The Deuce is currently available on HBO Now and HBO Go.
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Everyone’s heard, probably too many times, about how The Wire is one of the best shows in the history of television. It’s true, of course, which makes it curious that Wire co-creator David Simon’s follow-up shows have gotten such little buzz. Critics like them, but none has caught on like The Wire.
So friends, let’s talk about The Deuce.
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The Deuce takes place in New York City during the 1970s and ’80s, with each of its three seasons checking in roughly five years apart. Specifically, the show is about the people who live and work in the area that would become the gleaming tourist trap of Times Square.
But back then it was a much seedier place, populated with prostitutes, pimps, cops, bartenders, and mafiosos. We come to know several of each of these types, people who get swept up in the changes of the world as pornography gains popularity and the mob begins dabbling in the drug trade.
As always, characters are key. We follow a pair of twins, both played by a mustachioed James Franco, who have some involvement with the mob. Frankie is a well-meaning troublemaker, willing to play looser with the law than Vincent. Vincent runs a bar and wants as little to do as possible with the mobsters to whom he hands weekly envelopes filled with cash.
Meanwhile, there’s Lori, a young woman who comes to the Big Apple in the pilot, and who’s quickly swept into a life of prostitution by C.C., a pimp who waits at the bus station for girls like Lori to arrive. Then there’s Candy, a solo sex worker in the first season who uses the rise of pornography to get behind the camera and become a filmmaker. The treatment of the characters feels realistic and wholly unsentimental, even when you wish things might turn out differently for them.
This being a David Simon show, co-created with his frequent collaborator George Pelecanos, The Deuce also tracks the larger changes to society and NYC in general. When developers with big pockets come knocking, the local politicians ask the cops to clean up the streets–which they do.
But there’s no use trying to sell The Deuce as a show about societal changes. It really is all about the characters. Like The Wire, The Deuce lets these seismic shifts play out while focusing on characters we’ve come to love–or at least enjoy watching. This stretch of the city gets cleaned up when the money moves in, but The Deuce is really about how this process affects the lives of the people who lived there before. It’s funny, dramatic, tense, and heartbreaking. It’s a show for the ages.
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Binge It! is IGN’s recommendation series. Movies, TV shows, books, comics, music… if you can binge it, we’re here to talk about it. In each installment of Binge It!, we’ll discuss a piece of content we’re passionate about — and why you should check it out.
Source: IGN.com Binge It! The Deuce Is a Perfect Chaser for Fans of The Wire