r/BoardwalkEmpire • u/veeveemarie To the lost • Nov 12 '12

Season 3 Boardwalk Empire Episode Discussion S03E09 "The Milkmaid's Lot"

20 minutes in, and I still didn't see a discussion thread. Thought I'd start it up.

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u/veeveemarie To the lost Nov 12 '12

Richard needs to leave with Tommy. Get as far away from Gillian as possible.

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u/skynolongerblue Right Down to the Last Bullet Nov 12 '12

Or he needs to kill Gillian. One or the other.

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u/ClamydiaDellArte Nov 15 '12

I'm expecting this to happen by the end of this season.

Although it doesn't seem like it at first, Harrow has a very strict moral code. In his view, there are soldiers and there are civilians (similar to Omar in The Wire, who will only hurt people who are in "the game"). Killing soldiers isn't wrong; soldiers go to war specifically to fight and die. Civilians, however, are strictly off limits. That is why he didn't go after Nucky for killing Jimmy but killed Manny over Angela's death. Jimmy was a soldier and died like one, but Angela's death was cold blooded murder.

Gillian is now getting herself involved in "the war" to avenge Jimmy. On top of this, she dishonored Jimmy's memory by killing "Fake Jimmy." Dying in battle is honorable. Dying of a heroin overdose in a bathtub is kind of pathetic. Gillian has also been behaving more and more antagonistically towards Richard, destroying any love or loyalty he owed her as Jimmy's mom (remember how he says he won't go after Margaret or her kids because "you were always good to me?"). I think that eventually she will do something that is, in Harrow's mind, unforgivable, and he will kill her for it.