re: Boardwalk Empire Series Finale (Season 5, Ep 8 "Eldorado")

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that was really my favorite part of the finale. It was such a brilliant storytelling device there.

I'm in the camp that doesn't like the idea of Tommy being the one to kill Nucky. I think it was uncharacteristically cliché. Plus Tommy should only be about 11. If they wanted to kill off Nucky, I
Would've preferred one of Eli's kids, maybe Eddie's, anyone he screwed over, stepped on, or belittled. Just something else.

Having it be Tommy Darmody just felt cheap and forced to me.

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For the record, I don't have a problem with Tommy being the shooter. Probably the only shooter that could have done it. Nucky survives his business dealing but it's his original, persoanl sin that brings him down. It brings the story full circle and it is appropriate that it is Jimmy's kid, Gillian's grandson, who did it. Nuck sealed his own fate when he handed Gillian over those many years ago.

My issues are, 1) continuity. Tommy shouldn't be old enough to do the deed. He needs to be a few years older for it to be believable. Going back and doing the math he would be at most 13 when he pulls the trigger. Not believable.

2) Motivation to pull the trigger. How would he even know the history of his family and Nucky? He was too young to remember anything his grandma might have told him when he was in her care at the Artemus Club. Granted , the kid witnessed some bloody murders, but Richard got him out of there. After that he was under Julia's care at a farm in Wisconsin. No way Julia would let Gillian near the kid or communicate with him. No way for Gillian to even find the kid. This wasn't modern day America with the internet and such. People could disappear and restart their lives under different identities. Tommy even admitted that when he remembered his grandma talk about Nucky he wasn't sure if she loved or hated him. Ok, so you're not sure Tommy, might as well kill him then. It makes no sense. Add in Richard giving his life so Tommy could live a different life, kind of a crappy thing to do to Richard & Jimmy, having Tommy turn into a murderer.

Tweak the story so you clean up those points and frame things a little differently and the ending would be much more powerful. You could have also tweaked the story a bit to show that Nucky's driving force was family and leaving a legacy, that was all that mattered to him. They touched on it at several points in the story but could have really driven it home more this season. Then have an ending where Nucky lives but loses everything, money, power, any semblence of family and friends. Forgotten. That could have been an equally powerful ending.

Michael Corleone lived through the 3rd Godfather but he paid a terrible price. I don't think anybody thought he "won" just because he lived. His was a fate worse than death. The same could have happened to Nucky.