I only compare this show to Breaking Bad because I never really see a show entering my top 3 of The Wire, The Sopranos and Mad Men (Maybe Game of Thrones might have a chance one day). That said, with this season I really have to put BE over Breaking Bad. Nucky tends to be the magnet for criticism when it comes to this show, but I look at it differently. I'd much rather have a show like BE where I have a cast full of stellar actors and compelling characters than Breaking Bad where, if we're being honest, Walter White was the only character worth a damn. Gus was a compelling character but he wasn't there for the full run of the show. Jesse is probably the most overrated supporting character of all time and I'm still baffled as to how he won that Emmy. Saul, Hank and Mike were cool characters but if we're being honest they're not nearly on the level of a Chalky, Harrow, Rothstein, Capone, Van Alden or Lansky. That's why it's shortsighted to obsess over the main character(calling Nucky the main character of BE is very flawed thinking but that's another completely different argument). Is Walter White a better character than Nucky Thompson? Of course. Does that make up for the fact that I can list atleast 10 amazing characters on Boardwalk Empire and only two from Breaking Bad? No. Having an ensemble cast this strong can't be brushed away because people obsess over having a main character to root for.
But what I really give this show props for is being willing to challenge its viewers instead of merely settling for being entertaining and giving the viewer what they want. That's why I have the top 3 that I have: they're willing to make you uncomfortable, make you think, fukk with your emotions and mirror the complexity of real life. Yeah, we all love Richard Harrow and wanted him to have a happy ending. But I would have been pissed if they took that p*ssy way out. Harrow has been a tragic character from the beginning. Tragedy was the only way he could go out. Same with Chalky's daughter dying. I'd have been pissed if they had a tidy finale where the bad guy gets clapped and the guy we root for gets the W. They kind of did that last year with Rosetti (even though that finale had repercussions that echoed through this entire season). The fact is, they're all bad guys and when bad guys beef the innocent tend to be the ones that suffer. That's some real shyt. And that's why I've got to move this show ahead of Breaking Bad. People love Breaking Bad because it's entertaining and they always get what they want from that show. It doesn't make you think, it just keeps you at the edge of your seat with anticipation. But if you think about it the show followed the same formula every time: Walt wins. Even in death Walt tied up all of his loose ends, killed the bad guys and went out on his terms with a smile on his face. He never broke bad, he went out as a sympathetic character in the minds of the general public. I said it in the BB thread but I wanted so bad for Gilligan to take a risk for once with the finale. Challenge people. It never happened.
Gotta salute Harrow da gawd
everything has already been said about this episode but one thing has been bothering me since Harrow was introduced...why did they never explain what happened to his face? I know in one episode (i believe it was last season) when asked all he said was, I stuck my head where it didn't belong (or something to that effect). They ended last season great with the brothel shootout (Harrow had the invincibility cheat on
walking through there, reloading like 
