Del Grogan earlier that day. But Margaret getting pregnant would've been a problem, as no doubt Nucky would've easily put two and two together about Owen being the father, either figuring it out on his own or by simply asking Margaret. What he would do with Owen afterwards is hard to say, but given the nature of such a transgression, it likely would've culminated in Owen getting killed by Nucky or one of his men.

What if the Commodore was never incapacitated?

• What would change in season 2 if the Commodore never had his stroke?
  • In S1, the Commodore reads antisemitic writings by Henry Ford. It's likely that the original plan for season 2 was that the Commodore would have a problem with Manny Horvitz, instead of Jimmy, and it would be over the Commodore's antisemitism instead of Jimmy being an asshole. Jimmy might unwittingly make things worse, but he'd blame the Commodore for trouble coming up that way and help his decision to kill him.
  • Jimmy would've eventually been a part of the Rosetti conflict. It's likely Gyp never would have gotten close to Gillian if Jimmy were still around. The only reason they met is because Gillian is running a cathouse out of the Commodore's old mansion. If Jimmy were alive, she would have no reason to do that. Even if she did, Jimmy would have been her partner and protection, not Lucky Luciano, the one who introduced Gyp to Gillian. The beef between Nucky and Gyp was because Nucky decided to sell to Rothstein exclusively, in order to cut his exposure in the event of a bust. Jimmy, on the other hand, would've never made such a move. Jimmy would also probably never do what Owen did and try to kill Masseria at the bathhouse, and instead would've just taken Nucky's men to Tabor Heights to engage Rosetti directly.

Repaying Manny Horvitz

• So why doesn't Jimmy just pay back Manny Horvitz the money he owes him? He’s the new “King” of Atlantic City at the time. Surely he could afford a $5,000 loss in cash? Or did Jimmy eventually just get sick of hearing that he owed money to him and decided "fuck it"?
  • Jimmy didn't have the liquor on hand to sell to Horvitz because Nucky had completely outplayed him, and Owen had crippled Jimmy's operation. The fact that the loss of one warehouse could render Jimmy's business dead is more than just a kink. Couple that with the black workers' strike, and Nucky selling Irish whiskey. The reason he'd asked Horvitz for the $5,000 in advance was because he hardly had any money. Much of this was to show that Jimmy wasn't cut out to be a boss because he couldn't swallow his pride over something minor, something Nucky had kind of always preached. He'll show ass if it means getting what he wants in the long run.

Margaret's blind eye

• When Margaret first develops feelings for Nucky and moves in with him, was she clueless about how Nucky ran his business? Or was she just ignorant because she was now living the good life?
  • Women in Margaret's era did not have many choices. She made compromises and probably enjoyed living the good life. She came from poverty and abuse, so Nucky really did “rescue her” and her children. She overlooked stuff until she just couldn’t take it anymore. And that happened when Owen was killed, because Owen was her escape. So she left to live out her life, she got a financial job and was doing pretty well. Essentially trying to cut all evidence of Nucky from her life. When Arnold Rothstein approaches with that business proposition, she became the person she tried not to become when she left Nucky. That’s why she justifies redeveloping her relationship with Nucky in the last few episodes.

Did Nucky ruin Gillian's life?

• Nucky definitely knew what the Commodore was about. He definitely didn't want Gillian to get hurt. But he let his ambitions guide him first. But would Gillian's life really have been better if Nucky hadn't handed her over to the Commodore?
  • Probably not. Gillian's life was already ruined because her parents abandoned her. When Nucky ran into her, she was on the run, and was manipulative and looking for opportunities. And, in the 1890s, people didn’t talk about pedophilia or rape like they do now. More than likely, Gillian may have ended up in the same or worse situation. Nucky allowing the Commodore to molest her or any other girls shows his lack of morals and self serving nature. But based on what we see of Gillian, she was on a path that may have lead her to the same outcome if not worse, due to her circumstances and the time period. If anything, Nucky's guilt allowed him to look after her, and after her son once Jimmy was born.