I enjoyed Season One of Boardwalk Empire.
I liked the world, the performances (for the most part) and the writing was pretty good too.
Season Two sucked. Characters hit the same beats over and over as the stories treaded water for no reason that I could see. I was glad when it was over. I was finished with it and I didn't see how it could proceed into a third season based on the thinly spread elements at the end of a second.
Then came Season Three.
From the first scene of the first episode of the season it grabbed me and held my head under water until I surrendered.
It would be too simple to say that a single character saved a show. There was an infusion of new talent creating the stories and shooting them too. History helped out the story department too.
But I'm never going to under-estimate the power of one character to turn a world on its head the way Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rossetti's did. Rossetti raised the stakes in every scene he was in. He forced every character he came in contact with to take a stand. He always made me wonder what was going to happen next. And he did it by making choices and following through on them.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Lessons Learned from Season Three of Boardwalk Empire
I enjoyed Season One of Boardwalk Empire.
I liked the world, the performances (for the most part) and the writing was pretty good too.
Season Two sucked. Characters hit the same beats over and over as the stories treaded water for no reason that I could see. I was glad when it was over. I was finished with it and I didn't see how it could proceed into a third season based on the thinly spread elements at the end of a second.
Then came Season Three.
From the first scene of the first episode of the season it grabbed me and held my head under water until I surrendered.
It would be too simple to say that a single character saved a show. There was an infusion of new talent creating the stories and shooting them too. History helped out the story department too.
But I'm never going to under-estimate the power of one character to turn a world on its head the way Bobby Cannavale's Gyp Rossetti's did. Rossetti raised the stakes in every scene he was in. He forced every character he came in contact with to take a stand. He always made me wonder what was going to happen next. And he did it by making choices and following through on them.
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1 comment:
Pretty much the same for me, Dave. Although I was more willing to sit through season two than you by the sound of it.
Gyp Rossetti was a terrifying character, and I loved every moment he was on screen. Terrifying, you never knew when he'd go off, or what would set him off. Terrifying.
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