‘Boardwalk Empire’ season 4 finale reaction: Who died, and who lived?

There were two surprises when it comes to the end of “Boardwalk Empire” season 4: Not only was there a death that you didn’t see coming, but there was also the life spared that you probably did not see coming.

Going into this episode, the easy assumption to make was that when the dust settled, we were going to see Eli dead, and at Nucky’s own hand. This was what we were seeing in terms of momentum over the course of the past several episodes, and to see it not happen was as bit of a surprise as anything else.

Instead, the tragic death at the end of the episode was none other than Richard Harrow. Was this as painful as losing Michael Pitt in season 2? It has to rank somewhere high on the list of the most shocking moments in the history of the show. This was a guy we assumed was going to be around for the long run, and now he is dead doing roughly the same thing that he frequently does to so many other people. This at the moment is the sad irony of what is a very complicated situation.

Probably the best thing that this finale did accomplish, at least in comparison to what we had at this time last year, was not forcing us to start all over from scratch. This season will carry over very much to next year, and there is therefore no need to sit around and worry about having to start off with a series of episodes that are mostly exposition-based. This means that hopefully, things will start intense next year and stay that way for quite a while.

Want to read some more news when it comes to “Boardwalk Empire”? Then just click here, where you can read a little bit more when when it comes to what may be happening on the show during season 5.

Photo: HBO