"Eldorado" is the series finale of the
HBO series ''
Boardwalk Empire''. It is the eighth episode of the fifth season, and the 56th episode of the series overall. The episode was written by series creator
Terence Winter
Terence Patrick Winter (born October 2, 1960) is an American writer and producer of television and film. He is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the HBO television series ''Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–14). Before creating ''Boardwal ...
and executive producer
Howard Korder
Howard Korder is an American screenwriter and playwright. He is the author of the 1988 coming-of-age play '' Boy's Life'', which earned him a Pulitzer Prize for Drama nomination. His play ''Search and Destroy'' was adapted into a film in 1995. ...
, and was directed by executive producer
Tim Van Patten. It aired on October 26, 2014. It portrays protagonist
Nucky Thompson
Enoch Malachi "Nucky" Thompson is a fictional character and the protagonist of the HBO TV series '' Boardwalk Empire'', portrayed by Steve Buscemi. Nucky is loosely based on former Atlantic City, New Jersey political figure Enoch Lewis "Nuck ...
trying to tie up loose ends before retiring from the bootlegging business, as his past comes back to haunt him.
Plot
1897
Nucky, now Deputy Sheriff of Atlantic City, finds out Mabel has
miscarried their child. Later that day,
Eli
Eli most commonly refers to:
* Eli (name), a given name, nickname and surname
* Eli (biblical figure)
Eli or ELI may also refer to:
Film
* ''Eli'' (2015 film), a Tamil film
* ''Eli'' (2019 film), an American horror film
Music
* ''Eli'' (Jan ...
calls him to stop their father from beating their mother. Nucky gets into a fight with his father and warns him that there will be consequences if he lays hands on her again. His father replies that Nucky will never be able to escape where he came from. At a town parade, the
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore ...
tells Nucky to turn in his badge, but offers to promote him to sheriff if he brings Gillian to him; it is implied that the Commodore intends to
rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...
her. After a moment's hesitation, Nucky approaches Gillian, telling her that the Commodore wants to help her. He then promises that he will always look out for her.
1931
With his holdings in
Atlantic City lost, Nucky decides to go for a swim in the ocean. Meanwhile, in
New York, due to Nucky's manipulation of Mayflower Grain stock,
Kennedy's business associates begin unloading their shares. Kennedy suspects Nucky's involvement and confronts
Margaret, who convinces him to
short sell his own shares. Margaret helps Kennedy and Nucky make a huge profit from the sale. Impressed, Kennedy offers to make Margaret his business partner. She meets Nucky at an apartment he is looking to purchase with his new fortune, to inform him of her success, and they share a slow dance in quiet. Nucky later returns to Atlantic City, intending to leave forever. He says goodbye to Eli, gives him some money and encourages him to return to his family. He then meets Gillian in the
sanatorium
A sanatorium (from Latin '' sānāre'' 'to heal, make healthy'), also sanitarium or sanitorium, are antiquated names for specialised hospitals, for the treatment of specific diseases, related ailments and convalescence. Sanatoriums are often ...
, telling her the most he can do is set up a trust fund for her when she is released.
Back in New York,
Luciano and
Lansky gather the country's most powerful crime bosses and form
The Commission, a singular body that mediates relations between all crime organizations in the country. On orders from Luciano,
Siegel kills
Narcisse in front of his church in
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...
. In
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
,
Capone is served a court summons when the authorities manage to obtain his ledgers. While he publicly boasts that the charges of
tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
won't stick, Capone says goodbye to his son before heading to court, where D'Angelo is waiting for him.
On his last night in Atlantic City, Nucky receives a call from the police, who have arrested Joe. Nucky bails Joe out of jail and gives him some money, but Joe angrily refuses Nucky's help. Nucky runs into Joe again hours later, and Joe reveals that he is in fact Tommy Darmody –
Jimmy Darmody
James Edison Darmody is a fictional character in the television show ''Boardwalk Empire'', played by Michael Pitt. He is one of the main characters in the first two seasons of the series. Unlike most of the other main characters in the series, Jim ...
's son and Gillian's grandson. Tommy shoots Nucky three times before being restrained by the police. At the same time,
IRS
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory tax ...
agents, who had followed Nucky the entire evening, identify themselves and arrest Tommy. As Nucky dies, he sees a vision of himself as a young boy, swimming in the ocean and catching a coin.
Reception
Upon airing in the United States on October 26, 2014, on
HBO, the episode was watched by 2.33 million viewers.
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
gave the final episode a 92% rating based on 12 critic reviews, with the critical consensus "Despite the limitations of its shortened final season, ''Boardwalk Empire'' wraps up the saga of Nucky Thompson in an effective series finale that both offers closure and leaves a few things to ponder." Genevieve Valentine of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave "Eldorado" an A−, calling it a fitting end to the series: "In its characterization and dialogue, in its shots of the lonely shore or a smoky nightclub, in the moments of dry humor or unexpected tenderness, ''Boardwalk Empire'' was an often-fascinating portrait of an age. It came and went quietly (ad campaign to the contrary), but at its best, it told one hell of a story." Martin Chilton of ''
The Daily Telegraph
''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally.
It was f ...
'' gave the finale five out of five stars and wrote that, "
Steve Buscemi and
Stephen Graham were brilliant in 'Eldorado', the finale of the superb HBO crime drama ''Boardwalk Empire''."
Accolades
References
External links
"Eldorado"at
HBO
*
{{Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire episodes
2014 American television episodes
American television series finales
Fiction set in 1897
Fiction set in 1931
Television episodes about child sexual abuse
Television episodes about pedophilia
Television episodes directed by Tim Van Patten
Television episodes written by Terence Winter