Being Nucky Thompson, the king of Atlantic City, one can’t afford to stay out of danger for too long. It seems like every season the one time city treasurer and unofficial gangster is dealing with a big fish washing onto the Eastern shore to take a piece of his pie. Near the end of the season, he manages to escape. All this time, the authorities have never been able to touch him. Enemies come and go. Women are able to temporarily thaw his cold heart but eventually it hardens back up. In the fifth and final season of HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, Steve Buscemi’s Nucky will face the realization that all good things eventually come to an end.

People cried outrage when HBO announced it is closing the doors on the expensive, elaborate and wonderfully shot drama this past winter. The show got better and better with every season, and the chances for more story growth and character development were there. However, when your seasons cost 100 million dollars to shoot and Creator Terence Winter is using real history with these famous figures, an end was always in sight in my eyes. Nucky doesn’t rule forever. Stephen Graham’s expertly crafted Al Capone doesn’t stay small time for long. Vincent Piazzo’s Lucky Luciano eventually becomes a boss. If you are familar with your ghosts of gangster’s past, HBO’s Emmy winning series was always booked with a ticking bomb attached to it. (more…)