Boardwalk Empire Season 4 Finale Review: After a strong season, Boardwalk Empire has a somber and emotional finale with Farewell Daddy Blues.
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SPOILER ALERT! Major spoilers abound, so proceed with caution unless you’ve already watched the finale.
Season 4 of Boardwalk Empire has followed the pacing of the past three seasons; start off slow, build the tension over the course of the season and finish off in a blaze of glory.
And while the finale, Farewell Daddy Blues didn’t disappoint, it took casualties, making for one of the most emotional episodes to date.
It starts with Nucky Thompson making plans for exodus to Cuba. But not so fast as Chalky White makes his return (at gunpoint), demanding safe passage back so he can see his daughter get married, and to settle the score with Dr Narcisse. Thompson says he’ll make the necessary arrangements, but Chalky wants assurances that the Doctor will be gone.
You’ve gotta believe me Chalky, we want the same thing, Nucky says. Oh, I know you want it now Chalky finishes, showing the divide between the two is at the widest in the show’s history.
Nucky meets with Narcisse, and makes it known he wants the feud with White over with, not so subtly suggesting that White gets offed.
The combination of serpentine writing and Steve Buscemi’s nuanced performance makes it difficult to speculate on where his allegiances truly lie.
His poker face shows a man who’s always trying to stay one step ahead and will sacrifice whoever is convenient. And Nucky has another axe to grind, and that’s with his brother Eli.
On the last episode Eli was strong-armed by Agent Knox into setting up a meeting with Nucky and the other major mob forces so they could be wiretapped. But Nucky knows the meeting is suspect and asks Eli to drive him there. When he arrives Nucky pulls a gun and prepares to kill him, until Eli’s son Will walks in.
It’s a fascinating scene, as both brothers try to save face with the boy, but also realize he’s cut from the same heartless cloth.
Eli confesses to both about the plot to frame Nucky in return for Will’s freedom. He also warns Will that Nothing will fill that hole that you have inside you! Nucky lets Eli live, saying this is his mess and to drown in it.
Agent Knox, furious about the botched meeting seeks out Eli. This leads into a brutal fight. Eli gains the upper hand, strangling and bludgeoning Knox. Between this and the earlier episode with the brawl between White and Purnsley, this show has cinematic worthy slugfests that are truly rattling and compelling.
Elsewhere, Gillian Darmody is in court, where even with the damning recorded confession of killing a man to double as late son Jimmy, she’s currying sympathy with jurors, saying she falsely confessed to the murder out of her love with undercover detective Roy Phillips.
Richard Harrow, distraught over the possibility of losing Tommy goes to Nucky. Saying without proof of Jimmy’s body, Gillian can walk free and take Tommy with her.
It’s always been a strange alliance between the two men, as Richard seems too smart to not know how Jimmy was killed, but Nucky says he’ll help recover the body in exchange for another favor.
Shortly afterwards, Darmody’s remains are found and Gillian’s fate is sealed.
So what is the job that Harrow must do? He’s staked out at the Onyx club, where a meeting between Narcisse and White takes place. White demands that his daughter not be entangled in their affairs, but the Doctor will only agree if he gives the location of his Daughter (in name only) who escaped with White only to disappear shortly afterwards. White says he knows her whereabouts, but doesn’t go any further.
All the while Harrow begins training the sights of his gun…on Narcisse, proving Nucky had the back of his longtime partner all along. But sadly, no catharsis occurs here; Harrow gets twitchy fingers and accidentally kills White’s daughter. It’s a truly tragic moment, as both White and Harrow’s lives are destroyed by guilt. Harrow is maimed by gunfire while fleeing the building, just as its being raided by the FBI and Narcisse is taken into custody.
This proves a real bummer, as J Edgar Hoover promises Narcisse immunity in exchange for helping him destroy activist James Garvey. Narcisse easily acquiesces, proving he’s always an opportunist, with idealism used only for his vanity and self-righteousness.
Nucky gets Eli out-of-town to avoid arrest for killing Knox, and Will goes back to be the man of the house to his mother and siblings. It seems very clear he’s a little too at ease with the situation, and will likely get further ensconced into the family business.
In Chicago, Capone gets the run of Chicago after putting out a hit on Johnny Torrio. He survives, but lets Capone have it all. Here’s hoping that next season will focus more on the Capone and Nelson Van Alden, who’s storyline seemed much too excised this time around.
Towards the end of the episode, we hear the song the episode is named for, sung by Daughter Maitland, in an unnamed bar of nebulous location, cut off from the two men she had dueling allegiances too. We cut to White sitting in the rocking chair at his slain mentor Oscar’s home. He appears completely lost and astray. Mending fences with Nucky seems difficult if not impossible at this point, given the botched assassination attempt that killed his child.
But what of Richard? We see him riding in a train and approaching his adopted family in idyllic dappled sunlight. But once we see him sans mask and disfigurement free, we know we’ve just said goodbye to one of the series most unique, tragic and honorable characters; Harrow is dead, having bled to death under the boardwalk.
It seems more than cruel; after finally finding true love and a sense of belonging, it seems he could have been spared; especially since he’s just not the type to miss a shot.
As always it seems, it’s Nucky’s world and everyone else lives in it. He’s the only one who always comes out on top. But he also appears weary, detached, and unsure of his future. But I’m anxiously awaiting to see where he’s heading.
Order Boardwalk Empire Season 4 on Amazon:
[amazon_image id=”B00FEP9MYG” link=”true” target=”_blank” size=”medium” ]Boardwalk Empire: The Complete Fourth Season[/amazon_image]