Boardwalk Empire's season finale in America at the weekend has received mixed reviews, but show-runner TERENCE WINTER has insisted that the ending to the second season of the drama had to end the way it did. Those who've still not seen the final episode look away now; the ending sees the show's second biggest character James 'Jimmy' Darmody, played by Michael Pitt, shot by the cast's leading character Enoch 'Nucky' Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi.
The shock twist stunned many, but Winter said the idea had been there from the very beginning of season two, telling Entertainment Weekly "The idea was to try and push things to their absolute limit, even if it makes it difficult for yourself and your writing team. If you take things to their logical extreme with the situation we created, Jimmy has betrayed Nucky, he tried to have him killed."
Going on to defend the suggestion that Pitt's character might not go so willingly to his death, Winter continued "We know with [the previous week's episode] that he's so emotionally damaged. I don't think Jimmy ever expected to come back alive from World War I. I think he probably left for the war hoping he would die and was surprised he survived. He's been a walking dead person ever since we've met him." The show has been a huge success ever since martin scorcese directed the pilot, the most expensive ever made, going on to win some eight Emmy Awards. It's no surprise that it will be back for a third season next year.