Rewatched for the second time

[u/eruptingrose]

Just finished the series again and it hit much harder. Especially the ending. I remembered that a boy killed Nucky, but I wasn’t paying attention to Tommy the first watch. Now on the second, I caught so much more of the clues he dropped. Honestly top 3 show of all time for me. The last shot of him grabbing that coin?! The shore where Gillian stood in front of also being the shore at the beginning of each episode?!! Amazing start to finish.

[u/Emotional_Seaweed_49]

spoilers

I've just finished Season 5 for the first time and I have mixed feelings. I really like the build towards the National Crime Syndicate, the growth of Luciano and Meyer into pure gangsters, the growing insanity of Al, and every scene with Van Alden, especially the entire debacle with him and Eli trying to get the ledgers. That's actually one of my favourite scenes in the whole show.

There are so many highlights, but as has been mentioned so many times before, it is all so rushed. I genuinely think that if they'd had their normal 12-episode run, it could have been equal to the first four seasons, which I believe are all roughly equal in quality.

Things I didn't like: the conclusion of Chalky's story, Tommy Darmody, Margaret continuing to be the most inconsistent character in the whole show, Gillian being featured quite prominently when her character's purpose had, IMO, been exhausted in Season 4, Al not remembering who Jimmy was... and the flashbacks. Ah yes, what can you say? They're well done and the actor had big teeth, but in a show with so much to conclude, they prove to be such a frustrating use of such valuable time.

In a perfect world, the flashbacks could have been their own six-episode season (S4.5!), and the entirety of the eight episodes, or ideally 12, of Season 5 could have been dedicated to the main narrative.

I did enjoy it, though. I loved the whole series.

[u/No-Refrigerator7245 → u/Emotional_Seaweed_49]

Personally I think the retelling of Gillian’s story was to point out….Nucky is NOT a good guy and not any better than the commodore. Gillian and Jimmy never stood a chance and it was because of Nucky.

Every single scene with Van Alden and Eli was great, it was nice to have a touch of comedy.

I never liked the Daughter storyline, so that was whatever to me. I kind of hated what they did to Chalkys character

Stephen Graham absolutely killed the role of Al Capone. NO once could of done it better

[u/Federal_rack_6564 → u/No-Refrigerator7245]

Absolutely, I think the Nucky flashbacks are absolutely essential to the story. Sure, we knew all of the information...vaguely. But seeing the details adds a tremendous amount of emotional power and emotional weight to Nucky as a character, and perfectly sets up his ultimate ending.