The Deuce, Season 1, Episode 2 Review: ‘Show and Prove’
Well, we can add The Deuce to the list of shows I should absolutely never watch while eating dinner.
While even the pilot was pretty unapologetic in its depiction of sex workers and sex in general – including a couple full male frontal shots – ‘Show and Prove’ delves head first (pun intended) into the world of amateur porn and all of the messiness involved in the art form, if you want to call it that. And while it’s easy to get caught up in the more salacious moments of the episode (even by HBO standards), the show is also not wasting any time in peeling back the layers of a few of the central characters that color the underbelly of The Deuce – that stretch of 42nd street that was lined with peepshows, prostitutes, pimps, and drug dealers from around the 1950’s to the 1980’s (which I only know thanks to Wikipedia). When it’s only the second episode, and you find yourself sympathizing with a manipulative and abusive pimp, and cheering on a street-smart prostitute to make her way in porn, you know you’ve found a special show.
Porn Gets a Taste of Candy
‘Show and Prove’ treats us to a little bit more insight into Candy’s (Maggie Gyllenhaal) domestic situation, which from the last episode appears to involve her mother primarily raising her son, and Candy (“Eileen”) visiting intermittently to visit and play with him. We can see that she’s a loving mother; she obviously cares for the boy, but it’s also apparent that both Candy and her mother know that she can’t extract herself from the life she’s carved out for herself. You can see her mother’s disappointment as Candy leaves; it’s obvious that she knows what’s going on, but it’s a painful conversation either both of them have had in the past with no resolution, or it’s just one of those discussions that they’re both choosing not to have, even though the reality of Candy’s profession is a giant elephant in the room every time they see each other. I’m really eager to get the backstory of how this arrangement came to be, who the father of her child is, how Candy convinced her mother to take care of her son (or if her mother insisted upon it). Either way, it’s clear that Candy wants to provide for him, but she keeps him at an arm’s length, as if she doesn’t want her choices to rub off on him. I’m sure if you buy him Operation, though, he’ll get off on the right foot.
Candy’s story kicks into high gear when she fills in for a fellow co-worker by volunteering to be in an amateur porn while she goes to a court date. Long story short, Candy catches on fast to her blonde, pig-tailed character in the Viking-themed porn, and is an enthusiastic performer even in light of having cold potato soup being shot in her face. That’s talent, my friends. But though Candy has an easy time being in front of the camera, she seems particularly interested in the magic behind the scenes. As she lingers after her shoot ends, and she begins to ask the P.A. questions about all of the different lighting equipment, it’s as if she finally sees something that could be a bit more legitimate than walking the streets. Sure, it’s porn, but you can’t deny it’s a more respectable trade than hooking.
And something tells me that the street-smart Candy will eventually find her way behind the camera to call the shots. In the beginning of the episode, she was the only one of the girls aware of the economic unfairness of the porn trade. It’s possible that she’ll use her knowledge of this particular hustle to get a piece of it for herself. Git it, girl.
C.C., Lori, and the Pimp’s Plight
Perhaps my favorite part of the episode was to witness the twisted power dynamics between C.C. (Gary Carr) and Lori (Emily Meade), who it seems he’s made his new favorite over Ashley (Jamie Neumann). He takes her to a porn in a theater, where he describes to her how they have to cut out any penetration in order to make it legitimate. He also has the pimp-equivalent of pillow talk with her, where he philosophizes about how pimps are the loneliest people in the world, how everyone is rooting for them to fail, and how he has plans to settle down with the right woman. Ah, the pimp with the heart of gold. One might almost consider this romantic, as he sits with his arm wrapped around her shoulders during a porn film…until he starts making not-so-veiled threats about what should happen should she jump ship. To Lori’s credit, she doesn’t seem too intimidated by C.C., despite the occasional outburst when she talks about her former pimps, or when she catches him attempting to use fear to secure her position on his team. We can totally see the emotional manipulation at work; C.C. is at once doting and intimate, and the next he’s making sure to instill enough fear in her girls to make sure they stay loyal.
It’s easy to dismiss C.C. as just another pimp using intimidation to make sure his bottom line is protected, but when Lori is nearly kidnapped and raped by a man posing as a cop, I was incredibly relieved that C.C. was nearby to squash the situation and knife the guy in the gut. One moment he is literally saving her life, but the next, he’s telling her that even though this whole incident may have been traumatic, that she needs to get back out on the block. This scene perfectly encapsulates the complicated and completely fucked-up dynamics between pimp and prostitute, but also makes a compelling case to have a pimp for those girls that have chosen to take up the trade.
By the way, I have a feeling that C.C. is going to wind up being one of my favorite characters on the show. Not a favorite in the sense that I like the person or the majority of his actions, but because he weaves moments of what appears to be true sincerity with moments of brutality. He’s absolutely not a good guy, but he definitely falls somewhere in the middle of the pimp spectrum when you have sleezes like Larry to compare him to. And that’s a testament to Gary Carr’s performance because he laces C.C. with a smoothness, charisma, as well as an underlying insecurity that ultimately makes him one of the more fully-formed and intriguing characters on the show (so far).
Darlene: A Tale of Two Prostitutes
Sure, Darlene is a prostitute. But if you recall the last episode, she isn’t nearly as hardened by life as one would suspect, as evidenced by the way she cried while watching A Tale of Two Cities with one of her johns. As you’ll also recall, she didn’t know that the film was based on a book, so this episode, she goes to the library, and gets a library card to check it out (at least I’m like 90% sure that’s the book she checked out). And instead of going to Vinnie’s bar and comparing notes from their day with the other girls, she sits quietly reading the book, perhaps finally finding a proper escape from her situation.
When a young “anthropologist” (perhaps a journalist) sits next to her wanting to hear more about her story, they’re rudely interrupted by Larry (Gbenga Akinnagbe), who earlier in the episode was trying to sell Candy on his sensitivity to his girls (which was hilarious). And while Darlene knows how to diffuse Larry’s erratic temper to a certain extent, it doesn’t keep him from pushing her out the door claiming that conversation doesn’t pay the bills.
Larry is showing himself to be one of the more outwardly abusive of the pimps we’ve seen in this universe thus far. While C.C. will at least put in an effort to show affection from time-to-time (even if it comes from a gross, domineering, manipulative place), Larry puts forth no such effort beyond waiting up late at night to make sure that his girls get home safe. And even that is almost certainly coming from a place of protecting his bottom line than anything else.
Dominique Fishback is right up there with Gary Carr and Maggie Gyllenhaal as the show’s standouts so far; she infuses Darlene with both a hardness and an innocence that make her someone you want to root for. It’s hard to get attached, though, because she’s under the thumb of Larry, who would no doubt resort to violence if she even thought about pursuing other ventures. I mean, the guy shoves her around casually as a matter of practice, so I can only imagine the physical harm he’d inflict at the thought of being abandoned by one of his girls (and losing the revenue that comes with it).
Vinnie Cuts the Check
I love James Franco, so I wish that I was more invested in the check-cashing/skimming business Vinnie seems to have devised in order to help Frankie out of the debts he owes to the mob. Long story short, Vinnie and his brother-in-law, Bobby (Chris Bauer), go to Tommy Longo (Daniel Sauli) and his boss (I think) Michael Pipilo (Michael Rispoli), with the plan, and to Vinnie’s credit, he totally sells them on the idea. So well, that Pipolo offers Vinnie his own bar to reinvigorate and run. Seeing as how Vinnie is good at managing bars and keeping people buzzed and happy, he’s tempted to rise to the challenge, even though his position at the Korea House seems relatively solid and lucrative. However, it really wouldn’t be a David Simon show unless someone was getting way in over their head with the mob, so by golly, Vinnie is DEFINITELY gonna go for it. And since this can’t possibly go well, I’m all for seeing how the drama and inevitable violence will unfold.
I’m enjoying the way that Franco is playing both Vinnie and Frankie, but when you’re plotline is up against hookers, pimps, and porn, it can be hard to stand out, especially since the big development of the episode was developing a way to make money off of cashing checks. But I have faith that with this new bar, the excitement in his life is about to see a spike.
Cops are Hard on Porn, Soft on Hookers
See what I did there?
Anyways, ‘Show and Prove’ also gave us a bit more information about how the police exist and enforce (or don’t enforce) the law in the world of prostitution. Seems that if you can show a property voucher that’s less than 2 days old that you get to skip the nightly roundups, which appears to be a way to not waste resources on a victimless crime that nonetheless has to have some consequences since it’s still technically against the law. Here, we get to see Alston (The Wire alum Lawrence Gilliard, Jr) casually round-up hookers, take them down to the station, take their orders for Chinese food, and eat it with them outside in the courtyard before eventually letting them go. Doesn’t seem so bad! The cops seem much more interested in busting a local store that selling hard core porn, the same store that Darlene found her videos were being sold in without her knowledge. It will be interesting to see how law enforcement reacts to the growing popularity of the porn industry seeing as how they seem to enjoy an almost friendly relationship (at least in Alston’s case) with the pimps and hookers they regularly round up.
And yes, that was totally Ralph Macchio as one of the undercover cops. Took me a second, too, but if you’re a child of the 80’s, you know Macchio’s face when you see it.
The Deuce isn’t wasting any time in fleshing out this world of the flesh, so next week we’ll hopefully see our characters be thrust further into seedy underbellies, peep shows, bars, and derelict hotel rooms worthy of a David Simon show. However, something tells me that it won’t be the last time we’re traumatized by projectile cold potato soup. Eat your dinner beforehand. You’ve been warned.
