Boardwalk Empire

spronk_sl said:

Also I was right about the hankie, it said JTM which is the parent company of Piggly Wiggly. Nucky and Eli both think of it as JMT though so dunno, still a weird connection.

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Apparently back in those days that was the way peoples initials were monogrammed, with the surname more prominent in the middle and the forenames to either side.

The guys real name in the show is Jim Mxxxx* Tolliver. He knows Gaston Means and is blackmailing Means to make him give Nucky false info about "Knox" so Nucky doesn't know just how deep in the shit he potentially is. Nucky's spider sense is tingling over it though because of the sudden disappearance of his old BI contact who appears to have dropped off the face of the earth. Means being a slippery motherfucker just adds to it, he'll switch to Nucky if he senses even the slightest weakness in Tolliver.

*I don't think they've said his middle name on camera yet.

chaos_sl said:

Fucking Chalky. This is what happens when you put the pussy on a pedestal.

No way Eli's son becomes the new Eddie. For one thing, Eli would shit, and for another, both of them would find that position demeaning for someone they are related to, I would think. But they are playing up how incompetent his current assistant is, and it IS a good way to learn the business, I guess. I just can't imagine Nucky being like "Great you dropped out of school and want to learn the family business. Now go get your fuckin shinebox."

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He's going to be the new Jimmy not Eddie!!

He was being groomed to be the new jimmy -- and he cracked exactly the way jimmy cracked. The kid doesn't know it, but Nucky can't be so blind as to not see that if he pushes he's going to wind up with a dead nephew.

Jimmy at least had the decency to run off and join the army. I guess it's just his bad luck there wasn't a war on for that generation.

Jimmy cracked and joined the army because his fucked up mom raped him. It had nothing to do with Nucky.

That was just piss icing on the shit cake. Remember how Jimmy was about to get himself kicked the fuck out of school for defending his mothers honor and punching that professor? It was a conflagration of fucked up with his mom in the eye of the firestorm.

But the point is that Jimmy was fucked before his mom literally fucked him. Not that Nucky personally fucked him, Nucky actually tries to help in his Nucky way -- but that being the next Jimmy requires a special and specific sort of personality. Jimmy and Eli's Kid ain't that personality.

Edit: I guess the thought is that for a man like Nucky to succeed (or the other bosses) it takes someone with the drive, guile, and intelligence to be self-made (mostly self made, the Commodore and Nucky "made" each other is my understanding of that story). So there's a fundamental contradiction in trying to groom your replacement. Talent is either born or recognized, it is not trained and appointed. Look at how the Italians are doing it, they get cousin Guido into the family business, sure, but they don't decide who's gonna be the next bossman when Guido is 17 years old. It's almost as if Nucky is trying to form a Dynasty. The Italians care less about that... as long as the new boss is Italian he's probably somebody's damn cousin. They gave old Gyp a shot, and he was just straight up insane.

Holy shit just when you think the show can't get any better it does. What a great episode!

My man Dunn Purnsley. noooooooooo. And my man Eli. Noooooooooooooooo.

Wow that actor for Chalky has come a long ways since The Wire. Dude got super emotional to really angry really fast in this episode. Awesome.

I thought Chalky was a goner for sure. I just had a bad feeling. Glad to see I was wrong. The retaliation will be glorious.

Never count out Omar?!? Love this show so much.

Chalky should have killed Eli a long time ago. Fucking psycho.

I'm really looking forward to Chalky wrecking shit now. And good riddance to the guy that tried to kill him. He's always had a "fake face" look to him. Like a mask at all times.

I also expected Chalky to git got. I never really understood why he made Dunn his 2nd in the show. My guess is that the actor was just supposed to be a 1off scene with chalky in the jailhouse, and they liked him enough to give him a bigger part.

That Eli shit made me cringe. God damn. How many times are they going to make him betray nucky?

Iannis_sl said:

That Eli shit made me cringe. God damn. How many times are they going to make him betray nucky?

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I'm expecting a twist in that plot. My guess is that Eli will fess up and turn on Agent Knox. I don't expect him to live through the season.

What do you think would happen if Eli just straight up told Nucky what went down in the diner? It always feels to me that keeping it to himself just gets him in to a world of trouble, as evidence of last time.

I thought another opportunity for Eli to turn on Nucky was going to present itself. It will be interesting to see how this unfolds.