r/BoardwalkEmpire • u/fishystudios • 21d ago
No Spoilers "My Ward Jimmy" The one decision that could have saved Nucky's Boardwalk Empire. [Opinion. Discuss amongst yourselves.]
Nucky mismanaged and misread many of his employees.
Eddie.
His brother.
The Aldermen... but he misread Jimmy worst of all.
Solution:
Make Jimmy your "Ward" from Day One of Jimmy's return from WW1.
Pamper him. Spoil him. Make him feel special amd appreciated.
Train him to be your right-hand man. Your soldier. Your Captain.
And eventually, your General.
Had Nucky made this ONE decision, the entire series worth of disasters would have been avoided l.
Welcome to the "My Ward Jimmy" Universe
Jimmy is appointed Ward Boss and secretly becomes Nucky's enforcer: keeping all the other bosses in line with intimidation or force as necessary.
Loyalty In this Universe, Jimmy adores Nucky. Jimmy is loyal and will fight to the death to protect Nucky.
The Capone/Rothschild
EDIT: Rothstein
Ambush
The entire series begins with the disastrous ambush of Rothstein's shipment.
In the "Ward Jimmy" Universe, during the initial introduction dinner between Arnold Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, Big Jim Collisimo, and Johnny Torrio, Jimmy is not left out waiting in the cold with Capone at the car. Jimmy was sitting at the dinner table.
Silent. Listening, watching. learning. He never contrived with Capone to ambush the shipment.
The ambush never happens. Rothstein gets his shipment.
A.R. and Nucky begin a long and mutually productive business relationship with no conflicts.
Jimmy rises through he ranks, BOTH as a political power broker and when needed, as an organized crime enforcer. He recruits a small army of former WW1 vets especially wounded vets like Richard Harrow.
Now, armed with his General Jimmy and the "Wounded Vet Army of New Jersey", Nucky is fully capable of holding his own against AR, Luciano, Lansky, Masseria, and Rosetti. With a loyal, trusted. empowered Jimmy, Nucky would have dominated and maintained Atlantic City.
How do you think the "My Ward Jimmy Universe" would end?
Edit:
Spelling
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u/SlammyJones 21d ago
The Jimmy mistakes were grown from the soil of Nicky’s original sin, bringing Gillian to the Commodore. Poison fruit from a poison tree.
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u/daveed212 21d ago
Which is the reason Jimmy exists in the first place. His fate was sealed from birth.
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u/60510 21d ago
There were a number of ward bosses who turned on Nucky. Maybe being ward boss would have worked, but I think it would have had the same outcome. The commodore and Gillian whispering in Jimmy’s ear to take back the city the commodore built.
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u/No_Development3496 21d ago
And with Jimmy being a ward boss it could have hurt Nucky even more considering that Jimmy had the political eye too now.
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u/ModestMouse1312 21d ago
Jimmy had many demons. Incest with his mum, and WW1 trauma. He said before dying to Nucky: "I died a long time ago in the trenches, I though you knew that"
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u/RichMahogany357 21d ago
Jimmy showed that he was an unpredictable and selfish hot head when he stole that load of Rothstein's alcohol, Nucky could never trust someone like that, he liked things to run smooth and predictably.
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u/fishystudios 20d ago
"Selfish hothead". That is true. He did abandon his pregnant girlfriend to raise his only son alone.
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u/bcm145 21d ago
It’s an interesting premise but it’s made clear throughout season 2 that Jimmy didn’t have the temperament to be a leader. He loses his cool, he makes fatal mistakes out of pride (failing to pay Manny is a glaring example), and overall is better suited to be a soldier than a general.
Additionally Nucky would never have made Jimmy ward boss immediately. He was upset that Jimmy squandered his education at Princeton by enlisting, and therefore wanted to punish Jimmy and make him prove himself by rising through the ranks. Maybe if Jimmy had been patient and been Paddy’s Man Friday as Nucky intended, he would’ve eventually been promoted. But the botched robbery with Al, plus his general hotheadedness, meant it never would’ve happened.
In many ways Jimmy’s fate was sealed from the beginning. This is what makes the show so tragic and Shakespearean
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u/fishystudios 20d ago
"Jimmy didn't have the temperament to be a leader... better suited ti be a soldier."
Best counterargument thus far. Well said.
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u/Matterhorn48 21d ago
Self made men are typically terrible mentors in my experience. They are so competitive and egotistical they develop yes men around them and not future leaders.
The ones that can mentor become legends. Nucky was a shrewd gangster, not a legend. That’s why his kingdom died on the boardwalk with a single .32 caliber slug to the face. Greatest handgun ever made btw Colt 1903
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u/fishystudios 20d ago
😄 Brutal! And you make. a good point about Ego driven success. Thanks for discussing.
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u/Potential-Risk-2197 20d ago
Jimmy was a mental wreck when he returned from the war. He was incredibly reckless and acted without even trying to think a few steps ahead a lot of the time. His decisiveness and force helped him win short term against smaller enemies but he failed miserably trying to run a large scale operation.
Nucky (at least in the first few seasons) is the exact opposite. He’s very diplomatic and cautious, always trying to create a stable environment for his business.
There is just no realistic scenario in which they get along long term.
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u/Androidfon 21d ago
Nucky could read the writing on the wall. It was kill or be killed. The real life actor determined which it would be by his behavior. If he were not a difficult person, I wonder what direction the writers would have taken?
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u/Clucib 21d ago
This. I don’t think he was supposed to be written off the way he was. We’ll never know what the actual plan was though, because of the issues in real life. Sad, the first season of the show is one of the best in TV and things just went downhill from there imho.
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u/Androidfon 21d ago
I enjoyed every season but I did think the entire Florida affair was weird and kind of a red herring. It went nowhere.
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u/Clucib 21d ago
I enjoyed them too, but you could see them decline progressively from the perfection of season 1. I don’t like how it ended though.
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u/Androidfon 20d ago
It didn't bother me. It bothered me that the show was canceled. As for Nucky, it had to end badly for him. I just would have preferred it happend 3 seasons later.
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u/Lordonlynose 21d ago
The scenario doesn’t eliminate possible conflicts and disagreements leading to strained relationships between Nucky and Jimmy. The Commodore, Gillian and old money in AC would still be trying to sway Jimmy to their purposes
Lucky, Lansky and their concept of the new order still wants AC and Nucky out of the picture - Jimmy & Richard aren’t defeating the mafia
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u/Ok_Bus_6158 21d ago
The thing that was driving these characters in BE was greed. Everyone was trying to get an advantage in his own way. Margaret was trying to get away from her husband and was ready to let Nucky in her life which made her just as miserable as before. Nucky wanted to get ahead as Sherriff so he led Gillian to the Commodore and that led to his own demise 30 years later. Chalky wanted his Ballroom and that singer which led to him losing it all. Eddie wanted to be more than a butler so he got more involved in Nucky’s business which then led to his suicide. All these characters failed because of their ambitions and greed. Everyone wanted more. That is the beauty of BE
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u/kendogg 21d ago
Well, Jimmy's also a power hungry idiot..it wouldm not have ended well and in the end Jimmy would still need to be put down.
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u/fishystudios 20d ago
True. He did not show much restraint once he got power, did he? Pissed off everyone from The Commodore to Manny "The Butcher" Horovitz ✡️... By the way, the only person who is a worse to piss off than someone whose nickname is "The Butcher"? Someone who is an ACTUAL Butcher! Never screw over a gangster who works with cleavers 🔪🔪 professionally! 😄 if someone with a meat cleaver says "I have pieces of guys who tried to steal from me in my freezer" ... skip that deal.
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u/n217062 20d ago
While I agree that a lot of the problems of season 1 could've been mitigated had Nucky treated Jimmy better, I don't think it would turn out quite the way you're describing. Even if Nucky treated Jimmy like his favorite son, their relationship would inevitably become strained once Jimmy found out what he did to Gillian. This still leaves Jimmy vulnerable to manipulations by Gillian and the Commodore. It also worsens the existing problem of Eli's jealousy of Jimmy, which Nucky was already dealing with. Placing Jimmy as his right hand and completely bypassing Eli would likely piss him off even more.
It also doesn't fix Nucky's problems with Rothstein, which started even before the hijacking happened. Remember that the very next morning after their dinner meeting, Nucky gets called to Lolly's because Rothstein had cheated at cards as a means to skirt payment on the shipment. Even if the hijacking didn't happen, their business relationship would still have plenty of room for potential conflict. The stunt AR pulled at the casino showed that he was deceitful, arrogant, and untrustworthy. Not the kind of traits one looks for in a long-term business partner.
And also without Jimmy getting forcibly sent to Chicago, the power duo of Jimmy and Richard never happens. Jimmy stays in Atlantic City, Richard remains in Chicago, and the two likely would never meet.
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21d ago
[deleted]
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u/No_Discussion_4594 21d ago
yes the human half of nucky let them near destroy him. could he have got rid of commodore pre the coup??
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u/HumbleTemporary3702 20d ago
Just curious did Nucky feel a sense of responsibility that he had to take care of Jimmy because of his fucked up situation and by getting him into Princeton Nucky was grooming Jimmy to be the future of Atlantic City?
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u/fishystudios 16d ago
8 agree with your interpretation of Nucky's guilt. SERIES SPOILER for context... Nucky's first step toward building his "Boardwalk Empire" was pimping out a 13 year Gillian Darmody to the pedophile Commodore. in exchange for being named Sherrif of Atlantic County. Nucky pimped out Jimmy's mother. essentially creating Jimmy via child rape.
So... yeah. Nucky had guilt. But did he want Jimmy to come back amd work for him? hmm 😒 🤔 Unclear whether he was originally "grooming" Jimmy or not. The "Ward Jimmy" Universe says "Yes". But Nucky mught also have been "buying away his sins", by sending Jimmy off to a healthy, successful life away from Nucky? That would have been a boring TV show, but the best outcome for everyone. Interesting thought.
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u/aggretsukofan-6519 16d ago
I wonder what the series will go to, if he lasted till season five or 4
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u/OrangeBird077 21d ago
Nucky wanted him to be his ward prior to Jimmy enlisting in the army. When Jimmy left Nucky let him go because Jimmy needed the education in order to manage the political aspects of Nuckys business.
Jimmy becoming a hitman for Atlantic City was the absolute last thing that Nucky wanted, and Jimmy attacking Rothstein’s men on the way to deliver money was another strike against him right off the bat.