Why Boardwalk Empire Should Be the Next Series You Binge Watch

Let's just get this out of the way and say that Steve Buscemi is an outstanding lead, carrying the show with a character so complicated and darkly hilarious that you forget it's Buscemi. He's sometimes terrifying, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, and sometimes so sincerely warm you can't believe he's a gangster. Before Boardwalk Empire, I'd never been much of a Buscemi fan, but episode after episode, his performance is the best of the best, and in 2010, he took home the Golden Globe for best actor in a TV drama.

Boardwalk Empire features a mix of real-life characters and fictional figures, and it's intriguing to see how their storylines are woven together. Al Capone, Charles "Lucky" Luciano, and Meyer Lansky are among the real-life gangsters who pop up in the series, while some of the other characters — including Nucky Thompson — are based on actual people who are fictionalized for the show. I've never been interested in Prohibition-era gangsters, but Boardwalk Empire does such an amazing job of bringing these complicated characters to life that I became obsessed with the true stories, googling facts about Al Capone after just about every episode.

Just as on Mad Men, it's as if the sets and costumes are characters of their own on Boardwalk Empire. The '20s and '30s styles are incredible, and between the Atlantic City boardwalk, the ritzy nightclubs, and the lavish gangster hangouts, the sets are visually spectacular.

On a scale from zero to Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire's pace lies somewhere toward the former. You definitely need to be patient as the plots roll out. That being said, the acting is at its best in some of the slower storylines, and the payoff is worth the wait — this show isn't afraid to kill off its main characters, and you find yourself at the edge of your seat knowing that anyone and everyone is fair game.

No seriously — every single one. Boardwalk Empire blurs the moral boundaries, and you often find yourself rooting for the "villain" without fully understanding why. No character is all good and no character is all bad, and more than once I found myself gasping aloud because I couldn't believe that so-and-so would kill someone or that so-and-so had been playing so-and-so all along.

On a purely superficial level, it should be said that there are a lot of good-looking characters, including but not limited to Jimmy Darmody (Michael Pitt), Owen Sleater (Charlie Cox), and Lucky Luciano (Vincent Piazza).

The backdrop of the 1920s and 1930s makes for some powerful female roles, and the women of Boardwalk Empire become all the more compelling when they're entangled with criminals. Romantic relationships comes in all shapes and sizes on the show, but with every relationship, you get to see very different, very interesting sides of these violent gangsters.

Although the show mainly revolves around Nucky's storyline, there are a lot of other compelling stories to follow. It's impossible to feel bored, because at any given moment, you're given another character to focus on, and you're happy to dive in to each subplot because you know they'll all converge eventually.

Without spoiling anything, let's just say that the Boardwalk Empire finale perfectly wraps up the five-season series. The past and present come together, and you're hit with one final shocking twist that feels just right.