Stuff about television.
“If we only elected good men, we’d never have leaders.” (Nucky)
What an episode. Slowly but surely, the plot’s picking up pace, steering away from leaning on metaphors and towards some sort of a narrative climax. Bridges are burnt, others are built and we once again saw Nucky is right about at laest one thing: the roads leading to Atlantic City are absolute garbage.
“You’re wearing gold pants.” (Jason)
The mysterious killer strikes again! This time, chainsaw-massacre-extra-Dawn was the victim. You will be missed – or at a later point referred to that one character you thought would be important but ended up being a red shirt after all. True Blood’s version of Boone.
“That idiot is going to be the next president of the United States of America.” (Nucky)
What a great plot twist; a great dramatic decision at the expense of Van Alden’s poor wife. It was the ultimate pious dick move to send Angela the money (that actually belonged to her) instead of giving it to his wife to get fertility treatment. Holy crap – Boardwalk Empire’s continuous shift in morality seems to be reaching me as well.
“Three years. France, mostly. It’s almost impossible to describe the horror… It’s a living… waking… nightmare… There was a soldier, a German; him and his men tried to attack our position in the Argonne forest. It was nighttime. While he was trying to climb through some barbwire, I shot him twice; once in the stomach, once in the neck. He slumped over the barbwire, and no matter what he did to try and wriggle free, it just got worse for him. I left him there, like that, for days, listening to him moaning, crying, “mutti, mutti, mutti”; that’s German for “mama”; “mama”, that’s what he kept saying. The curious thing is that despite the fact that his situation was utterly hopeless, he didn’t wanna die. I offered to kill him several times, but he just kept fighting. Like some miracle would befall him, get him out of his predicament. We hold on so desperately to life; some people feel, certainly in that soldiers situation, that being alive is much, much worse…” (Jimmy)
That quote goes on for ever, but boy, the way Michael Pitt delivered those lines sent shivers down my spine. What a terrific actor.
“I try to be good. I really do.” (Nucky)
I’m probably not the first one to say this, but I think that quote sums up half a season of Boardwalk Empire quite accurately. There’s not a single character that’s morally unambigious anymore. Nucky has show to have his softer sides. Van Alden – whom we figured a devout man – has a dark sexual passenger of his own. Even Al Capone, whom I thought a loose cannon, has something worth fighting for: his son. How can you be black or white in a world this grey?
“Sookie, this is very strange.” (Bill)
What a strange thing this is. I still can’t make head nor tail of it. But I’m enjoying myself, so I stick with it. Queue in this week for more vampires, gay black men, crazy cars and an alabama thunderpussy T-shirt. It’s True Blood!
“I’m through playing games, Margaret. I’ve no interest in them.” (Nucky)
What an episode. I had trouble finding a quote, but that’s not due to lack of things that happened. This episode marked a turning point for the first season – and it owes it all to its final minutes.
“This here is my daddy’s tools.” (Chalky)
Whoa, whoa, whoa. That was an awesome episode. So much stuff on so many levels. I am shocked. Finally, some closure on the Nucky/Margaret relationship. The moment Nucky saw her at the party, it was clear. That man is madly in love. He might just not know it yet.
“No it makes me sick that they’re getting a thousand bucks to lay there and do nothing while I bust my ass for ten bucks an hour plus tips.” (Sookie)
True Blood… is something else. As I was watching the first episode, I kept asking myself (and everyone around me) who comes up with people like this. They’re all completely crazy, there’s not a single reasonable one in the bunch and the most normal one can read god-damn minds. What the hell?
“I suppose it’s a schvartze term.” (Eddie)
A lot of transport in this episode – which is unspurprisingly called “Broadway limited”, referring to the train between New York and Chicago. Incidently, it ended with Jimmy on said train – so the questions to where he is going are answered in advance.