BWW Preview: BOARDWALK EMPIRE Final Season: 'No One Goes Quietly'

It's almost time for the newest and final season of BOARDWALK EMPIRE to premiere on September 7th on HBO. While no one wants to see it go, we all wait in baited breaths for what is sure to be a killer final run (both literally and figuratively knowing this show!). So while we all say "too soon, too soon" at the shows upcoming eight-episode final season, we'll raise our glasses "to the lost," in Jimmy Darmody-style, and watch it go out with a bang!

Season Four left us with a lot of death, questions, and surprises.

• Eli Thompson beat to death Federal Agent Knox, or Tolliver, or whatever you want to call him, in his living room; so Nucky sent him packing to Chicago. Eli, of course, gets picked up by Van Alden, aka George Mueller, to presumably work for Al Capone. Chicago seems to be the place to flee from the law on BOARDWALK EMPIRE, as former Agent Van Alden went there to do the same!
• Gillian Darmody was carted off last season to jail for the murder of Roger (aka Jimmy Look-a-Like), losing custody of Tommy to the now-married, Julia and Richard Harrow.
• Margaret, incredible Margaret Thompson, who was notably absent from a great portion of last season, was last seen moving into Arnold Rothstein's building in exchange for divulging information about her boss's trading activities.
• Chalky White was left with heartbreak, and virtually nothing else, as he watched his daughter, Maybelle, be shot right in front of his eyes, his mentor killed, his business and family lost, and lover and songstress Daughter Maitland gone as well. It's obvious to say Chalky didn't walk away from Season Four on a high note, but it's safe to assume that he did walk away with an ever growing vendetta against Season Four antagonist Dr. Valentin Narcisse, who got picked up by Hoover to be an informant for the FBI.
• Last but not least, Season Four left us with the loss of one of the most beloved characters on BOARDWALK, Richard Harrow. He was hit with a bullet from one of Narcisse's men, after his assassination attempt failed, and Maybelle walked into the line of fire. Harrow died slowly under the Boardwalk, perhaps at peace at last. I think it's safe to say more than a few BOARDWALK fans are still not over his death. To the lost!

A lot of death, questions, and surprises indeed!

In this final season, however, the creative team behind BOARDWALK decided to take a shocking leap in time and set the show in 1931, a whole seven years after the events of Season Four, and in the midst of the Great Depression. A lot has definitely changed in Atlantic City during this long period of time, and there's certainly a lot of skipped-over history between that we knew, and what we will come to know. After all, between 1924 and 1931, Al Capone saw his major years as a notorious gangster and bootlegger, Arnold Rothstein was killed, Meyer Lanksy and Lucky Luciano rose up the ranks, and the infamous Saint Valentine's Day Massacre took place (which, by the way, I am extremely peeved we will not get to see play out on the show!).

With the seven year time jump, there's no telling where we will find our characters in this fifth and final season, but from the most recent trailer, here's what we can surmise:

• Chalky's back and seemingly broken and alone. Gone are the days of fancy suits and houses.
• Gillian seems to be in a sanitarium (which knowing the conditions of facilities like that at the time, is probably much worse than prison).
• Luciano and Lanksy are the big shots we always knew they would become.
• Margaret is still working somewhere, as she sits with a typewriter at her desk in an office.
• Nucky is in some sort of tussle, and is extremely angry! "I will not rest till I see you in graves!" he spits into the phone before slamming it down.
• The Onyx Club is still going strong, presumably under the owenership of Narcisse, who is still alive and kicking.
• A young boy, whom appears to be older and distressed Tommy Darmody, is featured quite a few times.
• Nucky is in Cuba with a tan!

Now here are a couple of questions we'll be asking ourselves before diving into the final season:

• Are Van Alden and Eli still working for Capone? If so this should be an interesting season for them, as we all know Al gets taken down in 1931!
• Is Narcisse and Calky's rivalry still a major plot line seven years down the line? Would someone like Narcisse still be a major game player seven years later? Why is Chalky talking to two random little girls in the earlier trailer and letting them know "Jesus was wrong,"? Who knows?! It's safe to say that even with the time jump, Chalky definitely still hates Narcisse and vice versa, but the question is, is their war against each other still actively going after all this time?
• Is Narcisse still an informer for the FBI?
• What's going on with Margaret now that Rothstein died between seasons? She obviously can't have her apartment for trading information deal with him anymore.
• What's going on with Tommy and how has he dealt with having almost every major parental figure in his life (save for Julia and her father) taken away from him?

There is no telling where Season Five, the final season, of BOARDWALK EMPIRE will take us, but you can be sure there will be drama, higher stakes, and lots of blood. With the tagline "No One Goes Quietly," I can only imagine what this ultimate eight-episode-ending has in store for us!

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