Boardwalk Empire

http://youtubedoubler.com/?video1=q-...row+Terminator

Remember him.

Fuck everything. Watching the finale shootout from last season for the next 4 hours.

If they hadn't tickled my balls with the Harrow-Chalky handshake scene I wouldn't be...fuck it. He's dead. I'm mad.

The possibilities though! I expected Harrow to come along like a righteous hammer. What I got was Shaky Hands McDeaderson. We should organize riots.

Its a bummer about Harrow. I imagine most saw that he was destined for tragedy but he was the one character I was rooting for a happy ending even if it meant writing him off the show. Great sadness...

Some really shitty decision making these last 2 episodes. First the Pinkerton nonsense now the two worst characters deserving death live and the best character goes out like a bitch. Who the fuck thought that was a good idea =/

probably some asshole that wanted to kill Jimmy

haha it is funny to see all the anger and people saying "I WILL NOT WATCH BOARDWALK NOW", reminds me a lot of the jimmy hate at the end of season 2. And season 3 turned out to be epic.

Still I'd have to say season 4 is the weakest of the 4 seasons so far, even with Schroder-Fest in 2 or 3? Will hold up well for new viewers and marathoning though, waiting week to week for uneven storyline quality was a problem.

I'll still watch. It was more of a joke comparing it to the red wedding.

I read an interview with the actor who played Harrow and he made the good point that even if he didn't die of the gunshot wound, he probably would have killed himself because of the guilt of killing his friend's daughter.

I too thought this season was great. Despite knowing the entire time Harrow was doomed, I was still distraught to see him dead at the end. So close to happily ever after.

Season was awesome. ONLY reason I didn't like Harrow's death? Was because the writers are becoming predictable with marinading characters who are going to die. Like, when the Red Wedding happened? Rob's back was against a wall, but there was a ray of hope, still, when that ray of hope was snatched away? It didn't feel illogical. He was fucked and was trying to dig himself out of the grave, and failed. Just because the WAY he failed was shocking, didn't make the whole theme of it seem odd.

In Boardwalk, it's almost like they spend the last few episodes before a character dies, convincing you that he won't die. Like making things better for them, showing them getting things right--and it feels artificial, like it is just an artificial construct meant to improve the "drama" of the moment.

The Episode Jimmy died in is especially bad at this. Essentially everything he did was fixed in an obtuse whirlwind of putting things right, and then he dies. It's so blatant that it's done for the shock value that it feels off compared to the theme of the season. Same things with Harrow. They set up all his ducks to make everything seem like he was going to be okay. Marrying that chick, getting the kid, burying his gun and leaving that life, making peace with the father? And then out of no where,DEAD!

Killing characters is fine, even Harrow. But making it so apparent that you are setting up stories specifically for shock value? Makes it feel dumb. That's my big problem with Jimmy and Harrow's death. Not that they died, but how they tried to bend things to increase the shock of it made it dumb. Would have been better to just have them die like the Irish guy, or Eddie.

I got the opposite off Jimmy. That last bit of Jimmy, I think he realized he was dead as soon as the nucky assassination attempt failed and the whirlwind of trying to make things right wasn't a plea for mercy or a manipulation of the audiences expectations but an admission of his final days. That's why I didn't mind it with jimmy and what made it emotionally resonant. It didn't come across as so blatantly trying to offer a glimpse of hope that Nucky was going to be merciful -- not even Jimmy expected that, and he didn't ask for it.

But that's just what I saw as I was watching it. If I went back and rewatched it, probably what you're talking about holds up.

Edit: With harrow, they just fucking manipulated us. BASTARDS. THEY KILLED HARROW.

I was waiting for Nucky to give this line.

Really good interview with Jack Huston.

I think he brings up some good points. I know we all loved Harrow and wanted to see him as thesuper gangster hit man, but that's just not who he really was. That's what he became when he thought that was all he could ever amount to after the war - but then, he found love and something worth dying for. He brings up a good point that the character could easily become too repetitive, sort of a deus ex machina, to swoop in and just kill everyone that's causing problems. He sort of did that at the end of Season 3, but they atleast gave him a good reason for doing it.

Jack Huston says it best:"Tragic characters have to die tragically. And that's how you keep them in your heart forever."

I still wish his ending wasn'tquiteso tragic. Killing an innocent girl...even if he made it out unscatched physically, he was going to be dead emotionally.

Teekey_sl said:

Really good interview with Jack Huston.

I think he brings up some good points. I know we all loved Harrow and wanted to see him as thesuper gangster hit man, but that's just not who he really was. That's what he became when he thought that was all he could ever amount to after the war - but then, he found love and something worth dying for. He brings up a good point that the character could easily become too repetitive, sort of a deus ex machina, to swoop in and just kill everyone that's causing problems. He sort of did that at the end of Season 3, but they atleast gave him a good reason for doing it.

Jack Huston says it best:"Tragic characters have to die tragically. And that's how you keep them in your heart forever."

I still wish his ending wasn'tquiteso tragic. Killing an innocent girl...even if he made it out unscatched physically, he was going to be dead emotionally.

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Oh, I agree with that, about the "ultimate hit man" stuff--I think it would have been stupid for Harrow to continue being the Terminator. Once is amazing, do it too much and it becomes stupid. But, it doesn't have to be a choice between tragic and dues ex killing machine. What's wrong with a redemption story? Why not have harrow marry the woman, lay down his gun and literally never appear on the show again. Redemption stories endear characters to people's hearts as much as tragic ones. I love me some Shawshank.

Harrow's Shank Redemption.