The Deuce is a period Drama produced by HBO and created by David Simon and George Pelecanos. These few words (HBO, Simon, Drama) should be enough to understand right off the bat why The Deuce coming to Television is a big deal. If that wasn't enough, you should also know that James Franco is attached.
I went into this Pilot with high expectations and understandably so, and even though I'm satisfied with the result, it didn't blow my mind, but to be honest I wasn't expecting that it would. Simon's most famous show, and also arguably on of the best television show of all-time, The Wire, didn't exactly had one of those huge Pilot that impress the viewer right away (think something like Lost or The Shield or Breaking Bad), but rather something quieter that lead to a build-up into one of the best season of television I've ever seen in my life. This Pilot is not as good as The Wire's Pilot was, there's some substance to the whole Pilot, but David Simon is taking his sweet time getting there. The episode clocks at 85 minutes which is A LOT. When The Wire aired for the first time, more than 15 years ago, oversized episodes were an absolute rarity (only the Series Finale ran for more than 60 minutes), but now things have changed, it's almost routinely for shows to have the Premiere and the Finale ran 5, 10 or even 30 minutes longer than regular episode, and The Deuce is not an exception, even though I think that cutting some stuff to make it closer to the classic 60 minutes wouldn't have been that bad.
The episode mainly focuses on Vincent Martino (Franco's character) and only in the second half it introduces us more of the the co-lead, Candy (played by Maggie Gyllenhaal). The Deuce aligns itself to one of the most improbable meme of the history of television and becomes the 4th major television show in this solar year to feature an identical twin of the lead character played by the same actor (The Leftovers, Twin Peaks and Fargo were the other examples). The difference here is that Vincent looks to be much more in the spotlight than his sneaky brother Frankie, who shows himself only in the final minutes of the episode.
The plot centers around the struggles that a -not particularly well educated or coming from a wealthy family- man has to face to feed his family in the 70's New York. Hustling between multiple jobs, putting his life on the line in the worst neighborhoods of the city. The episode ends with him leaving his wife and going to leave alone in a cheap hotel (the same one where Candy, the other main character, lives), but I have the feeling that their relationship isn't done yet and that is going to be heavily featured into the season.
With such a big runtime, the Pilot manages to introduce many other characters and storylines, like the one of the already mentioned Candy, focused on the "hooker life" and all the struggles that come with it, or Abby, a brilliant college student tired of the ordinary friends she shares her life with, that is fascinated by a peek into Vincent's world. We also become acquainted with other hookers working in the same corners as Candy, and their pimps. We see C.C. sweet talking a new girl in town, coming from Minnesota (played by Emily Meade, previously seen in The Leftovers amongst others), trying to convince her to become his new working girl. C.C. that in the final sequence of the episode gets to show us that bleak look that we were all expecting from someone like Simon, when he stabs his bottom bitch, guilty of running away from her corner and her work because it was pouring like hell on the street.
Another aspect that differentiate The Deuce from his spiritual predecessors is the direction and the overall production values being much better than they've ever been in a Simon show, a clear sign of the times (technology is much better and much cheaper in 2017) and of the big budget that HBO awarded to the show. The 70s New York depiction being put on display in the Pilot is AMAZING, such a painstaking attention to details that leaves in awe. Some sequence show tens of vintage cars, dozens of passersby dressed in the iconic 70s style, but also shop windows, neon signs... watching this show one could forget that what he's seeing is a fictional production created in 2017 and think that he has just opened a window into the 70s. Big shutout also for Michelle MacLaren who directed the Pilot, will direct the Finale and is an executive producer on the show. Her signature style -which came under the spotlight after her incredible work on Breaking Bad- is instrumental in bringing the show to life.
To sum it up, this was a very good Pilot, at times too verbose and a difficult point for entry for viewers who haven't experienced Simon's shows before. In The Deuce he keeps up with the idea of literally throwing the viewer into the lives of the characters without giving him any explanation or prelude, forcing him to understand the characters and their dynamics on the go while he watches them move through a world so familiar to them and so unfamiliar to him. We'll see during the course of the season if the show manages to build a strong enough plot where, just like in The Wire, when you get to the end of the season and put together all the pieces you realize that yeah, the complete puzzle looks just like the image on the box!
Grade: B+
