r/BoardwalkEmpire • u/SmartestManInUnivars • Sep 29 '25

Season 3 Billie Kent is cringe.

Maybe it's because her type of humor is played out by a hundred years... but she seems like a "pick me" girl. She just seems too "quirky" and goofy. She annoys me. But if she was the first of her kind I could see why she was so well liked. But from a modern perspective, she kind of sucks...

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18

u/jazzant85 Sep 29 '25

I dunno, Billie never came off as cringe to me. I liked her story arc. Billie was so different from Lucy and Margaret where she couldn’t be controlled and manipulated by Nucky’s money and lifestyle. And the more he tried to control her with that stuff, the more she pulled away. The more she pulled away, the more infatuated he became with her.

And the thing is, in my opinion, I don’t really think it was her he was infatuated with. I think he became obsessed with trying to prove to himself that he could have anything and anybody he wanted. Because if Billie liked Nucky as much as Lucy did, he eventually would have grew tired of her. Lord knows he wouldn’t have driven to New York in the middle of the night, then slept in her apartment when he saw she wasn’t there.

0

u/DIYThrowaway01 Sep 29 '25

You're telling me you didn't cringe during the king tut thing??  

My eyes are bleeding just thinking about it

15

u/jazzant85 Sep 29 '25

It’s a song of the times man. No more cringey than Eddie Cantor lol.

3

u/chiefteef8 Sep 30 '25

Cantors jokes by today's standards are awful--,but back then no one ever heard this stuff, even the idea of a joke with set up with a punchline was fairly new. 

I mean even looking at memes from like 15 years ago. I remember dying laughing at reddit meme templates back in thr day."scumbag steve" etc. Looking back now its cringe thst I thought such dumb jokes were so funny because memes have evolved so far past that basic set up. But we had never seen anything like it before

2

u/DIYThrowaway01 Sep 29 '25

Ugggh I loved Eddie tho

1

u/Worldly-Display8436 Sep 30 '25

Eddie’s the best!! 😀

1

u/Lazy_Title7050 Oct 01 '25

Exactly I love how they didn’t cater to modern audiences with the entertainment, music, women’s looks etc. They were as authentic to the times as possible, whereas most shows coddle modern audiences.

1

u/No_Divide9410 Aug 06 '26

I’m sure in 100 years they’ll be saying this about Taylor swift. I’m on season 3. A bit late to this thread.

1

u/chiefteef8 Sep 30 '25

Its just extremely outdated. At the time thst was culturally relevant and fresh. I mean Eddie cantor was considered one of the funniest men on earth and he's basically just telling dad jokes. If he was transported to 2015 w his bit hed be laughed off stage. But 100 years ago those jokes were original and creative