u/WarmCattle2884

From the first season until he's forced to leave Atlantic City in S4E12, Eli's jealousy of Nucky and his delusional belief that he can do what Nucky does constantly results in him making foolish decisions. He insists on making a speech at the Celtic Dinner that nearly ends up in a riot between the Irish nationals and Irish-Americans in attendance, which Nucky ends up having to smooth over.

The contrast is perfectly displayed in S1E8: While Nucky is in Chicago determining who the NJ Republican delegation will support for the presidential nomination and making side deals with the future Attorney General, Eli's sitting in Nucky's office telling Halloran he can do what Nucky does while the usually packed waiting room is empty and the only person who came in seeking a favor was O'Neil, whose first words were that he forgot Nuck was in Chicago.

It's understandable that Eli was angry when Nucky temporarily removed him as Sheriff, but after the casino shooting it had to be done so they could win the election, and unlike the other crime bosses who had to use violence to gain control of their territory, the only way Nucky could operate his criminal organization, have a monopoly on alcohol distribution throughout the city, and run all his rackets with impunity was if a puppet Republican mayor who he controlled won the election.

Nucky really summed up his jealousy perfectly in S1E11 when they had their first real argument and Nucky told him:

"You know it's too bad you didn't see Hardeen the other night...It's an entertaining act, but if he wasn't Houdini's brother, NOBODY'D GIVE A FUCK!"

Nucky almost single-handedly won the election by pandering to women's organizations like the Temperance League and League of Women Voters, the latter of whom endorsed Bader, by making a deal with Chalky for 100% of the Northside vote, and with his election eve press conference where he credited Eli's tireless work for the "apprehension" of the D'Alessio brothers. He gave him a portion of the $1M he got from Rothstein and within seconds of winning the election, handed him another full term as Sheriff, yet he still joined the "coup" that if successful would've landed Nucky years in prison so he could have a less important role in the political machine and answer to Jimmy and the Commodore rather than his own brother. When the Commodore had a stroke and he got angry that Nucky saw right through his bullshit apology, he suggested having him killed, then lied about it after the mistrial, which Nucky saw right through again.

In S4 he got angry and jealous that Will admired Nucky and went to him when he got arrested for murdering his classmate, and even with a gun to his head he complained that he went to Nucky instead of his father, but had he called Eli instead, the only thing he could've done was ask Nucky to intercede on his behalf because he didn't have any political connections who could get the case dismissed. Without Nucky's help, he would've sat in jail waiting to be tried for murder like his unfortunate roommate and never would've become an assistant US Attorney in the SDNY.

I think a big reason for their feud is rooted in their childhood where despite growing up in the same house with a kind and loving mother and a drunk and abusive father, Nucky was the one who suffered most of the abuse and because he took it on himself to work so that the family could have some of the basics, Eli's childhood wasn't nearly as rough as Nucky's. Their father obviously favored Eli, and burned Nucky's hand with a fireplace poker for taking a piece of bread and made him fight a group of older kids who beat him unconscious and put him in the hospital for 11 days. Eli gladly took his father in after he fell down in the kitchen and when they briefly met at the wake during S2, Eli couldn't understand why Nucky hated their father so much. Neither had it easy, but Nucky didn't have an older brother who started working as a kid to ensure they had food and Eli wasn't literally scarred from childhood because of his father's physical abuse. The Commodore was another asshole Nucky had to deal with for decades before he got to take over, and as demanding as Nucky was that his subordinates did their jobs, working under him was much better than working under the Commodore and everyone that was part of the machine did better financially under Nucky than the Commodore, even before Prohibition went into effect.

Eli got used to Nucky being the provider for the family and taking care of him, and rather than working hard on his own at something he was good at or taking his own shot at a profession he was suited for, he asked Nucky to get him a job from the political machine, but it wasn't until the Commodore had to step down as boss and serve a prison term that Eli was handed his first term as Sheriff. He didn't see Nucky giving him one of the best appointments or making him his #2 in the organization as things he should be grateful for; he expected that Nucky would take care of him and instead of knowing his place and his own limitations, he resented how popular Nucky was and that he'd always be viewed as his little brother rather than his own man.

One of my favorite recurring characters is assistant US Attorney Esther Randolph. She's one of the few people on the show that has Nucky's number, and even though they’re on opposite sides of the law, by S3 they seem to have a mutual respect for each other’s intelligence. By Nucky's own admission, she “had him on the ropes“ during the trial that they both knew only ended the way it did because of witness tampering, and in S3 especially, it’s funny how she watches him operate from a distance after agreeing to have breakfast with him after court.

She was at the meeting with Gaston Means when he told Nucky how he can approach Secretary Mellon at his private club, but left as soon as he told Nucky that it will be a test of his resourcefulness. Shortly after, she finds out that Nucky was able to convince Mellon to sanction the arrest of George Remus, thereby saving himself from being indicted, giving Mellon the opportunity to force Daugherty to show his hand, and handing her a high-profile case to help her career and possibly earn himself some good will.

At the end of S3 when Nucky puts the finishing touch on his "deal" with Rothstein, it wasn't a coincidence that out of all the AUSAs Secretary Mellon could've called that he chose Esther Randolph to tell her that the Overholt distillery had been illicitly commandeered by a criminal organization and that she should shutter the premises and apprehend and indict anyone associated with its illegal operation. When she asks if he wants her to arrest Enoch Thompson, Mellon tells her it was Mr. Thompson who brought this illegality to his attention and when she asks who they're talking about, with Means whispering in his ear, he tells her Arnold Rothstein.

Even though Rothstein wasn't convicted, being the AUSA leading the arrests of both Remus and Rothstein definitely helped her career while Nucky's maneuvering allowed him to hold onto his empire for the rest of the 1920's. By S4, Randolph's no longer the "Scourge of the Saloon Keeper" and the 2 scenes that she does appear in have her, BOI Director Hoover, and BOI Agent Toliver questioning Remus about Nucky, and her attending a ceremony for Hoover with the new Attorney General Stone and Secretary Mellon.

Ivo Nandi is an excellent actor and did an amazing job playing the part of Joe Masseria. Out of the original bosses in the show (Nucky, AR, Torrio, Masseria), the first 3 come across as the most intelligent, but there's something about Masseria that gives his character a commanding presence in virtually all of his scenes-except the last one. He isn't physically intimidating like Gyp Rosetti, but there's something about the way he talks, dresses, and carries himself that makes him one of the most intimidating characters on the show, even without the army of men he has at his disposal before the start of the Castellammarese War.

Some of his best scenes were:

-The sit down he had with Luciano at the restaurant where he made him sit at the window and demanded a 30% tribute for any heroin sold in his territory in S2.

Luciano: "We're far apart, Joe."

Masseria: "We're very close, Salvatore...We're two feet from each other."

-The Easter Sunday/April Fools sit down he had with Gyp where he planned to kill him after he lost control of his territory because he was too busy fighting a war in NJ and only managed to save himself by convincing him that Nucky and AR were a threat to his organization and promising to kill Luciano, his Jewish business partners, and Nucky.

-In S3E12 when he shows up at Gillian's brothel to confront Gyp about the dozen men he got killed for nothing, dismisses his racist remark about Nucky's soldiers being "shines" by telling him that Atlantic City is their home which is the reason they're fighting, and looking at his watch, then adjusting the clock before telling him "Perfect. Now you know what time it is."

-The meeting in the beginning of S4E1 where he begrudgingly takes the money Nucky offers for peace after arguing about the 15 men that were killed on the road out of town after he made his deal with Rothstein and angrily getting out of his chair to directly ask Nucky why he should believe any word that comes out of his mouth.

Do you agree? If so, are there other scenes you can think of that show what a commanding presence he had?

Mr. Thompson is a part of everything. He is in the sky and sea. He is in the dreams of children at night. He is all that there is, forever.

I think most fans would agree that Nucky's quick-witted and sharp sarcastic remarks, whether intended to be humorous or hostile, made his character's scenes entertaining. There were so many over the course of the 5 seasons (56 episodes) that it would be tough to list them all, but in no particular order, some of my favorites were:

"I am in the midst of concluding arrangements that will keep Atlantic City wet as a mermaid's twat."

"The fսck is this? This... fսcking lip Rouge...God fսcking damn it...How hard do I work? The pressure I'm under... Is it too much to ask that if I have a simple goddamn birthday party that the silverware, the crystal... that they be clean? Can I trust you to do anything right? The war, the anti-German bullshit... did I not stick with you despite all that? And this is the fսcking thanks I get? This filthy piece of shit that some whοre left her cock-smeared lip Rouge on? Do you want me to drink from this? Do you want my guests to drink from this?"

"I already got what I wanted. What the fuck would we talk about?" to McCoy after they made their deal for the booze.

When he calls Chalky "Simon Legree." during their first meeting about making bootleg liquor from the authentic Canadian Club whisky he gives him.

"He thought. Fucking Aristotle." after Jimmy said he thought they killed them all.

"Not nearly as dirty as when you fellas get through with it." when Daugherty told him the White House was filthy and they had to get it fumigated.

"Go buy a personality" to the prohee when they found Rowland Smith's house.

"You're the expert on children, aren't you?" to the Commodore when he confronted him, Jimmy, and Governor Edwards at dinner.

"Senator, the only chance you have of entering the White House is on a guided fuckin' tour." to Edge at the Republican Convention after he found out about Edge's side deal with Frank Hague.

"You know, it's too bad you didn't see Hardeen the other night. It's an entertaining act, but if he wasn't Houdini's bother, nobody'd give a FUCK!"

"This wouldn't even stop me from jacking off!" when he was yelling at his lawyer after he suggested medical hardship.

“Untie him, oh but before you do, put a bullet in his fucking head.”

"Harry, I swear to Christ, if you bring me down, you're coming with me. Lock, stock and whiskey barrel."

"George, is the irony lost on you that you operate in Ohio but didn't know anyone from Harding's administration until I stepped up?" followed by:

"Why the fuck would anyone EVER go to Cincinnati?" & "Remus can go fuck himself." when Remus called to tell him about the deal he made with Jess.

When he's at the dive bar with the "squirrel faced c_nt" and King Neptune's c_cksucker" and one says "This is where Hope comes to get fucked in the ass" to which Nucky responds "When's she showing up?"

"Arnold Rothstein, Waxey Gordon, Frankie Yale, Peg Leg Lonergan, and Wild Bill Lovett... they're all coming. They're going to sit down. When the meeting's over, Joe Masseria will be a dead man. Gyp Rosetti won't have anyone to protect him and I'll wear that fսcking dago's guts like a necktie."

Can you think of others that he made or pick from these which ones were your favorites?

Hogan’s Heroes had an excellent cast and I think most fans would agree that Sergeant Schultz was the most lovable character, that General Burkhalter’s sharp & quick-witted sarcasm, especially towards Colonel Klink was always funny, and that there was never a dull moment in a scene with Major Hochstetter. 

Each of the “Heroes“ were entertaining in their own way, but even though Colonel Hogan was the lead character and protagonist of the show, I thought Colonel Klink was the most versatile, interesting, and entertaining character, partly because of how his role was written, but mostly because Werner Klemperer was an amazing actor who won 2 Emmy Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series in 1968 & 1969 for his portrayal of Colonel Klink.

Colonel Klink was an arrogant, conceited, inept, incompetent, gullible, easily manipulated, spineless sycophant who believed he was the best Luft Stalag commandant in all of Germany even though his father told him he was good for nothing and encouraged him to join the army and he only got into the Luftwaffe because his uncle cut the mayor’s hair. He had been scared of flying since WW1 when it was revealed that it was his fault that the “Blue Baron” got into a plane crash and broke his leg and he constantly let himself be disrespected by other colonels, generals, and subordinate officers even after falling over himself telling them what a pleasure and an honor it was to meet them, and while he’s less of a pushover than Schultz, in the end he always does whatever Hogan tells him to.

The show wouldn’t have been the same without Hogan, the “Heroes,” Schultz, Burkhalter, and Hochstetter, and it was a collaborative effort that made the series a classic, but even though the same can be said for plenty of movies and TV series, I can’t imagine Hogan’s Heroes being as good a show as it was without Werner Klemperer as Colonel Klink.

Disssssssmissed!!!

I think most fans would agree that Sergeant Schultz was the most loveable character, but each character contributed to the show's greatness and some of the best scenes were watching Klink bumbling around or being disrespected by superior and subordinate officers, General Burkhalter's sarcastic remarks to and about Klink, and Major Hochstetter who's technically 2 ranks lower than Colonel Klink (even though the Gestapo wasn't part of the military) treating him like an enemy.

Some of my favorite episodes were:

"Will the Real Adolf Please Stand Up?"

"Information Please"

"The General Swap"

"Casanova Klink"

"Klink vs. the Gonculator"

"Funny Thing Happened on the Way to London"

"Easy Come, Easy Go"

One of my favorite scenes was in the episode "How to Catch a Papa Bear" where Newkirk was in Gestapo custody so the Heroes pretended he was sick and when Klink wanted to get him a doctor, Hogan convinced him he'd lose his command when they quarantined the camp and told him he responded well to chicken soup, and Colonel Klink responded:

"He must get well and that's an order. He is to have chicken soup every hour on the hour. Understood?! And if necessary, give it to him intravenously."

In the episode "Klink for the Defense" where Klink had to act as the defense attorney for a Luftwaffe officer spying for the Allies, Hochstetter was talking to Burkhalter and said:

"Colonel Klink--a man who could have been great, except that he wasn't very good."

What do you think were some of the funniest scenes or lines or some of the best episodes of the series?

I was watching SVU S22E7 "Hunt, Trap, Rape, and Release" and Captain Benson said she remembered Bronx's new SVU commander Lieutenant Barek from here time as a Major Case detective. The actress, Annabella Sciorra, played Gloria Trillo on The Sopranos a few years after she played Detective Logan's partner Detective Barek during S5 of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. She was born in 1960 and was in her early-mid 40's when she played Detective Barek and Gloria Trillo, and while side-by-side you can tell it's the same person, had Benson not mentioned that she was a Major Case detective, I doubt I would've realized it's the same person.

I know she was nearly 61 in the SVU episode, and I'm not insulting her looks, but her skin is much lighter than the olive-color complexion she had when she was younger and her face doesn't look the same.

https://preview.redd.it/poeeq27mad9h1.png?width=1600&format=png&auto=webp&s=800705770b312f30d139fd98ba89608cbc54f708

If you didn't know both pictures were of the actress Annabella Sciorra, would you automatically be able to tell they were the same person, but 15 or so years apart?

Out of the different ADAs on SVU, which have been your favorites/least favorites?

Alexandra Cabot

Casey Novak

Kim Greylek

Gillian Hardwicke

Sonya Paxton

Rafael Barba

Peter Stone

Sonny Carisi

My favorites have been Carisi, Barba, Cabot, Novak, and Stone. My least favorite was Paxton, then Hardwicke and Greylek.

In the NATO phonetic alphabet, Oscar is used for O followed by Papa which is used for P.

Do you think naming the leader of BX9 Oscar Papa in S24 was intentional or just a coincidence?

In the original Law & Order, SVU, and Criminal Intent, who are your favorite partnership teams?

Mine are:

Original: Briscoe and Green

SVU: Benson and Stabler, but Munch and Tutuola are a close second

Criminal Intent: Goren and Eames

Did you prefer Detective Logan on the original Law & Order where he played the junior homicide detective for the first 5 seasons or as a Major Case detective in the later seasons?

When Marty went back to 1885 to rescue Doc, they had to find a way to get the time machine up to 88mph without any gas which Doc said wouldn't be available to them for years, but at the time, there were 2 time machines; there was the one that Marty used to go from 1955 to 1885 and the same time machine hidden in the cave that Doc ensured would be available to Marty in 1955 so he could go home.

They had to leave one of the time machines in the cave so that the Marty stuck in 1955 could use it to get out and had to use the other to get out of 1885 before Bufford killed one of them, but if gas was the main problem, couldn't they have siphoned whatever gas was left in the time machine Doc hid in the cave or used parts from one to repair the other while leaving the other in good enough condition that the 1955 Doc could repair for Marty?

The first time Tynan demanded Benson's badge and gun was right after the trial where she was found in contempt by a corrupt judge trying to force her to violate the Rape Shield Law, and with decades on the force, she had to know that suspending her for not breaking the law despite being held in contempt which she got out of when the victim told her to testify wasn't going to work.

The second and last time was at the hospital for supposedly commanding an operation that put officers in danger, which was obviously a load of BS considering they were chasing a serial killer who had just abducted another child who they rescued and caught the serial killer who knew he could be facing the death penalty if he was extradited to Florida. Benson didn't just bring SVU detectives; she had the appropriate amount of backup for the operation and before the man they were chasing shot Detective Griffin and the other officer, she warned that he could be armed and dangerous.

I haven't seen 1 positive post or comment about Tynan since the season started and if keeping her secret about Griffin's father was her main objective, it makes no sense to go after Benson who never would've investigated a decades-old shooting that had nothing to do with SVU or any sex crime, and while turning down the offer of a promotion may have shown Tynan that Benson wasn't one to be controlled with the carrot, choosing to use the stick over bullshit resulted in her losing Griffin's trust and loyalty and gave Benson the information she was so desperately trying to hide.

I bet most of the regulars in this subreddit could've written a better storyline or given her a better reason to go after Benson than a recycled version of what Stabler found out about his father during OC's investigation into "The Brotherhood."

Before S21 of the original version of Law & Order, who were your favorite detective partners, favorite EADA, favorite ADA, and favorite District Attorney? Who were your least favorite?

My favorite detective team was Briscoe & Green; my favorite EADA was McCoy, my favorite ADA was Ross, and my favorite District Attorney was Schiff.

My least favorite detective team was Lupo & Bernard, my least favorite EADA was Cutter, my least favorite ADA was Carmichael, and my least favorite District Attorney was Branch.

Are there other Law & Order:: Criminal Intent fans who think the best episodes of the series are the ones with Detective Goren and Eames?

In the beginning of the series they're the main detectives for the unit and Goren's style is completely different from any of the other detectives like Briscoe, Green, Fontana, Curtis, the SVU detectives, and later additions to the show like Detective Logan who was one of the original detectives on the regular Law & Order until he clocked a councilman.

When Goren and Eames worked together, Goren really got inside the heads of the suspects and despite his eccentricity, he was one of the smartest detectives in the Law & Order universe, but while the episodes with Logan and his various partners were still good, they weren't as interesting as the episodes with Goren and Eames.

Agree or disagree?

A lot of the actors and actresses from the Law & Order universe start with appearances on one of the shows (Original, SVU, Criminal Intent, etc.) end up moving on to bigger and better roles in HBO, NBC, and other networks' series.

I was watching Law & Order:: Criminal Intent and came across the episode "Diamond Dogs" (S5E2) which came out in late 2005 with a young Peter Scanavino knocking over jewelry stores to feed his, his mother's, and his girlfriend's heroin addiction.

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