@@e.l.norton Because a large part of that generation was sacrificed during the horrors of trench warfare in WW1. Even the ones who survived it where never the same after. All you have to do is go and read some books on the topic and watch documentaries on the subject, with old veterans talking about their experiences.
@@giants2k8None of what either of you are talking about is relevant It was a vastly more personal line "You should have known I was fucked, because you fucked me years ago, directly, indirectly. Not knowing or acknowledging makes it worse"
@@kvrma8893 that’s not the point. Even when jimmy is crowned “prince James” he’s unhappy as ever. Jimmy just wanted it to end at this point. In his mind he’s already dead, and has been that way for years. This scene is jimmy finally getting peace.
Jimmy felt horrible about the hit on Nucky and was actually relieved that it was botched. He tried to make things right by helping Chalky and making amends with Nucky but Richard was right when he said "no matter what you do, he will never forgive you." Jimmy was ready to die because Angela was gone and he was stuck with his sick twisted mother (who ironically is also a victim to Nucky and the Commodore).
As Jimmy dies his vision is not of his loved ones, but of the trenches. That was metaphorically his real death, as he said he died in the trenches. He never really came back from the war at all. In contrast, when Richard dies, he does envision his family - even including Jimmy's son. Hot damn this was such a well written show, it's criminally underrated. Michael Pitt as Jimmy is possibly my favorite performance of all time. So slept on! I loved this show.
Agreed, I think everybody was hoping for a "Better Call Saul"-esque alternative show post-finale, whether it be during the past, present or future. Perhaps Nicky's rags to riches story? Or his German assistant's origins in detail? Or the trenches of WW1 for Jimmy? Or Lucky Luciano taking over the Mafia. Regardless, it never happened! Ah well..
Jimmy and Richard's meeting in the hospital will always be one of the best scenes I've ever seen. The acting, the writing, the entire tone---it was just perfect. Best part is you didn't need to know a single thing about the show to appreciate it. You didn't need to know that Jimmy had been raped by his own mother and had lost his soul in the trenches--he showed all of that baggage on his face and in the way he stood. And Richard.... Richard Harrow. My god, what a character! Simply incomparable.
@@Johnny-rj9on It is seriously one of the best tv shows of all time. So under appreciated. My favorite show. And I agree, the friendship between Jimmy and Richard was the heart of the show.
@Joseph Cavanagh you live inside your own deluded little world, and I pity you. Nobody was talking about Buzzfeed, nobody's cared about Buzzfeed in quite some time actually, and then you come along on a Boardwalk Empire video and start trashing and being racist? Are you stupid?
@@gobira26 Well... in the last episode he ordered Tommy, to get rid of all the booze, and didn't have much company. So I guess after all Jimmy was right.
Did anyone else notice that after this moment, Nucky becomes much more brutal and merciless? He no longer cares about getting his hands dirty. This changed him forever.
Michael Pitt's acting in his role as a damaged and sad Jimmy Darmody is legendary and so under-appreciated. The way he captured the dread and fear while he was in the trenches in that scene is truly masterful.
Thing is though, direct American involvement in the WWI was very limited. Their soldiers were only at the front during the last 6 months of the war and as such, would not have experienced the same horrors that the British, French and German soldiers experienced after being at the front for over 4 years.
@@KingofAmerica97 And that means what exactly? You're gonna discredit what these boys went through because "they only were on the front lines for 6 months"??
@@tonysoprano5580 Not at all, contrary to popular opinion, I think the US involvement was a lot more decisive than people give credit for especially if you consider the situation at the time they finally did intervene with Russia, a major ally, having just withdrawn from the conflict. However my point is, I think Michael Pitt's WWI character in Boardwalk Empire is heavily exaggerated and not very convincing.
@@KingofAmerica97 Sorry that I took that the wrong way. I just really hope the men that went through those unimaginable horrors find peace in the next life.
The sad reality is that jimmy is right. A lot of WW1 veterans died back in the trenches even if they survived the war and went back home, they never truly went home.
Tyler Gordon maybe that’s why there’s so many films about war?? I’m using sarcasm. Why do you think there’s so many movies about wars? Not just WW1. Every war has casualties that live. Wars are never ending scripts for writers to mooch off. I’d be interested to know just how many cinematic productions are about a war or has a character battling emotions from being in a war.
@@jrayner21679 there isn't much to make a movie about. It'd be sad without action or many emotions, mainly apathy anger, fear and confusion. After you die there isn't any happy or sad only blank and or reptile-like physical reactions for atleast seven years until every cell in your body is replaced. Jimmy isn't a real life PTSD victim.
@@seamushawks2190 Well, at least he did say that it was "at the end of the series" first. Besides, season 5 imo sucked really hard when compared to the first 4. Had it been as great as the rest, it definitely could have been considered one of Mount Rushmore series.
"You don't know me James. You never did" Those lines stuck with me a long time after this episode! Nucky was a gangster all along but Jimmy couldn't see it because Nucky was cautious and presented this calm businessman exterior.
Exactly right. A lot of people have misinterpreted it, Nucky had already done horrible things to get to his power but had learned along the way how to be the wise and cautious businessman bad guy rather than the gangster. When he was saying that he was telling Jimmy he had done shit in his past that Jimmy and no one except (Eli and jimmy's mother) knew about to get to where he was. They reinforce in the last seasons where we see what nucky had to go through as a kid and the decisions he had to make to begin that life turning a blind eye to jimmy's mother being handed off as a child prostitute for the man that would give him power.
I don't think that's true. The proof is that in the very next season, he was haunted by James Ghost. Also, the final season shows that Jimmy wad right all along. Nucky was haunted by death and regret. He couldn't live with himself anymore.
Michael Pitt. Other good movies: Funny Games, Murder by Numbers, and there are two indi movies i like, the one where ge has to kidnap a black guy, by the order of a mob boss played by John travolta, and there is one where he played that guy who robbed mob places after Gotti got caught. Forget the last two names. There is also a movie with him and Buscemi, but you have to look the names up for the last 3 at IMDB. He has his own b and too. 'Pagoda' ( grunge)
Michael Pitt's a great actor, but he was also a temperamental, unstable junkie who constantly caused problems and delays on set. Dude was a nightmare to work with. Aside from the usual chronic lateness/not showing up at all, he apparently nodded out in the middle of a scene on a couple of occasions. They had no intention of killing Jimmy this early in the series, but the showrunners felt they had no choice. He just wasn't worth the hassle. Same thing happened a few years later on Hannibal, where, despite him being really really good in S2, Bryan Fuller recast the character for S3.
BeholdenYeti If you can remember he really didn't want Nucky dead. He was pressured to do it by the other guys in the group and it was tearing Jimmy apart, you could see it in his face in that scene.
@@dam11232 it is betrayl though sadly. he tried going through with it. it was a mistake on his part and it costed Nuckys trust in him in the end. thats just how the cookie crumbles
This is probably the best Buscemi scene. The anger and pain in his voice when he says, "You're so fucking stupid" perfectly sums up their relationship, and his delivery of it actually chills me
@@MrRjh63 He was a problem actor on the set and so they fired him. So if you listen to that speech it's like he's talking to the actor himself about screwing up his chances as an actor.
@cwdoby ty its a shame that had to happen I liked his character. It makes me wonder if he was originally gonna be the one nucky sent against Luciano instead of the Irish guy.
If you look at the way Jimmy died and what flashes before him and how Richard died and what flashed before him you can really see which one of them got over the war and which one didn't and considering Richard's disfigurement, you would think he would be less likely to get over it but the opposite happened.
Michael O I think Richard was more obsessed with Pre-War life and was nostalgic whereas jimmy was consumed by the war and was the catalyst for his inability to forget trauma. Jimmys life before the war was fucked, whereas Richard Harrow was s normal man. Just my thoughts
I love how his afterlife scene is him terrified in the trenches, like he never left; while richard’s trip to the afterlife is what he always wanted. Jimmy could never move on and he knew that, that’s why he told Richard to “try and come back home” for him. Because Jimmy never left the war
I always found it interesting Richard returned to his family farm, in his last moment. Jimmy, on the other hand, was in the trenches and went over the top. Seems like a clear heaven and hell analogy.
I think part of that was Richard saw a future for himself with his girlfriend and raising Tommy. Jimmy never saw a future for himself really. He just kind of lived moment to moment as if he was on borrowed time and figuring it was only a matter of time until his time ran out.
D D Your comment was implying that I was stupid enough to think this scene was real. My comment demonstrated how I would need to communicate if I had to point out that it's not real, whenever I talked about a scene from a show. That's what I believe he meant by me “showing” you. I would read up on the term sub-communication, if I was you.
“...He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come.” - Erich Maria Remarque
rain during a dramatic scene is such an overused trope in all of hollywood...........google it. the amount of times its used is pathetic. when i saw it raining in this scene i rolled my eyes like "aw here we go again...." fun fact: John Cusak is known as the most rained on star due to his drama scenes.
As mysticx0 said rain in movies (or TV shows, if you will) is overused to the point of being cheap. Filmmakers need to use their imaginations better to come up with different ways to evoke emotion and not keep pushing the same devices again and again. That's artistic laziness.
Yeah this scene to me, is possibly one of the darkest scene in any tv series history. The raining at night makes it even more darker He was my favorite character.
Love the seed of doom this lay for Nucky at the end of the show. The real life Nucky lived a full life, no karmic justice bar poverty near the end, the show nailed it.
The way Jimmy just accepts the fact that he's already dead and was egging Nucky on and literally daring and asking him to kill him was just so epic and sad at the same time. I also have to point out the irony in the way Jimmy was shot the first time through the cheek. It's exactly the same way Tommy shot Nucky in the final season. It feels strangely ironic and cathartic that the same way Jimmy died was the same way Nucky died, and it brings the show full circle with one of Nucky's first mistakes coming back to haunt him.
There’s nothing ironic about it, Nucky’s face wound was a callback to Jimmy’s. Absolutely intentional storytelling from the writers. You’re “pointing out” something that wasn’t subtle at all lol
@@spearstrike211 Effective writing or not, I just admire how the writers were able to bring the story full circle by having Enoch’s biggest mistake come back to haunt him in the form of James Darmody’s son.
@@nateborie6329 He mentions it in his first meeting with Jimmy, he explains how he outsmarted a sniper and shot him in the cheek, below the eye. I believe he also does it in his first on screen kill
I know the rumors surrounding Michael Pitt's difficulty on set, etc. but he really was a phenomenal actor. The subtleties in his performance are amazing. For example, when he says 'Eli' and then gives the look of disgust, like he is saying how patethic he thinks Eli is and if he were the one to kill him....purely brilliant.
Exactly. Pitt does really well with the “little things” in acting. Like he has interesting movements in front of the camera. He’s fun to watch. I love the way he falls after being shot. Kind of glides down with his hands sprawling out just a little. There are many scenes but one I like that’s all shot from behind & is basically all movements is at the beginning of this episode when they’re riding up to the kkk people. Just his movements etc are very cool & fun to watch. From the quick tap on the driver, to the way he holds the gun etc.. He’s one of those actors that uses his whole body to act. Even from behind a mask he’s interesting to watch.
Michael Pitt CRUSHED this role. For a series to kill off a MAJOR character only 2 seasons in, was unheard of. I was seriously worried about season 3 until I met Gyp Rossetti. There was no doubt Gyp was the bad guy but he was sooo much fun.
I love this scene, it is so painfully reckless and breaks usual cinema tropes. Usually one would expect, that Nucky changes his mind at the last second, kills the butcher instead and releases Jimmy with some kind of snarky comment and then they slowly but steadily rebuilt their relationship. A mentally wounded soldier, who is willingly walking into his own death by his stepfather, who not only raised him, but is in an abstract way responsible for his mere existence, this whole ordeal and it's painful ruthlessness, the inevitable fate of Jimmy has something of a greek tragedy.
This was one of the finest acting performances that I have ever seen on TV. Michael Pitt should have been nominated and won an Emmy for Jimmy Darmody. It's a shame he didn't. It's also a shame that he continues to be so underrated.
I know they wrote him off because Michael Pitt was impossible to work with and at the time I loved his character. But now, I think this scene was absolutely necessary to bring some "grit" to the show. It shows the blood on Nuckys hands that was there because of his lust for power and greed. But even more importantly (for me), it conveyed that nobody is safe, just because they are a leading character. This really raised the stakes and properly called in to question the sympathy I previously felt for Nuckys character. Everything about how freaking well this scene is executed, set up and acted has already been said I guess ... :)
I couldn't stand Jimmy's character for all 2 seasons until this episode. I found him insufferable- ungrateful impetuous spoiled brat, opportunities to attend Ivy league school but preferred to be a hoodlum thug, betrayings mentors like Nucky, etc. Then , in the previous episode to this, we finally get his true origin story. Man, his mother EFFed him up (literally, no pun intended) but good! Jesus, Christ. He is by far the most tragic character in the whole series, and I feel like an asshole.
The brilliant thing is, that shooting Jimmy wasn't even unexpected considering Nucky's motivation and character. But still, you feel during the scene, that if he really pulls the trigger, then this is the very point where he can't turn back from, where he crosses all possible lines. He takes the only life he was ever responsible to, beacuse he stubbornly insists that this is the only way. I think this is the point he refers in the season 5 finale when talking to Eli. It's so well written and played.
At 3:35 is the part I liked the most. He went back to the only place he knew; the trenches in France. Any combat vet would understand this being his last thought.
Jimmy's thinking of Nuckys hesitation was incorrect. He wasn't hesitant because of a first kill, which this isn't. He was shaking because he had to kill the closest thing to a son he had ever had.
by this time in the story you might still think Nucky was somehow a better person than his peers in crime. this scene made it clear, he was as evil and rutless as one can be.
Yeah, and in the final episode of season 5 you start to realize that Nucky may have started out a man with some decency, he shed that pretty quickly and turned a blind eye to the corruption and evil around him to move up in the world.
Holy crap same here when Nucky pulled the gun out, I was like Nah, No way in hell is he gonna shoot him, He'll most likely exile Jimmy from Atlantic city and tell him to take his family and never return When he pulled the trigger, I stood up from my chair in shock while at the same time shouting the words HOLY SHIT HE SHOT HIM!!! My jaw dropped in utter shock
"Fired" is a bit harsh. Kind of implies that Pitt did some stupid shit that caused Jimmy to die, as opposed to just being a pawn in a story that was far less interesting without him
I was honestly glad they killed him off. He was a constantly causing problems and couldn't be trusted. It took a lot of balls to kill off a major character like this early on in the show and it was an important step in Nucky's character development.
@@awzthemusicalreviews apparently he did. They say he got into confrontations with the other actors so they killed jimmy off. He also got into a fist fight with William Forsythe.
@@silversnail1413 I could not stand Jimmy's character and at this point the show didn't really need him. Richie was a better soldier and Owen was a better gangster. Jimmy was in my opinion a really bland and boring character. Also everyone seems to forget he straight up raped Angela so I wasn't really that sad when he died tbh.
The last scene of Jimmy in the trenches during the First World War , makes me angry. All those soldiers that were instructed to leap out and face the machine gun fire seems so rediculous and pointless. Such a waste of human life .
@@XtreemMetalManRedToTheBone-Assasinating a WORLD LEADER is not an internal situation. They knew what the were doing, and the blood of untold millions is directly on their hands.
Leonidas from 300, John Marston from red dead redemption, Arthur Morgan from red dead redemption 2, John Cofi (like the coffee but it's spelled different) from the green mile, Rob Stark and Hodor from game of thrones would like a word with you 😜
Yep, you see Nucky's character even more in the end of season five and realize some of the unforgivable things he has done as he rose through the Atlantic City machine.
Yeah, just sad that the show was suddenly cancelled and barely enough budget was given to try to finish up the storylines with a final season. The writers and producers had to scramble and it showed in that final season.
cant imagine the nerve it took to climb out of a safe trench and charge into a machine gun...its one thing to return fire when attacked...quite another to step into it
Its funny how we blame the generals in WWI for the pointless killing when in fact they were just doing their job. We forget that those generals were once soldiers in the frontline, lucky to survive their first battles. Right before WWI, even decades before, ordinary people, the mainstream midia of the time, and agitators of all sorts, from anarchists to comunists, and politicians, were crying out for war. After all, they thought, they had machineguns, they had planes and giant battleships, and most most importantly, they had "history" on their sides. War, everyone was thinking, would be a walk in the park for their respective nations. Even back in 1914, most countrys were already democracies, or at least some major powers were. Lets face it, we the people, are to blame.
This scene literally is what hooked me the symbolism of Jimmy telling him he can't be half a gangster all the character development up to Jimmy being nucky first kill this show was written unbelievably well
@@jiveAt5 that was nuckys first kill.. jimmy haunted him he wasnt built like that at first and has nightmares and visions about this. You.must didnt watch the series.
I know what he means. To have your whole life killed in front of you. To die when no one else knows or cares.... To come back from death only to see that nothing's changed.... Nothing's changed for anyone except you. No one has changed. Except you. And no one cares. Except you. I died on a mountain. Surrounded by my true friends, and with my whole life ahead of me. I died ready to live, I died having barely felt the touch of love but today, alive and breathing, I know it is a lie. I know I am dead, I died on a mountain.