HBO’s Boardwalk Empire is all new tonight with the second episode of the fifth and final season. Check out the new episode preview below as well as highlight from creator Terence Winter’s interview with NPR’s Terry Gross.
The official plot synopsis for tonight’s all new episode, title "The Good Listener," reads:
“Nucky visits Johnny Torrio in New York City to discuss his close call in Cuba and find out if new Mafia boss Salvatore Maranzano had anything to do with it. Meanwhile, law-school graduate Willie has a job interview; Eli and Nelson's liquor stash is raided by Eliot Ness in Chicago; and Joseph Kennedy listens to Nucky's pitch for post-Prohibition prosperity. Also: A young Nucky and his family mourn the loss of his sister, Susan, in 1884.”
Recently, the series creator and showrunner, Terence Winter, spoke with NPR’s Fresh Air host Terry Gross about the series.
"The more I ... read about it, there [were] so many things in the '20s that were really a mirror to current society Essentially, the illegal alcohol business is the drug business. ... The fact that we're still debating women's rights ... we're still debating evolution almost 100 years later. I thought, 'God, what an opportunity to really do a show that holds up a mirror to current society, and it's 90 years in the past.' "
Winter went on to discuss his own experience with organized crime:
“I grew up in Brooklyn, as a child in the '60s and a teenager in the '70s, and I guess by osmosis you rub elbows with people who are involved in that life, so you can't really avoid it. ... You never know who is standing behind you in line. If you're aware and you know who is doing what and who owns what store and what club, people are around. I was a little more aware of it growing up. I was interested in it. ...[I worked for] a butcher shop. It was a chain of butcher shops that allegedly was owned by [head of the Gambino crime family] Paul Castellano in the '70s. ... It interested me enough, but not enough to ask any questions. I think I was a smart enough kid to just keep my eyes open and my mouth shut. Occasionally guys would come in and they'd say, "Take a walk."
