The Deuce Season 1 Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
March 1st, 2018
While watching David Simon’s new HBO series, ‘The Deuce’, it doesn’t take long to recognize it was done by the same guy that brought us ‘The Wire’. Sure, the shows are set in different cities and in different times, but there’s a vibe throughout ‘The Deuce’ that’s very reminiscent of ‘The Wire’. Characters are deep and flawed and the pacing is very deliberate, yet still captivating. While ‘The Wire’ focused on the narcotics scene in Baltimore, ‘The Deuce’ focuses on the rise of the porn scene in New York City during the early 70’s.
Although every tagline speaks to the rise of the porn industry being the main focal point for ‘The Deuce’, you wouldn’t really know that during the first five episodes. The first half of the season focuses on the pimp-prostitution industry in early ’70’s NYC. That’s where we meet most of our main players, including the pimp-less Candy (Gyllenhaal), who hates her life and is looking at making a career change. Candy is the catalyst to move the focus from prostitution to porn as she begins to investigate the porn industry. We also meet a whole host of pimps and prostitutes, each with their own similarities and differences, but none really distinguishing themselves from one another. The point is that there are a lot of players in the pimp-prostitute industry in the 70’s.
The main star of the show is actually James Franco, who plays twin brothers Frankie and Vincent. But neither of them have anything to do with porn, pimps or prostitutes, other than running the bar in which all of them frequent. Vincent is the more stable of the two brothers, focused on his bar and pleasing his new mob friend Rudy (Michael Rispoli from ‘The Sopranos’). Frankie, on the other hand, is a bit of a delinquent, often getting into trouble with his gambling problem. The brothers serve to ground the series and I’m guessing creator David Simon realized quickly that a show solely focused on porn was not going to last very long. Think of Vincent as being the sun that all the other characters revolve around. Giving him a twin brother was a smart move as it adds another layer of complexity and unpredictability to Vincent.
There are several familiar faces from other HBO shows (most notably, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. from ‘The Wire’) that show up, rounding out an excellent cast that seems right at home depicting the seedy underbelly of New York City in the 1970’s. But the show’s biggest problem is that it seemingly has nowhere to go and no singular focus. If you recall to ‘The Wire’, each season had a specific focus and the characters in the show guided the show towards the finale. That’s not the case with ‘The Deuce’. Here, we’re just peeking into the lives of these sad characters as they try to survive and navigate their way through a changing climate. The immense talent in front of and behind the camera make that surprisingly enjoyable, but those looking for specific plot or character arcs might be bored.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: ‘The Deuce’ looks great on Blu-ray, even if the 70’s “tone” of the video transfer could often be mistaken for reduced video quality.
Audio: The audio was fine.
Commentary on two episodes: The first and last episodes get commentaries and it’s interesting to hear the participants talk about the beginning and end of the show.
Inside the Episodes: Each episode gets a quick mini-featurette that expands on the making of the episode.
The Wild West and The Deuce in Focus: Two featurettes that feature the cast and crew talking about the time period of ‘The Deuce’ and how it’s depicted in the show.
