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Boardwalk Empire

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Robyn
Did you already know that info or did you look it up after you became hooked on the show?

Buscemi playing Nucky was definitely an upgrade in looks after seeing what the original guy looked like.

p.s. Did Buscemi get his snaggle tooth fixed?
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I didn't know anything about Nucky Johnson, or Edge or any of the NJ political scene. I knew a lot about Torrio, Capone, O'Banion, Luciano, Lansky, and Rothstein who is one of the more fascinating criminal masterminds in American history. I knew about Harding and the Nan Britton affair.

I'm a bit of a mafia and history junkie.
 
I'm wondering if they're going to eventually work Frank Costello and Bugsy Siegel into the mix. If they make it to 1929 they can cover the Atlantic City Conference, which was apparently organized by Johnson and included Costello, Torrio, Lansky, Luciano, Rothstein, Siegel, Capone.... it was the fist summit of organized crime in America - precursor to the Havana conference in '46 (loosely depicted in Godfather II) and then the famous Apalachin Meeting in '57 where all hell broke loose when it was raided and some 50 or 60 crime bosses were apprehended while fleeing through the woods.

Anyway, the AC conference was the first move towards a National Crime Syndicate. It's the birthplace of a true national criminal organization in the US and all the major players who were there are being introduced to us through this show.

I don't know how long they plan to run this but it'd be OK with me if they took it right into the 40's and Siegel's eventual colonization of Vegas. Of course that's not going to happen, but I would watch it all the way through. I'd love to actually see another show detailing/dramatizing the events of that particular evolution.
 
Pretty sure she is completely fictional. I don't know who Chalky White is supposed to be either.

I'm assuming most of the stuff about "Thompson's" life is major embellishment. That's why they changed his name I would imagine.

I'm much more intrigued by the cast of real historical figures coalescing behind the scenes. They are doing a great job laying the foundation of the Jewish/Irish/Italian crime syndicates that originally thrived in America. Many people don't realize how powerful the Jewish mafia (or Irish for that matter) was. Everybody thinks of the mob as Italians but that's not at all how it started out. They all kind of worked together at times and eventually against each other, leading to upheaval and re-organization throughout the '20's and into the '30's.

The 1920's was a decade of unprecedented gang warfare, murder and mayhem in Chicago and New York. Lansky and Siegel were founding members of Murder, Inc - the most ruthless band of killers this country's ever seen. Capone's climb to power and protracted war with the North Side Gang....St Valentine's Day Masacre. I mean shit was fucking crazy back then.
 
Robyn
And don't forget how they are tying it all in to politics.
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Yes. I like that too. I don't know how much if any influence Nucky had on delivering Harding to the White House, but I think the show's betrayal of the "Old Boy Network" is probably pretty spot on. Again, maybe not historically precise but it gives you a good vision of how things worked....and still do to some extent.
 
The last two episodes haven't been as entertaining. Still good, but it seems to be lulling a bit. I don't know why Lucy is still around either, and I'm not sure I like that twist with her last night (not to spoil it for Robyn/Bread). It was a big leap for the other character and it didn't feel very authentic to me.


On the other hand, Dexter seems to have really picked it up the last few weeks. Last night was really good. The walls are crashing in around poor Dexter again. It's becoming a little formulamatic, but I'm still really looking forward to how he wiggles out of all this heat again.
 
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