Boardwalk Empire

[Deleted]

Nov 27, 2012 7:03:23 GMT -4 Yossarian said:

I wanna know what happened to Margaret!

I don't. The character is as poorly integrated into the story as one of Nucky's showgirls. Are we really supposed to believe that she had no idea that Nucky was a gangster? He had armed men coming and going from the house all the time, late night meetings, and rivers of booze at his disposal. He made more money than the president. She canoodled with Owen, for heaven's sake, at a time when that would have been social suicide for a shopkeeper's wife, let alone a gangsters. She was never written as an idiot but, really, she'd have to be to make this story work.

Here's my re-write on Margaret. She and Nucky meet the same way but after the get together, she realizes he's a gangster. He's worried she'll leave him and take the kids. She reveals that her family is IRA and she knows where he can get guns (yes, this eliminates the story's need for Owen but who cares). This makes the entire episode where she visits her estranged family actually germane to the plot. Her douchey brother now has a reason to embrace her; she can elevate his status back in Ireland by making him Nucky's go-between. Margaret's guilt-ridden donation to the church makes more sense, too, since she now has figurative blood on her hands.

[Yossarian]

When did they present her as not knowing Nucky was a gangster? Maybe right at the beginning but even before they were married she was helping him in his illegal activites, ie. when she feigned a pregnancy in order to smuggle his journal and cash out of the hotel suite when he was arrested.

[Deleted]

In the episode where he had a head injury, he instructs Owen to kill someone and she reacts with wide eyed disbelief. She knew he was a criminal but it stretches credulity that she didn't know he was a killer. Does she really not know what happened to her first husband? Also, her "let's run away to St. Louis" convo with Owen hinges on her thinking that Nucky will let his wife and his hit man just skedaddle off to the Midwest. Were gangsters' molls really that dumb? Were their hit men?

[Yossarian]

I didn't take her reaction to that order to kill as disbelief so much as it was probably the first time she was so proximate to Nucky's nefarious dealings. I think she pretty much always knew what Nucky was capable of but more that she wasn't usually in on his dealings. Head in the sand and all that. That said, the idea that Nucky would have let her and the children leave with Owen was a definite stretch.

[Ladybug]

I like Margaret and I'm interested to see how her story plays out this season, if they have time to address it at all in the finale, seems there will be a lot of shooting and killing. She's involved with women's health, reading Margaret Sanger, has a doctor friend who'll supply her with birth control on the sly, and now she's pregnant with a dead man's baby. There's a logical conclusion to her story this season, and I'm interested to see if the show goes there. I also think it will be interesting to see how Nucky deals with her infidelity, given that he had a mistress this season, too.

I'm ready for Gillian to meet her end. There is nothing left for her character. The Commodore is dead, Jimmy is dead, fake Jimmy is dead, she's lost control of the brothel. I can't stand her and I don't see her going further as a character. And yes, I blame a lot of her character's flaws on the writers and Gretchen Mol portraying her like a sexual Kewpie doll. I would have loved to have seen what a decent actress could've done with this role.

Love that in the end, Nucky has been saved from certain death by the two people he marginalized: Chalky and Eli.

[bklynred]

I agree, Margaret's only surprise was that she was in on the conversation. Women were rarely included in that stuff. She made her bed and was trying to lie in it for her children's sake, but I felt she was conflicted all along. Bird in a gilded cage, etc.

I don't think Harrow will get all he wants; he'll turn killer again and let the girl go, I'm guessing. I absolutely hate Gillian, so kudos to the actress for playing her so well.
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Chalky's BACK! I couldn't be happier. And I was pleasantly surprised at the reintroduction of the son-in-law. I was really into this whole episode, I was edgy about everything!

[Deleted]

Nov 28, 2012 12:29:19 GMT -4 Ladybug said:

I'm ready for Gillian to meet her end. There is nothing left for her character. The Commodore is dead, Jimmy is dead, fake Jimmy is dead, she's lost control of the brothel. I can't stand her and I don't see her going further as a character. And yes, I blame a lot of her character's flaws on the writers and Gretchen Mol portraying her like a sexual Kewpie doll. I would have loved to have seen what a decent actress could've done with this role.

I think the writing's on the wall for Gillian, definitely. I disagree that she's badly written or acted, though. Gillian is a monster and always has been. Remember that she was introduced half-naked and throwing her legs around her son (before it was revealed that she was his mother). She was an abuse victim, a child sex slave, who then emotionally and sexually abused her own son. She egged on Jimmy to kill his father. She seduced and murdered the Jimmy substitute. She's imprisoning her grandson in a brothel (and face it, grooming him to be the next Jimmy). She thinks she's a Kewpie doll, probably because she's mentally stuck at the age she was when she was first victimized, and that's part of her monstrosity. She thinks she's sweet and lovely but she's ugly as hell inside.

[bklynred]

Perfect description, dguzpy.

[Yossarian]

Yeah, I think Gretchen Mol does an awesome job with Gillian (though I'm still hoping that she's killed off. Nastily). You can see the brittleness of her as she tries to behave like how she thinks a lady would behave. I love how she tries to maintain a 'classy' brothel - making the women dress properly and trying to restrict where the sex happens on the premises.

[Deleted]

Gillian is one of those love-to-hate characters for me. I think Gretchen Mol is a bit underrated as an actress, she's not bad at all in my opinion. She was great in that Bettie Page biopic a few years ago.