Reader beware: this post does not reveal all spoilers from last night's episode, but it will contain a few for the sake of analysis and general "holy shit-ness".
Earlier, I reviewed Boardwalk Empire and said I did not like the show because it did not have a likeable character who was defined by the general idea of the hero. There was no one to pull for because each person had some duplicitous dark side that ruined his or her life. Also, they stayed stuck in their situation with no effort to leave (if they thought their situation was bad and needed leaving). I hate it when people play victim when they have the power to stop being victimized. Lastly, I did not like the show because of the actual production. It looked overly stylized in an effort to look authentic. Each scene was composed with deep gravitas, and the weight of the show created a heavy and unsettling effect.
I skipped two shows mid season and caught back up to see the last three. It was a great move because the last three addressed my last two complaints. They were wonderfully produced, acted, and the story progressed. Yes, finally, the payoff after two months of set ups. However, no character was developed to be the good center, the moral center, the hero, the righteous. The lack of moral center is both an indictment on the characters in the show, reflection of the culture (past and present), and a lament that maybe this is all that exists in this life.
The last few years in Hollywood, the best films have featured terrible villains, and those villains have afforded the actors that played them Oscar gold. Daniel Day Lewis, Javier Bardem, and Health Ledger come to mind. It is clear that we respond viscerally and empathically to the presence of evil. And when evil runs amuck on screen, taking it's action to their logical conclusion, we cringe, we gasp, we peer through our slightly opened fingers. I think this is similar to the reaction of watching horror films. We know it will be ugly, but we watch with disbelief anyways.
HBO harkens itself as not being TV. They want to provide high quality story telling equivalent to movies but through hour long dramas that run half the length of a regular television season. Each season acts like a mini-series of sorts. And each series is utterly predictable in its set up. AMC has jumped on this bad wagon, too.
The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire all are critically acclaimed shows about fatally flawed individuals who cannot escape the bad that is around them or embraces the bad that is around them while trying to maintain a life of credibility to the world at large. Last night's Boardwalk Empire built up as the first and concluded as the last.
Bravo for the story tellers (writers, director) to lead us all to think one thing was happening while simultaneously hinting at another all together without us necessarily catching on. Then whammy, Jimmy gets shot in the head.
To recap the whole season and threads that leads to this moment would take tens of thousands of words, but rather I will focus on the statement that HBO and the story tellers are making with their choice to take Knucky Thompson back to the top through manipulation, lawlessness, deceit, and violence.
Thompson begged Margaret to mary him because he loved her and needed her to be immune from testifying. He turned over a new leaf. He told her he did not believe in God despite being raised a Catholic, but he said his love has to come from God because it could not necessarily come from anywhere else and he does not have to participate in the church's traditions for that to be true. It is unclear if he loves Margaret and her children because his marriage to her seemed to only benefit him legally and economically.
Jimmy calls Knucky to talk about the shooting at Knucky. Thompson goes and talks with Jimmy and appears to have moments of emotion like he has never had with "James". He is empathetic to Jimmy's life, his misfortunes, and what propelled to the path of corruption and destruction he was on. In return for his ear and his show of empathy and possibly forgiveness, Jimmy agrees to take care of some business for Knucky regarding his trial.
Everything falls into place for Knucky to be let off of trial through a murder disguised as a suicide, Margaret not being compelled to testify, and a plea bargain gone badly for the dopey former interim sheriff. Knucky got a new lease on life and with the opportunity to make things right with the people he once loved/was in business with (they are the same thing to Knucky and both are conditional), he orchestrated a meeting where he killed Jimmy proclaiming, "I am not interested in forgiveness."
Knucky's first murder was of his surrogate son. But as with Knucky, he has no emotion for anyone else, but only his own well being. He masks every interaction with concern for the other party involved, but only looks out for himself. Through the triumph of his character, all other forms of belief have been murdered through the self interest of man.
Boardwalk Empire no longer has the favorite character of many viewers. Jimmy was the favorite because he was young, handsome, and had some glimmer of hope. We believed he was a product of his bad life experiences, and he had an attempt to make it right after violently losing his wife and father and coming to grips with the sickening and manipulative relationship with his mother. That hope he gave was one that carried the show since it had not moral ground or center. It is a pluralistic show based on pluralistic ideas of what makes life worth living or rather makes life bearable to live. Snuffing out Jimmy confirms that the evil Knucky personifies is no longer feigned emotional concern or selfish ambition, it is outright unchecked evil.
In a way, Knucky became a sympathetic figure because he was taken down by traitors, both family and friends. He was just trying to make a buck and his callousness to others was a product of his own childhood. Now, Knucky no longer has justification. He is merely a two faced person who will manipulate and kill for his desire to be in control. Religion, moral code, family loyalty, friendship, or simply socially agreed upon virtues like forgiveness no longer hold any weight in his world.
I find it hard to continue to watch the show (I'll get the better part of a year to make a decision because of how much time between seasons HBO takes) because the loss of the good. I appreciate the story tellers' discussion of corruption, personal relationship, and delineations between what is good and bad. Yet, I long for someone to be a bastion of hope or good. Someone or something to believe in... not for me personally to believe in, but someone on the show to believe in that maybe these crazy messed up people won't continue to booze, kill, philander, and kill. In a certain way, HBO has killed the show. There is no possible positive arch. The characters will continue to devolve in a spiral of self inflicted misery.
We all love the stories of the mafia because it juxtaposes good and bad, the personal and the business, loyalty and disloyalty. But those are contingent on good actually existing or being possible to exist. These are tragedies because tragedies are not good. But I am not sure Boardwalk Empire is a tragedy in that sense. I think it is a lament that no one is good and anyone who is good will be seduced to be bad. They cannot avoid it or escape it. That is a difficult conclusion to come to. If that is life, then I, at least, do not want to watch a show about it.
I am not advocating we make all shows happy or positive. I am merely saying Boardwalk Empire made a fatal mistake in killing off a popular character. Also, I think this is a reflection of our society and the despondence many feel regarding relativistic thought and the lack of any sort of absolute reason for living. When we make our own reasons, they are often corrupt and unable to stay, in any way, good.
Earlier, I reviewed Boardwalk Empire and said I did not like the show because it did not have a likeable character who was defined by the general idea of the hero. There was no one to pull for because each person had some duplicitous dark side that ruined his or her life. Also, they stayed stuck in their situation with no effort to leave (if they thought their situation was bad and needed leaving). I hate it when people play victim when they have the power to stop being victimized. Lastly, I did not like the show because of the actual production. It looked overly stylized in an effort to look authentic. Each scene was composed with deep gravitas, and the weight of the show created a heavy and unsettling effect.
I skipped two shows mid season and caught back up to see the last three. It was a great move because the last three addressed my last two complaints. They were wonderfully produced, acted, and the story progressed. Yes, finally, the payoff after two months of set ups. However, no character was developed to be the good center, the moral center, the hero, the righteous. The lack of moral center is both an indictment on the characters in the show, reflection of the culture (past and present), and a lament that maybe this is all that exists in this life.
The last few years in Hollywood, the best films have featured terrible villains, and those villains have afforded the actors that played them Oscar gold. Daniel Day Lewis, Javier Bardem, and Health Ledger come to mind. It is clear that we respond viscerally and empathically to the presence of evil. And when evil runs amuck on screen, taking it's action to their logical conclusion, we cringe, we gasp, we peer through our slightly opened fingers. I think this is similar to the reaction of watching horror films. We know it will be ugly, but we watch with disbelief anyways.
HBO harkens itself as not being TV. They want to provide high quality story telling equivalent to movies but through hour long dramas that run half the length of a regular television season. Each season acts like a mini-series of sorts. And each series is utterly predictable in its set up. AMC has jumped on this bad wagon, too.
The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, and Boardwalk Empire all are critically acclaimed shows about fatally flawed individuals who cannot escape the bad that is around them or embraces the bad that is around them while trying to maintain a life of credibility to the world at large. Last night's Boardwalk Empire built up as the first and concluded as the last.
Bravo for the story tellers (writers, director) to lead us all to think one thing was happening while simultaneously hinting at another all together without us necessarily catching on. Then whammy, Jimmy gets shot in the head.
To recap the whole season and threads that leads to this moment would take tens of thousands of words, but rather I will focus on the statement that HBO and the story tellers are making with their choice to take Knucky Thompson back to the top through manipulation, lawlessness, deceit, and violence.
Thompson begged Margaret to mary him because he loved her and needed her to be immune from testifying. He turned over a new leaf. He told her he did not believe in God despite being raised a Catholic, but he said his love has to come from God because it could not necessarily come from anywhere else and he does not have to participate in the church's traditions for that to be true. It is unclear if he loves Margaret and her children because his marriage to her seemed to only benefit him legally and economically.
Jimmy calls Knucky to talk about the shooting at Knucky. Thompson goes and talks with Jimmy and appears to have moments of emotion like he has never had with "James". He is empathetic to Jimmy's life, his misfortunes, and what propelled to the path of corruption and destruction he was on. In return for his ear and his show of empathy and possibly forgiveness, Jimmy agrees to take care of some business for Knucky regarding his trial.
Everything falls into place for Knucky to be let off of trial through a murder disguised as a suicide, Margaret not being compelled to testify, and a plea bargain gone badly for the dopey former interim sheriff. Knucky got a new lease on life and with the opportunity to make things right with the people he once loved/was in business with (they are the same thing to Knucky and both are conditional), he orchestrated a meeting where he killed Jimmy proclaiming, "I am not interested in forgiveness."
Knucky's first murder was of his surrogate son. But as with Knucky, he has no emotion for anyone else, but only his own well being. He masks every interaction with concern for the other party involved, but only looks out for himself. Through the triumph of his character, all other forms of belief have been murdered through the self interest of man.
Boardwalk Empire no longer has the favorite character of many viewers. Jimmy was the favorite because he was young, handsome, and had some glimmer of hope. We believed he was a product of his bad life experiences, and he had an attempt to make it right after violently losing his wife and father and coming to grips with the sickening and manipulative relationship with his mother. That hope he gave was one that carried the show since it had not moral ground or center. It is a pluralistic show based on pluralistic ideas of what makes life worth living or rather makes life bearable to live. Snuffing out Jimmy confirms that the evil Knucky personifies is no longer feigned emotional concern or selfish ambition, it is outright unchecked evil.
In a way, Knucky became a sympathetic figure because he was taken down by traitors, both family and friends. He was just trying to make a buck and his callousness to others was a product of his own childhood. Now, Knucky no longer has justification. He is merely a two faced person who will manipulate and kill for his desire to be in control. Religion, moral code, family loyalty, friendship, or simply socially agreed upon virtues like forgiveness no longer hold any weight in his world.
I find it hard to continue to watch the show (I'll get the better part of a year to make a decision because of how much time between seasons HBO takes) because the loss of the good. I appreciate the story tellers' discussion of corruption, personal relationship, and delineations between what is good and bad. Yet, I long for someone to be a bastion of hope or good. Someone or something to believe in... not for me personally to believe in, but someone on the show to believe in that maybe these crazy messed up people won't continue to booze, kill, philander, and kill. In a certain way, HBO has killed the show. There is no possible positive arch. The characters will continue to devolve in a spiral of self inflicted misery.
We all love the stories of the mafia because it juxtaposes good and bad, the personal and the business, loyalty and disloyalty. But those are contingent on good actually existing or being possible to exist. These are tragedies because tragedies are not good. But I am not sure Boardwalk Empire is a tragedy in that sense. I think it is a lament that no one is good and anyone who is good will be seduced to be bad. They cannot avoid it or escape it. That is a difficult conclusion to come to. If that is life, then I, at least, do not want to watch a show about it.
I am not advocating we make all shows happy or positive. I am merely saying Boardwalk Empire made a fatal mistake in killing off a popular character. Also, I think this is a reflection of our society and the despondence many feel regarding relativistic thought and the lack of any sort of absolute reason for living. When we make our own reasons, they are often corrupt and unable to stay, in any way, good.
