Max posted:

I was trying to figure out the ear thing with this guy when I realized he looks old enough to have survived WWI. He probably picked up the habit during that time.

He's essentially Richard but without any physical scars or baggage, and likes getting really up close and personal with his victims.

Snark posted:

I was waiting for Capone to complain about the high hat.

DookieSandwich posted:

I'm thinking more like Spanish-American war since he's Cuban.

Max posted:

I was trying to figure out the ear thing with this guy when I realized he looks old enough to have survived WWI. He probably picked up the habit during that time.

Popular Thug Drink posted:

Or he's just a hardass gangster, those have always existed.

Max posted:

I was trying to figure out the ear thing with this guy when I realized he looks old enough to have survived WWI. He probably picked up the habit during that time.

He's essentially Richard but without any physical scars or baggage, and likes getting really up close and personal with his victims.

quote:

Ọba's humiliation by a rival co-wife is one of the most well-known tales associated with this Orisha. While William Bascom's study identified several unusual variations of it, the most popular myth found in West Africa, Brazil, and Cuba has Ọba cutting off her ear to serve to her husband Shango as food, because one of her co-wives (most often Oshun) has convinced her this will secure Shango's attention. Once Shango sees the ear and realizes Ọba has mutilated herself, he chases her from his house and into permanent exile. Bascom notes that though this story is known in many parts of Yoruba country, it was not recognized by her priest in Ogbomosho.[5]

There are a few variations of the myth in Cuba where Oya rather than Oshun tricks Ọba. Another Cuban variation excludes the wifely rivalry entirely, explaining Ọba's self-mutilation of both ears as an effort to feed Shango after they run out of goat and he is in need of food for his struggle against Ogun.[6] By comparison, in the verses of West African Ifa, we find the story inverted somewhat. Ọba cuts off her ear at the advice of Ifa and the measure successfully ties Shango to Ọba, until Orunmila himself steals Ọba from Shango.[7]

EvanSchenck posted:

Ok, sorry for interpreting the episode based on what happened in it as opposed to what will apparently happen in episodes that haven't even aired yet. How stupid of me.

Aye Doc posted:

Not sure if this counts as spoilers, but Terence Winter talks about the situation in this interview a bit:

http://hitfix.com/whats-alan-watching/boardwalk-empire-creator-terence-winter-previews-final-season-jump-forward-in-time

quote:

The Atlantic City Conference held between 13–16 May 1929[1] was a historic summit of leaders of organized crime in the United States. It is considered by most crime historians to be the earliest organized crime summit held in the US. The conference had a major impact on the future direction of the criminal underworld and it held more importance and significance than the Havana Conference of 1946 and the Apalachin meeting of 1957. It also represented the first concrete move toward a National Crime Syndicate.[2]

quote:

The Atlantic City Conference was said to be hosted by Meyer Lansky, Italian-American mobster Johnny Torrio, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano and Frank Costello. The old world leaders or "Mustache Petes" from New York, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, were not invited, as well as future underworld power Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno since he was Maranzano's top lieutenant at the time. The organizing host of the conference was Atlantic City and South Jersey crime boss, Enoch "Nucky" Johnson, who provided the hotel accommodations, food and entertainment for all, while making a guarantee of no police interference.

The largest delegation in the conference came from the New York/New Jersey area and included mobsters John "The Fox" Torrio, formerly of Chicago, Charlie "Lucky" Luciano, Frank Costello, Giuseppe "Joe Adonis" Doto and Vito Genovese, all top members of Manhattan's powerful Masseria Family, Albert "The Mad Hatter" Anastasia, Frank "Cheech" Scalise and Vincent Mangano, from the D'Aquila/Mineo Family of Manhattan, Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese, represented the Reina Family out of the Bronx, Quarico "Willie Moore" Moretti, represented the Masseria Family's Newark, New Jersey interests, Meyer "The Brain" Lansky and Benny "Bugsy" Siegel, bosses of the Bugs and Meyer Mob, who protected liquor shipments in the New York/New Jersey areas, Louis "Lepke" Buchalter and Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro, considered the underworld's "Rockefellers" and also known as the "Gorilla Boys", Abner "Longy" Zwillman, also representing Newark, New Jersey, Dutch Schultz, Bronx beer baron and Harlem numbers king, Owen "Owney the Killer" Madden, boss of Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen and the Irish Combine, Frank Erickson, former Rothstein Lt., Costello associate and future bookmaking kingpin.

Chicago was represented by Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti, Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik, Frank "Frank Cline" Rio, top members of the South Side Capone Gang and representing Mid West interests, Capone body guard and only one of two Irish gangsters present Frank McErlane of the South Side Saltis/McErlane Gang. From Philadelphia came the top Jewish-American bosses, Irving "Waxey Gordon" Wexler, Harry "Nig Rosen" Stromberg, Max "Boo Boo" Hoff, Irving "Bitzy" Bitz and Charles Schwartz. From Cleveland came the "Little Jewish Navy" of Morris "Moe" Dalitz and Louis "Lou Roddy" Rothkopf, along with adopted Polizzi Family member, Leo "Charles Polizzi" Berkowitz who represented "Little Italy's", "Mayfield Road Mob". The feared Purple Gang of Detroit was represented by brothers Abe and William Joseph "Bugs Bill" Bernstein. Boston's most prominent bootlegger, Charles "King" Solomon was present, while Kansas City's "Balestrere Gang" and the "Pendergast Machine" were represented by boss John Lazia. Delegations from Florida and Louisiana were also present at the time, which would most likely be, Luciano and Costello allies, Santo Trafficante, Sr. of Tampa and Sylvestro "Silver Dollar Sam" Carolla of New Orleans.

quote:

The conference started off with an apparent embarrassing incident for some of those invited who tried to check into the first hotel Nucky Johnson had them registered, namely at the exclusive Atlantic City Breakers Hotel along the Boardwalk, which then was restricted to white Anglo-Saxon Protestant clients (in later years, the Breakers Hotel catered to a mainly Jewish clientele, becoming known as "The Aristocrat of Kosher Hotels"). Once the hotel's management found out multiple guests were trying to check in with Anglo Saxon aliases, some delegates were refused admittance. Subsequently Johnson heard about the problem and rushed over to the hotel to mitigate the situation. Al Capone being himself screamed at Nucky Johnson for not making the proper arrangements and a loud argument ensued between the two gangsters while the others watched and hoped they would not come to blows. Suddenly Johnson who was taller and heavier than Capone pushed him into a limousine and ordered every one to follow him. They headed for the Ritz-Carlton and Ambassador Hotels and when Capone reached the hotel he ripped several framed paintings and photos off the walls of the hotel and started to throw them at Nucky Johnson. The others concentrated on keeping Al Capone calm and quiet for the time being.

ParliamentOfDogs posted:

Mickey getting uppity.

BeigeJacket posted:

I've just gotten caught up on eps 1-3. Great show. As awesome as ever.

One thing though, I'm kinda hazy on how Season 4 ended. I watched the last 2 eps of that with my old man and we were both drunk as poo poo. Did Nucky quit Atlantic City entirely? Who's running things there now? It seems like Doyle is the de facto manager but he is a moron and Nucky never liked him.

BeigeJacket posted:

I've just gotten caught up on eps 1-3. Great show. As awesome as ever.

One thing though, I'm kinda hazy on how Season 4 ended. I watched the last 2 eps of that with my old man and we were both drunk as poo poo. Did Nucky quit Atlantic City entirely? Who's running things there now? It seems like Doyle is the de facto manager but he is a moron and Nucky never liked him.

Crusty Nutsack posted:

What was the significance of having the flowers guy show up in the grass after that girl was over there? I at first thought she was peeing back there, but then the guy walked out of the same area a minute later, which almost made it seem like they wanted to imply they were loving. I get that he needed Nucky to see him at some point in order to vouch for him later on, but it was really odd placing to me.

Also I assumed that the girl was Gillian but that wasn't the name on the postcard.

Vanderdeath posted:

He was wandering around the beach in a daze after killing the lady which is why he seemed so flighty and out of it. The sheriff said they found him on the beach and supposedly killed him for what he had done, so that introduced Nucky to the idea of murder being an end to justify the means.

KORNOLOGY posted:

For the sake of people curious about the odd pacing and lack of explanation (with the "What's your deal?" talk by Joe Kennedy being one of the stand out moments where they made it work artistically), the creators themselves have gone on record as being pressed for time and content. Whether it's from burnout or mutually agreed cancellation doesn't really matter because the audience deserves better for sticking around after all there meanderings and red-herrings.

It should be expected that a show banking on grand aesthetics and historical intersections should have trouble being concise and poetic, but the Joe Kennedy is Awesome and Al Capone is Awesomely Awful bits strike me as the show actually starting to show real artistic identity after the stagnation that came with losing Jimmy. Again, this is something the creators themselves have noted in interviews.

I'm hoping the ability to give dramatically framed but subtly informed scenes is something the show sticks with, and ditches this whole pretension that their characters exist for any reason besides their historical/plot relevance. Personally, I get mad that this isn't the Sopranos and that's my fault for being conditioned to expect that. But the show should know better than that, they know who they are and who they aren't.

P.S. I wish Mr. Doyle all the luck in the world. He gonna need it.

Max posted:

Gillian wrote a letter last episode and now he received one from a Maybel. That was the name of the girl in the flashback that both Nucky and Chalky accidentally spoke outloud this episode, which means Chalky also had a part to play in whatever it was that happened the Gillian.

Astroman posted:

Chalky was talking about his dead daughter Maybelle who was shot by Harrow. Mabel is the girl who became Nucky's first wife. But you might be onto something about that letter being the one from Gillian. Did it really say it was from Mabel? If so that would be a perfect alias for Gillian to use if she was writing to Nucky--she is one of the few people who knows his history and knows it would be a dagger to his heart. I imagine she's looking for his help to get out, but also a measure of revenge for his part in making her.

Alternately, maybe the letter is actually from Nucky's dead wife, and the show will reveal it's really a supernatural drama in it's last few episodes.

Crusty Nutsack posted:

Ah, I didn't realize that he had presumably already killed that woman at that point. The timing of his appearance there just threw me off, coming from right where the girl did. Maybe I'm the only one who thought that.

James Woods Fan posted:

That kid Mickey picked up has to be Tommy Darmody

I liked everything about this episode except the Chalky storyline. What an awful subplot for a short final season.

Astroman posted:

Did it really say it was from Mabel?

quote:

Burdened again with theater and arts reporting, Bly left the Pittsburgh Dispatch in 1887 for New York City. Penniless after four months, she talked her way into the offices of Joseph Pulitzer's newspaper, the New York World, and took an undercover assignment for which she agreed to feign insanity to investigate reports of brutality and neglect at the Women's Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island.

After a night of practicing deranged expressions in front of a mirror, she checked into a working-class boardinghouse. She refused to go to bed, telling the boarders that she was afraid of them and that they looked crazy. They soon decided that she was crazy, and the next morning summoned the police. Taken to a courtroom, she pretended to have amnesia. The judge concluded she had been drugged.

She was then examined by several doctors, who all declared her to be insane. "Positively demented," said one, "I consider it a hopeless case. She needs to be put where someone will take care of her."[11] The head of the insane pavilion at Bellevue Hospital pronounced her "undoubtedly insane". The case of the "pretty crazy girl" attracted media attention: "Who Is This Insane Girl?" asked the New York Sun. The New York Times wrote of the "mysterious waif" with the "wild, hunted look in her eyes", and her desperate cry: "I can't remember I can't remember."

Committed to the asylum, Bly experienced its conditions firsthand. The food consisted of gruel broth, spoiled beef, bread that was little more than dried dough, and dirty undrinkable water. The dangerous patients were tied together with ropes. The patients were made to sit for much of each day on hard benches with scant protection from the cold. Waste was all around the eating places. Rats crawled all around the hospital. The bathwater was frigid, and buckets of it were poured over their heads. The nurses were obnoxious and abusive, telling the patients to shut up, and beating them if they did not. Speaking with her fellow patients, Bly was convinced that some were as sane as she was. On the effect of her experiences, she wrote:


What, excepting torture, would produce insanity quicker than this treatment? Here is a class of women sent to be cured. I would like the expert physicians who are condemning me for my action, which has proven their ability, to take a perfectly sane and healthy woman, shut her up and make her sit from 6 a.m. until 8 p.m. on straight-back benches, do not allow her to talk or move during these hours, give her no reading and let her know nothing of the world or its doings, give her bad food and harsh treatment, and see how long it will take to make her insane. Two months would make her a mental and physical wreck.

…My teeth chattered and my limbs were …numb with cold. Suddenly, I got three buckets of ice-cold water…one in my eyes, nose and mouth.


After ten days, Bly was released from the asylum at The World's behest. Her report, later published in book form as Ten Days in a Mad-House, caused a sensation and brought her lasting fame. While embarrassed physicians and staff fumbled to explain how so many professionals had been fooled, a grand jury launched its own investigation into conditions at the asylum, inviting Bly to assist. The jury's report recommended the changes she had proposed, and its call for increased funds for care of the insane prompted an $850,000 increase in the budget of the Department of Public Charities and Corrections. They also made sure that future examinations were more thorough so that only the seriously ill actually went to the asylum.

pentyne posted:

"You can't stop every bad thing. It's just how it is."

There's very little I would say could improve The Sopranos, but a final season where its 50% young Tony learning the ropes is at the top.

Illinois Smith posted:

ParliamentOfDogs posted:

Cathay was an old name for parts of China so I am hoping against hope that "en route to Cathay" means Gillian is digging to freedom.

Narcissus1916 posted:

David Chase has actually talked about how The Sopranos' writing team often wrote out long bits of flashbacks - but usually scrapped them because of how hard it was to find someone who could credibly be a young Tony Soprano. I largely defend Buscemi's portrayal of Nucky, and I think this year's flashbacks have had some impeccable acting. But trying to recapture the sheer intensity of Gandolfini was a fool's errand.

Jerusalem posted:

It may have been pretty obviously manipulated, but I admit feeling a real sense of dread and tension through every scene with Chalky's fellow fugitive in that house. Something about the utter quiet of much of them, with just that kind of low buzz of insects omnipresent in the background which I guess reflected the guy's obvious mental impairment (from that dent in his head?) and the sense he was ready to just explode into crazy action at any moment.

Astroman posted:

I was frankly surprised it took Chalky that long to take him out.