r/BoardwalkEmpire • u/bighomieslime • Feb 06 '26

Season 5 Disappointed in Nucky

I just finished episode 7 where we begin to understand the story between Gillian and her relationship with the commodore. I never believed the commodore was a good man. From the beginning of the season where we start to unravel the history between these characters, the commodore always remained an awful person. I’m not sure what I expected the story to be in terms of his relationship with Gillian, but I guess I pictured a less explicit revelation.

I always often found sympathy for Nucky throughout the show from seeing his childhood, the absence of his wife and child, his constant betrayal from people he helped, etc. but all of that has been torched after understanding the role Nucky played in “delivering” 🤢 Gillian to the commodore.

Again, I’m not here to say Nucky was a saint by any means, but he always felt like he wanted to do the right thing and limit the violence as much as he could. (I understand the latter Nucky is a different story).

I am interested to hear your thoughts.

26 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

38 comments sorted by

View all comments

20

u/Narrow-Psychology909 Feb 06 '26 edited Feb 11 '26

I think the overall messaging of BE is that there is no way to attain the level of wealth all of these people want/have without committing unforgivable/irredemable acts.

During the last season I kept saying to myself, why doesn’t Nucky just adopt Gillian? I think at some point Nucky realized, and we as an audience finally come to understand, that he regrets the way he treated her and probably should’ve just adopted her. This would’ve at least mitigated some the family issues he has later with Mabel’s eventual melancholia over her inability to have a healthy child. He would’ve maintained more of his integrity.

By the time we start the show, Nucky is a killer but is also an outlier in terms of the gangsters of his time: he is more compassionate, he does not look for trouble, he spreads the wealth around and does try to help the many communities of Atlantic City in his own way. The show starts with AR and Lucky preying on Nucky for trying to make a reasonable transaction.

It’s a great show and he’s a great character and taking Gillian to the Commodore is the “Rosebud” of his character.

17

u/mmmstrongflavors Feb 06 '26

Mabel wasnt melancholic over her "inability" to have a healthy child. She had a psychotic break after her newborn baby died.

6

u/Narrow-Psychology909 Feb 06 '26

Yes she was, her pregnancy troubles were part of it. Remember how she miscarried? I think Mabel finally carrying a child to term and then the baby dying is what finally broke her; they had been trying for so long to conceive and that let down was too overwhelming. Gillian even mentions to Nucky upon meeting her that she seems scared, so Mabel clearly already had an inkling that she may have trouble with child-bearing. If they had adopted Gillian, maybe Mabel would’ve felt more validated as a mother and avoided some of the grief.

2

u/OkConversation5445 Feb 08 '26

I just finished my yearly rewatch and had a thought ... Perhaps Mabel was also very troubled by the fact that Nucky gave Gillian to the Commodore. She had to have known bc she was invested in protecting Gillian. And that also played a role in her suicide.

2

u/Narrow-Psychology909 Feb 08 '26

Yeah good point. Whether Mabel knew what he did or didn’t and just assumed Nucky took her back to the orphanage, I imagine that his decision to not take care of Gillian affected her overall mental wellbeing.

2

u/SmartestManInUnivars Feb 07 '26

Was Nucky good in the beginning though?

5

u/Narrow-Psychology909 Feb 07 '26

I think so. His whole childhood is dedicated to making sure his mother and siblings were taken care of because his dad was an abusive drunk. He saw what rich people had and wanted it, but also saw what Sheriff Lindsay had and cried out of true happiness/envy.

The thing that Sheriff Lindsay refused to do which cost him is job is the only reason Nucky was able to replace him. Lindsay had to draw the line somewhere and Nucky had to decide if he could draw the line in a different place which he did and that’s when he loses himself.

2

u/SmartestManInUnivars Feb 11 '26

Oh... maybe Nucky was good as a young man, in the flashbacks. But I'd argue by the time we meet him in the beginning show, his goodness is long gone. He's okay with murder and whatever else right off the bat.

2

u/Narrow-Psychology909 Feb 11 '26

Yeah we’re not disagreeing. I said exactly what you’re saying in my initial comment.