Boardwalk Empire: Season 5

Product arrived on time - played with no problems.

As far as last seasons go - it's better than most.Though, it could have made some better choices.For instance, Jimmy's mom's story should have ended with season 4.But the main critique I have for season 5 is the fact the great majority of it is too dark to watch.The first 4 seasons weren't like that at all.Maybe they were saving money on light bulbs.

I have been watching Boardwalk Empire since the series began. This is just a great story, told by an amazing writing/directing team, with top notch actors.Sadly this is the last season and a somewhat short one at that. Eight instead of the usual ten episodes. This season fast forwards into the future a bit over season four, but also offers some insights into Enuch and Eli and their childhood origins. Very interesting stuff.The show is great but one criticism I will offer, I normally purchase the standard definition versions on Amazon Prime. They are both cheaper, and I have never yet noticed a single artifact that made it obvious that there was a difference. Not so with this one. If I had it to do over again, I would buy the HD version. There are many noticeable and obvious artifacts in the SD version. I cannot tell you if this is HBO's fault or if it is Amazon's, and I should also say most people won't notice, but I did.One positive I will give HBO here. I love several of their series, but it is often very difficult to purchase an HBO show in a timely manner. I still had to wait until the season was over, but the whole season was released just a few days after the season ended. I would still prefer to get these weekly as the show is played, but the current situation is much better than waiting a full year which has been the prior pattern.It is a little baffling that HBO and so many other companies have been so slow to recognize that people will purchase their shows with real money instead of pirating them if they are just given the opportunity to be honest. So this is an improvement.

The final season answered all my questions from the previous 4 seasons. I was sorry that it ended because I wanted to see what happened with the gangsters who took over most of the territories when Capone went to jail for tax evasion. But maybe that could be the basis of a new series since Nucky's reign is now over. It was great seeing Steve Buscemi as a lead since he has always been so great in every part I have ever seen him in. This series was rich in detail and i was glad I bought it on Blu-Ray because both the sets and actors were excellent. So I hope there is a kind of follow-up with the characters still remaining from this series. However, if not, I will simply watch all 5 seasons of BOARDWALK EMPIRE again because it is not just a story, not just an experience, but a detailed analysis of violence as well. The Wild West may have been the defining characteristic of America in the 19th Century but this series and others like The Sopranos show that the "Wild West" continued well into the 20th Century. Maybe that is the essence of America...it is still the Wild West even today and it may never be completely civilised while money and guns rule. There is something seriously wrong with a nation that worships money. Here is that ethic for all to see! Fortunately, great artists like Martin Scorsese and Terence Winter analyse and reveal the problems faced by ordinary Americans when faced with a corrupt politic. But how can this ongoing cycle ever be changed when the ethic is so ingrained?

I loved Boardwalk Empire, and so I found myself very much let down by this, the final season. The first four seasons were all great, a perfect combination of marvelous writing and outstanding performances by a truly remarkable cast. But something, I don't know what, went terribly wrong for the show when it came to wrapping things up in the fifth season.So many things seem to have been bad decisions for no apparent reason. For one thing, they jumped ahead five years, from 1926 to 1931, completely bypassing a number of key events like the election of 1928, the stock market collapse of 1929, the death of Arnold Rothstein who was a key character in the show, and others. For another, the season was noticeably short, 8 episodes instead of the usual 12. Another bad decision was the attempt to maintain all of the previous major character plot threads but with no real attempt to show what had happened over the last five years, while at the same time weaving in the background story of how Nucky came to be the man he was, with flashbacks to when he was a boy growing up in poverty in Atlantic City and to when he was a young man first getting his start up ladder. The result gave things a very choppy feel with the show jumping back and forth between no less than nine plot threads and between past and present as well.That said, however, I must add that the flashback threads are far and away the best part of the season, not only because of the high quality writing but also because of the superb casting of the younger versions of the key characters of the show. Nolan Lyons is a stand-out as Nucky as a young boy in 1884, conveying a boy determined to escape the poverty into which he was born but uncertain as to what the best path up is. But Marc Pickering is a marvel as Nucky as a young man in 1897, managing a highly credible version of a younger Steve Buscemi, down to his way of speaking and physicality. This in turn is complemented by John Ellison Conlee's younger and more physically vital version of the Commodore, with Ellison in turn managing a younger version of Dabney Coleman, down to the voice and facial expressions. Together, their performances are truly compelling.Recommended for the parts that show Nucky's past and his evolution, and for the parts dealing with Joseph Kennedy, but with the caution that the rest is mostly an incoherent let's-just-kill-everyone-off disappointment.

When I received this item it looked fine the packaging was in good shape etc but finally started to watch this season and the first disc was fine but the second disc did not play well it skipped it froze and was just jumpy buyer beware I thought the seller would have previewed his stuff I know it was second hand but so were all the other seasons I purchased and this was the only one I had trouble with.

For a show that started off so strong, it was painful to watch towards the end. I didn't even want to sit through the whole final season, and only did so because I'd already watched all the rest and just wanted to reach the conclusion. Very disappointed.

une saison finale à la hauteur du reste de la série. Impeccable. De la très belle ouvrage. En huit épisodes, nous suivons la fin des aventures de Nucky Thompson, de ses sbires et de la prohibition. Une cinquième saison empreinte d'une nostalgie et d'une mélancolie toute Léonienne où, pour la première fois dans la série, la narration et le montage intégrent des flashbacks nous exposant d'où Nucky vient, ce qui a motivé ses choix et mis en place sa future (tragique) destinée. Entouré d'un casting quatre étoiles (cinq sur amazon) Steve Buscemi impressionne encore une nouvelle fois dans l'un des rôles les plus importants et marquant de sa carrière. Formidable acteur!! On pourra aussi noter le tour de force d'écriture d'avoir réussi à remonter toutes les pièces du puzzle, les destins de tous les personnages y compris secondaires en seulement huit épisodes (même si plusieurs durent presque une heure au lieu des 50 mn habituelles). Boardwalk empire s'impose comme la tragédie d'un homme qui, pour s'en sortir et réaliser ses ambitions à été contraint (ou/et)s'est résolu à faire des choix, et commettre des actes qui, tout en assurant son ascension sociale et sa fortune, l'ont détruit lui ainsi que son entourage. En cela, le final de cette cinquième saison et de son huitième épisode est sans appel.... On n'en dira pas plus pour ceux qui ne l'ont pas encore vu. La boucle est bouclée et la messe est dite. La voie morale et vertueuse aurait été moins glorieuse et fortunée (un temps) mais probablement plus heureuse et, en tout cas, moins cruelle.A voir absolument! Personnellement, ça m'a donné envie de revoir les cinq saisons à la suite sans les mois de coupure entre chaque saisons. Ce sera mon petit plaisir dès que j'en aurai le temps et l'occasion. Cette série est magistrale et mériterait bien plus le grand écran que bien des films diffusés au cinéma tant c'est bien écrit, réalisé, mis en scène, interprété, mis en lumière, en décors et la reconstitution des années trente, parfaite!!Tout a une fin! c'est triste mais c'est un fait! et celle-ci a été soignée! Boardwalk Empire est une Grande série!!!

Une saison 5 flamboyante, indispensable pour la compréhension finale du caractère des principaux personnages . Cette saison éclaire par flash back le cheminement parcouru de l'enfance à l'âge adulte des différents protagonistes affinant ainsi le pourquoi et le comment de leur personnalité et de leur position sociale tout le long du chemin parcouru . La boucle est ainsi bouclée. Tout a une fin ! Cette série grandiose est d'une qualité rare et mérite tous les superlatifs . Un scénario cohérent, captivant, fascinant, riche et irréprochable, des images superbes et une bande son somptueuse , des acteurs magnifiques tous aussi excellents les uns que les autres au service de personnages remarquables qui évoluent superbement entre fiction et réalité historique. C'est grandiose ! Tout est parfait de la saison 1 à la saison 5 . Aucun temps mort, on reste comme abasourdi à la fin de la dernière image avec la sensation forte d'avoir vécu tout le long de cette histoire un moment rare de cinéma et d'émotions . Il est dur de quitter cette série !... A ne surtout pas rater !

Super end to the series, I ended up binge watching this final season just to get to see what happens to Nucky and all those other characters in orbit around him!!!