There are scores of TV shows out there, with dozens of new episodes each week, not to mention everything you can find on Hulu Plus, Netflix streaming, and HBO Go. How’s a viewer to keep up? To help you sort through all that television has to offer, Flavorwire is compiling the five best moments on TV each week. This round: Boardwalk goes out with a bang while Key & Peele try their hand at a PSA.
Nucky’s Boardwalk Empire Falls
HBO’s Sopranos-esque period drama came to an end this Sunday, with one major departure from its predecessor: where Tony’s death or survival was intentionally, maddeningly ambiguous, Nucky Thompson is 100% dead. Shot by Tommy Darmody, Nucky died on the show’s titular boardwalk, completing the sequence of events begun by his betrayal of Tommy’s grandmother over three decades before. A neat, satisfying ending to an underrated drama.
Stephen Colbert Champions Ethics in Game Journalism
Because imagine if TMZ had no ethics! Colbert walks the fine line of parody through impersonation as adeptly as ever here, playing the role of #GamerGate die-hard in an “argument” with Feminist Frequency vlogger Anita Sarkeesian. Not that Colbert had to do much to make #GamerGate seem ridiculous — some of his jokes are just word-for-word parodies of the “movement’s” party line — but the humor’s a nice break from the death threats that keep Sarkeesian out of venues like the University of Utah.
So Long, Twisty
The whole “freak ghost on the warpath” plot line was a little random, but American Horror Story‘s Halloween episodes redeemed themselves by turning Edward Mordrake into a device for learning about the characters’ pasts. Elsa, it turns out, is a former dominatrix who lost her legs in a snuff film. And Twisty? He’s a simple-minded clown driven insane by the cruelty of freaks and mainstream society alike. Just four episodes in, the season’s main villain is dead, taken by Mordrake to join his group of undead companions. Not to worry, though; Frances Conroy’s son is happy to take his place as Jupiter’s resident axe murderer.
Seth Meyers Gets Knighted
Amy Poehler and George R.R. Martin stopped by Late Night With Seth Meyers this week, a combination that may seem unlikely but proved ideal for Meyers’ stated mission: getting knighted by Martin, who has a custom of inducting fans who get him food at conventions into a “Brotherhood Without Banners.” Martin has the authority to knight, Poehler has the massive prop sword to knight with; the rest is history, and adorably nerdy.
Key & Peele Just Say No
Key & Peele excels at Halloween episodes, and its fourth was no exception. The night’s best sketch was a horrifying anti-drug PSA, where Jordan Peele dupes his friend into trying a terrifying nightmare drug. Punch line? “Drugs are for losers!”