Let me start out with the necessary politeness: Thank you for the reply. I'm glad you are willing to continue to engage us. No, that's not sarcasm; I'm dead serious.
And thank you for at least trying to lay out your point of view.
You're objecting to there being some sort of happenstance that leaks the existence of the plot against Nucky, but they saying that you'd have preferred that Gaston Means -- whose interference was also happenstance -- have been the reason that the plot was revealed? I can't know, obviously, but I suspect that if Nucky had gotten himself out of it with the help of Means you'd have been lodging essentially the same complaint, no? Something along the lines of "why did the plot's existence have to be handed to him by Means?".
I'm not sure how you understood that. I specified that Means tipping off Nucky was already too convenient (escaping the FBI's watch and calling Nucky) but even letting that slide, Nucky should have then acted on that information and started a shakedown to find the mole. What he did though was a short chat with Eli and Will and nothing more til Eli's wife gift-wrapped Nucky the person. (i'm not even going into how stupid it was for Knox to visit Eli in his house).
I'm disappointed you've centered on this and haven't commented of why Nucky must be saved or the method in which shows does so.
So what i ask of you or anyone else for that matter is to try to help me and reconcile two facts:
1. Boardwalk Empire is frequently lauded with praise by most posters here in regards to writing and plotting, and is seen as one of the best TV shows on air.
2. Boardwalk Empire has repeatedly showcased poor writing and plot development\resolution. Those faults are probably of the worst kind a narrative could make.
Examples: This last episode counts as the 4th time the show's main character has been spared of death or incarceration in the 11th hour by events that could only be referred to as 'luck', 'happenstance' or 'coincidence'. The main character in all four instances was a passive entity that had no inkling of it's impending doom and which played zero active part in its survival. Thing just happened to the character instead of it taking initiative; crucial information fell to to its lap which it didn't seek for or instigate.
It's baffling to me that i should be the one defending the notion that having your main character saved by a string of coincidences that would have Eli's wife blabber too much at dinner and practically give up the mole signed, sealed and delivered is a bad form of writing and immensely undesired and unsatisfying resolution to the plot. You are the ones who should make a case why Boardwalk Empire should be considered a well-written show in light of the show's bad writing habits.
In this bizarro world, i'm the one who's ridiculed. Every one you would have been the first to raise the same criticism as mine on any other show that would have displayed the same writing weakness BE so apparently does. But for some reason, on this show, it doesn't happen. I don't recall many people even saying 'i enjoy it despite this' or 'i agree, but i still like x y z'. Boardwalk Empire's faults just go unmentioned and unrecognized. There is an elephant in the room that isn't discussed.
Do i really need to explain why the way Nucky realized who is the mole is frustrating? Do i really need to explain they botched that? It's amazing how easy it is to come with better way for Nucky to find out as it seems part of the season was built for that. Eddie's arch was a perfect setup for what should have happened in the last 1-2 episodes.
After Eddie was absent for a whole night and then died, Nucky couldn't but suspect Eddie sold him to the feds. Their years upon years of friendship couldn't shake that feeling out of Nucky's mind that's being set-up by him. Nucky recognizing it himself in Tampa was a step, but that was quickly shoved away in favor of a sexual encounter.
So now, when another possibility of a mole comes up they could have easily built on Eddie's case.
You can even have the same dinner, the wife says what she says. Nucky hears it and is piqued. Now, the writers can take it two ways.
1. After the incident with Eddie where Nucky chided himself for thinking he could have ratted on him, he refuses to be suspicious of his brother and lets it go. He puts his trust in Eli and in the end of the episode he is betrayed by him and arrested. I don't think i need to specify how that advances Eli's and Nucky's characters and how it changes the dynamics, relationships and the rest of the show.
2. After the incident with Eddie, Nucky still can't help but suspect a plot against him when things smell fishy. No matter how he tries, he can't. Even if those suspicions are directed towards his brother. He hears the wife and dinner and takes note. He later confronts her and threatens\pressures her to give more info (maybe id-ing Knox picture\portrait). They show that Nucky values his safety and the safety of his business the most, even above family ties.
Any of these two directions would have been far superior to what we got, would have furthered characters, would have been a major fork in the road, would have been of high importance and consequence, fitting a season's finale.
What we actually got was a pathetic afterthought of a solution that treated two of the season's biggest arcs as a nuisance that just needed to disappear with little thought about how.
Another example: The show pits Nucky and Eli against each other. Nucky gets him alone and is now facing a major decision - do i kill my brother or not. How does BE resolve that situation? Is it by Nucky committing either way? No, they take the decision out of his hands and have someone interrupt the scene for no merit. If you want Eli alive then why not have Nucky reluctantly leave him so? Why is this confrontation tied up in the least interesting and in the cheapest manner? Why not use that moment to further shape Nucky's character? How is the actual solution that the writers picked can be seen as a 'good' one?
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So i ask you. How am i to reconcile this discrepancy (if at all)? Seems to me as the seasons go buy the elephant grows larger and the room grows smaller.
